Dealing with Frustration

Dealing with frustration

Frustration is the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals or a feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized. It is also a feeling of annoyance at being hindered or criticized.If your child's behavior has been found to be cause by frustration, the child will need more positive encouragement and to be taught that mistakes are okay.  You might also want to set up a reward system just to reinforce your child's accomplishments however small they are. Click here for some examples.

Example: Johnny always has trouble getting dressed, he gets lost in the sleeves, he can't work the button on his pants and his socks get stuck on his toes. So when it is time to get dressed, he screams and throws his clothes around the room. Children with autism need to learn to become an independent person, and you cannot dress him for the rest of his life. Make it fun to get dressed. If he is stuck in a sleeve find a way to laugh about it with him then tell how great he is doing all by himself. If he screams for you to do it, pretend you don't know how by doing everything wrong, socks on hands or shirt on legs, then ask him for his help. At first this will take a long time but after some days it will get easier and more fun. Make a big deal when he gets all the clothes on, even if something is backwards or askew in some way. When you see another adult who is on board with what you are doing say "Guess What?! Johnny got dressed all by himself!"

Once you have a behavioral plan set up at home, both parents need to follow it and you should let your child's teacher know how you handle different situations so when they occur at school they can be handled in the same manner. The consistency will help your child learn how to make the right choices faster. Some of these behavior suggestions might sound cold or uncaring, but it does your child more harm to not discipline them and not teach them how to make good choices. They already have a disadvantage socially, you need to help them understand how to behave so other children will be able to play with them and enjoy their company.