Hello

B

btnmcwhorter

New Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hi. My name is Bre and I am the mom to a very exuberant little boy named Kaiden. Kaiden is 5 years old and was born profoundly deaf. He wears a CI but uses ASL as his primary means of communication. Lately we have had a problem with Kaiden keeping his hands to himself. He hits constantly. He hits his classmates at school (he spends 1/2 the day in the HOH class and 1/2 the day with the mainstream kindergarten with an aide to interpret) and the kids in his gymnastics class. I don't want to pull him out of gymnastics and I can't remove him from school, but I don't know what to do about the hitting. He thinks it's funny. We have shown him video of him hitting the kids and told him that it was bad but he just laughs. Time out doesn't work, we even took away all his toys. Reward systems for good behavior aren't working either. I'm at my wits end because other than the hitting he really is a good kid. His teacher says this is a phase that all deaf boys go through. Is she right? How do I better discipline him? I appreciate any and all help. His dad and I just don't know what else to do. Thanks.
 
welcome to Alldeaf, I know it can be hard for alot of parents! my folks had that same problem with me.
 
Sarfarigirl2011 said:
welcome to Alldeaf, I know it can be hard for alot of parents! my folks had that same problem with me.
Click to expand...

I was the same. And I am also female. So it isn't limited to boys..
Not sure it is limited to deaf children either.

My parents thought it was due to autism. Your son is not on the autism spectrum?
 
My hearing son went through that phase and I have worked with young children and there have been many deaf boys who didnt go through that phase. I dont know why the teacher is singling out deaf boys.

Like some deaf people love Chinese food but some hate it.

Same with hearing people too.

No difference.

Your son just needs a different kind of approach. He is probably acting out due to his needs not being met at school. That could be his way of communicating with others that something is not working for him at school. That's the job of the IEP team to figure that out.

Important, BE consistent with the behavior management. What about reinforcing his good behavior with token awards but ignore the undesired behaviors. That way he gets attention for the good behaviors instead for the "bad" behaviors and once he notices that, he will start exhibiting the desirable behaviors more and more to get the reinforcement. However, once you change an approach, the undesirable behavior will show an increase but keep it up and eventually it will decrease.

10 years of experience in behavior management strategies with young children.

Feel free to ask more questions. :)
 
Thank you for your advice and reassurances. Kaiden is not autistic, but his outbursts tend to happen on the play ground and at the end of the day when emotions are high and things are chaotic. We can't really ignore the behavior any longer as it's been going on for about a year and he is starting to hurt others. The thought of Christmas is keeping him somewhat on the straight and narrow ever since his sister told him Santa wouldn't give him any presents if he didn't behave, but we shall have to wait and see. I'm looking into different reward/demerit systems hoping one will gel with his personality and keep his intrests (he usually gets bored with them after a month or so and stops trying to earn the rewards no matter how consistent I am with them). But again, a BIG thank you to every one.
 
Back
Top