Can autism cause people to do things that is clearly abuse but seeing it purely as play?

My friends 12 yer old daughter who has PDD-NOS picks up my cat by his hind legs for a few seconds as she shrieks thrashes and struggles to get back up right. She also squeezes her hard until he squeels and on once occasion chased him hideously for about 1 minute then hid from him then when she walked in front of him he darted away from her. She is a very shy girl and whenever shouted at breaks down and cries uncontrollably for hours. I love her as if she were my own daughter. I just don't how to handle this situation.Can autism cause people to do things that is clearly abuse but seeing it purely as play?
Children and adults with autism literally live in their own version of the world. I would say that it is very possible that the girl does not intend to hurt your cat.



However, that doesn't mean that is is not abuse. You cannot allow anyone to harm your animals, no matter who they are. I would suggest that you eliminate this girl's contact with your cat, even if you don't like the idea of taking the cat away from her. I would separate them so that your cat or the girl is not harmed. It would be awful if one time that she picks up your cat she dislocates a hip and then your cat bites the girl... talk about a worst case scenario that is completely plausible. I know it's hard to take things away from kids, but it would honestly be in everyone's best interest to stop them from interacting.
I work with children for a living, many of them have been children with autism. As with any child this can be a learning experience for her. Yes, what she is doing is wrong, but she probably doesn't realize it. Perhaps you should talk to your friends first, then one or both of you can sit the child down and explain to her that what she's doing is hurting the cat and teach her appropriate behaviors when playing with pets. Just be gentle but firm.



If that doesn't work, you could try keeping that cat in another room when she visits, and let her play with the cat in short supervised sessions. Gradually increase her exposure over time after she's shown she knows how to handle the cat and she'll learn that it's a living, breathing creature just like she is.



Hope that helps!Can autism cause people to do things that is clearly abuse but seeing it purely as play?
When your friends come over with their daughter, put your cat in another room and keep the door closed until they leave. Just don't let the child and cat interact at all. You don't want your cat to be hurt and you don't want to yell at the girl, so separating them at all times is the best solution for everyone.
kids have to be taught how to act around animals. so if they can't be taught, i guess so.Can autism cause people to do things that is clearly abuse but seeing it purely as play?
There is a child in my family who has aspergers -- and he loves my cats..... and he will chase them and be too rough if not monitored. When they recently stayed with me I spent a lot of time yelling at him to not chase the cats.



He tried to pull one out from under a piece of furniture and got scratched for his efforts.... and told that it was his own fault since he'd been told repeatedly to leave them alone if they're hiding under the furniture...... by the time they left (about a week) he'd started to figure it out, but it was rough going.... and he's high functioning.... so if the girl in question isn't high functioning and not getting that level of contact with the cats for it to have a chance to sink in..... you just need to keep the cat away from her.



You can try sitting her down and telling her that you know she loves the cat and means well, but that she's simply too rough with the cat and you're afraid the cat will get hurt, or the cat will scratch her to get away, so you're going to keep them apart.



But yeah, chances are if you have her and the cat together you're going to have to watch her carefully and yell when she's being too rough.... and if yelling at her results in a melt-down at that level, you probably want to avoid that.