Published on 12, July, 2020
hi
does anyone know how to discipline a asd child? my 4 year old son is very hyperactive and quick to aggression. so as you can imagine he is very easily upset and quick to have a meltdown. i am trying to catch it before he has a meltdown but it can be so quick it can be impossible to stop. i know his triggers but can not always eliminate them for example like his little sister crying. i generally use timeout for any hitting but when he gets worked up i know he finds it hard to not hit. also if i did put him on timeout when having a meltdown it would just esculate the problem. at the moment when he has a meltdown i first do what i can to calm him down and feel better. but when he is then calm what do i do to then get him to realise that he can't hurt people? he is also so heavyhanded when playing and doesn't realise he is hurting other children. i don't know what to do. i don't want him to hurt people and lose friends as he is already saying to me he's noticed he's different to other people, losing friends would make it harder for him.
ok. i came on this online chat as i needed a way to get things of my chest and understand things better. a way to make my sons life better. i certainly did not come on to get responses like that outraged. you say you believe me to be a good parent yet contradict yourself by saying that what i am trying to do is child abuse and that i need to do a better job at protecting him. i think this is rude and out of order. i am not trying to discipline his autism but i think you are forgetting HE IS 4 YEARS OLD. he is a child and still needs some kind of discipline as i said before i comfort him and calm him down when having a meltdown. i am fully aware he can't help what he does but he also needs to know hittting is unacceptable (which he doesn't listen about when spoken to when calm). And i do everything i can to help my son in general especially with his autism. but i have 2 children to protect, and she is constantly getting hit and scared. he thinks if he can hit when having a meltdown its ok to all the time. he doesn't understand and i was asking for help with this. i may not have expressed myself clearly but i am still new to all this, still new to the diagnosis, struggling to cope as my husband has to work alot, and having to deal with extreme emotions with my son whilst trying to sort out my own feelings. i have alot going on, if you have read my discussions you would also know that i suspect myself having asd as well and explaining myself is something i struggle with. i would have thought outraged that being on this site you would be more understanding of struggles. unless you have struggles yourself and are trying to bring up a child with the same struggles at the same time you can not understand how difficult it is to do all the right things all at once. if you are going to message me again i suggest YOU DO NOT INSULT MY PARENTING AGAIN as i found your response extremely unkind and saying things like that to someone you could do real damage to a family.