FAQautism

How can we prevent injuries when an aggressive youngster with autism participates in a group activity? What can we do to stop a child from biting anyone sitting close during circle time in early childhood? What are our options for dealing with a pre-teen who reaches out to scratch or grab anyone who sits within arm’s reach in the lunchroom, or a young adult who grabs the hair of anyone who gets close to her in the grocery store?

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When potentially harmful behavior occurs, our first responsibility is to ensure safety. Once we have removed the potential for injury, we can then take systematic steps to develop a plan for decreasing or stopping aggressive behavior. But, first things first.

The key to safety is to remove opportunity. In the case of hitting, grabbing, scratching, or poking, we remove the opportunity for harm by keeping the aggressive person out of arm’s reach of other people. In the case of hurtful behavior, it is not enough to try to keep “a close eye” on a person in an effort to keep the person from hurting others. Safety requires us to physically keep other people completely out of arm’s reach of an aggressive person at all times. Sometimes that takes creative planning.

How do you keep an aggressive person out of arm’s reach while at the same time allowing them to participate in group activities? Always give careful thought to positioning and barriers. Some ideas:

+ In a classroom, lunchroom, or other group setting, space chairs and desks at least an arm’s reach away.
+ Put an empty chair or desk next to an aggressive youngster to add some safety space required to keep other students out of arm’s reach.
+ Rather than isolating an aggressive student by placing them at a separate table in the lunch room, place the youngster at the end of the lunch table with other students just beyond reach. That allows the student a chance to sit with peers without hurting anyone or swiping lunches to the floor.
+ Whether at school, the community, home, a job site, or the grocery store, always position yourself or another adult as a natural safety barrier between the aggressive individual and other people in order to keep everyone safe from harm.
+ A swim coach wrote about a teen in a therapeutic swimming class who tended to reach out and grab the arms of other swimmers, especially in team or partner activities. For safety’s sake, the potentially hurtful swimmer needs to be partnered with the coach or adult assistant and kept out of arm’s reach of other swimmers every single minute.

TIP FOR THE DAY: Once you have resolved the basic safety issues, you can take time to pinpoint the nature and cause of the aggressive behaviors. Once you scout out those factors, you will be able to develop an effective plan to decrease hitting, scratching, biting, or other hurtful behaviors, and increase more positive interaction with other people.

For a treasure of great ideas about practical, easy to implement strategies for pinpointing problems, making changes, and developing effective strategies to address these challenges, check out our FAQautism.com Toolkits. Just click on the Toolkit tab at our website: http://FAQautism.com

NOTE TO READERS AND LISTENERS: I am Cathy Knoll, a board certified music therapist and long-time friend of many folks with autism. At FAQautism.com we are committed to providing free, practical, everyday tips for making life better for people with autism. Feel free to send me a confidential email at talk@FAQautism.com with your thoughts or challenging situations or innovative solution. And don’t forget to check out our website for a wealth of ideas and a glimpse into the world of autism. http://FAQautism.com

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