I suggest reading the books from author Ellen Notbohm: Ten Things Your Student With Autism Wishes You Knew and Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew. It will help explain why he acts out, why he has certain behaviors, how to handle it, etc.; they are both very informative and very helpful.

It seems as if sometimes we need to think outside the box in these situations. He obviously needs to be in much smaller groups. Sometimes others behaviors no matter how vague they seem to you and I are largely present to these kids. Like the hand holding incident,the hand holding short term was ok until his senses decided the “grasp” was too much,or too sweaty for his perception. If we could realize that all his senses are amplified and are over enunciated to the point of being unbearable. I realize we try to get thses kids to conform to our so called normal world but there are times where it is just not going to work out. Maybe during track he could just start his run at a delayed start. Hes not there tobreak anyntrack record and never will so at least he is moving his body and spending energy. I know from experience those assemblies of 200 plus kids in a gym area can be loud. Louder yet to him,to the point he wants to slap someone. Smells are also amplified,so consider this as well. Is this school for Autistic children? I doubted so as I read where he was expected to attend these assemblies. Try a pair of those disposable ear plugs sometime (if you think he can tolerate them) My son got great relief from them. This was the first year in 14 yrs. I have ever got to enjoy a 4th of July. He was really enjoying it,something he never could do. I hope these bits can help. Since I dont personally know the child its hard to help by a few hints. Dont ever wish for perfect behavior,but rather decreased behaviors.

There are people who are able to tolerate touching and holding insects (assuming they aren’t poisonous), understanding that they are entirely harmless. On the other hand, there are people who absolutely dread the thought of even a single ant. There is probably nothing you can do to make this person believe you when you say, “That spider won’t hurt you if you’re holding it in your hand.”

From what you’ve said, this child has a strong aversion to large crowds. You have many recorded observations and data supporting this. What needs to be done from here is to develop a plan to help this child learn to deal with crowds. Depending on how helpful the parents are, they may be able to give you some clues as to why he doesn’t like crowds. If there are no past experiences of crowds, then the next best thing would be to work slowly.

The three options for working slowly to adjusting to larger crowds would be:

1) Increase the number of people he is able to tolerate in his area at the same time. (From 8 people in a room, increase it to 9. then 10, etc.)

2) Increase the time he is able to tolerate a large crowd. (Take him to a school assembly for 5 minutes, then 7 minutes, etc.)

3) A combination of both of these.

Just as you wouldn’t expect a person afraid of insects to get over their fear by throwing them into a closet full of bugs and hope that over time they will get used to it (you’d probably make it worse), you can’t bring the child to a crowded lunch room and act up and finally get used to it by the end of the school year. Think things over, get special permission to eat away from crowds and excused early from assemblies.

To begin with, as you know that large groups set him off, stop taking him into them or putting him in that situation. Doing so is unfair to him until you can figure out the causes as it sets him up to get into trouble. It is also unfair and risky to other students as they become the focal point of his aggression. You can put it to the admin this way…if he hurts another child in this setting and the parents learn that the school knew he could and would act like this, the law suit will be huge!

That being said, you all need to figure out what about large groups is causing this. It is possible he simply doesn’t like having so many people around. He may not be able to “track” all of them, so if one comes too close or is in his perceived space, than he lashes out in anger, fear or frustration. Until you know what the reason is, I would say it is best to keep him out of these situatiions. I would suggest evals from the school psychologist and/or behavioral management person. It may be you will need to start with limited exsposure with frequent rewards…start with 10 minutes in the gym, with a reinforcer reward every two minutes…build up from there.

My final thought..and this comes from experience both with my son and the other children in his school..is that a public school (even if he is in special ed classes) may not be the best placement for this child. I truely think he needs to be working in a smaller class setting, in a program designed to address children with autism who have exceptional behavioral issues. They will have the expereience, resources and abilities to help this child work though these issues. As he is already 15, there is little time left for trial and error. Unfortunately, if his aggression continues he runs the very real risk of getting into serious trouble.

Autistic children feel uncomfortable with other people, because they `prefer to live alone or without people surrounding him. In this case, is important a gradual desensibilization. Remember, for him, this quantity of people around him make him feel in a dangerous place, so he needs step by step, being with a larger quantity of people staritng with inly a couple, the ones he accepts the best and try to reinforce the adequate behavior ( in this case non agressvive action) with something he really likes. Is agood idea to ask a behavioral specialist who can give you advices about behavior modification

This child seems to have multiple behavior issues. My suggestion is to get a behavior specialist in to observer this child …. and it should be someone well versed in autistic behaviors. Your district should have the ability to get a consultant in if no one in the district can come. The child should be observed for at least two days in different environments. If you were in Illinois I would say call someone from Project Choices. Or contact your state Autism web site for information. Good luck.

Idiots, is a superb call to call them.and that they could be taken care of basically as undesirable as they acted, each and every thing they destroyed,they could ought to interchange, and the the max reformatory sentence, and that they could lock the mom and dad up of those that have been decrease than age. For letting 14, 15 and sixteen years previous pass off with a gaggle of loopy of people. they could be jailed for an prolonged long term.

This really sounds like a sensory issue. Make sure he has had a recent occupational therapy evaluation. An occupational therapist can suggest many strategies to help him cope in larger crowds.It sounds like propriceptive input (deep pressure) could help. Until then, my suggestion is not to continue to put him in this scenario and expect different results.

Best wishes!

some autistic children just can’t handle being in a public situation.

some will never be able to handle all the confusion going on.

we have wieght blankets, and weighted vest for calming measures at our school.

sometimes, I rub thier head or temples.

they need calming time. one boy use to like for someone to brush his hair slowly. any calming methods you can think of. and lots and lots of patience.

maybe if possible start him out in a group with only a couple of people. as his behavior starts to progress, add another student. I’m not exactly sure how to handle this, maybe it will work.