Hurting oneself

When she's really upset and frustrated, she likely feels a lot of aggression, and instead of taking it out on others, she's trying to "protect" them in a way, by taking it out on herself instead. She might have an emotional regulation issue (through biological wiring, and not a fault of her own) where when she gets frustrated, things fire up in her system to a very high degree, that is just higher than most people's frustration levels would be. 

And if she's flapping her hands now, and she hasn't done this in the past, she might have just read it and picked it up somewhere, because hand flapping I think is something that happens from an early age that might continue when they are older, but it's not something that suddenly just shows up from no where.

That's what I thought when she was flapping her hands. We know that from the past, especially I school, she would attack and take aggression out of staff but ever since she was excluded, she's been happier but when she does struggle she takes it out on herself instead so there's now no reason to punish her. 

What can I do to reduce the risk of injury since she has powerful strikes to her head and the wall aswell has biting herself. 

My son used to bite his hand last year and it was recommended to me to ask him to wear an elastic band on his wrist and every time he had the urge to bite himself he would ping the elastic band against his skin. It has helped and he no longer bites himself or feels the need to wear the elastic band.

Id also recommend a free standing punch bag. Boxing is a fantastic way to release anger, frustration and energy. 

My son used to bite his hand last year and it was recommended to me to ask him to wear an elastic band on his wrist and every time he had the urge to bite himself he would ping the elastic band against his skin. It has helped and he no longer bites himself or feels the need to wear the elastic band.

Id also recommend a free standing punch bag. Boxing is a fantastic way to release anger, frustration and energy. 

Any time there is a holiday or a break from school she is definitely more distressed and struggles a lot more. There is a lot of routine and structure in school and I do my best to keep routine at home but with building work, other children and other stuff it's kind of hard. 

She struggles greatly with the transition from school to home, she used to refuse to come home and get into her taxi but we've sorted that. Except that the last day of term, it took her 45 minutes, no meltdown, until she got home, and I don't think it helped that she had a different driver, but she new ages ago about that. Summer holidays are the worst. But yes, holidays and the change cause more self harm itself. 

Sorry I couldn’t be more of a help! Hopefully having her own room may help ease her distress during melt downs. You sound like your trying your best. 

December is a nightmare of a month due to all the changes that happen with Christmas and new year.

I am struggling and my youngest is struggling with the changes, while my eldest is loving being at home as he has no demands from school. 

Do you think it could be the break from school and Christmas changes that may be adding to her distress causing the self harming? 

She doesn't mind wearing bandages but not for too long because it becomes itchy. She probably won't want to wear one so I won't force her to. She does have a chewy, she goes through so many so we have chosen one for heavy frequent chews and its lasted a bit and another chewy which is round her wrist which she hasn't broken which is great. When she's having a meltdown, she is no state of mind to use it or any sensory toys or just anything to calm herself down. 

I used to wear a type of bandage called wet wraps. They were worn as I had really severe eczema. The wet wraps are different from the typical bandages that wrap round your arms. It’s almost like a tight the goes over your arms. I’m sure the brand was called Tubeofast? I maybe remembering/spelling wrong though. 

You could put a wet wrap bandage over the top of a regular bandage, obviously you wouldn’t be wetting the wrap. This could possibly stop your daughter unraveling of the bandages.

If I’m being very honest I wouldn’t expect or do this to my child as I know he would get stressed with the hassle of getting the bandage on.  It also sounds a bit restrictive to me and maybe this method could be seen as some sort of punishment? She may also be self conscious? 

If your daughter doesn’t mind the feeling of Bandages on her arms and wants to have the bandage on to prevent her biting her self maybe this is something that will help?

Does she like chew toys? You could get soft chewy ones that are for babys that are different from the typical chew toys aimed at autistic individual’s. 

My other son loves velcro he likes chewing on it. I got a strip of velcro from ebay. I juat renew it as it can get grubby. 

Also the back scrubbing brushes you get my son loves his legs arms and back being dry brushed. Gives him great sensory feed back this is my go to when a melt down is occurring. 

You can get a specific brush called a therapressure brush but we always lose ours somewhere in the house. 

Yes we've tried the elastic bands for more than a year but no improvement and she stopped wearing them last year aswell. Thank you though. 

We have asked all my children if they wanted to have a go at boxing recently but they said they aren't interested and wouldn't do it so I don't think thats an option anymore. Just have no clue how to protect her in the worst of times. We've tried wrapping her arms in bandages to add some protection but that didn't work, she just took it off an played with it. Is there anything I could put on her arms to add some support and protection.