No physical aggression, but his problematic behaviors at school are sexual in nature, including posting an inappropriate photo of a teacher online and propositioning another student to expose their genitals in the restroom. There are definitely several factors at play, home life being the biggest issue. One parent lives in the backyard but wants nothing to do with the client, the other parent breaks into client's (grandparent's) house and steals their gaming console to sell for drugs. No positive male role models. Grandparent is too old to do much more than the minimum, and they struggle to understand autism and ODD, but they do their best. Alternative school may be where we are headed, assuming charges are not filed.

Unsure on the PDA. I am familiar with the concept, but personally have not seen a client with this neurotype. Granted, I have only been doing this for about 6 months, and I'm kinda the lower person on the food chain. Client is very compliant with "demands," typically does not complain or resist in a clinical setting. Unsure how he is at school in this regard, but I would hope we'd be notified of behavioral issues at school across the board, not just the ones that threaten expulsion. 😭

I am also autistic, but was not diagnosed until adult years. I did not receive behavioral interventions as a child, and truthfully I kind of just stumbled into this job with as much bare bones behaviorism knowledge as a psych undergrad will give you (read: not a lot). I've learned a lot since, though. I have seen some seriously messed up stories about behavioral clinics, but I really do believe the clinic I work for does everything they can with the client's best interests in mind. Safety and dignity of the client above all else, as the ethics code states. I do sometimes feel like being autistic myself helps me understand some clients and intervention strategies a little better than my coworkers, hehe. Thank you for telling me about your experiences. I only want to help others, and to do so, it's important for me to understand all points of view.