One night before dinner,  Sarah Campbell* asked her two-year-old, Scott, to wash his hands. ?He looked at me and, with an open hand, smacked his head,? she remembers. In the following weeks, Campbell noticed Scott was also striking himself when he was embarrassed. ?When I picked him up early from daycare one afternoon, he got all shy and self-conscious and hit himself. The other kids thought it was funny, so he continued doing it,? she says.
Alanna Norman, an early childhood educator in Ottawa, had a two-year-old student who showed similar behaviours in class if things didn?t go his way. ?He?d stop what he was doing, hit his head with his hands or sometimes even smack his head or body into a wall,? she says.
Though it may be alarming to parents, this behaviour is pretty common?about a quarter of toddlers will hit themselves in the face or head with some regularity, says Kiran Pure, a registered clinical child psychologist in Halifax. ?Head banging often starts after about six months of age and peaks at 18 to 24 months,? he says. Why do they do it" All behaviour is communicating something, says Alexandra Carter, a child psychologist in Port Moody, BC. So your child is likely frustrated or looking for attention. The banging or hitting may even be self-stimulatory?meaning it feels good and is meeting a sensory need. If the root cause isn?t obvious, Carter says families should spend a week recording observations. Look for patterns: Does it happen at a certain ti...