Coping with Autism

We're having some serious issues with Peter's latest stimming technique. Opening and closing doors repeatedly has gotten not only extremely annoying but also distracting for Peter. He's not focusing as well as he was--he would rather open and close a door. If you can get him to focus, he's using more complete sentences and giving more information when he does speak. It's getting him to focus that's causing the biggest problem. I feel like I did when he became obsessive over the computer. Problem is I could turn the computer off-- I can't take all the doors off their hinges! Argh!!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, "stimming" refers to self-stimulation and it's what children with autism do to keep themselves calm. For Peter, in the past he has run back and forth or spun in circles repeatedly. For some children, it's playing with string or turning the wheels of a toy car so that the wheels spin repeatedly. Peter's latest stimming technique is door opening and closing. Over and over and over and over. . . well, you get the idea. Nathan, fortunately, doesn't stim to the same obnoxious degree as his brother. Nathan likes to line things up or he'll hand-flap when he's excited. Peter has to physically involve himself in his stimming and the doors are the latest in what I am sure will be a life-long issue.