stimming

[venus]

Hi, my son is 7 and went into year 3 in september in the local primary school.He has two teachers as they job share during the week.he says He says hates school as it is boring but he is always happy there and I never have a problem getting him to school and he is always happy when I pick him up.

 

In year 2 he would come out of school hyped up and would somtimes attack me and his little brother but he has stopped doing that now but he just stims all night.He has plastic figures like crash bandicoot and Bart that he taps all over the house, tapping them on the floor ,on the walls ,just everywhere there is a spare space he taps these figures and his brother copies him so I have double tapping everywhere. If he is not doing his tapping he is on the playstation.I find it hard to get him to do anything else at all.Do you think it could be school that is making him like this?. He is a happy boy at the moment and he loves his stimming and he gets a bit aggressive if I try to stop him from doing it. How do I get him to do something else or should I let him be? He starts stimming as soon as het gets in from school and stops at 9.00pm and as soon as he gets up in the morning he starts again.He has high functioning autism.

Edited October 14, 2008 by venus

[Tally]

If this is his way of coping without becoming aggressive, then it might be a good first step. Even if he appears to cope well in school, he may well be very anxious and that only comes out once he is out of the situation and in a safe place - with his family. Can you maybe take him to the park on the way home from school, where he can run off some steam?

 

He might hate school for different reasons than he says. Most people with autism have difficulty recognising and communicating their feelings. Hi might say it is boring when there are other reasons which he cannot explain. Even if he is unhappy, the routine of school might be reassuring and appealing to him. If you can work out what is making him anxious in the first place, some support at these times might help too.

 

Alternatively, it might be that he copes well at school because of the rigid routine, and needs more of a routine at home in the evenings too.

 

I think it would be better to avoid the aggression rather than deal with it afterwards. If you can better understand why he needs to tap, you might be able to come up with alternatives that he will be willing to try.