Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder Behavior: Scratching, Picking, Hair Pulling and Self-Stimulation
Let me explain. You will frequently see an autistic child rub, scratch or pick their skin. They may also pull out their hair, twist it or scratch at their head. Some have scratched so hard that they have caused injury to themselves. Autistic children often bang their head and may even bite or hit themselves. But this behavior should not be confused with intentional self-abuse or self-mutilation.
I've worked with countless autistic children. I researched autism spectrum disorder. I am certified to teach autistic children. And maybe, most convincing of all, I exhibited autistic behavior as a children and have very clear memory of it. Autistic persons have heightened sensory perceptions. Autism affects the nervous system and perceptual system. Persons with autism feel sensations in a distorted way. When an autistic person scratches, picks at their skin or pulls their hair, they are really scratching an itch. But it is not a skin irritation that is always causing the itch. Or if it is a skin sensation, it is felt much more intensely by the autistic person. Usually sensations in autism are caused by faulty or distorted wiring in their nervous system. If sound and sight is distorted in autism, how much more distorted will be the sense of touch which is the most primitive of all the sensations?
My autistic behavior manifested itself more in my sense of sound and vestibular and balance issues. But I did experience some touch sensation distortion. I remember feeling irritable and uncomfortable a good deal of the time. Not because any external stimuli was affecting me. But something was buzzing inside in my electrical system. I remember being very sensitized by external stimuli itchy blankets, heat, new pajamas, wool garments would literally drive me crazy. If an autistic child with tactile sensory distortion feels like I did, I can fully understand how they would almost tear their skin off to stop the unpleasant sensations.
In this series of articles, I have set forth to explore the autistic experiences that I had as a child. I want to help parents, teachers, caregivers and friends to get an inside out idea of what an autistic person experiences. I haven't addressed any therapeutic, remedial or parenting issues, but I will be covering those in later articles. Parents and caregivers need strategies and helps for parenting their autistic child. It is my hope that as we explore autism as I experienced it and as I am able to describe to you what I felt, this will help you to acclimate to the world of the autistic child. I want to be that child's advocate, as so many are unable to clearly speak for themselves. Awareness=understanding=acceptance.
To follow this series of articles, visit me at www.thespecialneedschild.blogspot.com and www.healthhelp4u.blogspot.com .
Published by Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben
Happy wife. Mom of 4. 10+ year homeschool vet. Certified K-8/special ed. Yahoo! News Beat Writer: Parenting, Michigan, Detroit. Published on Helium, SEED, AT&T, Diabetes Active, Mapquest, Best Contractors, H... View profile
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5 Comments
Post a CommentI have a grand daughter who is 18 years old, in college, got a 3.0 GPA in her first semester.
When she was in pre-school her doctors thought she might be autistic since she did not socialize at all well. It was later found that she was basically deaf. After numerous surgeries she can now hear almost all ranges very well. As soon as her surgeries were over she blossomed into a friendly, outgoing, talkative girl with many friends, good grades in school, etc. Then her mother divorced my son and got custody of the children. Sometime after that my grandaughter started pulling her hair out. She went to a psychiatrist and said it did not help. She is working on it herself with mixed results. She gets easily upset about things, but as someone who did the same in her teens (with good reason) I can understand that. The problem is that now that her mother faces losing child support for her, she claims in court that my grandaughter is disabled, handicapped and will never be anything but a dependant because of her autism (which has never been diagnosed and she has never been treated for it). Her mother tried to get her in a Special Needs program in grade school and she was tested and rejected for the program. My ex-daughter-in-law has convinced HER family, who live on the other side of the country and seldom see the girl, that she is indeed extremely handicapped and will never be able to work etc. (never mind that she just applied for her first job) and that she can never drive because if she was in an accident she would freak out (she has been in one with her brother driving and managed it quite well). When it comes to that, whom amongst us does not get upset from being in an accident.
In any case, does anyone have any advice for me? I cannot bear the thought of this bright, creative and talented girl becoming a vegetable in her mother's care for the rest of her life. If she is indeed autistic she is certainly very high-functioning.
my son picks, or rather peels his skin when anxious. Right down to the tissue. With bug season, already he has turned one bite into a quarter size gaping wound. he is off to camp tomorrow (Therapeutic) I am crossing my fingers he will feel so comfortable and relaxed it won't continue. It comes and goes.
I have tried bandages, gloves, finger cots soaking, figits, begging, reminding, reminding, reminding. So Lost
Now that I know so much more than I did so many years ago in the child-rearing years, I can at least apply it to the children and child-like adults in our care. thank you for this series.
This is so important: Awareness=understanding=acceptance.
We actually taught Sunday school to another child with Autism who used to remove his clothes. His mom finally realized that the flannel shirt was bothering his skin. It's so hard with these kids. Wonderful insight you have shared. Cheers.