Autistic children have violent behavior of banging their heads or being aggressive towards others. Control these outbursts with the help of self discipline. This when induced slowly but effectively will help to get a control over these disturbing behaviors. Self management helps the child to keep a control over himself during such outbursts which in turn can help the child learn other good behavior.
Start teaching the child self control for ten to fifteen minutes daily and keep a check on it. They can practice it whether at school or at home during particular time of the day and as the autistic children have the habit of repeating things this can be very effective as they keep on repeating it. This way they can keep a check on their negative behavior themselves. As the child no longer needs restriction by others it shows a tremendous improvement in the violent of the child.
Set goals according to the response of the child and should also be very clear like if he/she has been polite with others or has not had any physical injury. Monitor the child regularly and evaluate whether the child is able to maintain the self control. If the child is able to cope with the limit given by you them all is fine if not it means the child is able to keep up with the limit set by you. So begin with goals easily reachable by the child and then advance little by little according to the response given by the child. The child gains a more positive attitude when he/she can reach the self control set by you.
The best way to make the child reach the goal is to reward the child whenever he/she does it. Reward the child with something of his/her preference. This sort of gesture will create a positive attitude in the mind of the child and enhance the good behavior. The reward can be simple ones in the beginning and later to better ones depending on how the child attains the goal. Start with smiley faces for self control maintained and sad faces for every bad behavior. This smiley faces when reaches a considerable amount due to the more number of goal achieved can be replaced with a favorite toy of the child.
All the above said management program can not be done overnight and needs enough time and dedication. The parent or the caregiver should chalk out the plan taking the childs ability into consideration. An autistic adult can respond to the program better than a child without a reward. An autistic child can also attain the goals set by you for self management program provided he/she is mature enough to understand skill you want to reinforce.
