http://www.thinkingautismguide.com/2016/08/when-autistic-children-are-aggressive.html
This post on aggression and self-injury is written by a medical doctor, not a person on the spectrum, but she is remarkably savvy on the subject. Seriously, I'm impressed to bits with this article.
Of particular note is the section on meltdowns versus tantrums. These are two very different things, but I feel like they're the same thing to most parents, and most people observing those parents. Briefly: tantrums are goal-oriented, meltdowns are not. You can get results by ignoring a tantrum, but you can't with a meltdown. The writer explains it much better in the article proper.
Another thing I wanted to highlight about this is that it rightly points out the absolutely dizzying number of reasons someone might have "challenging behavior." A harried caregiver with a person that tends to have these behaviors can cease to look for reasons the person is acting out, and instead simply want the person to stop, in whatever way makes that possible. Moving them to an institution, medicating them into submission, or trying to "train" them into not doing the behavior, is a very common, still accepted set of options.
Basically, as soon as the person doesn't verbalize their problems clearly and normally, we start edging toward treating them like they're subhuman. But just because we consider speech hugely important, doesn't mean that people without it aren't sentient or can't express themselves in other ways. It just takes some detective work and patience. And seriously, always assume the person is competent and can be communicated with.
Please, give this article the careful read it deserves.
This post on aggression and self-injury is written by a medical doctor, not a person on the spectrum, but she is remarkably savvy on the subject. Seriously, I'm impressed to bits with this article.
Of particular note is the section on meltdowns versus tantrums. These are two very different things, but I feel like they're the same thing to most parents, and most people observing those parents. Briefly: tantrums are goal-oriented, meltdowns are not. You can get results by ignoring a tantrum, but you can't with a meltdown. The writer explains it much better in the article proper.
Another thing I wanted to highlight about this is that it rightly points out the absolutely dizzying number of reasons someone might have "challenging behavior." A harried caregiver with a person that tends to have these behaviors can cease to look for reasons the person is acting out, and instead simply want the person to stop, in whatever way makes that possible. Moving them to an institution, medicating them into submission, or trying to "train" them into not doing the behavior, is a very common, still accepted set of options.
Basically, as soon as the person doesn't verbalize their problems clearly and normally, we start edging toward treating them like they're subhuman. But just because we consider speech hugely important, doesn't mean that people without it aren't sentient or can't express themselves in other ways. It just takes some detective work and patience. And seriously, always assume the person is competent and can be communicated with.
Please, give this article the careful read it deserves.
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