Olsen also suggests that some kids find deep pressure soothing once other stimuli have been removed. And if you can’t pinpoint the stimulus that has pushed the child past their limit, the change of scenery may help them escape it anyway. For example, moving a kid out of proximity of an agitating stimulus may be easier than making the environment less stimulating. One way to cool this situation is to change your child’s surroundings. “Any extra talking, any extra touching, any more stimulus only adds fuel to the fire,” Olsen says. Trying to talk through it - or, even worse, meeting or exceeding the intense energy of a child’s explosion - will likely only worsen things. Parents naturally tend to try to reason their kids out of outbursts, but that rarely works.
In the meantime, Olsen recommends that parents embrace these three tips to help defuse the situation when their autistic kids show aggression. “Adults with autism are actually significantly more likely to be victims of aggression than they are to be aggressive with other people,” says Darren Olsen, Ph.D., a psychologist and professor of pediatrics at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City and co-leader of the hospital’s Down syndrome and autism clinic. Autistic kids under the age of 6 showed more physical aggression than their non-autistic peers, but these levels became equal to their non-autistic peers as the kids aged.Īnd, it’s crucial to note, this is something autistic kids generally grow out of. A recent study published in Autism Research showed that autistic kids demonstrate higher levels of verbal aggression and disruptive behavioral intensity throughout childhood. Research shows that autistic children do tend to show more aggression than their peers. And although there are some best practices for any parent trying to calm an aggressive child, there are specific considerations for parents of autistic children when behavior turns combative. It can make parents feel scared and unsafe when other people are around, it can be mortifying.
One of the most challenging situations parents face is when they cannot calm an aggressive child.
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