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i have a 11 year old boy in my class and his fixation is younger girls, we are tying to divert this fixation as it is not appropriate in a classroom and the behavior is wanting to hug, touch and kiss. how is the best way to divert this, other than constant reminders and social stories, and is there a way to get him to fixate on something else?
Hi Nicole,
this is very difficult to answer. Do you know why he wants to hug them ? Is he craving sensory input ? Then wearing a weighted vest or have an adult hug him from time to time may help. If he likes touching the girls' hair, he maybe wants to touch something soft, so giving him something of a similar texture (like a piece of soft fur or something) might help. But probably, he's in early puberty. I guess keeping him away from the girls as much as possible would be the best thing. It's probably just a phase he's going through.
I don't know how to get him to fixate on something else - autistic fixations can be very strong - unless you can find out why he's fixating on that, and then maybe use that information to find something else which might fascinate him equally.
I'm sorry I can't really help you with this question.
C.
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Celtica
Expertise
*DISCLAIMER*
Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist
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Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day.
I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism
and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.
I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).
Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.
Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.
Experience
As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better
I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.
In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area
(AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).
Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !
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