Help for Autistic son

[LucyAH]

My 14 year old autie has been on his best behavior for the past 6 months - not kicking walls, not breaking windows, not hitting. BUT recently he has started up with these behaviors again - I have an extensive background with autism, having had him dx'd at close to 3, but I'm wondering if these returning behaviors have anything to do with puberty and if anyone has any advice for me. He lives 30 minutes away from me (single Mom with with a 16 year old daughter) in a group home, but comes home for an overnight each week. Thanks!

Why's he doing it? Ds1 has been hitting his head a lot recently and I've realized he does it to get me to tell him to stop (ie he gets attention) so I am trying to completely ignore it (hard because be is giving himself a bald patch).

Ds1 used to break windows (with his head!) but doesn't even try now we've replaced them as he worked out quite quickly the glass isnow too tough

can ytou ask the group home if anything has changed routines etc people who deal with him

how is he sleeping etc my d sis only 4 HFA but find a lot of his behaviour is around changed routine and lack of sleep

it could be his way of expressing something has changed

best thing would be ask home and then if you can ask ds

ds not d sis

My DS (ASD) is 13 and I have been expecting a lot of ups and downs with puberty. He hasn't quite got to puberty yet although there are signs. It is tricky because you can't ignore the effect it may have (although I'm not sure where that gets you as what can you do?) but its also easy to put any changes in behaviour down to puberty when they may not be. My DS also lives away from home and doesn't come home as often as your DS so it can be hard to track and move with changes iyswim. He was home this weekend and he was the same as always. At Xmas his school were very keen on giving me a mini PECs schedule to guide him with masturbation (called a jig which made me laugh). its still on the shelf in his room, either he is very private or it isn't the "problem" they anticipated. I have a few friends with boys with ASD older than mine andn most seem to have gone through puberty fairly smoothly. Professionals do seem very keen to make us all "prepare" and "wake up" to what is going to happen, but I've always resisted assuming its going to be a problem until it is. Not much help here really, changes in behaviour could be affected by puberty/hormones/moods but it may be coincidental. I do think that DS's behaviour and the functions for his behaviour has become much more complex and subtle since he was a youngster but I don't think that's puberty necessarily, just growing up. Although the key is to work out the function of a behaviour I do think it becomes much, much harder to do that as they get older.

Is there a new member of staff, some other change at his group home?

My 13 yr old has hfa/as and has become more suddenly riled by things like his younger brother being annoying (!), then upset after the rage/outburst. He's also significantly stronger than before. So he's more emotionally up and down. He also is appreciative of my company after he's been enraged.

I remember that phase with my eldest ds who has AS. He felt anger and frustration in a different way, and would feel as though if his head was about to explode, so he told me. Puberty does make a difference, and what helped him was more autonomy to make his own decisions, aswell as a chart so he could learn to understand the things that were making him angry, and whether they were a 1 or a 5, with 5 being the highest. It saved him from being expelled, he also had a very understanding teacher, who being ex-army, installed a very regimented routine for him at school. It helped him alot during this difficult time. He got through it and is now a very capable adult.
I don't know if this is of any help to you, sorry if it is not, and I hope you find a way to help your ds.