Aggression Part 1

My last entry touched a little on aggression and the effects it has on the entire family.  Its hard to imagine anything more difficult to cope with than the physical and emotional pain of a loved one striking out at those that devote themselves to them.  This will be a series of entries devoted to this subject.  This entry will give some general background on our struggle with Tyler's aggressive behaviors.

Tyler's aggression began to show itself around the age of 3.  He could be self-injurious by banging his head when he would get upset or frustrated.  He would also swing his arms or kick his feet when he would want to communicate his displeasure with something.  In some respects it was a very impulsive behavior driven by his lack of verbal skills and ability to process his emotions.  In other respects there was calculation in how he chose to carry out his aggression.  There were triggers that you could predict from a mile away, and yet there was unpredictability of aggression that happened with little warning.  The predictable triggers could be; cutting food in front of him, walking away from him unexpectedly, waiting in a line, the dogs eating where he could see them, and picking something up from the floor in front of him.  But many other triggers gave us no warning at all.

Tyler also chose where his aggression would be targeted.  He preferred to be aggressive toward people with quieter personalities.  Anyone who showed apprehension would be particularly in danger.  Children and pets would also be easy targets for him.  This always made me nervous when there were little ones or elderly people in his path.  Conversely, people with "type A" personalities, or people that showed him that they were not impressed by his aggression were rarely the recipients of it.  If you appeared to be animated, fearless, and bold, Tyler would be drawn to you and aggression would be non-existent.

As Tyler got older the aggression became more difficult to handle.  Much of that is a simple result of his increase in size and strength.  He also became more unpredictable the older he got.  His mood swings also seemed to influence him in a much more profound way as he went through his teen years.

Fortunately now that he is comfortable in his residential surroundings the aggression has been quite manageable.  The unpredictability is still there, and incidents can happen, but overall he has been doing well.  The staff still has to know his current triggers.

In the next entry I will address the emotional effects it had on us as individuals and as a family.

Be well and God bless.    Tom