what to do

my son tends to hump people randomly. including men. what should i do?

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

Like all kids, children diagnosed with autism need to learn what sexual behavior is and isn’t appropriate. The type of behavior you describe isn’t entirely uncommon and it’s typically addressed through arranging consistent consequences. Sometimes this might entail delivering reinforcers at set intervals as long as the behavior hasn’t happened or arranging special rewards each time a person is interacted with appropriately and clearly telling the child that the inappropriate behavior isn’t ok. This is something that can be practiced by describing the contingency then going out in the community and arranging lots of opportunities for appropriate interaction and then reinforcing each success. This is a behavior that I’ve seen effectively treated numerous times and one that is typically sensitive to this sort of reinforcement-based treatment.