0:05

Welcome to the neuro nurture podcast, dedicated to equipping and supporting families, navigating the world of autism and neurodiversity. I am your host, Kirsten Sullivan, who is on a mission to help autism families go from surviving to thriving. Welcome to the show. Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode. Today is all about triggers. What is triggering my child or my students behavior? Why are they constantly engaging in this behavior that I don't want to see, you know, that we want to see less of. When it comes to intervening, all behavior does not require intervention. An example of this is stimming. Stimming is a very natural self regulatory response that your child is engaging in, in order to fill their cup, in order to meet the sensory needs, you know, in order to regain control and get back to baseline where they can function optimally, you know, unless the stimming is, and this goes for any other behavior, you know, unless it is harming your child or harming others unless it is a danger to your child or a danger to others Or unless it is impeding their learning or or impeding the learning of others, you know Then we want to intervene and and these are the only instances where we want to intervene where we we want to see a change and we want to really set up these boundaries and perimeters that We can modify your child's behavior in order to Make it more desirable. So let's just dive into, you know, some of the common emotional and behavioral challenges that are associated with autism. And oftentimes, these are really crucial in order to understand your child's triggers. You know, why are they even engaging in this behavior in the first place? These challenges are often interlinked. And what I mean by this is that. Sensory difficulties may cause anxiety, which may in turn cause challenging behavior. We see that anxiety can reduce tolerance to sensory demands, and this is often at the core of sleep difficulties. So let's quickly dive into anxiety because anxiety is one of the most prevalent conditions associated with autism. And, research has shown that if I'm not mistaken, that is up to 40 to 50 percent of autistic children, they will experience some sort of anxiety in their life and to the point where it is really clinically significant, you know, and this means that it, Impacts their daily life. A lot of parents say that, you know, actually it's anxiety that they really struggle with, that they really struggle combating, not the fact that the child's on the spectrum, but the anxiety and just the fact that it can really impact their, their child's daily life in such a significant way. We see that anxiety is also more common in autism than any other neurodevelopmental disorder and this comes down to the fact that a lot of autistic children, they get very anxious about things that neurotypical children won't get anxious about, you know, and this comes down to that predictability that uncertainty, the intolerance, the inability to change, when there's a change in routine or a change in environment or sensory challenges, we see that a lot of anxiety is often associated with this. Another challenge is emotional dysregulation, and this comes down to managing your own emotions and understanding your own emotions. A lot of the times, yes, it's common. We all experience sadness, anger. We experience anxiety, but how we interpret, how we respond and, and how we manage these emotions are really critical and it forms the basis of emotional regulation. You know, how do we regulate ourselves when we are experiencing these very heavy and very intense emotions? there's a lot of evidence out there that autistic children, they have more difficulties processing these emotions they have more difficulty in understanding their own emotions and labeling what am I feeling in this moment? And this contributes to the anxiety that I just spoke about where they are unable to interpret, what emotion am I feeling now and how can I deal with it? Because if we don't know what we are feeling, it's very difficult to manage it and know how to deal with it. So another challenge is distressed and really challenging behavior. Right. And I mean, this is definitely interlinked with anxiety and emotional dysregulation where, we see that oftentimes a lot of autistic children, they engage in a lot of physical aggression, and this can be kicking, hitting, biting, spitting, uh, verbal aggression, and, and this is simply because they don't know how to process them in a way that will get them the same response So when considering how to manage challenging behavior, the most important consideration is understanding what your child is trying to communicate, right? Because all behavior is communication. No behavior is ever random. I know a lot of parents, they tell me, well, you know, randomly, my child would just engage in X, Y, Z. Whereas this is not the case. Every single behavior that your child is doing, that they're engaging in, they are communicating. They are communicating to you what they're wanting, they're communicating how they're feeling. And oftentimes we see in a lot of non speaking autistic children that often these behaviors can be more prevalent because they do not have effective communication methods to express themselves appropriately. And then we see a lot of the time they will engage in hitting and kicking and spitting and biting because they are getting that response and that response that they are looking for. Another challenge is sensory difficulties. Autistic children really respond very differently to sensory stimuli, you know? So, I mean, if a child is feeling very anxious, for instance, they may be very over responsive to sensory stimuli. So they might react more strongly than usual. Even sensory sensitivities can cause a lot of anxiety, either in the moment of sensory overload or in anticipation of an event or an environment that a child knows they will find difficult because of the sensory issues in that environment. When we get into what is triggering the behavior, your child doesn't wake up thinking, you know what, I am going to engage in this behavior today. It's not predetermined. Your child is not lying there in the morning thinking I am going to be a complete menace today. It's all about responding to their environment. Essentially your child's behavior is a coping strategy. It's a coping mechanism that they have employed and that they are utilizing in order to cope with the environment that they are in because your child perhaps maybe does not know any other way to cope, right? So, so they have really resorted to this certain behavior or this type of behavior that gets them this relief and that gets them this way to, okay, I can get through. The day I can get through this moment if I engage in this behavior. I'm not sure if you've heard of the ABCs of behavior, but the A is the antecedent. The B is the behavior and the C is the consequence. Now the antecedent is what is triggering, right? So I want you to be really focused and in tune with what is happening right before my child is engaging in this challenging behavior. Now, this can be due to a whole lot of things. The list really is endless, but it might be anxiety. It might be sensory overload. It might be access to something that they really want. It might be access to their iPad or a toy that they really want that they, uh, Can't have, or they can't access in that moment. It might be a noise that their sibling has made. It might be the fact that they are not getting the attention that they want in that moment. And so when this happens, when this trigger occurs, we see their behavior come right off to that. And the behavior is something that we can't control. We are unable to control a child's behavior in that moment, but over time we can intervene. And even though we can't control a child's desire, we can't control their deep down desires, we can modify their behavior and the way that they respond to certain stimuli. Now intervening by removal and removing a child from a situation, and rarely it comes down to avoidance will only provide temporary relief because even though it helps in the moment when, for instance, there is a lot of sensory overload and maybe the environment is just really not conducive to your child's sensory profile. Yes. By removing the child from the situation, by avoiding the whole environment completely will provide temporary relief. But if we think about in the long run, we want to give your child the coping mechanisms. We want to really provide them with a toolbox in order to cope because, in the ideal world, yes if we could all just avoid situations that we don't want to be in, we would, but in most situations, We will be in situations where we will be in environments where we can't control the sensory output, where we can't control the sensory stimuli. So we want to work on providing these skills. We want to work on really enhancing these skills within your child so that they are able to cope when they are older. It comes to intervening, we have to recognize a pattern. We have to see a pattern and often tell parents, make a list of all the triggers, make a list of the different types of behaviors that your child's engaging and make a list for the consequences. What do you do right after your child engages in this behavior? What happens? What does the environment, does anything change in the environment when your child engages in this behavior? Because once we have a pattern, then we can. Put these boundaries and we can really intervene and intervene appropriately. This is also where my job comes in because oftentimes you really need a, a different perspective in the moment, it is very tough for you or your partner or a sibling to really see the pattern, to see what is the antecedent, what is triggering my child's behavior in this moment, it's almost like you're playing detective. You, you wanting to figure out what is the reason behind it. When it comes to the consequence, and this is what determines if that behavior happens now, if your child is engaging in a behavior continuously, and it is the same behavior that they are engaging in your child is getting the output that they want, your child is not going to continuously engage in a behavior where the output is not desirable for them. They will eventually stop doing that behavior because what they are getting out of it is not what they are wanting. When it comes to intervening, Redirection is one of the things that can be implemented and is a strategy that is a very effective strategy that can be used. So I want to just give you a little example of how to work through the ABCs of behavior. If the antecedent is, for example, your child is wanting your attention. Right? So the trigger is you are not providing them with the attention that they are wanting. Perhaps you are talking to someone else. Perhaps you need to work. Perhaps you are cooking dinner and your child is really wanting your attention in that moment, but they are not getting that attention and the behavior that comes right after this, perhaps it is hitting, perhaps it is biting, perhaps it is kicking you. Perhaps it is pulling funny faces. Now if we know that the trigger is for attention to intervene, I know oftentimes you might've heard this, but we don't want to ignore your child because that is just creating a lot of disconnect in that moment. Your child wants to be connected to you. They want your attention. They are craving that input from you. So if we just ignore your child, then that disconnect is going to, really create a huge gap between your connection with your child and a lot of mistrust and a lot of insecurity and uncertainty then starts to form in the relationship between you and your child. And that is what we don't want to see. So what we can do is then redirect your child to a more appropriate behavior that we want to see. Now, I love using choice boards. I love using communication boards or any form of visual, because in this moment, when it comes to a lot of sensory overload that your child is experiencing in the moment, when they are very overwhelmed, they often cannot process auditory input. Oftentimes they will rather resort to visual processing in that moment. So what you can have with you. In that moment is a choice board. And you're giving your child two or three choices that they can choose from. You're putting the power back in their hands. You're giving them that control and they are regaining that sense of control where they can choose. Between two or three appropriate behaviors. In that moment, it is also really crucial to reinforce that behavior immediately. If your child provides you with a little visual card of making a funny face or pulling a funny face, immediately engage in that behavior, you know, look at your child, engage, provide that attention because we want to constantly reinforce that behavior, that appropriate behavior that we are wanting to see. If we don't, your child will resort back to the unwanted behavior because they are not getting that consequence. They are not getting that output that they are wanting by engaging in the appropriate behavior. So we really want to praise and really go overboard with the, the positive praise and the positive reinforcement. And model the behavior that you want your child to engage in. This even comes down to using visuals in that moment, using that choice board. If you model to your child, how you want your child to react and behave and interact with the visuals, your child will pick up on this very quickly and they will start engaging in in using the visuals because they have seen you do it so many times and getting that behavior that They want out of it. So providing options and providing choices is really an excellent strategy to utilize. Now, social stories are excellent because not only does it play on, on your child's visual strings, but it's also when you use real life pictures of your child engaging in appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, your child is able to really see this and to make these connections and these patterns. You can really modify it and tailor it to your child's needs and the desired behaviors that you want to see out of it. We do not want to introduce any new sort of skill when your child is in a heightened state, when they are in this moment, we want to teach them when they are calm, when they are regulated, so they are able to draw on these skills that they have learned. It's really taking a very proactive response to model to your child, to show them how you want them to react in these situations. And remember that all behavior is communication. Your child is wanting to tell you something. They, they are engaging in this behavior because it is eliciting a certain response. No behavior is ever random. You have been listening to the NeuroNurture podcast. Remember to subscribe. And if you have enjoyed this episode, please leave a five star review. This will help other autism families find podcasts like this to help them navigate the world of autism and neurodiversity. Until then, take care and celebrate neurodiversity in all its forms.