Advice Please - Autistic Child

[Guest]

Hi everyone...

We have a little boy who has been diagnosed (if that's the correct word!?) with autism over the summer holidays...we had concerns before this and have been working closely with mum and outside professionals.

 

The problem is his biting.....mum is very aware it happens. He comes in 3 morning sessions per week, 1 of those mum comes in to help (i'm not 100 % this is helping). I have between 18 - 23 other children in on these days so I generally spend the sessions shadowing him, watching to see what triggers his biting of etc. This takes a member of staff away from supervising the other children.

 

I think I'm doing everything I possibly can to help this little boy and protect the other children but unfortuantely his biting has happened twice already this week......It's not a job I look forward to telling the other parents there child has been bitten!!! I know how I would be as a parent

 

Do autisitic children tend to bite? How can I help him and make sure all the other children are kept safe whilst in our care. I feel boxed in at the moment....any advice please

[AnonyMouse_3139]

Wish I knew how to stop them biting mrsb, only my thick cardi stopped me going home with teethmarks last week

Have you got access to an area senco team or inclusion scheme?

The PLA in Birmingham offer 1:1 support for 70 hours, they work with you, the child and the family. It frees you up and you get advice. The area senco in my experience offer a 'body' so you and your team can work with the child.

Other than that, if you're already looking for a trigger and following him round I have no other ideas.

[Guest]

hi hope today might be better. over the years we have had a number of chidren with various degrees on the autism sectrum and all are very different. we found that some didn't like change so we kept the same toys out each session until they settled down. a number of the children didn't like fuss so we kept toys will lots of parts to the minimum. but yes unfortunalty we had to do the same with one to one. and yes parents been there are always the easiest as it makes matters worse. if he's in funding you can claim the full amount (not used) to help or if he's under 3 does your council run the 2 year old pathfinder as he will is in the criteria to recieve 7.5 hours funding free. hope this is of some help and keep smling

Hi everyone...

We have a little boy who has been diagnosed (if that's the correct word!?) with autism over the summer holidays...we had concerns before this and have been working closely with mum and outside professionals.

 

The problem is his biting.....mum is very aware it happens. He comes in 3 morning sessions per week, 1 of those mum comes in to help (i'm not 100 % this is helping). I have between 18 - 23 other children in on these days so I generally spend the sessions shadowing him, watching to see what triggers his biting of etc. This takes a member of staff away from supervising the other children.

 

I think I'm doing everything I possibly can to help this little boy and protect the other children but unfortuantely his biting has happened twice already this week......It's not a job I look forward to telling the other parents there child has been bitten!!! I know how I would be as a parent

 

Do autisitic children tend to bite? How can I help him and make sure all the other children are kept safe whilst in our care. I feel boxed in at the moment....any advice please

[AnonyMouse_79]

Just a quick hallo and welcome to nmandy.

 

Biting is usually a response to frustration of some sort, how does this child communicate/ interact with his peers? If a diagnosis has been made what sort of provision and support is he entitled to, does he need? I cant imagine that these incidents arent logged but that will help you to help him, to attain appropriate support.

[AnonyMouse_3735]

Biting is not unusual...would suggest you find out about getting additional funding for 1:1 support which is often the best way to cope with this situation.

 

In our case we have had 2 different children who have done this and even with 1:1 support it is not always possible to stop it..we found that it can also be a sign of affection and a way of expressing it.. in both ours it was ...... they only bit people or children they liked and it often came with a cuddle or Touching just before.

 

We had additional funding from LEA to cover the extra staff for the sessions the child was with us. this was the NEG funding plus top up to cover for wage of staff. As he is diagnosed it may be easier to get the extra help you require. we went to area SENCo for help who pointed us in direction of where to go to claim the funding.

 

Inge

Edited September 21, 2007 by Inge

[Guest]

Thanks for your replies and advice....had another very stressful session today. Had 5 members of staff (inc myself) so I shadowed the little boy & carried out a 'time event' observation throughout the session to see what triggers his biting of. Lucky I was around otherwise we would have had about 5 incidents today!

 

I have just received funding for him which allows me to have an extra member of staff in for 2 sessions per week paying £12.00 per session. He is funded & we claim for 3 sessions for him.

 

Keep coming with any advice you think could help..many thanks

mrsb

[Guest]

a very hard situation but found when i had a similiar little boy that it did get better after a month after him observing and being encouraged by his 1:1 TA to join in and communicate with others

having comfort toys and giving him something to fiddle with (plane and cars in my case) helps keep him focused from biting but i found that it was frustraton when trying to communicate and I just had to shadow him best I could

Dont be scared to put him part time to the hours when you have 1:1 or to have an early review and reapply for more funding

and as I am sure you are doing, keep talking to his mum remembering the positives it must be horrible wondering what your child will do to another child knowing that it is ver hard to stop

[Guest Wolfie]

Just referring to cheerycherry's suggestion about giving him something to fiddle with, I was browsing on eBay the other day and when I typed in SEN, there were lots of small toys to fiddle with! It might give you some ideas about what to provide - you might have something very suitable already!! Just a thought!

Edited September 30, 2007 by Wolfie

[Guest]

Just referring to cheerycherry's suggestion about giving him something to fiddle with, I was browsing on eBay the other day and when I typed in SEN, there were lots of small toys to fiddle with! It might give you some ideas about what to provide - you might have soemthing very suitable already!! Just a thought!

 

Willing to give anything a go.....will have a look on Ebay. Thanks

[Guest]

Hi mrsb

Sympathise with you! don't know if this is any use, but it mite be worth a try. have you tried creating a social story for the child? it's basically a short set of instructions with photographs/pictures to reinforce what the child should do. i do this with a 4 year old (aspergers and EAL) who tends to lash out at others for no apparent reason. he is beginning to respond slowly.

 

Anyway, hope the biting ceases!!!

[Guest]

Hi mrsb

Sympathise with you! don't know if this is any use, but it mite be worth a try. have you tried creating a social story for the child? it's basically a short set of instructions with photographs/pictures to reinforce what the child should do. i do this with a 4 year old (aspergers and EAL) who tends to lash out at others for no apparent reason. he is beginning to respond slowly.

 

Anyway, hope the biting ceases!!!

 

Hi moo,

 

Is this similar to a visual timetable but in book form? He has his own visual timetable alongside the whole group on which he has been responsding to well apart from the odd 'blip'.

[Guest]

Hi moo,

 

Is this similar to a visual timetable but in book form? He has his own visual timetable alongside the whole group on which he has been responsding to well apart from the odd 'blip'.

 

Yes, it should be visual. prob on A4 sheet then laminate it. 'read' through it with the child often to reinforce the behaviour he should exhibit. It also helps other children, so can be read with a group. Here's an example...

 

Some children make friends by sharing toys and playing together (pic of chn playing together). This can be great fun and can make them feel happy. (happy face pic or photo) I can make friends by sharing things and playing beside other children. When I share and play beside other children i will get a ... (sticker/stamp/whatever - put an example on the sheet) This will make everyone happy (pic of happy chn and teacher) If i don't want to share or play with someone I will walk say 'excuse me' and walk away quietly to choose another activity.

 

Hope this helps. Let me know!

[Guest]

Hi all, just wanted to let you know that I feel something positive may at last be happening for this little boy& the setting as a whole.......after a very testing time last week.....a few phone calls & stamping my feet we have made some ground on getting 'proper' help & support from different outside professionals. There is still a long way to go but I now feel more positive and will do all I can possible to help him & Mum.

 

Moo, a social story book was mentioned...so will be giving this a try.

 

Many thanks everyone, I will keep you posted

mrsb

[AnonyMouse_8457]

As I was reading this thread I was thinking social story too! We ahd a lad who pulled hair, it started with stroking then when the girls (as it always was long hair on the girls!) started not finding it so appealing and squealing it kind of excited him and he woud pull it. Of course this provoked a bigger reaction and so it cycled.

We had a two pronged attack. We were lucky to get funding for a 1-1 (through our Pre-school Learning Alliance as suggested at the top of this thread) which helped. We armed the children (ha ha that conjours up a great image) with information. When you scream it makes X think you're playing and he pulls your hair because he thinks you're playing too adn we explained about tickling, you laugh the person tickles more. So we said if he does it they were to calmly say his name and 'stop'. The 1-1 had a stop card with a hand sign to show to reinforce this. This helped but of course not all the girls got it. The speech therapist told us about social stories and she actually made it for us! Our one told the story of how X liked the feel of hair but sometimes when he touched people's hair they didn't like it.... Oh just remembered we also tried a doll with long silky hair (like a Shelley - Barbie doll) attached to one of those springy key ring things so the 1-1 had it on her all the time with the stop sign. If he touched hair, it would be 'X, stop' then his hand was moved to the doll.

I'm not saying it was a magic cure, it took weeks to stop the pulling and he still had occasional slips.

How you would translate this to biting though.. I can only think if you had something he was allowed to bite? I have to admit I remember as a child (maybe about 7) getting really frustrated when I couldn't get a doll to do what I wanted or couldn't get the clothes on adn I would bite it! I still remember that pent up feeling so maybe he has this? Your event sampling will tell this I guess. What do others think? Would it be ok to encourage him to bite something else, say a rubber toy? It would have to be one specific thing so he knew he couldn't bite other toys. Am I being mad?!!