Difficult phase with toddler

[doadeer]

My son is 2.5, diagnosed with ASC he has limited comprehension and no communication. He seems to be going through a phase where he has lost interest in anything except hitting the walls and watching TV. He doesn't enjoy water play, his animals, soil and sand... Any of the things he used to. His diet has gone down hill aswell, he only had about 4 foods he eats and he is also highly emotional at the moment with lots of upset.

Any advice about navigating this? Did any of your little ones have similar?

Sounds very like my ds at that age. Ds seemed to go through a phase where pretty much everything except tv/iPad was too much for him to deal with. I'm afraid to say I just gave in to the TV. It was the only thing he really loved and actually I think it was the thing that finally helped him to get his speech back.

I used the shows/films he liked to try and get him to interact with me. We would do drawings of his favourite characters and buy toys that were from his favourites and try to get him to engage with them. Initially he really enjoyed it when we acted out scenes that he liked but after a while he found that quite overwhelming.

What do you think he's getting from the wall hitting? If ds is doing something unusual I usually try it myself to see what it makes me feel. Maybe he's in need of some sensory input?

He loves the sound of the slapping. He is hitting me constantly aswell it's really hard. He isn't doing it in an angry way, it's in a joyful way.

Yes we do chat about the TV and laugh together, he likes full Disney films and finds some scenes very funny. We have lots of the books aswell so I try to point out. He also likes watching David Attenborough when the animals are chasing etc - he loves the drama.

Any idea what I could replace in terms of the slapping? It must hurt his hands so much.
And thank you for replying ❤️

My ds loves slapstick and fast action too. I love it when he gets the giggles when he's watching things he really enjoys!

Trying to think of a good substitute for the slapping. If it's the sound you could get one of those clacker toys (although that might drive you completely insane after a while).

Ds used to love those cause and effect pop up toys where you had to do different actions to get the toys to pop up. He would then very joyfully slam the lids down. Like this : https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KL89EUI/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabc73DWPSTK3TF48VMQ4K99

Or a box of instruments/drums or tambourines. Basically anything he can hit that makes a satisfying sound that isn't you?

Ds used to slap me too but I think it was more about my reaction than sensory.

I totally don't mind when he gets obsessive interests he loved his dinosaurs for 10m... Just struggling with him so disinterested in everything at the moment.

Great advice thank you, I had both instruments and that pop-up box when he was little and I gave them away, I've rebought them to try again 🤣🙄