What would you do?

[JeanneA]

Hi, Glen is continuing to hit his head with force frequently throughout the day. For those parents who have had children do the same thing could you tell me what you do in the situation, do you just leave the child to it or do try to stop him hitting himself? I have left Glen and haven't tried to stop him but Glen's teacher feels you should and does so at School each time Glen hits his head. I really don't know what is best in this situation, obviously I don't want Glen to hit himself but also I'm very nervous that he will hit out at me as he has in the past.

[noogsy]

hi my wee boy used to head bang as a toddler,

i used to stop him,try to distract him with a game,

louis used to head bang when he was frustrated,bored or angry.

my wee boy grew out of this behaviour before he went to primary school.

love noogsy

[JeanneA]

Thanks nogsy the trouble is Glen is a very strong young man and restraining him isn't an easy thing to do!

[JsMum]

Its a total ball game though at school, the school have support from a Team of trained proffessionals, at home it is just you, your partner, also restraining when they are big and strong is a different ball game altogether, when J flips at home now I have to call the police, there is no way I can restrain him alone anymore, I have had to stop and prevent J hurting himself a few times but he just fights more, I had to destract him in the end, and try and defuse the situation before it leads up to the meltdown/tantrum as J has tantrums too, but the worse is when he turns his anger on himself, its very distressing and i have to remember not to react too much as that just gives him more attention for the wrong reasons.

 

I would defo look into An Occupational Therapy Assessment to see if there is any home modifications that can be done, and any protective gear though I know some parents have said theres took them off I would still want to try it to see if it helped, J has Sensory intregration Disorder so we use a Multi Sensory Aproach such as Weighted Blankets, and he has a sensory room all equipt with fibre optic lights, lava lamps, Wooden puzzles, lego, kenex, Relaxing Music and other sensory equiptment, FamilyFund Helped pay for it and I use his DLA too so we try and get him in there before he esculates, sometimes now he will go in on his own, its his space to chill out.

 

There are safespaces too, I know that there expensive but there is assessments and funding so do look into these.

 

http://www.safespaces.co.uk/

 

I would not try and stop him if you know he will react violently, I would try and keep the surroundings as safe as possible and if he was at serious risk of harm call the emergency services.

 

JsMumxxx

 

Edited March 13, 2010 by JsMum

[lisac]

Jeanne, you could try putting a pillow between himself and the wall if he's hitting his head on the wall. The only thing that worked for my son was completely ignoring it , ( any remark or intervention made him worse) as i once got in his way trying to stop him and ended up bitten to buggery in A & E . A large dose of Risperdal and epilim ( for mood control) was what ended that awful phase, it took away the aggression and made him sleepy .Sometimes safety has to be priority, hope the day improves not much fun i know, x

[lorryw]

It is very difficult to know what to do for the best. Your son sounds very similar to my lad and I am still not sure wether restraint is the best option. We have had some horrendous sessions where our son ran through the house screaming and banging his head on walls etc. We sought help from our local CAHMS and even showed a video we had made and were told "oh it must be very difficult for you and we do admire how you cope" We were offered absolutely no help other than a learning disability nurse who was out of her depth so we just got on with it.

Have you trying contacting the challenging behaviour foundation, www.thecbf.org.uk. They are excellent and produce DVDs (free to parents) on a variety of issues including dealing with self harm.

I know how distressing this is for everyone (particularly Glen). Hopefully he will start to feel the effects of the rispiradol in a couple of weeks. Our son was prescribed this last year (0.5mg a day) after a distressing period and this seems to have helped.

Good luck.

[JeanneA]

Thanks very much for all your replies. Glen isn't hitting out at the wall or anything he is just hitting his head with great force. I just hope the increased risperidone kicks in soon.

[WillsDad]

My son Williams complete meltdowns came to an end when we started giving him Vitamin B6/magnesium. Could be worth a try?

WillDad