Self-Injury

[Yolime]

My son Michael scratches his forhead to the point of bleeding and leaves scars. Do any of you have this problem with there Autistic child?

[Dave]

My theory is that some our kids do these things in a situation of either under stimulation or over stimulation. Keeping them balanced is not always easy. Could you describe the situation when he doesn this, is he angry? My son had a habit of chewing the side of his hand and shaking his head back and forth to the point that his hand probably has a permanent half moon shape on it. We had good success with a weighted vest, as he did this when he was very over stimulated.

[Yolime]

:) Dave...In my son's case. I think he is understimulated. He is very bored at home right now while on summer vacation. I don't have a car to take him out...I am running out of things to keep him busy.

Yolanda {Yoli}

[Lighthouses]

Hello Yonile, I do hurt myself and I am 22 years old. Don't let your son hurt hisself for his life. Thanks, :rolleyes:

[Yolime]

Michelle... I have always been curious as to why my son self-abuses. I always thought it was due to his frustration of not being able to communicate. May I ask why you self abuse? What are you feeling when you do this? I try to stop my son...but he sneaks and does this when he can. But with Autism its hard to understand why exactly he does this. Thank you for your reply hon.:)

[Lighthouses]

Hello Yoline, Because I hate have AS. Maybe your son is like that..I don't know. Thanks,:eek:

P.S. Well, Write to me!..:-)

[Klovan]

Yoli:
Maybe he has a terrible migrane or headache? Autistic children very often have it.

[Yolime]

Klovan..... Yes..that has come to my mind. I also have seen him putting his hands on his forhead and putting is head down. Looks like he's in pain. I was also thinking it might be the med he is on. Being that it effects the chemistry in the brain. Thank you for writing. Appreciated.

Yolanda

[marj70]

My son self abuses when he is frustrated or hurts himself. Usually if I can get him to get out a word of communication he will stop and calm down, but this rarely happens. I hope and pray that when the words come he won't need to hurt himself anymore. He also will attack me with hitting, head butting etc if angered, hurt or frustrated. He also does the hand biting thing, especially when not allowed to hurt himself. This is usually his preferred method at school because it is harder for his teacher to know what he is doing. He is only 3, by the way. Today at school (special needs pre-school), he punched himself in the eye so hard he now has a big puffy, red eye that I bet will be a black eye by tomorrow. I just cried when I saw that and tonight when I think about it. No one wants their child to ever be hurt, but to see a 3 year old do that to himself, bang his head, scratch himself, etc it is really hard. He will even draw blood.

The psychologist he saw in June mentioned putting him on Resperdol (sp?) to help with the violence. I've read about some side effects of the med and have been resistant, but after today I think I may need to reconsider...

Marj
mom to Alex, 3

first time on this forum, read about it in the disney forums

[Jeanette]

Self injury may not only be because of frustration. "It may be that such behaviour increases the level of opiates in the body (and thus the sense of wellbeing); or that the sensations produced by self-injury are experienced as interesting; or that the behaviour is a way of obtaining adult attention (or avoiding excessive demands made on the person with autism)." quote from the NAS EarlyBird Programme parent book.

[puzzleman]

Risperdal helped my son with his aggressions but he did put on a lot of weight. As with any medication, choices need to be made for your child. My wife and I didn't want to use any medications at first but as Luke got stronger he hurt himself more. Consider what your Psychiatrist is telling you believe me your child will appreciate it.