self harm

[bunny85]

hello there im after a wee bit of advice my 7 year old has autism and as the title says he has started self harming if he gets upset in anyway or doesnt get his way or does something silly so he has to be told off he has started to bang his head on anything he can and also wish himself hurt eg he would say that he is going to stand in the road and let a bus run over him now this is very upsetting for me to hear but he has only been doing this in front of me so i did think it had something to do with that i had a baby in june but today he was at my brother and his son wanted to play something that he didnt want to play so he started to call himself stupid and that noone likes him and the started banging his head off the bed and hitting himself with anything he could get his hands on.... he has also started picking his nose until it bleeds and i can get him to stop for a few days by telling him he will get a treat but as soon as he get the treat he picks it again i really dont know what i can do to help him i dont get any help off anyone i feel like i got told he has autism and that was it so i dont know where to turn to get help for him but i really dont want to see him hurt and upset
thanks for reading and i will look forward to any advice
xx

 

[Adanma]

I can't say I have advice for you, but I do feel for you. My son with Asperger's is sensory seeking in many ways and when he becomes frustrated, angry, or even really excited he will pinch himself to the point of bruising and blood. We have managed to get him to do some other sensory seeking activity when he starts that. We give him a "mushy" something he can squeeze instead of himself or gum to chew. We let him jump around and spin around.

As far as the putting himself down, I have noticed Ian does this as well. He says no one loves me and I don't want to be alive anymore! Or he screams about hating his stupid brain. It's really hard as his mom who loves him sooo much to hear him talk like that. It is something we are working on with his developmental specialist and his psychologist. I just reassure him that he is loved and has a beautiful brain and how sad I would be if he wasn't in my world. Also, a lot of times logic will work with him like he use dto say he was leaving to live on his own and I would say well how will you get there? He would say his car. I would say but you don't have a drivers license! etc until finally I would just say, well I guess you're stuck with us for a little while longer... and it would pass. I wish I had more to offer to you, but I do hope something can be found to help manage this. How stressful!

Adanma