Autism and Bad Behavior

There is a fine line between bad behavior and autistic behavior. And parents often have a problem differentiating between the two. The line between the two is so blurred that it might not even exist. All children exhibit bad behavior - with autistic children it is not always within their control. Parents often stress over this because they don’t want to punish a child for something that they are not in control of. However it's important that a child’s autism diagnosis not become a free pass from accountability.

Though the jury is still out and probably will always be out in just how much an autism child is in control of his actions parents must still set boundaries for them. In this case it is better to not give the benefit of the doubt. Because though autistic children may not have the inherent social and behavioral skills to “make themselves behave” - the boundaries and disciplines that parents impose on an autistic child will at least help them learn what they can and can’t do.

In time this “learnt” good behavior will become second nature top the autistic child and the incidences of things like violent outbursts and tantrums will decrease. And it is important t that the parents work with the child’s school in this regard so that there is a consistency between home and school in the expectations that both parent and teacher have for the child - the more the autistic child is reminded of their behavioral accountability the better they will understand what is expected of them.

Raising an autistic child is a challenge for both parent and child and it is imperative that both are always aware of what is expected in spite of this challenge. There will be many areas in the autistic child’s life where they will be given slack because of their challenges but in the long run parents must also set expectations for these children so that eventually they can recognize their responsibilities and act accordingly.