Autism-Articles

When dealing with tantrums and difficult behaviors in autism spectrum disorders, using behavioral approaches alone can sometimes fail. What is the missing piece to managing these behaviors that a behavioral approach alone may not address? To start, we need to look at the reasons for behavior. According to behavioral approaches, most of the behavior we see results from one of three reasons: a request, seeking attention, or a sensory reason. Let's look deeper at these three reasons for behavior and the ways we currently handle them. Handling a request is fairly straightforward. To put it very simply, a request is usually something externally controlled by both reinforcing appropriate requests and not reinforcing inappropriate ones, such as a tantrum. For negative attention-seeking behaviors, we can eliminate the behavior by not giving the negative behavior attention and give attention for desired behavior - very straightforward, and again, usually externally co...

Children with autism have temper tantrum problems - also called a meltdown, when it happens, they throw themselves on the floor, crying, screaming and kicking as a means of getting across that things are "not right". Normal kids have temper tantrums too, but it's not so difficult to deal with as autistic children. Here's some tips for parents on how to tame "temper tantrum"-like behaviors of children with autism, which also work for normal kids. 1. Transfer the child's attention. When the child shows signs of a tantrum, try to attract his attention to something else that he would be interested in. 2. Ignore the tantrum. For a preschooler, ignore his tantrum but stay where he can see you; for a older child, tell him to return to his own room after he calms down. 3. Control yourself. Set a good example for your child, even in a tantrum, the child is learning from you. 4. Avoiding injury is the top priority during a meltdown. If the chi...

You are in the grocery store making a purchase and suddenly your child who has autism, displays the loudest tantrum you ever heard. There you stand in shock and with embarrassment from this outburst. Your child needs a meltdown. But how? Has this ever happened to you? You know you must deal with this tantrum and give your child a meltdown. Having a child who has the disorder of autism is extremely challenging, when an outburst of a tantrum occurs. If you have other children or are aware of other children, who are not autistic, a high percentage of those children who are under five years of age, usually have tantrums and outbursts. But, these tantrums usually can be stopped or corrected. When a child with the disorder of autism, displays tantrums, you want to calm him or her down with a meltdown. It can be difficult and challenging to calm your autistic child down and control his or her behavior. Before you decide to take your child out in public places, prepare yoursel...