Short and Sharp

From Kate Wilde:

During a a phone consultation at The Autism Treatment Center of America I was helping a Son-Rise Program  father with the notion of how to discipline his child with autism.. This Father believed that being short and sharp with his son got the most immediate results - ie he stopped doing what his father did not want him to do. Short and sharp meant he would raise his voice with a sharp tone and sometimes would also grab the boy roughly.

This boy did stop when he Father spoke to him like this and he has started to stop when his Father entered the room, but it had not stopped the behavior happening at other times. His son had also started to adopt the same short and sharp behavior when he did not want something to happen. Thus in the long term this was not working.

Also if we are wanting our children to want to interact with us, to enjoy being in a relationship with us then it is important that we interact with them, even when we are setting a boundary in a sweet, peaceful and loving manner.

Prioritize the long term goal of promoting relationship over the short term goal of getting your child to stop what they are doing in the momment.

With much love Kate