TV and autstic children

I am working with several non-verbal autistic children who will each watch, rewind and replay preferred childrens' music videos or preferred sections of favorite childrens' movies endlessly if permitted to do so. When adults turn the TV off, two children tantrum, escalating to physical aggression, the other cries, apparently disconsolately, each for hours afterward. One family simply packed away the videos, but the child's teacher shows a video daily, as do other caregivers. (Yes, they have asked that the child be taken to another room at video time, but it doesn't always happen.) Two families, including the child whose family describes the reactiona as grief-like, have more or less given in- the videos play whenever the children are home and awake. I am thinking of some form of "desensitization" to turning off the videos, but given the childrens' strong reactions, I'm not sure how to go about it without disrupting the households. Any suggestions for desesitization or other approaches?

Replies:

Re:TV and autstic children, by , 04/09/03 Re:TV and autstic children, by shamokin, 04/01/04

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