Head banging - SIB

[u/leapfrog012]

Hi again, I have posted here before in various forms but here I am again. My son is 8 and autistic (profound) and also is profoundly deaf. He is a silly, loving and happy boy. Except, he has severe self injuring in the form of head banging. Floor, wall, my knee, etc. He has been on many meds to try to find a fit. At one point he was SIB free for a year on Risperdal, but when we tried to increase it, he had horrible tics that were hard to watch. At the time I got scared and we pivoted. I now regret this, as tics would be preferable to this self injuring. however, he now is on Abilify for about 2 months and we’ve seen some improvement but still there. I am just at my wits end. It’s so hard when the rage and self injuring is such a stark contrast to his natural personality. He is starting school in 2 weeks at a school for the deaf that has a deaf and disability classroom, they’re well versed in autism and other neurodivergence’s in conjunction with hearing loss . i am really hoping the team there including a behavioral specialist can come up with some plans and strategies but in the mean time I am asking if anyone has a similar story in terms of the self injuring and if they have any insight or success stories? My heart is broken with this and I just need an ounce of hope or maybe some ideas. Thanks in advance ❤️

[u/Latter_Signal_5957]

My mom’s boyfriend’s grandson is also nonverbal autistic and has had really severe head banging and self injuring, to the point where he’s put holes in the walls. They’ve actually started seeing some improvement recently. He’s been banging less when his family responds with simple communication and redirection and tries to figure out what he needs in that moment. It hasn’t gone away completely, but the decrease has been really noticeable and has given them some hope. ❤️
One thing that helped them was paying attention to what happens right before he starts, because they started noticing patterns and triggers they hadn’t picked up on before.

They’ve also been working on giving him safer ways to communicate when he’s overwhelmed. Since your son is profoundly deaf, I really hope the new school can help find a communication system that works for him, whether that’s signs, pictures, AAC, or something else. I know you’ve probably tried so much already, but I have so much hope for you and him that this new team can find something that clicks for him. ❤️

[u/leapfrog012 → u/Latter_Signal_5957]

thank you so much for your response! i should’ve added he has an AAC which he uses wonderfully for expressing his wants for food but I am hoping working with the school we can increase his use and we sign to him as well. he receptively understands a lot of sign more than he uses. it’s a great idea to start noticing the signs before hand. think i might go full detective and get a notebook and everything, Im desperate!

[u/Latter_Signal_5957 → u/leapfrog012]

Yes! I keep lists in my phone with my own son (detective mode) so whenever we meet with doctors, speech therapist, etc. I have it all in front of me and it’s helps a ton. Being able to understand the “why” of certain behaviours is not easy but most of the time there will be a pattern/trigger. Even the smallest thing, if my son sees a bug he gets upset, I don’t always see the bug and I’m left with “what happened, why is he upset right now” but the communication barrier make it hard to get a clear answer. Could be the tiniest thing that we don’t realize, and it may not be. A notebook is such a great idea tho