You tread a thin line in a public park. If I stay too far back away from my daughter, I can't always stop her in time from grabbing cell phones or baby strollers. Most people realize something's not right with her but I've gotten yelled at by a parent. If I grab her before she up to something and guide to someplace else, I've had a guy yell at me for that. We still go to parks but I don't relax there. I get anxious about getting to a confrontation so we like to good when there's not many people there.

Kids, especially with ASD, need to socialize at some point but at something they play too rough and other kids will complain or strike back. I always remind my daughter if she hits her brother (she doesn't hit other kids so far) he will cry or her will hit her.

My son is 6 now, but he’s non verbal so there’s always a reason why our children can come across aggressive, in my case it’s frustration most of the time as he doesn’t know how to initiate play with others & his way of saying hello was to push, but we’ve worked hard to show him to say hello with a gentle touch on the arm. So although he is much better too many people at the park makes him over stimulated and then he goes crazy, so good idea to go when less busy. I’m fed up of parents making comments like, look at that naughty boy, I have to bite my tongue as these people need to learn to accept our Children and play along or leave them be because what hope does he have for the future when he has to fit in with society, but they have to fit in with HIM too . We just have to stay positive. Rachael x

Thank you for this post. I guess the question becomes how to effectively redirect them from hitting. But then, how do you get them to understand the idea that they are hurting, that is not nice, and then instrinctively know not to do it going forward? That is a huge question for which I have yet to hear an answer.
Grandad of 4 year old ASD child