Autism Awareness Day 13

Autism Awareness Day 13 - Dr. Solomon's magic trick. Before Draiman was officially diagnosed with Autism he had begun hitting a lot. When I say a lot I mean it too, it was constant. He couldn't communicate verbally and he would get really frustrated so he would hit people. He would hit his brother, he would hit us, he would hit anyone that he became frustrated with or didn't want to listen to. It was becoming a big problem and we were having one heck of a time to get him to stop.

Then the day we took him to Dr. Solomon for diagnosis we learned an awesome trick. Dr. Solomon told us that the very next time he hit us we needed to take hold of his hands and not let go. He said that we should look Draiman in the face and tell him that we understood his frustration but that he was not allowed to hit. We needed to explain to him in simple terms that it was not ok to hit and that he must find another way to express his anger. Dr. Solomon said to hold his hands still the entire time we said that and then to look away from him and count to 30 while still holding his hands still. He said that once we were done counting to 30 we should look him in the face again and tell him that we loved him but that it was not ok to hit. Then after that we could let go of his hands. Dr. Solomon explained that the 30 plus seconds of holding his hands would be like torture or severe punishment so he would not want to suffer those consequences again and that we needed to also acknowledge his frustration even if we weren't sure he understood it. Then of course it was important for him to know that we loved him too.

Well that same night when we got home Draiman was angry and hit me. I did exactly what Dr. Solomon said to do. Draiman struggled fiercely and you could tell he hated it. He did not like having his hands held still like that for anything. I wasn't sure how well it was going to work but would you believe that was the end of hitting. It took one time and he pretty much completely stopped hitting. Now he will now again hit his brother when they get to fighting but it's rare and nothing like what it was before that day.