1) My daughter hurts herself when we criticize / scold her. For example, she will hit her head with an object, twist her finger and bite her lips. What can we do to stop this?
As a parent seeing your child hurting herself is a heart broken experience. Before we start interfering this disruptive behavior, we need to analyze the behavior. Here are some of the factors you might need to think of:- Why does she do that? What is(are) the reason(s) behind?
- When does this behavior occur?
- After this behavior occurs, what are your reactions? When the child does not behave like this under the same situations, what are your reactions (does she get)?
After we have all the answers for the above questions, we then design a reactive plan, which is a plan guiding us how we handle the behavior after it occurs, and a proactive plan, which is a plan to teach the child a replacement skill when the disruptive behavior does not occur.
For this case, the child hurts herself when someone criticizes her. The possible reason might be release of frustration and escape from the scolding situation.
Then, the reactive plan might be physically stop the child to engage the behaviors for now. The proactive plans are:
- To teach her to increase her tolerance towards the criticism and scolding situations systematically.
- To teach her some appropriate stress management skills to cope with the undesirable situations such as take a deep breath, drink a glass of water, go to calm down corner or think of something happy.
2) My son likes to sit by the window and stares at the sky and road. He can do it for 30 mins if I do not interfere him. How can I apply ABA to help him?
It sounds like he really likes looking out of the window! First, you need to find out:-
– Why he looks out the window?
- – What is he looking at?
- – What do you want your child do if you pull him away from the window?
The possible reason for your child engaging in this behavior might be because he does not have other things he likes to do/play or he does not know what to do.
Then below are the ways you can try to help him to not only sit and stare outside the window:
- Prepare some fun toys or activities to play with him when you pull him away from the window.
- Prepare the activities or toys which serve the same or similar function(s) as he stares out the window.
- Expand his interests towards vary age appropriate activities or toys.
- Increase exposure to different activities.
- Provide plenty opportunities to expose to the new/neutral toys/activities.
- Assign things for the child to do.
- Teach play skills
Information provided by:Ms. Teri Mok (Autism Partnership Behavioral Consultant)
Ms. Teri Mok obtained her Master degree in Early Childhood Education in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). She joined Autism Partnership in 2002 and began working as a Program Specialist. She is experienced in working with children across different settings, including therapy session, small group training and ABA Classrooms. Moreover, she also helped conducting workshop for professionals in Mainland China and Hong Kong since 2013. Since 2014, Ms. Mok has been helping to set up an office in Manila, Philippine. She has been helping to design individualized programs, supervise cases, train local staffs, conduct school observation, provide parents and helpers training, and meet new families at AP Manila office. Currently, she is one of the Behavioral Consultant in our new established AP Beijing center.
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[:zh]我們經常收到家長有關孩子在行為、語言和社交方面的問題。今天，Autism Partnership的高級行為分析治療課程監督，莫渼琳小姐（Ms. Teri Mok）將會回答家長們提出的其中2個問題。1) 當我們批評/責駡女兒時，她就會傷害自己。例如，用物件砸自己的頭，扭自己的手指，咬嘴唇。我們可以怎樣做去阻止這些行為？
作為父母，看到你的孩子有自我傷害的行為時，肯定會非常心痛。家長在開始干預這些問題行為前，必須先分析行為。以下是一些你需要考慮的因素：- 她為什麼這樣做？行為背後的原因是什麼？
- 這個行為什麼時候發生？
- 行為發生後，我們有什麼反應？當遇到同樣情況，但女兒並沒有出現此問題行為時，我們給予她什麼反應？
當家長能解答以上問題，就可以設計即時處理的方法，指導我們行為發生後應該如何處理。積極主動的處理手法也非常重要，教授孩子替代技巧來干預這個問題行為。
這位家長提到，當有人批評女兒時，她會傷害自己。原因可能是因為她希望釋放挫敗感，逃避被人責駡。
所以，即時處理的方法可以是立刻制止她自我傷害的行為。積極主動的處理手法可以是：
- 有系統地逐步增加她對被批評和責駡的耐受力
- 教她一些適當的壓力管理技巧，以應付不如意的情況，例如深呼吸、喝杯水、在一個角落獨自平復情緒、回想一些快樂的事情。
2) 我的兒子喜歡坐在窗邊，看著天空和馬路。如果我不打擾他，他可以這樣維持30分鐘。我可以如何應用ABA來幫助他？
看來他真的很喜歡往窗外看呢！首先家長需要弄清楚：-
– 他為什麼往窗外看？
- – 他在看什麼？
- – 如果你把他從窗戶旁拉開，你想讓他做什麼？
孩子經常做這個行為有可能是因為他沒有其他喜歡做或喜歡玩的東西，又或者是他不知道可以做什麼。
家長可以嘗試以下方法幫助孩子不只是坐在那裡，盯著窗外看
- 當你把他從窗戶旁拉開時，準備一些有趣的玩具或活動和他一起玩
- 準備一些具有與往窗外看相同或相近功能的有趣玩具或活動
- 增加他對不同適齡玩具或活動的興趣
- 增加接觸不同遊戲的機會
- 提供充分的機會，接觸新的及中性的玩具和活動
- 給孩子分配任務，讓他有事情可做
- 教授遊戲技巧
資訊提供: 莫渼琳小姐(Autism Partnership應用行為分析治療顧問)
莫渼琳女士擁有香港中文大學幼兒教育碩士學位，亦是國際認證行為分析師(BCBA)。於2002年加入AP，現擔任AP北京中心應用行為分析訓練課程監督。她擁有豐富教育經驗，包括個別訓練、小組訓練及以ABA為基礎的教室。 此外，自2013年，於香港及中國內地協助舉辦專業工作坊。莫顧問亦自2014年開始，協助AP於馬尼拉成立辦事處，主要負責課程設計、個案監督、培訓當地應用行為分析教師、舉行課堂觀察、提供家長及照顧者訓練，並於馬尼拉辦事處為新家庭提供諮詢。而現階段，她致力協助AP北京中心的成立及教師培訓、課程設計及監督等。
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