Rehabilitation for Aggression at Boya Clinic

Aggression and impulsivity are not a separate illness but a group of manifestations sharing one mechanism: the behavior solves a problem the child cannot solve any other way. It covers hitting, biting, throwing objects, screaming, acting without a pause to think, as well as pica (eating inedible objects) and wandering off from home or kindergarten. Most often this is seen in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, developmental delay, and pronounced sensory differences — that is, where there is not enough speech to say "it hurts", "it is too loud", "I do not understand what comes next". So the first step is always the same: work out what the behavior is about, rather than how to shut it down faster.

At Boya Hospital (Yuncheng, Shanxi Province) such children are worked with inside the general pediatric neurological rehabilitation program. Sensory integration reduces the overload that most often forms the background of a meltdown: the child gets the movement and tactile input they need in an acceptable form. Occupational therapy provides clear everyday actions with a beginning and an end — tension is lower in a predictable situation. The speech therapist works on giving the child an available way to signal a need: a word, a gesture, a card. Exercise therapy and apparatus-based physiotherapy give accumulated tension an outlet. Relaxing Traditional Chinese Medicine procedures — pediatric Tui Na massage, herbal compresses, moxotherapy — make the day easier to get through; acupuncture and scalp acupuncture are prescribed by the doctor when indicated. Sessions run 6 days a week.

Behavior as a way of speaking

An outburst almost never comes out of nowhere. It has a backstory: a noisy room, a cancelled walk, uncomfortable clothes, poor sleep, a stomach ache or an earache. A child with no speech, or very little of it, reports this the only way available. That is why, during a course, specialists first look at what precedes a meltdown and what follows it, and only then assemble the program. Parents are asked to keep short notes — what came before, how long it lasted, what helped: these observations are more useful than any general wording and speed up finding the pattern.

What changes over a course

A realistic goal is not "the child will never hit again" but fewer and milder outbursts, plus another way for the child to get what they need. Signs of movement: meltdowns become rarer and shorter, the child calms down faster, shows or says what they want more often, and copes with changes in the schedule more calmly. The observations are recorded during the course and used to adjust the program. The recommended length is 2–3 months. The document-based consultation is free, and there is no prepayment: you pay on site and only for what your child has actually received.