Walk In The Park

A walk in the park.

I don't think I've said much about the negative aspects to having an ASD child.  Especially one on the moderate to lower end of the spectrum.   A lot of times having ASD children is not a "walk in the park."  Unlike the fun my son and I had at the park today.

Lately I've been dealing with a very inconvenient, annoying, loud, aggressive behavior.  Every time we come home, from the park, therapy, shopping, my son doesn't want to leave the car.  For a while I was carrying him up the stairs as he kicked and screamed to get him into the house, staying calm and talking to him about how "we have to get out of the car" and "we will go in the car again."  Then, I tried a different approach by leaving him in the car (don't worry, it's in the climate controlled secured garage) with all doors open so he could walk into the house when it pleased him.  This has not worked either.  It has, however, allowed me some free time to blog and/or clean.
I've thought of all the possible causes....sickness, chronic ear pain, getting the process of "out of the car" in the "wrong (according to my son)" order, not letting him try to undo his seat belt, not letting him close doors, not letting him push the button to shut the garage door.......I've thought of and tried everything I can think of.  Now, I'm back to thinking the bad behavior is ear pain and taking him to the ENT tomorrow.  If that's not it, it's typical toddler behavior that I need to address with some kind of discipline or incentive.  If you do not have an ASD child, you will not understand this.....you can't scold, yell, "time out" or otherwise negatively discipline an Autistic child.  They are stubborn as a goat and they will win.  My success has been either being more stubborn than my child, or using an item as an incentive to do what I need him to do.  For example, my son has gone from a crib to a bed.  When it was "night night" time, I put him to bed, left the room, went downstairs to suddenly find him walking down after me.  I finally resolved this issue by staying upstairs, hidden behind his bedroom door, and every time he began to wander out, I directed him back in.  It's taken a while but he will stay.  As for my son's incentives, it's usually an electronic device like an iPod, or cell phone, or other digital toy.  Hey, you do what you can.