Yesterday was an eventful day. I will share about an incident that left me with a number of thoughts.
I began taking a child named 'Kunal' (4.5 years, verbal child with diagnosis of Autism) in for therapy. Parents came in with the concern of expanding Kunal's language and his social communication skills. Another big concern was that he shows a lot of negative behaviors at his other classes and school. When asked to elaborate- They labeled his behaviors as resistance towards the therapist or teacher, crying or disrupting the activity.
We have had 8 sessions together till now, 2 sessions in a week for 45 min each.
I could see bite marks on child's hand and so asked about his self harming behaviors. The parents shared that he would engage in self harming behaviors earlier which has stopped for a couple of months now. I even asked for any hitting or biting behaviors with others since I could sense it with his body language. In the 8 sessions I have had with him, He reached out to bite me twice but I was quick to respond.
I engaged the parents thrice in a discussion of my observations about Kunal. I wanted to filter my observations and also wanted a clear picture about the child from his natural environment. I tried asking about his hitting and biting behaviors indirectly and directly a number of times. None of the discussions revealed the true picture of Kunal.
I began taking a child named 'Kunal' (4.5 years, verbal child with diagnosis of Autism) in for therapy. Parents came in with the concern of expanding Kunal's language and his social communication skills. Another big concern was that he shows a lot of negative behaviors at his other classes and school. When asked to elaborate- They labeled his behaviors as resistance towards the therapist or teacher, crying or disrupting the activity.
We have had 8 sessions together till now, 2 sessions in a week for 45 min each.
I could see bite marks on child's hand and so asked about his self harming behaviors. The parents shared that he would engage in self harming behaviors earlier which has stopped for a couple of months now. I even asked for any hitting or biting behaviors with others since I could sense it with his body language. In the 8 sessions I have had with him, He reached out to bite me twice but I was quick to respond.
I engaged the parents thrice in a discussion of my observations about Kunal. I wanted to filter my observations and also wanted a clear picture about the child from his natural environment. I tried asking about his hitting and biting behaviors indirectly and directly a number of times. None of the discussions revealed the true picture of Kunal.
Yesterday, Kunal came in happy along with his mother. We sat and began playing some tickle games and sang a rhyme together. He enjoyed and I could see the smile that clearly indicated his enjoyment in the game. The child has low sustenance and doesn't know how to exit a game. He tried getting up and I didn't physically restrain him, I used my strategies to elongate the game adding one element more to it. It didn't take a fraction of a second and Kunal poked my eye with his finger. I could feel his finger in my eye.
It pained so badly. My eye turned blood red And I couldn't open it. I kept sitting for a few minutes at the same place. Then got up and washed my eyes. As I came back to my room my friends and colleagues became protective and asked me to suspend the session and carry it forward some other day.
The mother then began saying that Kunal is a terror at home. He bit her yesterday on her back while she was cooking. I couldn't get into a discussion with the mother at that point because of the pain.
I am only wondering what was stopping the parents of revealing their child's natural self to a behavior therapist. Are they ashamed of their child's behaviors since they have not been able to handle them till now. Are the parents fearing that the child will be looked down upon? The child will be treating like an animal and kept at a distance if their therapists know about the issues of the child. They might have had a bad experience in the past?
Now I can recall one thing both parents reiterated with the child is that he dislikes doing any and everything. If any work is given to him he rejects it and wants to escape. Mother confirmed with a yes when I asked that 'Kunal doesn't like doing anything? He doesn't enjoy anything apart from stimming with things from his sensory box?' The child's affect is negative most of the times.
Imagine a day or many day or months where I don't enjoy doing anything. I am only provided with tasks to do which I am bored of. I run from one class to another without having 'My Time' in the day. And if I reject something, my family and teachers call it escape behavior. I listen to this so often that "I don't like doing anything."
I will write more on this. Still wondering about the dominant emotional state of the child when he can't express it clearly for anyone to understand.
