Concerned about escalating aggression

[Blossom4538]

Hi all,
Is there anything else I can do? Dd is getting increasingly and sometimes dangerously aggressive towards us. She’s 7 and under assessment for ASD.

Thanks

Sounds tough, when is she being seen?

There’s a book that might be useful. It’s called Autism: understanding and managing anger. It’s very easy to read with lots of strategies to help prevent and manage anger and meltdowns.

The Explosive Child is another good book. You can get it as an audiobook if it’s not realistic to read that many books.

Ask for an urgent referral to CAMHS if you don’t have one already.

I’ve been through ups and downs with violence and aggression and have some strategies. They mostly revolve around working out what the stressors are for your DC and eliminating them.

Lots of down time, no demands (unless absolutely essential), lots of Minecraft and Pokemon Go in our case. It used to be reading thesauruses when DS was 6/7.

Aggression is the last resorts means for your child to communicate that everything is too much for them. It’s not always easy to work out why, though.

Lovely, thank you.
We’ve covered this on courses and try to apply it but sometime, it can be the moment she wakes up. Also, in car on way home from school. I managed to calm her after 45 minutes. We try to use sensory and distraction strategies but of course, it’s trying to prevent them getting to that level in the first place.

Inconclusive for ASD after recent assessment, Paed appointment early next year as still under assessment. Camhs in few weeks time.

Dd tried to strangle me as I was driving, threw shoe at me, came at H with scissors while he was in bed, just woken up. Tried to clobber me over head with small suitcase while i was in bed in morning, just woken up. That was in response to a certain noise which she cannot tolerate. She
Will throw object around the house

Does she have any interventions in place at school to help her cope? It seems like she’s possibly masking at school and letting rip at home which can be common in girls.

Sounds like CAMHS can’t come soon enough, keep a list of all the issues. Perhaps an ABC chart used for a week would help identify her triggers. There’s usually something, her behaviour is the tip of the iceberg of issues she’s dealing with.

You could also ring the paediatricians and explain you are seeing an escalation in her behaviour and you'd like to be seen sooner than next year.
Maybe wait to see how the CAHMS appointment goes.

From your various posts over the past few weeks it does sound as if she's experiencing a lot of anxiety and perhaps this is the manifestation of that.

Do you feel if she had an actual diagnosis of ASD that school would be doing more / things differently to support her?
And would you do things differently at home too?