Aggression, frustration and temper tantrums

Why does this happen?

• Not all children with autism have behavioural problems. Those that do are often reacting to a world that they find confusing and unpredictable.
• A child with autism may have a very low tolerance of frustration.
• He may not understand that other people are able to help him with a problem. He may struggle with a difficult task until he reaches the very limit of his tolerance level, never seeking help.
• The child may find the social environment at school confusing and unpredictable, leading to tension and stress.
• Aggression can be triggered by hypersensitivity to certain sensory stimuli. This might be something that adults do not even notice, such as a flickering light or chairs scraping the floor.
• Aggression may be used by the child to avoid something he doesn’t want to do.
• Aggression might be used to gain attention, especially if the behaviour causes a great deal of fuss and excitement.
• Frustration can result from the lack of an appropriate skill. For example, the child may hit out at others when they touch or hug him; he doesn't realise he should say "Let go."
• The child may have difficulty anticipating future events. He may be fearful that if his needs are not immediately, he won't ever get what he wants, so he finds it hard to share and take turns. This may cause him to lash out or have a tantrum.
• Short, intense outbursts of rage or aggression may be associated with epileptic seizures. Epilepsy is very common in children with autism. Onset of seizures can occur at any age.
• Angry outbursts may occur if the child is being bullied or teased. Children with autism lack appropriate coping mechanisms to deal with peer pressure, especially if they do not have close friends.

What you can do

• Remain calm. Remind yourself the behaviour is an attempt to communicate – it should not be interpreted as being naughty. Children with high functioning autism are rarely manipulative or scheming – and they are not trying to make your life difficult!
• A review of the child’s stress level should always be undertaken when behavioural difficulties occur.
• Reinforce your expectations for behaviour. Give the child clear, predictable routines. State clearly to the child the consequences of aggressive behaviour before it occurs. For example, “If you hit or kick anyone again today you will sit here for 5 minutes.”
• Note which activities the child finds difficult and simplify or modify them. Also consider that the behaviour may be due to boredom if the child finds a task too easy.
• Establish appropriate behaviours and teach them to the child. For example, teach appropriate social behaviours such as holding hands, touching or tapping someone on the shoulder rather than hitting. Include appropriate interactional behaviours such as sharing, waiting etc. Help him learn the necessary communication - for example, if he dislikes being touched and children always hug him and won't let go, teach him to say "Let go."
• Make a poster that clearly states acceptable classroom behaviour. Place it in the classroom where all children can see it. All students in the class should have an understanding of the consequences of breaking these rules.
• Provide examples of the appropriate way to act with a social story.
• Help the child to recognise and interpret feelings of unease so that he can learn to act on them before an ‘explosion’ occurs.
• Disruptive behaviour is likely to diminish as social and communication skills improve. Remember that when the child is stressed his ability to express himself verbally will be diminished.
• Reward and pay attention to the child when he is displaying appropriate behaviour. See Effective rewards and motivators.
• Remember that the child may have outbursts of aggression just like a much younger child due to delayed emotional development. It can be hard for teachers to accept this type of behaviour, particularly if the child is talented in others areas of learning.
• Removing the child from the environment (time out) may work as a last resort. See Behaviour modification – what works, what doesn’t?
• Talk to the child’s parents. If this behaviour is out of character, he may need a medical checkup to rule out epileptic seizures.
• Aggression towards others. Immediately after the incident - remain calm and direct the child to a quiet space. If it is a minor incident, pay attention to the other child who is hurt and totally ignore the child who hit.
• Deal with the behaviour at a later date. It is important that both you and the child be calm when talking about the behaviour as there is more chance the child will process the information. When stressed or angry, the child's ability to understand language decreases.
• Often children on the spectrum find it difficult to talk about situations when they are 'personalised' and find it easier when the discussion is 'de-personalised'. This means that you talk about the situation in the third person. This can be done through the use of toys, drawings or role-plays.
• Tantrums. Remain calm and look at the tantrum as an act of communication. Try to establish why the behaviour is occurring. Try not to give any verbal or visual messages until the tantrum has stopped and then give full attention to the child. Praise the good behaviour. Use time out - see Behaviour modification - what works, what doesn't?
• Resistant or oppositional behaviours - gaining compliance. First, ask yourself if the child could be behaving this way out of anxiety, fear of failure, lack of comprehension, lack of interest or attention seeking. Treat the behaviour according to the cause.
• The child may try to distract you from the request by arguing. Try not to become involved in the argument. It wastes time and the child can become more confused due to the increase in language.
• Check your requests. Are they statements and not questions? Don't give too many at once. Is the child too busy? Have you failed to gain his attention? See also Communication > Not responding to instructions.
• In some cases the behaviour is due to a lack of understanding - the behaviour is produced to mask the inability to complete the task. Repeat the request in a simplified form and then ask the child what he has to do to check his understanding of the task.
• Refusals. If the child constantly refuses to perform a particular request give him the opportunity to do it for a very short period then heavily praise him. Over time, gradually increase the period he engages in the behaviour and decrease the amount of reinforcement.
• Follow through. If you have set up a particular consequence such as time out then you need to make sure you (and other staff) apply the consequence each time the behaviour is displayed. This can be tiring and time consuming so make sure you are prepared. If you have asked him to do something then you need to see that he follows it through and does it, even if you have to physically do it with him.
• Keep your sense of humour. This can be really difficult but it's important to keep your sense of humour and use it in appropriate situations. Not only will this help you see the funny side of situations, it will prevent you from becoming too stressed. Acting the fool can often be really effective as you are doing the exact opposite of what the child expects.

Behaviour modification – what works, what doesn’t?

Points to note

• It is far better to put strategies in place to prevent or minimise inappropriate behaviour than to react to that behaviour after it has occurred.
• All behaviour has a purpose or function that produces a result. For a child with autism, the desired result may be to reduce stress.
• Children with autism need a support plan to address behavioural issues. Generally, as inappropriate behaviour increases, so too does punishment. Punishment teaches children that they have done something wrong. However, it doesn’t teach what is appropriate or acceptable. This is especially important for children with autism.
• Children with autism should not be punished for inappropriate behaviour arising from their disorder, such as being inattentive, disorganised or misinterpreting verbal instructions.
• Time out may be ineffective for children with autism. In timeout, the ‘punishment’ is a break from a task that perhaps the child wanted to avoid in the first place. He is allowed to sit in the peace and quiet of the corridor which may be a great relief if the classroom noise causes him stress and anxiety.
• Short term strategies may keep the behaviour under control but long term strategies are required to avoid an increase in problems over time.
• When trying to decrease behaviours they will tend to get worse before they get better. In fact it is a good sign that the method is working if you notice increases in frequency and intensity for a short time.
• Remember to stay positive and look for small steps in the increase or decrease of the behaviour.

What you can do

• Complete a Behavioural Profile Checklist, Student Summary Form and The ABC of Inappropriate Behaviour. Use these forms to identify challenging behaviours requiring immediate action and develop a support plan to manage them.  Involve as many people as possible in the information-gathering process - parents, support staff etc.
• Only tackle behavioural issues that affect the child’s ability to learn, if it interferes with other students, or if it is a safety issue. Obsessive or odd behaviour may keep the child calm and does not necessarily inhibit learning. For example, the child may hum softly to himself or flick his fingers in front of his eyes to keep himself calm. If you tell him to stop he is likely to become even more anxious and upset as he tries to control the compulsive behaviour and cope with his stress at the same time.
• Introduce any changes gradually to minimise disruptive behaviour and use visual cues wherever possible.
• Most children with autism have an obsession or preferred area of interest. This interest can help teachers to identify appropriate rewards or motivators for the child. See Effective rewards and motivators.
• Maintain a consistent approach to inappropriate behaviour. Good communication between parents, teachers and support staff is essential in ensuring a consistent approach. Use a Communication Book.
• Questions to ask during information-gathering:-
  Which behaviours are most difficult or disruptive?
  What is happening immediately before the behaviour occurs?
  What do you believe is being communicated by the behaviour?                                    What skills does the child lack that may contribute to the inappropriate behaviour?
  Describe the consequences that have been tried to stop the behaviour?
  Which consequences have failed? Which, if any, have worked?
  What motivates the child? Think of his interests and obsessions.
  What might be an effective reward system for good behaviour?
  What strategies could be implemented to prevent this behaviour?
  What consequences will be used when the behaviour occurs in future?
• Use the The ABC of Inappropriate Behaviour to develop an action plan for undesirable behaviour.
• Remember lecturing won't alter the behaviour. Try not to use threats.
• Identify the consequences of behaviours. A negative consequence would be punishment, a positive consequence is something the child looks forward to happening. Positive consequences are far more powerful to either increase or decrease a behaviour. Sometimes the consequence you are giving the child may actually be reinforcing the behaviour, such as the timeout example above. Another example might be telling the child 'Well done!' in a shrill voice or clapping loudly. If the child is sensitive to noise this becomes more a punishmnent than a positive reinforcement.
• Time out. Time out is a consequence where the child is transferred to a less reinforcing (more boring) situation for a period of time immediately following an inappropriate behaviour. As time passes more slowly  for children, this is an effective way to deal with problem behaviours, especially if the behaviour involves non-compliance, hitting or antagonising others physically or verbally.
• Time out is often done incorrectly, making it unsuccessful in changing behaviour. In addition, it takes a period of time for the child to understand the process of time out and during this time their behaviours often increase and the amount of time used in taking them back to time out is considerable.
• Wherever possible, the situation or area the child is sent to should be devoid of any interesting or distracting objects. It should never be a dark room or small space, which could scare the child. It might be an empty hallway or quiet room. It can be a timeout chair rather than a room.
• What to do. Immediately following a behaviour say to the child in simple language that he is going to time out and the reason why. "Time out - no hitting." Remain calm. Take him to the time out area and do not engage in any other conservation. Ignore him during the time out.
• There are two methods to determine how long the child stays in time out - when he is calm or a set time limit. If you are waiting for the child to calm down and he is crying and likely to continue crying for some time, you can wait until he takes a breath and then say, "Good, no crying. Time out finished." If he continues to cry or be angry say "time out" and place him back in the room/chair. This can be done until he comes out of time out in a calm manner. With a timed response you may decide on 5 minutes and simply let the child out after that period.
• During time out. If the child leaves the room/chair escort him back as many times as necessary until he has calmed down or the time limit has been reached. You can leave a buzzer to tell the child when time out finishes.
• After time out. If you put the child in time out because he refused to comply with a request, get him to do the required behaviour after time out and if he does not comply put him back in time out. Once the behaviour ceases it is important to act as normally as possible with the child and not to reprimand him again.
• The child should always have a clear understanding of the kind of behaviour that will result in timeout. He should be able to explain, write or draw the reason for being given timeout.
• Always check whether you think the time out could be reinforcing the behaviour and use it sparingly!
• Use planned ignoring or extinction. This method can be particularly useful for inappropriate behaviour that is being reinforced by attention from another person, however its use is limited. It can only be used when you have been able to identify what is rewarding to the child and when you are able to modify this impact. For example, if you ignore the child but other children give him attention this method may not work.
• Planned ignoring / extinction involves not attending to the child's behaviour in any manner including avoiding eye contact, continuing with your present activity and giving no verbal contact.
• As with any behaviour change the child's behaviour will increase before it decreases and as such any tantrums will increase. You have to continue to ignore the child and this can be very trying. If the child puts himself in danger of being hurt then without talking remove him from the situation and continue to ignore him.
• Don't give in at the wrong time! This can make the original problem worse.
• It is essential that this method be paired with a reward system so that the child can learn the difference between ignoring him and when you give him attention for a desirable behaviour. However make sure that NO reinforcement follows the behaviour you are trying to weaken.
• Redirection and replacement. Replacement is prompting the child to act appropriately BEFORE he starts to display an inappropriate behaviour. Therefore you are trying to prevent undesirable behaviours before they occur. If you see the child becoming 'wound up' you can intervene first and direct him into another appropriate activity. This means being in the right place at the right time, perceiving the child's signals and pre-empting the situation. Redirection is a method used AFTER you see an inappropriate behaviour and you then prompt an appropriate one. For example, instead of throwing sand out of the sandpit, direct the child to fill a container with the sand.
• Incompatible behaviours. This is similar to redirection in that you use it AFTER an inappropriate behaviour is displayed. However instead of moulding the behaviour to a more appropriate one you introduce an activity that is incompatible with the problem behaviour. For example, if the child is squealing, have him blow bubbles until his urge to squeal has stopped. If he is flapping or biting his hands, give him something to hold onto such as a stress ball and say 'squeeze.' This is also encouraged by constructive instructions. Tell the child the behaviour you want him to perform rather than the behaviour you want him to stop. Instead of 'no flapping' say 'hands down'.
• Setting up the environment. The environment can play a large part in the behaviour the child displays. It is also often easier to change the environment than trying to change a behaviour that the child is displaying. Therefore it can be useful to 'set up' the environment to manage behaviours.
• An example of setting up the environment would involve shutting away equipment that the child likes to break before he enters the room and bringing it out later when there is an adult present to supervise or direct the child.
• Giving the child warnings of change, ie. when an activity will have to finish is also an important part of managing the environment. Therefore if you require the child to co-operate in carrying out some action, such as packing up, this can be managed more smoothly if he is warned in advance.
• Another way you can manage the environment is to alter time expectations. If 10 minutes is too long for him to sit with a group, change this expectation to 2 minutes and then slowly work your way up to the full 10 minutes. Alternatively you can put him outside the group and slowly bring him into it.
• Offer choices - give the child control. Many inappropriate behaviours occur due to requests or expectations that are too difficult for the child to accomplish. Constant commands and directions can also be frustrating for the child. It is important to give him choices so that he does not feel that he is constantly being 'bossed' around. Keep the choices limited to two and use visual cues as some children may only state the last or first thing they are offered rather than what they really want.
• In summary, an analysis of the negative behaviour needs to be undertaken, specifically looking at the communicative intent of the behaviour. When this intent has been identified, teachers and support staff can work on the skills the child needs to acquire to prevent this behaviour from re-occurring and put reward systems in place that will motivate the child to behave in an appropriate manner.
  
  

Creating a safe place

Points to note

• Children with autism may become stressed and disturbed in a classroom environment due to the amount of noise, movement and/or visual stimuli.
• Children with autism are vulnerable to being bullied and teased due to their unusual behaviour and they often lack the verbal skills to assert themselves.
• If a child has no friends, he may have no-one to talk to about his troubles or anxieties. A child with autism may not know whom to turn to when they need help or feel anxious.
• The social demands of the school environment create a great deal of stress for children with autism.
• A child with autism may feel threatened by the close proximity of others. He may feel stressed in a large group.
• When a child with autism is stressed, his ability to communicate may be significantly reduced; he may have trouble finding the words to say he needs to withdraw for a while.

What you can do

• A little forehought at the beginning of the year can have enormous benefits and will increase the child's ability to cope throughout the year.
• Consider the physical setup of the classroom and sit the child in a place that will maximise his ability to learn. See Physical setup of the classroom.
• Set up a comfortable area in the classroom where the child can listen to his favorite music or story through headphones. Incorporate a period of computer time – children with autism find learning from computers to be less stressful than group learning.
• Teach the child how to signal or communicate his distress and need for some time away from the situation causing distress..
• If possible, arrange access to the library or computer room at recess and lunchtime. This can be a safe place for the child if he is being bullied or teased, or just feeling anxious.

Fear of failure

Points to note

• Many children with autism are very particular about certain aspects of their work. He may insist on getting things right, starting an activity, making a mistake, then starting over again. He may have great difficulty completing a task.
• Some children become frustrated by their mistakes; scribbling over them or furiously rubbing them out until they make a hole in their paper. This causes even greater distress!
• Children with autism may be very reluctant to take part in any unfamiliar activity. They like to stick with preferred activities that they know they can do well.

What you can do

• Don’t comment on failure, just show the child the correct way.
• Avoid negative comments, like saying ‘no’ or ‘that’s not right’.
• Show the child that you make mistakes too and show him how you deal with them, ie. if you make a spelling mistake, you can simply put a line through the word.
• Build success into activities - ensuring that tasks are not too difficult.
• Children with autism might receive a lot of negative comments about their behaviour, so counter this with praise at every opportunity. Children with autism need a lot of encouragement. See also Self esteem and depression.

Lack of self control

Why does this happen?

• A child with poor language skills may ‘lash out’ or destroy things as a means of communication. The behaviour may be his way of saying, “I’m bored” or “It’s too noisy in here.” The child may lose all self control when he is stressed.
• A child with autism may appear to lack empathy and may not always understand the consequences of his actions. He may also have little understanding of his own mental state and that of others, so it's even harder for him to understand how his actions will affect others.
• The child may have a very low tolerance of frustration. He may struggle with an activity beyond the limit of his frustration, then 'lose it'. He may not seek adult help.
• The child may not understand or recognise social conventions. He may have poor emotional development, despite being quite talented in other areas. He may not be able to adjust his own behaviour in a way that is appropriate in a certain social context. He may not understand how his own behaviour looks from someone else’s perspective. He may be quite unconcerned by what other’s think of his outbursts. Adults may find it hard to understand these outbursts as this type of behaviour would normally be seen in a much younger child. Remember that emotional development is delayed in children with autism.
• A child might laugh or cry inappropriately when he is highly aroused or anxious.
• Children with autism are particularly vulnerable to being teased or bullied as they lack the skills to assert themselves. This can result in a sudden, angry release of tension. This may occur some time after the incident.

What can I do?

• Try to identify the trigger for the behaviour. If the behaviour is in response to stress there may need to be some adjustments to the child’s environment.
• A child with autism needs to be taught a standard phrase or signal, such as raising his hand to cue his teacher when he’s overwrought or needs help. Older, more able children can use a more subtle cue if they feel uncomfortable drawing attention to themselves, such as placing their pencil in an agreed position.
• Consider having a quiet area in or just outside the classroom. This can be a safe, secure area for the child when he needs a break from social pressures and classroom noise.
• Try traditional approaches like instructing the child to take a deep breath and count to ten.
• If the child spends recess and lunch breaks in theOutbursts of aggressive behaviour may be reduced by vigorous physical activity.
• Children with autism need help to develop self-awareness of their mental states, that is, to recognise feelings of stress or discomfort. Help the child understand and interpret emotions and encourage him to share his feelings and communicate this to his teacher or integration aide.
• Breaking down tasks into more manageable parts can prevent some problem behaviours.
• Try to respond calmly. If the child discovers that his behaviour causes a great deal of excitement and fuss it may become a hard habit to break.
• Try to find out whether the outburst is a result of teasing or bullying. The child may need supervision in the playground and be taught coping strategies. See also Coping in the playground.

Self esteem and depression

Why does this happen?

• Children with autism are particularly vulnerable to teasing and bullying because their unusual behaviour and social skills make them stand out. Bullies may see them as a soft target. This bullying can lead to poor self esteem.
• Because children with autism have poor social understanding and communication skills, they find it hard to make and keep friends. Attempts to form friendships might lead to ridicule or failure.
• The child may be ridiculed by his peers because he is not skilled in team sports or ball games. Children with autism may not enjoy the activities favoured by their peers.
• The child may lack coping skills – he will have trouble managing stress and anxiety. He might frequently feel like he is out of control.
• While young children with autism are likely to be less aware of their differences, depression in adolescence is high. Therefore it is important for the child to develop a positive sense of self esteem from an early age.

What you can do

• Foster the child’s interests and obsessions. Creatively work the child’s interests into lesson plans. Allow him to share his expertise with the rest of the class. This will encourage him, motivate him in his learning and improve self-confidence.
• Many children with high functioning autism have reading or other skills far beyond their developmental age. They can help to ‘tutor’ other students.
• Many children with autism are great with computers; the child might be appointed the class ‘computer expert’. Computers are not only a great learning tool, computing is an excellent career choice for those with autism.
• Students with autism are visual learners. Build on this strength. Reward good work or behaviour with a note of appreciation with accompanying pictures. This can be extremely rewarding for a child who is constantly being reprimanded for inappropriate behaviour.
• Reward even minor improvements in behaviour.
• Encourage the student to keep a scrap book of his best work. This can be reviwed whenever he is feeling down.
• Help the child to monitor his moods – help him identify good feelings. You might say, “You feel proud that you did that!” and “That’s a big smile - I can tell that you are happy.”
• It is essential that the school policy on bullying and harrassment is enforced to ensure that children with autism are free from harrassment.
• Watch for signs that the child is experiencing serious difficulties and alert the child’s parents if you feel he needs medical attention.

Stress and anxiety

"Sara is anxious and refuses to go to the toilet at school - she has a phobia about spiders."

Why does this happen?

• A child with autism may experience fear based on a connection made from a single frightening experience. A situation that has previously caused anxiety can trigger a fearful reaction, even an extreme over-reaction.
• Avoidance can allow this fear to grow out of all proportion. The child is therefore unable to learn that his fears may actually be without foundation.
• Children with autism can be overly sensitive to certain sensory stimuli, such as sudden noises like applause.
• Children with autism can experience stress from the everyday challenges of coping with change and sensory input. Walking out of class can be a sign that the child is suffering from unbearable stress.
• Children with autism lack a strong coping mechanism to deal with stress. This is because they have difficulty identifying their own emotions. Some do not have close friends to talk to about their fears, or they lack the ability to verbalise their fears and anxieties.
• Children with autism respond to stress in the same way as anybody else. They find it extremely unpleasant and try to reduce or avoid it as it adversely affects their ability to learn and function.
• When the child is stressed he is more likely to fail, this in turn leads to further stress.
• While we all experience stress it is a greater problem for people with autism because they experience severe stress far more frequently than most people do and they are less able to deal with it effectively.
• Children on the spectrum can be divided into two categories as to why they find it more difficult to cope with their stress. 1) They have a lack of recognition of their own stress in its early stages. 2) They lack the knowledge of what to do about their stress if and when they recognise it.
• Their lack of recognition stems from their general poor self-awareness. Children on the spectrum often have a less developed concept of their bodies and as such they find it difficult to know where parts of their body are in space without looking at them. They also find it difficult to copy another's movements.
• Children with autism often don't have close friends that they can talk to and confide in about their fears and anxieties.
• A small number of children with autism develop anxiety disorders such as panic attacks or OCD. This can be a sign that the child is experiencing severe difficulty with sensory processing and/or the social demands of school.
• The child may have learnt ways of dealing with stress that are inappropriate but work for him, therefore he sees no reason for change. You will need to be supportive, reassuring and help the child develop appropriate relaxation techniques to bring about a change.
• They also find it difficult to attend to, label and interpret the signals of their body and they often do not recognise particular messages as feelings indicating their mental states (anger, fear) or sensations indicating the physical state of their body (headache, thirst).
• In summary, children with autism experience the same feelings of stress and anxiety as everyone else, but they have difficulty locating them, are unaware of them or do not understand what they mean.

What you can do

• If the child has a particular fear, choose a time when he is calm, perhaps in an activity that he enjoys. Progressively expose him to the source of the problem. Visualisation can also be helpful, eg. help a child overcome a fear of spiders by visualising a dead spider in a far corner.
• Talk to the child’s parents to find out if an occupational therapist has conducted an assessment and sensory profile.
• It is important to develop awareness of the signs that the child is stressed. He may not reveal his stress through his voice or body posture the way that other children do. The cues may be very subtle. Or the stress may trigger challenging or repetitive behaviour.
• When the child experiences stress, his ability in most areas will be affected:

           - his understanding of language decreases,

           - his ability to adequately express himself decreases,

           - his awareness of others and the cues they give is reduced,

           - he is not able to concentrate as well,

           - he will have difficulty focusing on relevant information,

           - his sensory systems will be over-stimulated so he won't cope as well with noise, visual   stimuli and other sensations,

           - his ability to control inappropriate behaviour decreases, and

           - it is harder for him to use constructive problem solving.

• Teaching recognition of stress. Learning to pay attention to and correctly interpret the messages of the body is vital. Help and encourage the child to label feelings and physical sensations.
• Provide examples of a situation with accompanying physical sensation or emotion. Eg. "When I hear someone yell, I feel funny in the stomach, this is worried." or "Your face is red, you are frowning, your body is stiff - you're angry."
• Use a mirror or role play, find pictures, make a scene, play music, write a social story, talk about why / what happens to make a person feel a certain way.
• Once the child is able to label some feelings help him to identify situations when he might feel one of those emotions. Hopefully he will then learn to be able to identify beforehand situations that he finds difficult and then start to think about and be prepared to use coping strategies.
• Some children will appear quiet and compliant in class, but become aggressive the minute they get home. This indicates a high level of stress at school but is often misinterpreted as coping at school and poor behaviour at home. It is in fact a release of tension in a safe place. It is important to have open and regular lines of communication between parents and teachers to fully understand how the student is coping.
• Physical exercise (running, bike riding, jumping on a trampoline) is a good way of letting go of accumulated stress. Stress balls or a 'mad bag' that the child can take his frustration out on, may also be useful.
• Allowances may need to be made regarding homework. The school day can leave the child so stressed that he needs the evening to relax and unwind. Perhaps set aside some school time for the child to do homework or reduce the tasks he is required to do.
• Note signs of stress on the Student Summary Form - this will help other staff and relieving teachers understand the child.

Managing unusual behaviour

Why does this happen?

• Many inappropriate and difficult behaviours can be linked to high levels of anxiety, such as humming to mask out disturbing sounds, finger flicking or tapping a pencil to stay calm when feeling anxious. This behaviour is often the child's way of controlling an unpredictable world, hence reducing anxiety.
• Repetitive and self-stimulatory behaviour may be a kind of hobby for the child – he may enjoy the sensation. It may also help to keep the child feeling safe and calm. Sensory thresholds vary in children with utism; those with high thresholds will seek out stimulation.
• Self-injurious behaviour may be seen when the child is experiencing extreme anxiety or frustration.
• Self-injury may be an attempt to mask the physical pain of a medical condition. Self-injury has also been associated with epileptic seizures.
• Time out may be an effective means of controlling behaviour in children with autism. See Behaviour modification for more information.

What you can do

• Attempts to stop repetitive or self-stimulatory behaviour are unlikely to succeed. The behaviour serves a purpose so it is important to replace it with something more acceptable. Telling an anxious child to stop humming or tapping his foot is likely to cause him greater anxiety as he will have to try to control his compulsive behaviour as well as cope with his anxiety. Be alert to the physical signs that the child is becoming anxious and note these on the Student Summary Form
• Identify any sources of anxiety. Note when and where the behaviour occurs. If possible, make changes to the environment to reduce stress on the child.
• Help the child to develop greater self-awareness by interpreting emotions for him and encouraging him to communicate his feelings of distress.
• Lecturing will not alter the behaviour. Avoid using threats.
• Reward and pay attention to the student when he is working well and displaying good behaviour.
• Repetitive behaviour may be modified by allowing the child to perform this behaviour only at certain times or in a particular place. Another alternative is to restrict behaviour such as hand flapping to small ‘flaps’ inside the child’s pocket or shirt. Allowing the child to carry a small favourite toy or object in his pocket could successfully modify this behaviour. It might be something related to his obsession, such as a small dinosaur or toy train, or a scrap of soft or fluffy material that the child likes to touch.
• Encourage vigorous physical activity to help burn up feelings of anxiety and stress.
• Give the child an alternate behaviour so that he knows what behaviour you are asking for. Instead of saying "Stop tapping your ruler" you might say "Keep your hands still." Some children with autism just don't know what they should do when told to stop an inappropriate behaviour.
• When trying to decrease an inappropriate behaviour things may get worse before they get better. If the behaviour does increase in frequency or intensity for a short period this is often a good sign that the method is working. Stay positive and look for small improvements