Autism / Autism Spectrum Support Group
Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder which manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. Although the specific etiology of autism is unknown, many researchers suspect that autism results from genetically mediated vulnerabilities to environmental triggers.
Hi I've just joined this group. I have a 19 year old son called Glen who is severely autistic with challenging behavours, including self injurious behaviour. He is now in a great care home which is quite local to where we live.
Is anyone else in a similar position? What is your view of care homes?
Is anyone else in a similar position? What is your view of care homes?
As for the challenging behaviors, we were all taught that "all behavior is communication." So, even though it is difficult to watch, Glen is trying to tell you, the world, something by his behavior. Not knowing him or watching him, I cannot hazard any guesses. I'd have to actually see him in his environment and even then I might not have all the information.
For every action/behavior, there are ABCs. The A is the Antecedent, what happened before the behavior happened. Was Glen playing a video game or coloring or ??? The B is the Behavior, what exactly did Glen do. Did he hit himself, bang his head on the wall, slap staff, ??? The C is Consequences, what happened because of the behavior. Was there bleeding, a bruise, ??? Did Glen go in his room, engage in self soothing behaviors, ???
There are also Setting Events which happen before and off stage from the immediate behavior. These are things that set him up for having a different behavior in a regular event. If he goes to a day program outside of the care home, did he have a bad day there and was still upset when he got home, so he lashed out at staff or himself. Or, it could be he had a hard time with staff person A, but takes out on staff person B, who he knows will keep him safe even when he's being unsafe.
Then, there's the Crisis Interaction Model. This is a model based on what the client is doing determines what staff interactions should be. It's been a while since I have had to know this, but I'll do my best to describe it. Picture a line on a graph that goes from flat, angles up, reaches a high plateau, then comes back below flat at the beginning and then back up to close to beginning flat. The beginning flat bit is Baseline, staff interaction is normal interactions. The up angle is started by a Trigger, this is an event that starts client feeling out of sorts, staff interaction is to redirect client to distract and get him to feeling safe. The plateau is Crisis, staff interaction is minimum needed for health and safety, not a lot of chatter as that can escalate even more. The down angle is Deescalation and staff interaction is to provide a sense of safety and comfort by providing normalizing options. The dip below flat is Recovery, staff interaction is to provide a safe place to chill out and regain composure. Then, the up angle back to baseline ends a little higher than the previous baseline. It takes a while for the baseline to return to pre-crisis level baseline, which that time needed varies from person to person.
Hope this helps.
It's been a hard 2 years as Glen first went into a care home out of county as it seemed a very good home. At first all seemed ok but soon Glen's behaviour deteriorated. Glen used to hit himself and actually hit his eye so much it caused a detached retina and he had an operation.
Glen then went onto a home for adults when he was 18 and things go even worse there, his behaviour became very violent and he had to be 'committed' into a special hospital for people with autism when he underwent a mental health assessment. This was the best things that could have happened to Glen and he became much calmer, happier and less anxious. He was there for 5 months. Glen then ended up in the care home he is currently in.
Glen seems happy and relaxed and staff take him out daily for drives and walks which Glen loves, this is what gets him motivated the most, it always has. The only criticism I have is Glen doesn't seem to do much in the day in the home apart from going out. With Glen you have to 'tell him to do something' rather than ask him, if you ask he will shake his head (he's mostly non verbal) more often than not. It seems staff are not really telling him to do anything in the house, they ask and then of course Glen won't do whatever activity they've asked him to do. Do you think I'm worrying unnecessarily? Glen has only been at the home 8 weeks. It seems staff are not putting too many demands on Glen so far which I know is a good idea but I'm just a bit concerned that Glen could be bored when he's in the house at times, I do know Glen better than anyone after all being his mum and I do know he does need a bit of a push so to speak at times.
I would welcome your thoughts please, thanks. I am actually going to visit Glen tomorrow with my other son and daughter.
I think I've been worrying over nothing, I found out that staff has introduced activiites, one in the mornings, he's been doing some pottery (making mugs that you put in the oven) I'm sure you know what I mean? Glen does love his arts and crafts. Also regarding chores, Glen does washing up every day, he also brings down his dirty laundry and makes his lunch each day and lays the table. Staff feel that they don't want to put too many demands on Glen too soon so they are taking it slowly. I feel happy with what I've learnt today, to see Glen looking so well and settled means so much to me as his Mum.