What should I do if my autistic child has a bad temper and is irritable? How to deal with the emotional problems of children with Asperger syndrome? Emotion management and behavioral control are the focus of autism rehabilitation intervention, and the foundation needs to be laid from an early age. Parents should master a set of specific behavioral intervention strategies based on behavioral function analysis, take preventive measures beforehand, respond to them afterward, and punish them carefully.
Emotional breakdowns, crying and making noises in public places, and breaking things and throwing toys are common behavioral problems among children. When they occur to autistic children, it becomes twice as difficult to deal with them. Solving the behavioral problems of autistic children requires a set of scientific behavioral intervention strategies, which specifically include these four key links, namely analysis of behavioral functions, what you want the child to do, how to prevent and control it, and how to respond correctly when the behavior occurs.
Before formal intervention, parents must first sort the problem behaviors according to their urgency and determine which ones should be prioritized for intervention. For example, more serious problem behaviors such as hitting, self-injury, and aggression require parents to focus on. Then parents need to master the functional analysis of behavior, learn to analyze the reasons behind their children’s various behaviors, and master their behavioral patterns.
There are four functions of behavior:
1. Get others’ attention
Because they lack the necessary communication skills and communication skills, such as not being able to call people or greet people by calling their mother to attract others’ attention, autistic children often use problematic behaviors to attract the attention of parents, teachers or other people. Note that common ones include tantrums, aggression and self-injury, self-stimulating behaviors, etc.
2. want something
For example, when a child sees his mother playing with an iPad, he slams the table or cries. If the mother gives the child an iPad, he gets the iPad. When a child’s needs are ignored or not met in time, they will cry to fight for it.
3. Avoid tasks
That is, to avoid doing something that makes you feel unpleasant or difficult, or to get rid of an uncomfortable environment and develop problematic behaviors, such as the learning task is too difficult, the environment is too noisy, and the activities you participate in are not in line with the child’s interests, etc. All may induce problematic behaviors in children.
4. Self-stimulation
That is, self-satisfaction behavior is a kind of self-reinforcement that occurs in autistic children due to their inherent needs. It has obvious self-stimulation characteristics, usually to increase or decrease certain sensory stimulation, or out of some kind of sensory compulsion. It drives them to perform a certain type of behavior or action in order to obtain a certain sense of order and rules.
Regarding the different behaviors of children in different scenarios, parents should analyze the function of the behavior in detail based on the situation, and adopt targeted methods. For example, if a child cries in public, the current solution is to isolate the child through environmental isolation and divert the child’s attention. If the child also has obvious impulses to hit or attack, parents should first use physical restraints to control the child, and for Parents must adhere to their principles and ignore their children’s obviously unreasonable demands as appropriate. They cannot help but satisfy their children just because they are crying.
To fundamentally reduce or eliminate the behavioral problems of autistic children, parents need to focus more on prevention and control beforehand, mainly to improve the children’s basic behavioral skills, including enhancing the awareness of rules, improving leisure abilities, and enriching the children. of leisure activities to keep them occupied, etc.
In addition to the above universal behavioral intervention principles, for children with Asperger syndrome in the autism spectrum disorder group, parents need to further adjust their educational concepts and practices in a timely manner based on the actual situation of their children. After children with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome enter adolescence, the worsening of behavioral problems is often related to excessive psychological stress, such as:
1. Social difficulties and frustration in interacting with peers
Peer communication skills obviously lag behind those of their peers. They often find it difficult to integrate into the group, feel out of tune with their classmates, and do not get the understanding and support of teachers. They often feel isolated, and in severe cases, they may be bullied by their classmates. Campus life does not go smoothly, and they appear in Situations such as being tired of studying and playing truant.
2. Strong rebellious mentality
Compared with middle- and low-functioning autistic children, most teenagers with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome have a strong sense of self. They will long for independence and get rid of the control of parents and teachers, and they will have some extremely rebellious behaviors. Behaviors, such as abnormal eating habits, reversal of day and night, staying indoors, resisting going to school or even resisting teachers, etc.
3. Serious emotional problems
They have abnormal emotional regulation and are prone to anxiety and tension. If they have too many negative life experiences and emotional experiences, they are prone to losing control and bursting out, manifesting as impulsiveness, irritability, collapse, and crying.
4. Encounter difficulties in learning
Affected by the above three factors, the learning status of autistic children declines, making them unable to adapt to the school environment and unable to complete learning tasks on time. Even if their parents do not place too many demands on their studies, they will have self-doubt and self-confidence. Heart damaged.
For these issues, parents can refer to the following practices:
(a). Give children space to develop freely. Parents should not interfere excessively or control everything in detail.
(b). Listen patiently to children’s ideas, encourage children to actively express their wishes, create more opportunities to communicate with children, understand their difficulties and worries, and provide help to meet their appropriate requirements.
(c). Do not put pressure on children academically and lower expectations appropriately.
(d). Parents should try to maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, focus on encouraging their children, care about their children’s mental health, respect their personality, and give more recognition to what their children do well.
In short, when dealing with children’s emotional problems, parents must find the reasons behind the behavior, develop an individualized intervention plan based on the individual’s personality, and avoid “fighting violence with violence” or using bad attitudes or punitive measures to force children to change their behavioral habits.