How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

My DH says he doesn't believe in time out. I don't know what to do with my 3 year old DS when he doesn't listen, or consistently climbs on things he is not supposed to or takes things that don't belong to him. What do you do?

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

When my DD was little, I'd put her on her bed. It had a gate on it and since she also has a physical disability, she couldn't climb out. Now that she's older, she goes to her room. She usually cries and talks out loud to herself. Once she has a calmer head, I go and talk to her why she's up there.
It's a time out-but we don't refer to it that way. It gives her a chance to cool off (and me too) and then we chat about it.

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

Time outs work for us. Sometimes I need it more than he does - a few minutes to calm down and not cause the situation to escalate.

What I found works for us is if the reward or the thing being taken away is for one specific behavior. For example, hitting means no TV. If it escalates, he gets a time out. Throwing things means they get taken away until tomorrow. My DS is pretty good with understanding cause and effect, so this type of stuff seems to work with him.

We also use certain rewards for only one thing we want him to do. He gets computer time for brushing his teeth. It's the only time during the day (at home) he is allowed on the computer. Limiting it to being a reward just for tooth brushing makes it a stronger motivator.

Message edited 12/7/2011 9:53:24 PM.

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

Time Outs work for us!
DS HATES it, therefore, tries his best not to earn himself one.

I'm the mom, I don't care where we are (store, playdate, wherever), if he needs one, he gets one.

Thankfully, it hasn't happened in a while. I tried talking, reasoning, etc. but, time outs are the only thing that he "gets".

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

Time outs work for us too, though we don't do the traditional stand in the corner time out. THAT did not work at all. We send him to his room until he calms down (sometimes we have to carry him up there, actually most of the time we do), or just walk away. Most of the time he'll follow us screaming though, so then he goes to his room. This is what happens when he hits or he's really wild and out of control.

If he throws something, it gets confiscated and put on the top of the fridge for a day. He rarely throws things anymore.

He has gotten interested in electronic games, but he has to earn them by getting ready for bed without a hassle (this is a problem area for us). If he does okay, he can play a game the next day. If he doesn't listen, no game the next day. We haven't been doing this long, we'll see if it works.

Good luck! It's not easy, I feel like you need to draw these boundaries over and over and over and over...

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

I remove all reinforcers. Like turn off TV, etc..

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

it depends on the situation.
for throwing things or having a tantrum at all, usually i remove all reinforcers (tv, snacks, etc.)

if he hitting i turn everything off and i go in the room with him and close the door. i sit on the floor and let him have his fit until he is ready to relax. when he comes over and sits on my lap, we can leave the room.

if we are out of the house, i remove him from the situation, hold him in my lap until he calms down.

Re: How do you discipline your child with PDD-NOS

I forgot to add, we also try to remember to use positive reinforcement too. If he does something well (evenly modestly so), we make a big fuss about it. It's important, sometimes I feel as if we (meaning DH and I) say too much, "no" or "don't do that," "put that down," etc. it's nice to recognize the good things our children do.