My son and I had a bad day. He scratched and bites, and bangs his head. Any advice on how to cope?

healeywilliam24

Hey . Me and my son had a bad day yesterday have scratches and bites from him and he bangs his head lot , got a bit much yesterday looking for advice on how to cope ?

chiarieds

I'm sorry yesterday was such a bad day for you. Scope have some support services for parents that you might like to try called Navigate. There's some info about it here: https://www.scope.org.uk/family-services/navigate/
Many parents have said they've found it helpful.

healeywilliam24

Thankyou will have a look ? ☺ 

Caz_Alumni

Sorry to hear that yesterday wasn't a very good one for either of you @healeywilliam24. How are you doing today?

As chiareds says, hopefully Navigate will prove to be a good starting-point in terms of looking for some additional support. Have you looked into any additional information and support services as well?

If not (and please do tell me if I'm signposting you to anybody that you are already very familiar with), then you could try some of the support groups that are listed on the NHS Autism Where to get support page, or have a look at the National Autistic Society website. I know that they run a confidential telephone support Parent to Parent Helpline. It does look like they have temporarily stopped taking new enquiries for the time being, but that could be something to bear in mind for the future maybe?

Plus, you've always got us to talk to on the community as well! In fact, I'm going to pop this discussion over to our Parents, carers and disabled parents sections too, just so that other members can spot your post and get in touch if they feel that they might be able to offer you some further advice. 

In the meantime, please do keep in touch, and let us know if you feel that you need any further support if things ever get a bit much

Tori_Scope

Hi @healeywilliam24 I hope that you manage to have a look at the links above, as they may help you to access some support.

Has your doctor made any suggestions on what specifically might be causing this behaviour, and what could help? 

Is there a quiet place in the house he could go if he gets overwhelmed? Do you have any sensory or stimming toys he can use? Has he tried wearing noise-cancelling headphones?

Does he get any longer-term injuries from the head banging?

healeywilliam24

The paediatrician just said let him do the headbanging and wasnt much help with anything else.at the moment doesnt hurt him self too much as a hard head my child .. we had a helmet to help with the head banging which worked for a while now he won't keep it on or even let us put it on.  William does not like anything on his head ? we have a sensory room for william at home which he does love . Only problem is at he moment hes addicted to technology which we struggle to get him away from which is mainly causing the problems ? We have lots of support ,its just good to talk to someone about these things 

kjdudman

Hi @healeywilliam24

I would love to chat more as we are just getting a diagnosis for our 3 year old and they think it’s autistic traits.

Kate