Why do children bang their heads?

Some children tend to engage in self-injurious behavior and the most common one is head banging against the wall, furniture or the floor. Children engage  in head  banging when they are frustrated, I have read posts on Facebook of concerned parents wanting to know how they can prevent head banging. Every behavior has an antecedent, before it happened something must have triggered it and its important to know what motivated the behavior so that it will be easier to prevent it.

 

Reasons children to bang their heads

Your child might be trying to communicate

Non verbal children have difficulties communicating and it sometimes leads to crying or engaging in different behaviors to get their caregiver's attention. Sometimes banging their head is to express their frustrations, desires and anxiety.

They might be seeking attention

The one course of head banging that most parents are probably familiar with is when children bang their heads to get attention. Children quickly learn when they are most attended to and they have realized that if they bang their heads their needs will be quickly attended to.

When they are trying to escape demands

In most cases head banging occurs when something is taken away from the child or when they are trying to escape a task or an activity presented to them.

Your child might be having sensory processing issues

Sometimes when children are banging their heads they try to self regulate. Head banging is a sign of sensory processing issues and they try to get sensory input.

It's not pleasant to see your child engage in injurious behavior, you can try to determine the patterns that triggers head banging. If your child is banging their heads because of sensory processing issues, you can provide sensory alternatives (swing, trampoline, weight vest or blanket) and you can teach your child emotional self regulation especially if they bang their heads when they feel like they are not being understood. The most important way to prevent self injury is to have a safe environment for your child and remove sharp dangerous objects around the house.