I've begun my course , through correspondance / Distance Ed from the University of Manitoba called Introduction to Psychology and I've already stumbled upon some research that really interested me.... so much so that I completed the first assignment 2 days before the course began and 2 months before it was due.
The assignment was pretty simple. After the first two pages of practicing APA Citations, my eyes were starting to glaze over. But then we were to choose a topic (I chose Aggression from the 3 options provided - addictions and eating disorders were the other 2), add a variable ( I chose Autism) and attempt to find Psychology Journals on this subject.
I can't share the journals on my website since I only have free access to them via my student number but below are the citations for you to look up on your own , complete with page numbers. Our local library doesn't carry these journals but they should be fairly simple to find at bigger libraries or other sites online.
Matson, Johnny(2009) Aggression and Tantrums in Children with Autism: A Review of Behavioral
Treatments and Maintaining Variables. Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 2, 169 — 187.
Torrance,Jonas(2003) Autism, Aggression, and Developing a Therapeutic Contract, American Journal of Dance Therapy, 25(2), fall 2003, 97- 109.
Anckarsater, H. (2006) Central nervous changes in social dysfunction: Autism, aggression, and psychopathy. Brain Research Bulletin 69(2006), 259- 265.
Christensen, T.J., Ringdahl, J.E., Bosch, J.J., Falcomata, T.S., Luke, J.R. & Andelman, M.S. (2009). Constipation Associated with Self – Injurious and Aggressive Behavior Exhibited by a Child Diagnosed with Autism. Education and Treatment of Children 32 (1), 89 – 103. Anyway, the reason I wanted to post about this is because , amoung these journals, I found some really interesting research on what causes aggression in Autistic children and some possible ways to minimize the tantrums etc that are often exhibited
This was absolutely FASCINATING to me because Avery goes through stages of mild to severe aggression and I can't always see the reason behind it. We try encouraging naps on these days (which is no easy feat with him) or having a more laid back day so that he isnt as over stimulated but sometimes I simply can't figure him out. With the added issue of limited communication skills (which, albeit are improving daily) it can be very frustrating when you can't "fix" the problem because you don't know what it is.
For example, Avery is going on his 3rd solid day of refusing to eat at meal time. It doesn't matter what we have , including his favorites (pizza, perogies, sandwiches) ... he will not eat. He is obviously hungry because he is trying to get in the cupboards to eat crackers or the fridge to eat yogurt at every opportunity (I've put a hold on snacks until he will eat at meal time.... so far) but he just will not sit down to eat with us.
Here is a description of our meal times ( this happens 3 times a day):
great effort is made just to get him to sit at the table, often resulting in Avery being very upset and crying or saying "NO!" repeatedly.
Then the meal is put infront of him and he will try to throw it off the table or he will switch to a seat with no food infront of it (our table seats 6 so this is only possible if Jason or I havent sat down yet) or run down the hall away from the dining room.
If we can convince him to sit, we have had to spoon feed him which is met by pushing our hands away, kicking us, spitting at us or head butting (the boy weighs 40lbs and is very strong). At lunch time today I resorted to having one tutor hold his hands behind his chair while I forced his mouth open and spoon fed him and then gently put my hand over his mouth (so he wouldnt spit it out at me) until each bite was chewed and swallowed.
- This may sound extreme so I appologize if that offends you.-
we eventually got through his bowl of soup this way and he slowly started to open his mouth on his own (we praised him every time he swallowed with tickles, high fives and thank - yous) and he walked away with a full tummy.... I walked away completely exhausted.
My dilemma is this... is there an underlying reason for this behaviour that I just can't figure out?
is he overwhelmed or exhausted?
is he in pain or is there a physical reaction he gets from eating certain foods that I haven't noticed ?
or is he just not wanting to sit at the table with us because he sits for several hours a day during his tutoring?
these are all retorical questions obviously but if you have insight, go ahead and share.
I am going to continue researching this and report back with my findings.
Thank you for reading my ramble.
<3
