Excellent advice already given. My son had a 'hitting phase' a while back which decreased mainly as his speech ability increased. There is a book called Hands are not for Hitting and it was very helpful. The author does an entire series of proper behavior for children. http://www.amazon.com/Hands-Are-Hitting-Best-Be... The great thing about this book is that it emphasizes what you CAN do with your hands. That seemed to be a key factor in dealing with my son's issues in general. Focus on the positive. Public interaction (for anyone) can be very unpredictable. My son loves 'scripting', so why not give him a dialog of what to say or do for unexpected situations? His problem usually occurred at the play ground when peers would not share toys or let him play his own way. My son would get frustrated and try to hit the other child. I wrote a social story and gave a couple very SIMPLE directions. It went something like: "If someone is not playing nice, what can I do? I can ask a grown up for help or I can go play somewhere else." My son always responds well to choices and having some control over a situation. Whenever we would go to a place where I'd anticipate a possible problem (ie: crowded children's museum), I'd remind my son of what he CAN do if someone is not playing nice. Even though I discipline my son as needed, I find rewarding his good behavior is more effective than punishments. It takes more of a conscious effort to do this, but a consistent effort pays off after a while. Good luck!

Have you looked into behavioral therapy? We have a therapist come to the home and school to help with teaching techniques he can use to help calm himself down.

I struggle with the same issue. My big thing is instead of trying to minimize the behavior (which is important) is to find out why the behavior is happening. I know when my son is in this mode, nothing will calm him except some deep pressure and time. We started to track when it was happening and noticing those "triggers". I agree, we need to provide coping skills, but OMG when he's at that point, we are just trying to make sure he doesn't harm anyone or run.

I dont think they tried the vest. We are still coming up with ways to calm hime down.

have them try a weighted vest... even if he can't speak yet.. it may calm him.. also when my son was stressed the teacher gave him a piece of felt or fleece material for him to rub his fingers with .. and its helped him focus...