My Autistic 4 Year Old Constantly Breaks Everything

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I went to the kitchen moments ago, heard an extremely loud crashing sound, upon my return to the room and found my flat screen on the floor along with an assortment of other stuff. ABA said that the cause is over stimulated, sensory seeking, and seeks attention with this behavior.

Definately sounds like my younger daughter. Shes verbal. She destroys stuff. She doesn't even know why. She gets upset afterwards. She's almost 6. One time she cut a bunch of holes in her favorite sweater. Then cried after. Same with her hair. God only knows whats shes dropped down the vents. I have to hide the toothpaste, nailpolish, all that. One time she turned our bathroom into a slip n slide with a bottle of baby oil. Found her naked, greased up, and sliding around everywhere at 3am. It was a little funny. Total you know what to clean up. She'll destroy anything without thought. And she's high functioning. Theres no lack of discipline either. She just does it.

We have started just sacrificing things to her, like a volcano god. It seems to help save the rest of the house.

[quote="zachbrowne"]First hello. This is my first post.

My 4 year old son, who has autism, is walking around destroying everything he touches. He's not angry, just able. If left unattended for even a moment he will rip apart a laptop, pour any liquid out anywhere, including on a TV. He threw the XBOX and ruined it today and poured shredded cheese all over the leather couches.

My wife and I have 5 kids and one of us has to be with him every waking second of every day. What the hell can we do? My first idea is to build a half-wall in the dining room and lock him in there, where he can see the rest of us of course but cannot get out. He's honestly a danger to himself and I just don't know what to do. Any thoughts?[/quo

Your childs sounds like he needs a lot more sensory stimulation than is perhaps being given... and a routine picture board that explains to him whats happening throughout the day.What may appear to be aimless wandering and investigating things is possibly out of curiosity as well as anxiety at not knowing whats happening throughout his day. PECs boards are needed by your son to ease his anxiety..and activities that provide him with play opportunities to squeeze and pour to receive sensory input.Those suggested Locking doors etc??? why would you do that...the child is trying to tell you what he needs and locked doors would terrify my son who has Autism...I dont have a lock on anything in my house (other than the bathroom) and i dont need any.Your son isnt deliberately seeking to break things...hes seeking sensory stimulationSome of the things hes doing is exploring just what things are...but squeezing and pouring etc are all sensory seeking behaviours and your child is asking for more stimulation.Isolating him behind a wall/locked door will increase his anxiety and frighten him

This thread is from 2013. Not complaining, just a heads-up that the OP is likely long gone.