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father consoling teenage son
Charu Ramanathan

Strategies to Help Kids with Self-Harm and Aggressive Behaviors

father consoling teenage son
Charu Ramanathan

Strategies to Help Kids with Self-Harm and Aggressive Behaviors

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The Covid Saga continues and the possibility of sending our kids to schools or other centers outside the home is still unclear. Many of us have seen our carefully organized support systems and schedules for our autistic children completely fall apart. It has been hard on us parents for sure, but it certainly has been hard on the children, with self injurious behaviors and aggression on the rise.

A recent conversation between parents of teenage boys that were experiencing such behaviors had a lot of great strategies. We are sharing them here to help those who are in similar situations.

IDENTIFYING TRIGGERS:

Many times there may be an internal trigger like pain or discomfort or a seizure onset that triggers the behaviors especially in non-verbal children. Try to identify and eliminate this with the help of a journal to note down the sequence of events and discussing with your doctor / therapist.

MEDS:

If you are comfortable with this option, consider exploring the possibility of new medications with your doctor rather than just increasing dose of existing meds. A mom of a teenage boy found great results in prescription Seroquel (an anti-psychotic) on top of anti-anxiety meds he was already on.

PROTECTING YOURSELF AND FEEDBACK

A large exercise ball can serve as boundary to protect yourself as your child is going through an aggression episode.

Any kind of prioreception feedback could be important for self-regulation.

https://blog.brainbalancecenters.com/2015/08/proprioception-explained

PROTECTING THE CHILD:

Use joint pads, helmets to the extent your child will you, to protect them. Such items could be covered in your Waiver if you have one.

FINDING SUPPORT:

There may be affordable classes you could take at your county’s educational center or community college to help you plan and anticipate situations and triggers that could lead to aggression. Discuss with your local Disability Services, BCBA, SSA to provide resources to create a ‘hurt-proof’ safe environment in your home.

As always, reach out to your community for support. You can now post anonymously for further protection of privacy. This is a judgement free space. We are all in this together.

About the Author

Dr. Charu Ramanathan is a repeat entrepreneur, passionate about using technology to positively impact and elevate human life. She is the co-founder and CEO of vitalxchange, a patient focused health network centered around people, patients, caregivers and families. Vitalxchange (https://www.vitalxchange.com/) uses advanced AI technology to match community members with others in similar situations as well as information and resources to thrive. She is also the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Lokyata Global, which is developing advanced credit scoring algorithms to foster financial inclusion in emerging economies. Prior to this, she co-founded CardioInsight, a Company specializing in noninvasive cardiac imaging systems. She led CardioInsight through its growth stages and ultimately its acquisition by Medtronic in 2015. Dr. Ramanathan has been the recipient of several awards for her contributions to technology and humanity including Crain’s 40 under 40, TiE Immigrant Entrepreneur and American Red Cross Hero. She holds a BS from Cochin University and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, USA.

Want to be the best parent you can be to your amazing child?

Sign up for our Beta – You get free access to our platform for 90 days (a $59.97 value)* – no credit card required.

What you get:

  1. Weekly personalized parent and play activities to do with your baby
  2. Your own parenting concierge to make sure you and your family are doing well
  3. Specialists to help answer questions on specific child development topics 

 

Sign up now and we’ll send you details about the program and how to participate.

*After 90 days, a credit card will be required and you will be charged $19.99 per month.  There is no commitment and you can cancel anytime.

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