top of page

Manage Aggression in Autistic Children

Updated: Oct 11, 2022

5 steps that will help you to manage Aggression in Autistic Children


5 steps that will help you to manage Aggression in Autistic Children

Aggressive behaviours are one of the biggest struggles parents of Autistic children face. Still, unfortunately, most of the information you will find is ABA strategies, as it is believed that this is the only strategy that will help eliminate this kind of behaviour. The problem is that aggression in autistic children is not as simple as simple misbehaviour. So, the ABA tactics might worsen this type of aggression. But then, just because there are several reasons for this aggressive behaviour in autistic children, we cannot ignore this sort of behaviour. So, now the question that needs to be answered here is what does the parent of such autistic children need to do? It is important to manage aggression in Autistic Children.


Deal Aggression in Autistic Children

Five steps will help you to deal aggression in autistic children, and these are:


1. You will first have to check on the assumptions.

Before adequately handling your child's aggression, you will first have to check the negative assumptions. This is very much associated with the charge of the child. The truth is that most of us have negative past experiences that tend to cloud our judgement. Even if your experiences might be valid, it is not good to put those negative assumptions about your children. To recognize and adjust the premises, you will first have to start by listing out the thoughts that you might have about the aggression of your child. Make sure to Deal Aggression in Autistic Children in the most effective manner.

· They are incredibly violent and want to hurt everyone who is around them

· They are extremely abusive

· They also tend to terrorize their siblings

You will then have to consider each of these thoughts, write them on paper and remove the judgement related to them. Some of the words, like abusive and explicit, are not specific. They are filled with a lot of ideas about what they mean. It would help if you tried to change to the particular as they hit, kick, etc.


2. You should be able to manage aggression in Autistic Children whenever it happens

You will ultimately have to stop the aggression before it happens, but until then, you will need a plan as to how you will handle the aggression.

To do this, you will first have to determine what aggression looks like in autistic children.

· Kicking

· Hitting

· Pushing

· Scratching

· Pulling Hair


3. You will have to find out what exactly is causing the aggression.

Now, once you have planned how to keep everyone safe during these fits of aggression, you can also start finding out why the aggression is happening in the first place. You need to remember that charge does not occur without any reason. Aggression has a reason, but that does not mean it is wanted or deserved. Acknowledging the reason for the aggression also does not mean that you are okay with it or you are accepting it. But how do you discover the reason for the aggression if your child does not tell you? Here, you must look for and notice the different platforms. You will first have to pay attention to when your child tends to be aggressive. Try not to make assumptions as it comes out of nowhere. You will have to look for specific patterns like the time of day, sensory environment, people involved, location or even day of the week. Once you start noticing these patterns, you also start getting clues as to the actual reason for aggression.


4. You will have to solve the actual problem.

Now, you will have to solve the actual problem in this step. You might think that aggression is the fundamental problem, but it is just the consequence of whatever is triggering it. Therefore, this is the step where you make plans for the trigger once you have identified it to solve the real problem and allow you all to avoid the aggression. This plan will depend on what is causing the child's aggression.


5. You will have to re-evaluate as you grow and Deal Aggression in Autistic Children

You will first need to have a plan about how you will be able to handle the aggression; when it happens, you will then have to plan about solving the actual problem and finally avoid all the aggression altogether. Several things might come in the way of your aggression. You might not be quite right on the trigger. Moreover, the plan to solve the problem might make it worse. You might also realize that the goal is not very practical. This means that you will have to re-evaluate the process as you go.

37 views0 comments
bottom of page