Behaviour

We all have good behaviour and bad behaviour.

We all function in different ways and how we feel quite often determines our behaviour. When you have autism your behaviours can look different due to the multitude of sensory issues or noise issues that the individual may experience.

Behaviour is communication.  Remember that.

When you smile at someone, you are communicating that you are happy without having to say the words.  When you cry, you are communicating that you are sad.

When you have autism, sometimes you cannot express the words you need to in a particular moment of distress.

For our son, the negative behaviour can look different.  For example, when gets upset quickly, he struggles with the words to express this in the moment, he may throw something that is close to him.  When I watch him in these moments, I feel his total frustration.  The throwing of an item is him expressing a total loss of control.  He doesn’t like it when he feels like this and he feels badly when something goes wrong.

If he is just a little upset, he may ask for help with something to resolve the issue.  This is positive as he is trying to problem solve, but cannot quite get there on his own.

On the flip side, when he is happy, there are no issues with his happiness!  Where we try to encourage him is to include others in the fun moments so that we can all enjoy them together.

We have many moments in our house (just like everyone else).  But if your child is on the spectrum and is exhibiting what you consider negative behaviours, try to really watch and listen so that you can help.

We can all turn a negative into a positive if we just adjust our way of thinking.