3 year old ASD Hitting and Throwing

[Mum1405]

My 3 year old has recently been diagnosed with ASD after a long wait to get here. He throws and hits alot which has always been a big thing. He does not understand that this hurts. Just wondered if anyone else experienced this and if it does get better?

My ds was like this at 3. Hitting and throwing things non-stop. It was a mixture of frustration (minimally verbal) and sensory processing disorder.
He's now 6, he does still hit and throw things if he is angry or anxious but it is a lot less than a few years ago. I can also tell now when he is going to do it, when he was 3 it always felt like it was 'coming out of the blue'.
He has also learnt to apologise and has a better understanding of when he has upset someone.
When I get upset about it I always try to remember that all behaviour is communication and that he is trying to express himself.
Something that did help me back then was doing ABC charts. You log what happened before during and after the behaviour. It can help to reduce triggers and gives you a better idea of why he might be behaving in the way he is.

Thank you livpotter for replying. He is very sensory and I have got a parenting workshop to attend for this soon. Just so hard as everything gets broken and he can really hurt us. Makes me worry as he is already strong and will only get stronger.

Yes it is really worrying. In our case as ds has developed better communication and understanding it has got easier for all of us. But definitely reducing triggers was the only way when he was younger.
In hindsight I would say it's a very good idea to make sure your tv is insured! Good contents insurance generally actually.
We also had to attach all the furniture to the walls, remove breakables where possible and have high locks on the doors we didn't want him to get into.
I always joked that ds would be brilliant toy tester , nothing like an autistic 3 year old to manage to break the unbreakable.

Destroying things seems to be a fairly common, if very undesirable, trait.

I think this video talks about how their dd used to be very destructive but as she has got older her behaviour has calmed down a lot. Hopefully it’s helpful.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=yzi4wjg_RSk&t=676s

Thank you openupmyeagereyes