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Autism/violence from autistic children

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Expert: - 5/8/2009


Question
hi
my 11yr old child is not autistic but is having problems at school with the violent outbursts from an autistic child, the school seems to be protecting the other child and not protecting my child, i do not want to seem un PC but i fear for my childs safety and wellbeing, what can i do to help my child?

Answer
Hi Eric,

sorry for the delay in responding.

I don't know the exact situation, so my answer may not be applicable.
Also, this is a difficult answer for me as I don't mean to hurt your or your child's feelings, and believe that may happen.

Is there probably a way that your child can simply go out of the way of this kid (in a classroom situation that may be difficult, but he could at least ask to sit in the opposite corner of the room).

However, it should be looked at why this child gets so violent towards your child. Even autistic people don't get violent without a good reason. Either overload, or we can get hurt just like everyone else, but while everyone else has other means to express themselves, we sometimes don't.
I wonder if there may be some teasing or bullying involved. I know kids can be cruel(having been teased or bullied at school alot), even if they don't really mean it. I guess it's a group thing. Someone starts it, and the others just go along so they don't lose their face in front of their peers.
I hope you don't mind if I'm saying this (and I really don't mean to be rude), but have you asked your child about this ?

If that's not the case, could it probably be your child is rather active and often talks loudly (as young kids often do). Maybe that's what this child can't deal with. He might not be able to concentrate, and gets frustrated and has no other way of saying would you please be a little more quiet than through violent outbursts.

Have you asked your child in which situations this autistic child usually gets these violent outbursts ? This also may shed some light on the situation (and what to do about it).

If nothing helps, have you considered sending your child to another school (if possible) ?

Hope that helps,
C.


Hi Eric,

I'm just writing to say that I'll try to answer your question on thursday.
C.

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*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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