Things you are not told about Autism and ADHD

Photo credit: Lemonlimeadventures.com

Last night my husband and I went to marriage therapy.  I was all ready in a bad mood after leaving marriage therapy and then I get a phone call while we were still out from the sitter watching the children.  Though she is new sitter I was not prepared for what she had to tell me when I got home!

James got aggressive with her when she had told him to go to sleep and quit playing around with his brother. When she said she was going to text me he flipped out on her. I am sure it was because he know he was going to get in trouble but his behavior with her was outrageous!

The caregiver told us she texted us and then James grabbed for her phone.  She placed her phone in her bra to keep it away from him and he went to grab it anyways,  He was cussing at her and kept grabbing her.  Eventually he knocked her down and she fell into a toy bin and hurt herself.  James did at let immediately apologized for that.  The poor lady had hurt her wrist!  Thankfully she said she would be okay but his behavior was out of control!

With James having Autism and ADD he does not relate well to people on an emotional level.  He has not problem crossing personal boundaries like sticking his hands down that poor woman's shirt to try and get her phone. He knows he should not cuss but he did anyways to try and threaten her.  He pushed her down in desperation to get the phone with no thought of her personally.  All of this is basically due to lack of personal understanding of emotion, self control, and impulsivity.

We came home and James was immediately screaming and crying.  We hadn't even heard what he had done in detail yet but he did know he was in BIG trouble. He was blubbering and saying he was sorry.  Somewhere along the line James has come to the conclusion that saying sorry erases whatever he did wrong; no matter how egregious his behavior was at the time!

Today he is grounded to his room to think about his behavior.  He has some toys and books in his room and he comes out to do chores but it idea for today is for him to reflect on his behavior and hopefully not doing it again just to stay out of his room, if for not other reason!

Impulsivity and executive functioning is SO important!  We are obviously going to have to continue working on these skills!