What actions should i take?

My 6 year old daughter has recently been in trouble for spanking little boys while chasing the on the playground. After we got her to stop doing that now another issue has come up. The afterschool care teachers discovered she is the child that has been rubbing feces on the bathroom stall wall. This has been going on for 2weeks and they finally figured out it was her. She has also been doing it at home. I thought it was because she could not get herself clean but have found it in her room some too. She has not done it again at home after we had a lengthy talk about it but now i find out it had been going on at school. Also yesterday she got in trouble at afterschool program for kicking a child in the head to prevent him from getting on the monkey bars. I just don't know what to do. Would appreciate some advice.

[Jason C Bourret, Ph.D., BCBA-D]

It’s always hard to answer these questions without knowing the child, and it’s always a good idea to seek out a board certified behavior analyst who’s worked with similar children.  I’m assuming your daughter has received an autism diagnosis, and your being able to talk with her about what she’s doing is a positive sign that you’ll be able to resolve these issues successfully.  In general, a good plan is to focus on rewarding the behavior you want and ignoring the behavior you don’t.  To be well armed in doing this, it’s important to have a good grasp on the things that are most reinforcing for your daughter.  Does she love movies, playing with certain toys, time on the computer, etc…?  Then, the trick is making some of her most favorite things contingent on things like washing her hands after using the bathroom, keeping her bathroom and bedroom clean, and playing on the playground well with friends.  A good strategy can be to pick one thing that’s easily doable for her and start her off having success.  For example, you might start with asking her to show you her hands after she uses the restroom and making a really big deal about how great it is that she washed them and is clean.  Save a special reinforcer for this.  Get lots of success for it, and see what happens with the smearing.  Does that behavior continue or go away.  If you’re having success with hand washing, switch the contingency so that it’s on having a clean bathroom and bedroom at regular checks.  Again, shoot for success, maybe start with checks every half hour or hour so she can receive reinforcement for the rooms being clean (rather than just punishment for smearing).