Do Not Spank your Autistic Child

Many parents use spanking to discipline their children. For children with autism, the decision to spank the child is a very difficult and heart wrenching to make. Many autistic children act out to be violent and aggressive and do not react well to additional stress and violence caused on them.

Up to date, there is no consensus on the proper way to discipline these special children. But parents must take this important point to heart, when punishing an autistic child, you have to make sure he or she understands that the punishment is direct result of his or her behavior. There is useless to wait a long period of time after the misbehavior as the child will be confused and do not remember his fault that deserve the punishment.

Punishment in any form should have a sliding scale. The punishment severity should match the seriousness of the behavior. Punishing an autistic child is different from punishing a normal child. Methods like sending him to his room does not work. To make them understand better why he is being punished, there must be a consistency between mum and dad. Both parents must agree to punish using similar ways on certain misbehavior. Repetition and the same format of scolding is important because the child do not understand inconsistency. Routines make the child comprehend more.

Spanking in highly controversial, even parents with normal children are questioning its effectiveness. But I assure you spanking an autistic child is almost useless. Unless you want to bring a cane everywhere you go, like in public places, and risk getting a visit from welfare child services. Spanking can only be done at home but the autistic child does not register this. They cannot differentiate which make them more confused. Since the parents do not spank in public places, the child might want to repeat their misbehavior in public places which defeat the purpose of the punishment at home.

However hard, do not give up on your child, even with all the methods you have tried. Each autistic child is different and responds differently with each punishment. Keep searching for the many methods parents share online. Disciplining an autistic child is trial and error and when time comes, you will find a suitable medium to teach and care for your child.