My daughter has recently started showing signs of aggression. She throws things, knocks things over and sometimes want to hit. She throws herself to the floor & starts kicking. She never did this before but its becoming more frequent.
Re-directing after putting him in a "bear hold". The pressure eventually calmed him. We would also sing songs of his choosing.
When my son throws things, I walk him over to the object and hand over hand to demonstrate him placing it where it goes. I also tell him very sternly we do not throw. Applying pressure when he is upset or overwhelmed always helps him relax.
I did a lot of verbal redirection also and at one point it got really bad that I had to use an object as a scare tactic. Not proud of it and I never hit him but I used a spoon to show him and he knew when he sees this spoon to stop. Not all I have to do it say STOP and give this stare and he understands Ok to stop
But in the beginning it took verbal and the scare process to get him to understand.
If he would throw something, I would sternly tell him that we do not through things, and get him to pick up the item he thrower and put it back where he got it from. And if he hits either me or anyone else, I would grab his hands and tell him "No hitting". I would redirect him and/or put my son into a bear hug until he calms down.
My son's aggression stemmed from his inability to communicate. He still has his moments but I connected with his behaviorist, speech therapist and doctor and still it was a process. I had to really try my best to figure out what the issues were. Also what I had to remind myself was that he's a growing child and ALL children have different ways of growing up and dealing with change. I found that the more calm I could be, even if I was being stern, the better the outcome usually was. I agree with the other moms about pressure. We use a weighted blanket now but used to use the bear hug or compression vest when he was little.