My 7 years old son is hyperactive. It’s hard to get him sit and do an activity. He suddenly pinches us(mom and dad) without any reason. He makes hmmmm sounds that gets him undue attention at public places. How can I help him with these issues. Please help!
Answer:
Thank you for your question! Let's tackle these one at a time.
1. Hard to sit and do an activity: If he is pinching when you try to get him to sit and do an activity, that is his attempt to escape the activity. Two things I am going to have you do here. First, whatever activity you want him to do, start with short durations and slowly have him do it for longer and longer. For example, if you want him to color at the table, but he can only do it for 3 minutes right now before he pinches you we will start him having him sit at the table doing that activity for 2 minutes and then he can leave. That way he is more likely to be able to hit the 2 minutes and leave. Do this until he is staying at the table for 2 minutes without ANY problem behavior for 3 days straight, then you can increase to 3 minutes. Use a timer that he can see, maybe your phone or a kitchen timer and tell him, "We are going to color (or whatever you choose) for 2 minutes and then you can be all done." In addition to this I want you to create an "all done" or "break" card for when he is doing these activities so he can ask to leave the table appropriately instead of pinching or eloping from the activity. Remind him, "If you want to be all done you just need to say "all done" or touch the card." This gives him an appropriate response to escape instead of engaging in problem behavior to escape.
2. For stimming in public I will give you some techniques to redirect him. If he is verbal I would redirect him with conversation so he is engaging in functional speech instead. It can be simple social questions like "What's your name? How old are you? When is your birthday?" or even simple compliances like "Say red, say blue, say mickey mouse." I would do these verbal redirections until he stops stimming and tell him he needs to have a quiet voice until you get to the car or where ever it is okay for him to stim.
Good luck! Try both of these techniques for a week and then let us know how it is going!
Thank you for your question! Let’s tackle these one at a time.
1. Hard to sit and do an activity: If he is pinching when you try to get him to sit and do an activity, that is his attempt to escape the activity. Two things I am going to have you do here. First, whatever activity you want him to do, start with short durations and slowly have him do it for longer and longer. For example, if you want him to color at the table, but he can only do it for 3 minutes right now before he pinches you we will start him having him sit at the table doing that activity for 2 minutes and then he can leave. That way he is more likely to be able to hit the 2 minutes and leave. Do this until he is staying at the table for 2 minutes without ANY problem behavior for 3 days straight, then you can increase to 3 minutes. Use a timer that he can see, maybe your phone or a kitchen timer and tell him, “We are going to color (or whatever you choose) for 2 minutes and then you can be all done.” In addition to this I want you to create an “all done” or “break” card for when he is doing these activities so he can ask to leave the table appropriately instead of pinching or eloping from the activity. Remind him, “If you want to be all done you just need to say “all done” or touch the card.” This gives him an appropriate response to escape instead of engaging in problem behavior to escape.
2. For stimming in public I will give you some techniques to redirect him. If he is verbal I would redirect him with conversation so he is engaging in functional speech instead. It can be simple social questions like “What’s your name? How old are you? When is your birthday?” or even simple compliances like “Say red, say blue, say mickey mouse.” I would do these verbal redirections until he stops stimming and tell him he needs to have a quiet voice until you get to the car or where ever it is okay for him to stim.
Good luck! Try both of these techniques for a week and then let us know how it is going!
Thank you so much for your response. In regards to pinching it is not associated with anything. He would suddenly pinch, squeeze armpit or sometimes just touch my face or head.