Disciplining?

[lusterleaf]

I have a 2.5 year old son (non verbal ASD) and each morning it is a debacle just to get him out of the house. He goes to a special needs school and I drop him off there before going to work each morning. He fights me each morning when leaving the house, always drops to the floor and throws a tantrum and I have to lift him as he is yelling and crying and wriggling his body/waiving his arms. Sometimes he will try to scratch me. Today he did not want to sit in his car seat and when we got to school he was obsessed with going into an elevator that was in the hallway. I had to pick him up and carry him down the hallway over to his classroom where he was fighting me the entire way. When he got to the classroom he dropped to the floor again. It doesn't help that I am 29 weeks pregnant and already exhausted. I swear this kid is going to put me into early labor!

Anyway what discipline tactics do you use? I feel like when I say NO or raise my voice he won't listen, I am not sure if its because he is being a 2.5 year old or his receptive language is also poor. Right now I can still pick him up carry him out of the house (even though its getting tiring) but I am just thinking of when he gets older and I am no longer able to.

 

[PresqueVu]

This thread could be worth a read: Meltdown tactics and support

IMO I'm not sure discipline is always possible, at least from what I've seen and read about things, if the understanding/listening isn't there you just need to wait it out until they calm down enough to be able to listen/interact again.

Does you school offer any support/groups that you could go to?

 

[lozzy21]

Rather than disapline I feel you would get more out of a proactive approach. What you have said is totally normal behaviour for a child his age regardless of if they are on the spectrum or not. Do you have a picture board? Iv found these work very well to help reduce behaviours so you could have a picture of a bowl and spoon for breakfast, then a sink for getting washed, then a picture of his clothes for getting dressed, then the car and then a picture of the front of the school. You might be able to put all 5 steps up in one go or do it in two parts if he struggles with that many steps.

 

[Starry Night]

When do you show the picture board? Where do you place them? My son really struggles with concepts of time. If I tell him something he wants it NOW.

I've started taking my son to playgroup the past 2 weeks and I try to tell him about it ahead of time but each morning he throws a huge fit even though he has had so much fun once we are there.

My son is 3 1/2 and has some verbal skills and seems to understand some simple 2 step instructions. But he has a low attention span and is constantly loud so it's hard for me to make myself heard.

 

[Reid]

I've bumped the meltdowns tactics and support thread for you. Xx

 

[lozzy21]

You place it on a wall where they can easily see it. You don't have to do times but as your explaining it say things like first we need breakfast, then we get washed and point to the picture board as you do it. Then when breakfast has been ate you take that down, move the picture related to getting washes to the first box and then add a picture of some clothes and say something like now we need to get washed then we get dressed and so on as your day progresses.