Handling Challenging Behavior

I strongly believe that behavior is communication. Challenging behavior is a symptom of a problem and not the problem itself, just like fever is a symptom of a problem and not the problem itself. You can control the fever by taking fever-reducing medication. However, to treat the fever, the doctor has to identify and address the root cause of the fever. Similarly, you can control challenging behavior in the short run by superficial methods like reward and punishment, but in order to rectify the behavior in the long run, you must identify the root cause of the behavior and address it.

In my son's case, for example, I realized that his challenging behavior was caused by one or more of the following issues:

• Sensory overload: Receiving more sensory stimulation than he can handle in terms of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
• Emotional overload: Feeling strong emotions and not having the ability to manage them.
• Cognitive overload: Trying to perform tasks that are beyond his cognitive ability.
• Communication challenges: Finding it difficult to communicate his thoughts and feelings

Once I was able to identify what was causing his challenging behavior, I was able to help him deal with it. For example:

• Sensory overload: Remove or reduce the stimuli causing the sensory overload.
• Emotional overload: Teach emotional and self-regulation.
• Cognitive overload: Stop the activity and resume after taking a break or switch to an easier activity.
• Communication challenges: Teach different ways to communicate.

Love,

Preeti

DISCLAIMER: Please note that I am neither a doctor, a therapist, or a special educator. I am the mother of a young man with special needs. Everything I write is based on my personal experiences with my son and should not be taken as or in place of professional advice.