Without knowing the child... By SoniaT

...or the particular set up of your class, I don't think I can give you any direct advice. Are you looking at when these behaviors happen and noting specific triggers? Perhaps some of them can be "headed off at the pass".

What purpose do the behaviors seem to serve for him? Is there a way you can meet those purposes in advance of the behavior, or give him the skills to get those needs met appropriately? I'm drawing blanks about some good, quick resources to recommend in terms of best understanding autism spectrum disorders. Googling "autism society america" will probably end you out at the

ASA homepage, which should have some pamphlets to download.

Fundamentally, you're not there to teach him new skills--children functioning at his level need an extraordinary amount of repetition, practice, and individual instruction/intervention, and you don't see him often enough or intensively enough to take that on. If I were you, I'd look at arranging the environment so he was more likely to engage in appropriate behaviors--have a little trampoline available so he get the sensory stimulation he may be seeking with the table jumping, put things he prefers to use in the part of the room with the fewest wall decorations, etc. Communicate to grandma exactly what he's doing--ask her what this usually means at home, and how SHE responds. (If I work with a kid who hits/bites me, the first thing I do is figure out the warning signs and the function--then, I intervene as soon as I see warning signs by prompting the child through a behavior that meets the same function, like signing for "break" when he's trying to get out of doing something).

Good luck!

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