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Hurting Himself When Upset

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I have heard others talk about their children biting, hitting, scratching, or otherwise hurting themselves for various reasons. We felt so blessed that our son didn't do this. Well, we were wrong. He seems to be doing this now. He has bitten his arm when he's feelng out of control. Tonight he had a melt down and we sent him to his room to calm down. It's the only thing that has ever worked. He came out, 2 minutes later, with scratches on his face bleeding a little. It just saddens me that he does this when he doesn't know what to do. Do any of you have any advice for this situation? By the way, he's 3 1/2 years old. It's called SIB -- Self Injurious Behavior.  It can be reduced through the use of a strong ABA-based Behavior Plan.  And Risperdal has a long history of reducing SIB in kids on the autism spectrum.  It is the only drug officially ok'd for use with autism because of its success in the area of aggression.  Get an FBA done so that you know the function of the SIB and go from there.OK, I almost understood all of that. Hehehe. What's an FBA?Although Taylor can't handle the sensory issues of self harm, I work with intellectually and developmentally disabled people that do it. it's a common reaction to overwhelming anger or frustration and is quite common with autism, as well as other challenges.

Therapy is important, and helps quite a bit. Some of the ones I work with never had behavioral therapy--therefore, they self harm quite a bit. Medicaid has also just changed the rules for many states to receive respite/supports funding, based on more severe behavior--so, if you are wanting the services through your case management, record them so, when asked you can tell of this behavior and they can direct you to someone that has experience in helping in this area.

Also, talk to school's bt and tell them what is happening. Prevention and therapy can be implemented into a BIP, once the fba (Functional Behavior Assessment) has been conducted and the BIP is put in with the IEP.

S did this, more than T.  He also puked, when really angry.

I do not have any solutions or suggestions though ...

foxl, my son would get so upset that he would vomit too. 

He would also scratch, bite, or hit himself when angry, mainly if no one was around to do it to.  I also don't have any solutions or suggestions.

 

My son will scratch his stomach or arms more than his face. Hel punch and slap his face/head and extremeties during tantrums and meltdowns. He doesnt do it as much anymore, nows it hitting and scratching things and others. We are working on it tho and he is improving. Hes been prescribed risperdal and unless the behavioral route didnt work out then wed go to meds after trying otehr things. But I do have to say that ive heard alot of good about risperdal.

YOu got alot of good advice. Def. no more time outs in room, just so u can keep an eye on him till the behavior comes under control.

My son bites his arm or pinches his cheek when he gets extremely mad and there is nobody else close enough to aggress on.We didn't have that problem. When my son starting raging--he would physically attack anyone he saw! If no one was close enough--he would only pinch his legs or bite himself. That didn't happen too often. He seemed to always find someone to take his frustration out on!
 
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