My son is hitting on the bus

****turns out she didn’t ride another bus. He misunderstood. She rode the bus with him this morning and this afternoon. I don’t think he is hitting to see if they are mean. I think he’s getting other peoples words mixed with his. I’ve seen him do it to his baby brother (and YES I correct him, and he never hurts the baby, it’s like a tickle.) but also spoke with his therapist today and he said it’s a form of stimming. He’s not doing it to hurt anyone, it’s like hand flapping. He told me to redirect him to clapping instead when he does it. Hopefully this will work.

My son will be 5 years old in a few weeks.

He was getting on the bus with a little girl that is also in his class.

Yesterday, as they got off the bus, he hit her in the back. I don’t think he did it on purpose. He has autism and is ADHD. Sometimes when he is overstimulated he slaps his hands instead of flapping them. I’ve been trying to correct this behavior with social stories, and therapy. But he’s not comprehending any of it. His teachers messaged me and said he was hitting on the playground. They also did social stories and explained to him.

Today I noticed she didn’t get on or off the bus. Everyone has been sick with a cold, so I assumed she didn’t go to school. I asked my son if she was at school, and he said “yeah, she rode a different bus because she wanted me to leave her alone.”

I have been trying to get him into ABA therapy for the last two years. I’ve called several different places with no luck. He was on a waiting list that was all the way until November 2024, but they called a few days ago and canceled because they don’t accept our insurance anymore. 😢

What am I supposed to do?! This broke my heart, because he doesn’t do it to be mean. And the little girls mom probably hates me now.

I asked my son why he does this and he says “I hit them to find out if they are mean or not” and I had to explain that he was the one being mean and being a bully. I don’t understand where he got that from. Unless it was him watching SpongeBob. He acts out what he sees on TV. But I’ve got him in therapy. We tried medication and that made things 50x worse. I’ve tried videos, acting out example scenarios with him. And he still does it. What am I doing wrong?!?