Hello!

My three year old has Asperger’s so we downloaded some specific games to help with his speech. From those games he somehow managed to find YouTube product reviews for Thomas the Tank Engine, Paw Patrol and other shows he likes, now we can’t get him off it and if we take it away he has a full blown tantrum that can last over an hour.


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  • I would just limit time on youtube kids.


  • I have restrictions enabled on my youngest iPad


  • Set boundaries – iPad goes if YouTube is used.


  • I feel your pain……my son loves youtube at only 5 years old. I wish I had a resolution but I dont what I can tell you is your not alone this is a very common problem……


  • You’ll just have to wean him off you tube and onto something else.


  • My son is also on the Autism spectrum and we had this same problem with you tube ( train videos and waterslide clips…go figure ) and when we told our O.T she suggested implementation of a timer and reward system… The key was to only allow youtube access at a cetain time, for eg
    When Luke ( my asd son) packed up his toys he earns 15 minutes on youtube. We put the timer next to the computer so he can also see his time. When he has about 3 mins left we tell him “only 3 minutes to go” when the time is up then thats it time is up. When luke gets off the computer we congratulate him for sticking to the time and assure him if he keeps being good he’ll get another turn later. This has worked phenomenally with us.. took a few goes but remember our little aspies are creatures of routine so they will actually end up following this little routine perfectly…. good luck hun xx


  • you could always unplug your internet connection. or distract with something else like another game or toy.


  • Personally I would block the site so he can’t get tranferred over to youtube by clicking on ads


  • turn off the data before allowing him to get on it. some apps will pop up ads when it is connected to the internet.


  • Maybe try a structured approach to gradually weaning him off them. Allow him some time each day to watch them but gradually decrease the time over a week or two. He might benefit from a visual reminder of the amount of time he’s allowed to have. Work towards replacing the youtube videos with a new game maybe? Good luck!


  • All I can suggest is that you find something else that’s he’s interested in to distract him away from Youtube.


  • Can you try and slowly get your child to have an interest in something else? I tell my children that the Internet only work for some of the day (I turn the wifi off), that way they can’t play unless I know what they are doing.


  • Simple – don’t let your child have access to your phone. The kids know they are not allowed to touch mine. The only thing the little one does is look at the picture on my screen – an animal. I saw a lady one day who had come from overseas. She had a special app. on her phone. She was saying a word as best she could and it was repeating it back with the correct sounds.
    Perhaps set a timer. With time hopefully he will realise that his time is up when the “bell’ on it rings. I know a parent of a child with a similar condition and age who during the last ten minutes progressively tells the child that they have……minutes. It took a couple of weeks but there is very rarely tantrums now.


  • I don’t know about Aspergers and whether tantrums are harmful to him , but can you just ban him from the PC for one night and ignore his tantrums. Perhaps seek some support first as it not easy disciplining for obvious reasons and it must be done .


  • Also, gradually introduce something else of interest to replace Youtube. Something he will like and that you are happy with too.


  • Use a timer with a visual schedule and explain that he can watch the ads at a set time each day. I would also put a passcode on the device and he can only have access when you log in. Block other sites too to avoid possibly finding other sites and ads.


  • Hi you could probably block the site if you search around in settings. Dont know but worth a look. Good luck


  • my 4 year old has just started taking a liking to advertising “shows” it drives me insane but she enjoys, so we tell her that it eats alot of internet and can only do it on her phone “my old non connected phone” and the battery lasts about 4o minutes and then shes done, try let him run the battery down or find a way to set a timer that when it goes off he has to finish for the day.
    Good luck


  • Try hiding it when he goes to bed or let the battery run down so he can’t use it.


  • Turn the data off and then show him it no longer works or is broken


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