[Kaytee]

depends on the severity. From what I have been told from my friends (and them told by the child's therapists and docs) is that it is lifelong, but the goal is to teach the child coping mechanisms that allow them to look at function as a normal adult.

For example, my frineds little girl is 23 months old. When she gets over stimulated or mad about something, she will bite her fingers or arm until they bleed. If you try to pull her hand away from her mouth she will bite down even harder. So one thing that they are teaching her mom to do is: everytime she starts to see the child getting upset (before it gets out of control) to tell her that we don't bite others or ourselves when we are upset, and then give her a chewy toy, its basicslly a teether, little rubbery looking thing. It really seems to help this little girl doing that. She will bite it really hard but then calms down quickly.