Head banging in the autistic...

[paigetheoracle]

Could people with learning difficulties bang their heads against the wall for the same reason we shake and bang a clock against something else, to get it to loosen up and work? Is this the real reason they seem to self harm? People usually self-harm to stop something happening (working in their lives i.e. self-sabotage/suicide)but what if in this case it is the opposite?

 

Anybody out there have any observations/insights to refute or display proof of this in their own lives?

[TheBigDog]

I am not well studied on this topic, but I have some interest, and have been paying closer attention of late. I think that one of the attributes of autism tends to be obsessive/compulsive behaviors of all types. With autistic kids all behaviors seem to be exagerated to the degree that their emotional responses are out of whack with what is considered the normal range. It can manifest itself in all sorts of behaviors. But I do not think it has anything to do with wanting to harm themselves. More it has to do with harm being unimportant compared to the urge to repeat the act over and over.

 

Bill

[Turtle]

Could people with learning difficulties bang their heads against the wall for the same reason we shake and bang a clock against something else, to get it to loosen up and work?

 

Perhaps a clock yes, but not the reason you suggest. More like throwing the clock across the room when the alarm won't turn off. It is an interruptive mechanism I think primarily.(..I primarily think?...) :hyper: