What is ASD? According to the World Health Organization, Autism Spectrum Disorder is a group of conditions that affect a person's social interaction and communication.
A child diagnosed with ASD needs to establish good habits to acquire socio-emotional skills and develop language abilities, aiming to enhance the quality of their communication and social interactions. Forming good habits is rooted in values, which are universal agreements that guide our attitudes and behaviors, defining how we should act or interact—essentially, shaping our behavior. These values must be practiced consistently to transform into habits and become integral to our way of thinking, feeling, speaking, and acting.
Values are not taught; they are learned through the consistency and systematic approach of adults. Therefore, misbehavior often indicates a failure to establish good habits.
What is Misbehavior?
Misbehavior consists of inappropriate attitudes and behaviors that allow a child to achieve their goals. It can manifest actively through uncontrolled actions such as tantrums, shouting, throwing objects, violence, or insults. Passive manifestations of misbehavior include not responding, sulking, playing the victim, evading interaction, or failing to greet others.
Unfortunately, current behavioral management strategies—such as negotiation, rewards, yelling, threats, and punishments—do not effectively establish good habits. Children learn primarily through action; however, nowadays, there is often a prevailing reluctance to engage, leading to poor habit formation and a lack of skill development because the motivation to act is not nurtured.
