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Advice needed

NAS75134

My son is 4 and non verbal autistic. Recently he has started lashing out. If he doesn't get what he wants he hits. No, when he gets a temper when we're out in public, he is hitting random people.  I don't know what to do. He's always been such a chilled boy and I don't know how to deal with this kind of behaviour.

  • We’re going through the exact thing with our 4 year old. I’d agree with  that communication can be a massive source of frustration. We use PECS but this doesn’t extend past food requests at the moment so we have to guess a lot of the time. 

    Lots of rules we neurotypicals have are quite arbitrary so ask yourself if it’s just easier to give him what he wants rather than standing your ground and risking a meltdown. I used to be a stickler for having him sit at the dinner table but now we just let him come and go when he’s eating. It’s led to a much happier dinner time. Choose your battles!

  • Sounds to me that he is frustrated with himself for being non-verbal? he's getting to the age when children tend to notice that they are different and he doesn't know how to express his emotions about it.

    have you tried makaton/ BSL as a way for him to express himself and communicate. it might reduce the number of meltdowns he has. Also, make sure he knows that he can't hit people and give him an alternative but don't appear too angry as that will probably confuse him more. it seems like a really tricky situation but sounds like you are doing a good job anyway. also, he might like a punch bag, this might help him with his feelings (we got one for my cousin and it worked amazingly however everyone is different).

    Good luck

    Alisha xx