Re: Biting, aggression

[Guest guest]

Our soon to be 10 year old grandson has attacks of aggression, pinching or

biting. They seem to come in cycles. It has been over two weeks since his

last attack. If he is in pain, he will reach out and pinch whoever is near

him. We try to find out what is causing the pain and take care of it. We

have also taught him when he feels bad to get his blanket and go to bed until

he feels better. If he is pushed to do something he doesn't want to do; he

will pinch. I think we have eliminated that by giving him choices and being

more attuned to his feelings. He will pinch sometimes if not given what he

wants, but I have pretty well eliminated that by explaining why and giving

him an alternative. Sometimes Karac will pinch because he is annoyed by too

much talking going on around him; I acknowledge to him that I understand what

is bothering him and I try to minimize it or help him cope with it by giving

him something to do like color,write, or cut. Sometimes Karac will pinch

just to get attention; that we put on extinction. I don't know about your

grandson; they are all so different, but with Karac it has been in some

instances his only way of comunicating. Hang in there. God bless, Pat K

[Guest guest]

Hi

My son Tommy used to do the same thing. Just a year ago, we moved

and it set off a chain of events for us. He had never been self

abusive up to this point.. He had began to bite himself, and/or

anyone near him when his aggression would kick in. Note- there was a

VERY fine line between his aggression and NONaggression. He was like

a walking timebomb. We tried everything from dicipline, redirection,

restraining etc. Tommys biting was getting so out of control, that

he LITTERALLY bit himself so hard once that he lost a tooth in the

process. The following week, he bit ME so hard, he lost another

tooth. One night, he went to bite my husband, and instead of my

husband reacting to the bite, he grited his teeth, and just continued

talking to me (NOT easy to do, but he did it!..haha) When my husband

didnt react, tommy got a scared look on his face and ran to his room

crying.. we still gave him no reaction. He then came back to my

husband with a bandaid and wanted to " fix daddy " . From that moment

on, when he exibits behaviors, we simply dont draw attention to

them. 9 times out of 10, he's just doing it to seek attention. If

its a NEW behavior, of course we'll address it, explain that it is

unacceptable and tell him why... thats the only time i'll address a

behavior with him. Of course, if he is REALLY hurting himself, i

dont suggest LETTING him do so.. you have to use your best

judgement. I just wanted to share my story with you, in hopes that

it might somehow help. Also, try lowering the DMG by 1/4 a teaspoon..

that was a major thing for us as well.

SIncerely

Rhonda

> Hello, I just joined this group. My grandson who is 6, nonverbal

> except for a few words he uses, has begun biting, hard! He gets

very

> aggressive when he is directed to do something he doesn't want to

do,

> or is told he can't do something he wants to do. He has been a

very

> non aggressive and sweet child up until now. He has always

exhibited

> self abusive behaviors since his autism emerged at age 2. He is on

> the GF/CF diet, vitamins, sometimes TMG, magnesium, but no meds as

of

> yet. Are there any parents out there that have children that do

> this? By the way, I have cared for Tristan since birth. His mom

and

> he lives with us. I am the one that has researched and pursued

> interventions. Carlson

[Guest guest]

Forgive the clinical tone to this but here is what I've learned about

biting...Biting is a very difficult behavior to deal with, its a

response that DEMANDS that the bitee do something. Ignoring it is

next to impossible, and that makes it a highly functional/useful

behavior for children that bite. Why useful or functional? You need

to look at how biting " functions. " That is, behavior has some

function, I can open the door with my hand, elbow (I'm very

talented), or my foot if I am careful. ALl of these behaviors are

different, but they have the SAME function...that is, to open the

door. Ask yourself, what preceeds biting, and what follows biting,

and you'll find your first points of intervention. How des biting

function in this case? What happens immediately before it, and what

results from biting.

You mentioned that its usually when a demand is placed on him. This

tells us the situations he's likely to bite. Does he escape from

doing the task or demand? If so, the likely " function " of the

behavior is it " get out of doing what you want... " Again, why is

biting a useful/functional behavior for a young child such as your.

Because its a response that almost ALWAYS forces you to respond. He

always get what he wants (and in this case I am hypothesizing that

its to get out of the demand situation - and I could be wrong because

I have not sen it myself...). Perhaps, on the other had, that you

don't allow him out of the task/demand situation, but that as a

result of the bite a " big production " or a lot of attention is

generated from the bite. This may temporarily delay the task/demand

(which can contribute as a functional reinforcer for biting) while

you are talking/scolding/redirecting/etc your child. It may be a

combination of both these things.

THe key to " figuring " this out is to look at what preceeds the

behavior and what follows it. That will tell you what interventions

to start with. I wish I could tell you, " ...if its attentions seeking

behavior, well heck, just don't attend to that beahvior! " But that is

almost impossible because of the type of behavior this is, biting

hurts etc...but certainly reducing the attention it generates is a

good start. If you find that you are allowing him to escape the

task/demand situation, try not to allow this to occur and when he

does complete or do the things you ask, reinforce the HECK out of his

behavior so its worth it to do that behavior and not bite.

I would also suggest that you try and possibly teach a functional

replacement behavior for the biting. For example, if biting allows

him to escape, perhaps teaching him to sign escape (put your fists

togeather at the thumbs and make like you are snapping a pencil) will

reduce the incidence of biting. Espceially if, when he does this, you

allow him to escape EVERY time (albiet temporarily). Couple this with

any other " consequences " you may want to put in place if he does

bite, and you are well on your way to setting the contrast in the

contingencies support or not supporting biting.

Things you should do (keep in mnd that I have not seen your kiddo so

I am sort of throwing it all out there and a professional would be

able to help focus your interventions...disclaimer over! :-) ):

(1) determine the function - what happends before and after biting?

(2) minimize your attention given during an incident of biting.

(3) try not to allow him to escape the task/demand situation if you

determine that the function is escape.

(4) teach an alternative to biting

(5) Reinforce the heck out of following through on your tasks/demands

(6) reinforce the heck out of doing the alternative behavior.

(7) Minimize the reinforcers for biting (see 2 & 3, also look to see

if biting results in you giving him things/toys as a redirect, he may

have learned that I bite, and you gie me toys...perhaps, I've seen it

happen).

(8) Think about introducing consequences for biting.

Overall, the goal is always to minimze reinforcers for biting,

increase reinforcers for non-biting behavior, especially a specific

behavior that competes with biting (e.g., signing the " break "

response), and perhaps having some consequence for biting to really

set the contrast between the available good stuff for not biting

(i.e., doing appropriate behvaior) and the not so fun consequences

that happen when he does bite....

Hope that helps. This is a tough behavior to tackle, again because

its such an invasive behavior. The suggestions here are very general,

and I'd suggest you find someone to help if you can. There is always

more to explain in dealing with this, but I have to go to work :-)

Later.

> Hello, I just joined this group. My grandson who is 6, nonverbal

> except for a few words he uses, has begun biting, hard! He gets

very

> aggressive when he is directed to do something he doesn't want to

do,

> or is told he can't do something he wants to do. He has been a

very

> non aggressive and sweet child up until now. He has always

exhibited

> self abusive behaviors since his autism emerged at age 2. He is on

> the GF/CF diet, vitamins, sometimes TMG, magnesium, but no meds as

of

> yet. Are there any parents out there that have children that do

> this? By the way, I have cared for Tristan since birth. His mom

and

> he lives with us. I am the one that has researched and pursued

> interventions. Carlson

[Guest guest]

, started getting aggressive some time back when he did not get his

way. That was when I was trying to wean him off the Risperdal because I did

not like the fact that he started wetting himself and the bed after he got

on it. His Regional Center Telemedicine Psychiatrist suggested that I keep

him on the Risperdal for at least a year. Then he upped his dose. The

aggression stopped.

BTW, I also have had my grandson since he was dx'd. I also am the one who

does the investigating. Their mom is also bipolar (finally got her dx) and

cannot keep the information in her head or lots of time, understand it. We

have a full house now that we have her and all three of her kids living with

us. Keeps a grandma busy.

Betty --Buspar 20 mg & Effexor XR 150 mg., Omega 3's 3000 mg

grandmother and guardian to

age 10 Bipolar Homeschooled now-1000 mg Depakote, DDVAP, Omega 3's

1000 mg,

Evan age 8 nonverbal autism--2.75 mg. Risperdal, Omega 3's 1000 mg

age 6 Bipolar, PTSD-- 20 mg Adderall, 500 mg Depakote, .1 mg

Clonidine, Omega 3's 1000 mg

and mother to , their mother, rapid cycling bipolar = Topamax 30 mg.

wife to Bob =on too many meds to mention

----- Original Message -----

From: " ckcarlson52 " <ckcarlson@...>

> Hello, I just joined this group. My grandson who is 6, nonverbal

> except for a few words he uses, has begun biting, hard! He gets very

> aggressive when he is directed to do something he doesn't want to do,

> or is told he can't do something he wants to do. He has been a very

> non aggressive and sweet child up until now. He has always exhibited

> self abusive behaviors since his autism emerged at age 2. He is on

> the GF/CF diet, vitamins, sometimes TMG, magnesium, but no meds as of

> yet. Are there any parents out there that have children that do

> this? By the way, I have cared for Tristan since birth. His mom and

> he lives with us. I am the one that has researched and pursued

> interventions. Carlson

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, my 9 yo used to bite and now he pinches VERY HARD. I wish I had some magic

answers, but have none. Just reinforcing and teaching, and we're STILL working

at it.

Good Luck~~

Rose

Biting, aggression

Hello, I just joined this group. My grandson who is 6, nonverbal

except for a few words he uses, has begun biting, hard! He gets very

aggressive when he is directed to do something he doesn't want to do,

or is told he can't do something he wants to do. He has been a very

non aggressive and sweet child up until now. He has always exhibited

self abusive behaviors since his autism emerged at age 2. He is on

the GF/CF diet, vitamins, sometimes TMG, magnesium, but no meds as of

yet. Are there any parents out there that have children that do

this? By the way, I have cared for Tristan since birth. His mom and

he lives with us. I am the one that has researched and pursued

interventions. Carlson