Daniela
and Karel,
Asperger's Help Course Part 2
You as parents of Asperger's
child should deal with many of your kids'
behavior problems such as aggression
and violent behavior,
anger,
depression and many other
inappropriate behavior. I know it is not
easy, but you can be much easier with the
right techniques.
Aggressive behavior in the child with
Asperger's Syndrome occurs for a reason, just
as it would with any other child.
What is the reason of aggressive and
violent behavior of your
child?
Children with Aspergers may become aggressive
which is usually due to them not being
able to handle the stress in their
lives. Aspergers children are quite
bright and therefore will usually know that
there is something different about them. This
can be quite stressful for them as they just
don’t know how to change these things even
though they want to. If this stress
builds up over time they can become
more and more aggressive. This is why
it is important to put strategies into place
and also to teach your child social skills to
try and make it less stressful for
them.
When a child behaves inappropriately, he/she is
fulfilling the need to do one or more of the
following:
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Avoid something that needs to be done, such as going to school or obeying a parent; |
|
Get something like his/her own way or attention; |
|
Manage pain and reduce feelings of psychological hurt or physical discomfort; |
|
Fulfill a sensory need, perhaps feelings of hot, cold, thirst or hunger. |
How to reduce or eliminate this difficult asperger syndrome behavior?
Reasoning or debating an issue with your child to justify your expectations will not change her behaviour. She/he wants to satisfy her needs, not satisfy your wants. She/he is not likely to empathize with you or acknowledge anyone’s objections to her/his behaviour. You need to be “concrete” with your child. In other words, tell her/him that the inappropriate thing she/he wants or the unacceptable behaviour that she/he is demonstrating is not allowed. She/he needs to follow structured, consistent rules which will assist in modifying her/his behaviour. Don’t give in to hitting, throwing things, or yelling, no matter how hard it is not to.
Behaviour
modification.
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You must determine what need the aggression is fulfilling. |
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Teach her a replacement behaviour that will satisfy the need. |
For example, if your child wants a glass of water, she can be taught to ask for or point to the source of water. Also, you can design an emotion card which shows a glass of water, and she can point to it. Some children use PECS, a non-verbal system of communication to indicate their wants and needs.
Maintaining a daily
routine
Consistent behaviours,
obligations, etc. will help reduce your child’s
aggressive and violent behaviours. Daily
routine creates stability and comfort for
Asperger’s children; also, it helps to lessen
their need to make demands on you. When you
establish a routine, you eliminate some of the
situations in which your daughter/son becomes
demanding.
For example, by
building in regular times to give her
attention, she/he may have less need to show
aggression to try to get your
attention.
Children
who get what they want because of their
violence or aggression are very likely to
continue and escalate that
behaviour. In time, your child
must learn to appropriately communicate the
cause of her aggression and get her needs met
through that communication.
A
behaviour-modification program may help your
child. This program must be designed for
individual children because people with
Asperger’s Syndrome vary greatly in their
handicaps and family circumstances.
Please note that
some treatment approaches that work in certain
cases may not work in others. Also,
children with Asperger’s
have difficulty generalizing learned
experiences from one
setting to another. As a result, the skills
they learned in a hospital or school tend
not to be transferred to the home or other
settings.
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