My son continues to run and hit the wall with his hands usually out of frustration or a still to process what happened – when it is lighter and playful we just allow it but when he starts doing it really hard and continues we really try to redirect or stop so he won’t but himself.
We tried ignoring, we tried redirecting sometimes it worked and sometimes it got worse. We tried to get him to run into the couch or play with ball pit or hit a pillow and it seems like he gets more mad and it escalates but yet we don’t want him to get hurt .. we have tried to catch it before it happens but sometimes it will come out of no where. So we let him get a couple out thinking he will be over but this morning he kept doing it.Our next step is we ordered a mat, we are gonna put on the wall where he likes to hit it… if you have any other suggestions let us know. Thank you. I really want to eliminate the wall hitting behavior all together but not sure how.. so in the meantime we got the mat for his safety (it’s on the way).. he does not do this behavior at school. He also isn’t doing out of attention because we will be with him playing with him or dressing him, etc
Answer:
Thank you for your question! I think the mat is a great idea for the time being for safety until we are able to eliminate the behavior. You mentioned that sometimes he hits the wall out of frustration. What is his method of communication? If he is frustrated we want to make sure he has a way to express himself either verbally or non-verbally (ex. sign language, PECS, AAC device) so he can do that instead of hitting the wall. So please send me a follow-up message on his method of communication so I can give you some recommendations.
If you want to completely eliminate the behavior then we should stop it when it is playful, too. Each time he hits the wall I want you to redirect him to a different activity and then we will discuss using his method of communication how we can get him to express himself. I would give him two options of what he can do instead. For example, show him a pillow and the ball pit and say, "No wall. Which do you want instead?"
It definitely seems to be sensory input that he is seeking. Does he get OT services at school? If so, I would ask them for recommendations for a competing activity that will give him the same sensory output as hitting the wall. You can also ask the CFOC OT during one of her calls!
Try this for now and let us know how it goes. Another intervention could be working on him EARNING hitting the wall and having to REQUEST to do it. BUT let's try these other options first since I know you want to eliminate it altogether.
Thank you for your question! I think the mat is a great idea for the time being for safety until we are able to eliminate the behavior. You mentioned that sometimes he hits the wall out of frustration. What is his method of communication? If he is frustrated we want to make sure he has a way to express himself either verbally or non-verbally (ex. sign language, PECS, AAC device) so he can do that instead of hitting the wall. So please send me a follow-up message on his method of communication so I can give you some recommendations.
If you want to completely eliminate the behavior then we should stop it when it is playful, too. Each time he hits the wall I want you to redirect him to a different activity and then we will discuss using his method of communication how we can get him to express himself. I would give him two options of what he can do instead. For example, show him a pillow and the ball pit and say, “No wall. Which do you want instead?”
It definitely seems to be sensory input that he is seeking. Does he get OT services at school? If so, I would ask them for recommendations for a competing activity that will give him the same sensory output as hitting the wall. You can also ask the CFOC OT during one of her calls!
Try this for now and let us know how it goes. Another intervention could be working on him EARNING hitting the wall and having to REQUEST to do it. BUT let’s try these other options first since I know you want to eliminate it altogether.
We actually don’t have a solid means for him to express but we just got a bunch of PECS and I’m gonna try to direct him to that picture board of emotions maybe put them in a different place and walk him to it and say angry frustrated playful etc and then I can give him those options how we can let it out.
And so funny I literally spoke with his OT today and the main lady is supposed to get back to em with some ideas. Thank you – today I really focused on what Michelle siad this morning and tried to tighten up Schedules see when things were getting to be too much for him and try to catch anything before it happened and redirect.
Thank you once again.