Aptos psychologist: how to teach a child with autism the link between behavior and consequences. This works seems to me.

“It can take a great deal of time before an autistic child recognizes a link between behavior and consequences.

The child with autism can be just as precocious and just as adventurous as the typically developing child. Sitting still or paying attention at school is not always the highest priority. What makes the guidance of behavior so difficult when it comes to autism is the challenge of comprehension and explaining to them that certain behaviors are not acceptable.

This is the year we became successful with our son discovering that misbehavior at school will cause him to lose privileges when he gets home. At first we weren’t sure if it was an issue of memory or an issue of comprehension. It turned out to be neither. It was the link between the two concepts that had been elusive to him.

Behaviors to be discouraged vary and most require further explanation. “Kicking” is one behavior he had previously engaged in. This is a misleading term since the behavior was actually his desire to place his shoe on a peer or staff member. His intention was not to do harm, but to seek attention or a reaction of some sort. “Inappropriate touching” is a behavior that must be addressed for obvious reasons in a classroom setting. This can happen when an autistic child is discovering certain sensations. Explaining why the behavior is inappropriate is often not effective. “Destruction of property” in our case meant that our son feels the need to close any open laptop he encounters. He often does this with a great amount of force. We certainly do not want to pay for any broken laptops.

The school my son attends turned out to be helpful in implementing a system for providing awareness to his behavior. This system is the simple use of three different colored stickers that go on his shirt at the end of the day. A green sticker indicates that he had a good day. Red is bad, and yellow means there were some issues (also bad). Yellow days and red days would result in a loss of access to his favorite things at home. This meant no computer, no television and no Xbox. When he made requests for these items we would respond with “No Xbox, you had a red day!”

It was a matter of two to three red or yellow days before the connection was made. It was a noticeable moment of awareness both for us parents and his aid at school. The aid capitalized on this development by giving warnings when behaviors were beginning. “Don’t have a red day or no computer at home” helped to guide behavior. We were more than happy to comply with any consequences at home to maintain the continuity of the method. Everyone makes it known how well he’s done on the completion of a “green” day, even if lately this has been every day.

For an eight-year-old boy there are always challenges with behavior issues at school. In the case of an autistic child, improving misbehavior can seem like a daunting task. There will be more incidents in the future, but having a proven method of responding to these incidents brings confidence that they will be fewer and further between. As in many cases, establishing routines with consistency helps to show the autistic child the way.

For more info: Classroom discipline for autistic students