So A self-injures, I guess you could call it. She doesn't speak, and her communication is limited to proximity, some pointing and yes/no buttons, which are working fairly well. She scratches herself, alot. It started when she was about 5 and got sick one December. From what I've read, and I believe it holds true for A, some autistic people cannot tell what hurts, they just know they feel bad. She started scratching her hands when she felt ill, and over the years, it has progressed from there. Now, it seems to be habitual. She scratches when she's happy, sad, excited, etc. It's not constant, but pretty regular. Strangers have started to ask me if she fell down or had an accident. Most times I don't really answer, just give a half-smile and shrug my shoulders. I'm not going to stop and explain her idiosyncracies. Others, I'll just say, "she scratches herself." It's getting more obvious that she's a little different, but that's a whole other post.
It's taken me awhile to figure out that because A sees any attention as good attention - which, let me tell you, can be (WARNING: expletives ahead!) SO fucking frustrating - when we grab her hands to stop her scratching, she may actually see it as positive reinforcement. Hey, I scratch, they come sit by me and hold my hands - score! So I've been trying to stop, and ignore her when she goes nuts. It's hard. It's really hard because she goes at her face and hands. And it's summertime. Ugh. She is pretty good about sitting on her hands and stopping herself...sometimes.
Any suggestions, comments? What do you think?
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