Autism question (biting issue)?

Question

I am a 1st year special education teacher. Working with autism focus class (kinder). Mother of 2 kids children on the spectrum. 1 of my students bites, doesn't sit in Circle Time very long, falls to ground and disrupts my other 9 students. Any advice regarding positive behavior modification is appreciated.

Answer 1

I teach students with autism and we also had problems with circle time.  I used some small hula hoops from the dollar store and everyone had one.  They had to stay on their "island" during circle time so they could get their break time afterwards.  I've seen other people use carpet squares, pictures on the carpets, or the student's name on an index card with velcro on the back (the male side of velcro usually sticks to carpet).

If the child is in a chair have an assitant sit behind with his/her feet on the legs to keep the chair straight.  Set a timer and have the child sit for a certain amount of time, whatever he can handle (it might even be only 2-3 minutes at first).  Put the timer where he can see it, and when it goes off he gets to get up and take a short break, or get a drink, or stretch, or do whatever, with an assistant if possible.  He gets a one-two minute break, then comes back to circle time and the whole cycle is repeated.  Gradually lengthen the amount of time he is expected to sit in circle time.

Visuals can be helpful, too.  Maybe he can earn a sticker for every two minutes he's sitting and on task, or something to help him understand how long he's going to be doing something, or even a timer that he can look at.

The biting is more difficult.  Have you tried a chew tube or teether?  We get ours through our occupational therapist, and it's just a length of aquarium tubing on a thing that hooks onto their shirts so it doesn't get lost.  Gum or something like that can also be substituted, depending on the child's abilities/preferences of course.

If he's biting out of anger or frustration that's a little harder to deal with.  Get the behavior analyst to come do an FBA and create a behavior plan.  You might try rewarding him really heavily and often at first for not biting, then backing off.  You could also have a time out chair, and put him there every time he bites someone.  You can make visuals that say biting=time out, no biting, etc.  and hold them up to him, put them on a lanyard around his neck, tape them to his desk, etc.

If you can catch him as he goes to bite you can stick his own hand or arm in his mouth and tell him no biting.

In extreme cases an aversive such as sour candy spray or something else that tastes bad can be used, but you really need the cooperation of the parent, behavior analyst, and adminstration before doing something like that, and it needs to be a really severe problem that hasn't responded to any other intervention.

Unfortunately, every behavior doesn't respond to positive behavior support, and sometimes a child just needs to be told no, especially if it's a dangerour behavior, like biting.

Also try talking to the parent and find out what they do at home when he bites; it may be something you can carry over at school, which should help him all around.

Good luck!

Answer 2

My wife, a special education teacher, said you have to find out what they like and give it to them when they are on task.  Make sure you get them away from peers and stimulation when they begin to show signs of a tantrum.

Kindergarten children with autism are like 2-year-olds.  They don't like to be touched and seem to be disconnected from their senses.  Rocking is a strategy they use to help themselves cope.

She also said to stay calm and don't get emotional with them.  And pray a lot.

Recommended:  Thinking in Pictures, by Temple Grandin, an adult author with autism.

If this or another answer here proves helpful in your research, you can encourage good answers by choosing one answer as the "best answer."

Cheers,

Bruce

Answer 3

You could try putting two cardboard 'feet' cutouts on the floor, encourage the child to put their feet on the cutouts to encourage sitting. Using  a 'pecs' strip with circle time then ........., this being a reinforcer. Or you could try 'pick up sticks', have a small pot of modelling matchsticks and each time the child displays a negative behaviour you pour the sticks on the floor, starting with maybe 5 or 10, and then ask them to pick up, this distracts the child from the behaviour, so each time the child bites you ask them to pick up sticks or each time they drop to the floor they pick up sticks, eventually the child will get up immediately from the flor if shown the sticks and will stop biting if they have to pick up sticks,  we have successfully used this strategy in my school, good luck.

Answer 4

Some of what you describe sounds like sensory issues. With my child he also had a hard time stying in his seat during class, what the school OT did was give him a weighted lap pad and it worked.  Now what works for one child may not work with another, but it can not hurt to try. I do agree with alot of these other answers you do need to stay calm when he does it and you should probably get with other specialist (or IEP team) and come up with a plan of action. You should also try researching local support groups and or hospitals as they do often provide workshops and  seminar meetings on behavioral tips when dealing with sensory integration and ASD. I would also like to address the first answer Bruce. Great answer but not all kids with autism have the same exact behavior. Not all kindergartners with autism rock, act like 2 year old's, or avoid physical contact.

Answer 5

what  he might need is someone who can take him out of the room to walk the halls for "cool down" time this helped my son. (he did not bit, but had meltdowns when he was overwhelmed) also  if you get one of those big medicine balls where he can lay on his belly or back and roll back and forth on it that well help him calm down if you have an  adult helper to help him

Answer 6

Before you can do anything regarding positive behavior modification, you must look at two things.  First, whether or not there is a sensory integration issue with the child.  And if not, second, you must do a functional assessment of behavior.  That is, you must understand the purpose of the behavior before you can come up and facilitate a successful behavior plan.  

First, you must look if there is sensory issues for the child.  This is so important and often overlooked.  There might be a particular light or a fan making a specific sound that is interfereing with the child's ability to focus in class.  It is not prudent to jump into making a behavior plan without first considering any sensory issues of the child first.

Second, you must do observation and analysis of a ABC chart.  One thing to really understand is that there is a purpose of all behavior.  Generally, the function of behavior falls into 4 categories: A) attention seeking; B) access to tangibles or preferred activities; C) escape from tasks or demands; and D) self-stimulatory behaviors.  

If you can discern what the purpose of the behavior is first, then you can create a plan to correct it.  Before all this occurs, you must to an observation and data collection.  This is called the ABCs of behavior A is the antecedent which is what was going on exactly right before the behavior occured.  B is the behavior in detail and C is the consequence of the behavior.  The consequence includes what your reaction to the behavior is and what the child's reation to your reaction.

By having this info collected over a short period of time, you should be able to determine what the function of the behavior is.  Once that is determined, you can easily create a behavior plan that will place the previous excess behavior on extinction.  

It is also important that when you place a behavior on extinction, that you teach replacement behaviors.  This is always important because once you no longer reinforce the maladaptive behavior you must teach the child the appropriate and functional behavior to meet the previous needs.

Answer 7

Take some data... find out why or what situations he is most likely to bite. Is it just circle time every day... or other times across his day? What specifically about circle time? Set up a data sheet and take ABC data (Antecedent-Behavior-COnsequence). The idea is that you want to find the function or the "why" he is engaging in that behavior.

In the literature of Applied Behavior ANalysis, there are 4 functions typically considered when evaluating function of behavior (tangible, social attention, escape, automatic/sensory). For example, if you find out that he is biting to escape circle time (negative reinforcment hypothesis), you could then be able to identify an appropriate intervention. For example if you find he is biting to escape circle time, you may introduce (train up) a break card or PEC so that he can use that instead of biting to get out of circle time... You would have to give him the break upon each request (at first), then fade your schedule of reinforcement)

If he is biting to gain access to teacher attention or because he is trying to tell you something, you would do the same thing... introduce an alternative behavior (e.g., handraising, or "excuse me") and reinforce that with tons of attention...

You see, that's how you determine the reinforcer... the function or the "why" serves as the reinforcer... do not arbitrarily put in food or stickers (unless that is what they are having behaviors in the first place for)