Resources to Support Challenging Child Behavior

My 7 year old is strangely tuned in to certain sounds. For example, if the pages of a book are being turned within hearing distance, he reacts by screaming at the offender to stop it.

 

He is agitated by the noise to the point of having to leave the proximity so he doesn’t continue to fixate on it. When someone who has dry hands rubs them together and he can hear it, it gives him the “willies” and chills.

 

Yesterday at a restaurant, I reached to pull a napkin out of a dispenser, and he reacted by slinking down in the booth saying, “Great! Thanks a lot –I just lost my appetite from you doing that.” He couldn’t finish his toasted cheese sandwich.

 

Another example is that he reacts loudly when paper is being ripped or a sheet of paper is being torn from perforations in a spiral bound notebook. When my long fingernails scratch against him, or I scratch my own itch, it drives him crazy.

 

How can our family help minimize these seemingly over-the-top reactions to what seem like innocuous sounds–besides the obvious removal of known triggers? Should we be concerned?

One of my students has a Positive Behavior Support Plan that addresses his tendency to call out the answers in his general education classes. He has paraprofessional support in these classes, but he needs so much prompting to keep up with the school work that his behavior plan isn’t being implemented consistently. What can I do to help everyone follow the plan?

My student has a melt-down when there is a change from outdoor play/recess to indoor play. How can we make him understand the visual picture change to his schedule?

My child typically fights going to bed, thinking of more and more activities to do to prevent bedtime from occurring. Once he is settled in bed, I have to stay until he falls asleep. He often wakes during the night or is up very early. I am exhausted, what can I do?

I am working with a child who has just started licking things: people, walls, toys, etc. Redirection makes him frustrated. How can I help him reduce this behavior?

I am a Life Skills teacher and have a 2nd grade student with autism who will often blow out “boogies” without getting a tissue. He will do this several times a day and it often soils the table or other classroom items. Do you have any ideas of how to stop this behavior? He does have the ability to get a tissue and blow his nose as we have taught the behavior and he has demonstrated that he can do it with both a verbal or picture prompt on occasion.

When someone gets hurt or is talking about a painful event, my son often laughs. He has had this inappropriate nervous laughter since he was young, but it has become an issue in the work environment.

He is 22 years old. This has offended others. He  explains that he is nervous and can’t control it, but  would really like some help finding a workable solution.

Is there anything I can share with him that may help?

I teach 2nd grade in a very busy classroom.  There is one student who has major difficulty with certain academic tasks and will melt down whenever he gets frustrated.  We don’t know what to do when he gets like that – it’s very disruptive!  Sending him out of the classroom isn’t the answer.  What can I do to help him calm down?

The Watson Institute has received a number of questions from parents looking for resources to help them manage their child’s behavior in various public settings. Community activities such as going to church, visiting the library, going out to eat, and going to a doctor’s appointment have been our most requested topics.

Families are seeking help with preventing behavioral meltdowns while in these public settings.