tips for handling hitting - speech delay

[shopgirl771]

my LB hits out sometimes when he plays. its been happening for ages now and is because he has speech delays and so gets frustrated that he cant communicate. hes starting to to show signs of trying to communicate to resolve but sometimes still hits out.

im wondering if anyone has any tips for dealing with this. we do naughty step. after all its still no excuse to hit even if there is a reason for it but im feeling like im not dealing with this very well. maybe im just fed up of it. i just feel like i need to try another approach.

hes got other issues - possible adhd/aspergers/autism so his understanding is very limited so i cant launch into any big speeches. i dont believe children his age understand reasoning anyway.

ive tried social stories about hitting and helpful hands and all that.

x

 

[patch2006uk]

Could you introduce some sign language? We've found it amazingly helpful to have a non-verbal communication method with Isaac, even though his speech is very good. It allows him to express himself in 2 different ways, and it keeps his hands busy

 

[shopgirl771]

i like that idea. what sort of signs could you suggest?
ive kind of tought him to say firmly stop and raise his hand up in a stop gesture as 90% of the time he hits as someone is encroaching on his play (he is quite anti social in that manner). hes just starting to get to grips with that one tho.

 

[patch2006uk]

It's really up to you! We started when Isaac was 3 months old, so we started with very simple signs like 'milk' and 'all gone', but now we just introduce any that are relevant. Animals are a good one, as they often resemble the action. And emotions might help your LO. Maybe simple commands - stop, go, come, follow, find. And some useful concepts like 'all gone', 'enough' and 'more', and maybe the questions words - why, when, where, how, who.

There are loads of fab signing resources. I like
https://www.signedstories.com (BSL signed books and stories)
https://www.signstation.org/index.php/bsl-dictionary/desktop-dictionary (basic online BSL dictionary)
https://signmonkey.net/all (alternative BSL dictionary)
https://www.deafbooks.co.uk/FREE-Downloads_B4-4.aspx (some free signing resources)

We also watch Mr Tumble, although his signs are Makaton rather than BSL, so are slightly different to the ones in the links I've posted.

Signing is great fun And watching them try out the shapes and hand movements is super cute, too. Hope you have some luck with it

 

[Lulabelle27]

Hello, we have been teaching our LO a kind of sign lanuage to help her not be so frustrated when she wants/doesnt want something.

what about an action like hands crossed and moving them apart to mean 'enough or end'

hands up by his shouldners, plams flat facing upwards for all gone

more obvious ones like thumbs up and down - good/bad

hands together, plams facing up, held roughly level with your chin to mean please/thank you

fists together facing yourself to mean no/stop/enough

There are lots of positive ones you could teach too, I have focussed more on the stop/enough ones so he can communicate frustration before he hits out - i hope that's ok.

I hope this helps. What I would say is there are different kinds of sign language and I don't think it would do any harm to adapt some ideas to suit yourselves. That is what we had to do as i honestly couldn't remember everythign properly but in the end it works for us.

 

[patch2006uk]

^That's true, you can adapt sign language to be more personal. We have stuck to BSL, as LO has a potentially degenerative hearing loss, so we may need to rely on it as primary communication as he gets older.

If you stick to BSL, then you are technically teaching LO a second language, and one which is understood by a whole community, rather than just your immediate family