There have been a lot of articles recently (HERE's one)about the disruptive behavior of children diagnosed with autism. These articles point out how disruptive these kids can be at school, in church or at the mall. There was a fairly notrious case recently in which a mother was asked to de-plane because her child had a 'meltdown'.
I've worked with thousands of kids and one thing always turns out to be true. ALL BEHAVIOR IS LEARNED...and it they can learn it, they can un-learn it.
Parents don't like to hear this any more than teachers do but the child having an upset in front of you is responding to what is happening and their history of reinforcement. They are crying because it works. If that kid on the plane wanted off the plane you have no idea how reinforcing being taken off that plane was...they just increased that child's 'meltdowns' immeasurably. There are thousands of children diagnosed with autism who do not scream and yell or cause problems in public.
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