Every time the child does an intervention, he or she resists, runs away, often ignores instructions or simply wanders off, or has a temper tantrum. …… These problematic behaviors are often encountered in interventions for children with autism, and are often referred to as “avoidance behaviors”.
Children with autism display a wide range of avoidance behaviors when they are in unfamiliar situations or when they are faced with tasks that they find difficult.
The child’s home environment, the difficulty of the task, and the length of the training session are all factors that may contribute to the development of avoidance behaviors.
Common examples of avoidance behaviors include running away during individual training sessions, ignoring instructions given by the teacher, and picky eating behaviors.
The more anxious or fearful a child is, the more problematic their behavior will be. Without the right intervention, it is difficult for the child’s avoidance behavior to subside.
Provide regular breaks
Parents may find that their child is in a completely different state at home and in class with the teacher, and that the child is simply not able to concentrate on learning at home.
A large part of this situation is due to the fact that when individual training sessions are conducted, there are prompts for class to end and the child slowly develops a concept of time, which is why the child is more cooperative in front of the teacher.
Therefore, parents can also give their children a rest and adjustment time when training at home, so that the child’s attention will be relatively focused on learning at home.
Therefore, we need to understand avoidance behaviors and develop a plan for intervention that is tailored to each child’s individual situation.
Here are a few ways to intervene with “avoidant behavior”:
Adjusting the difficulty of training
Teach your child to ask for help
Avoidance behavior occurs when the training is too difficult with too little reinforcement and the child wants to take a break but is unable to express themselves due to language barriers.
It is important to reduce the difficulty of the task in subsequent training to make it easier for the child to accept the task.
For example, if a child has difficulty learning math at first, then training can start with more basic reading and writing to improve cognition; when a child finds putting on shoes too complicated, try trying with shoes without laces first.
Reducing the difficulty does not mean lowering the goal of the intervention; our main goal is still to improve the child’s social functioning, just to make the intervention a little less intensive.
In addition to reducing the difficulty of the training, parents should also consciously guide the child to “seek help correctly”. For example, if we give the instruction “clap your hands” and the child does not want to cooperate and throws a tantrum, what we need to do is to stick to the instruction and teach the child how to express the need for help.
Then we can assist the child in carrying out the instruction through physical and verbal means, such as holding the child’s hands with our own to help the child complete the “clap” action, and then giving the child a reinforcement reward after completing the action.
Create a conducive environment, break down tasks and reinforce them step by step.
Break down a difficult or complex task into parts and reward the child for completing each part of the broken down task.
For example, simulate taking your child to the store for five minutes the first time to get him used to the store, and then extend the time for a few minutes at a time while your child’s behavior is still good, and then gradually extend the time until your child is able to complete the entire activity.
Intervention training should be gradual, so that the child can ultimately achieve success, in the process of completing the task, to always convey a signal to the child: you are great, you can do it! This reduces the child’s frustration.
Communication Training
Communication training does not require special teaching materials, but rather the use of appropriate training programs based on the child’s level of language development.
If necessary, you can use visual cues and a combination of body language and speech to help your child understand things better.
Or simply chat with your child and share some familiar fables or animations.