My daughter is 11 years old and has been diagnosed with high functioning austism along with sensory processing disorder. I am a single father and have raised her alone since she was two years old. We have always had a very close and affectionate relationship as she was a very good natured little girl growing up. We have done everything together, gone on many road trips together, done many adventures as just the two of us. I remain to be called "Daddy" rather than "Dad" as she adores me as I do her.
Recently though we have had troubles due to my loss of job last year and our possible eviction. This has led to many behaviors such as lying, stealing, making up stories, acting out of control, purposely going against my rules, breaking things on purpose, among other issues.
What I've noticed lately as in the past 2 months is that she will go as far as to do everything in her power to push my buttons and get me really angry/upset with her. And then when I start to look noticeably angry and start to raise my voice, she laughs at me. I am not sure if anyone has ever has ever been laughed at when you are already furious, but let me tell you it just makes you even more angry. I've never been violent or hell I've never even been in a physical fight my entire life and I sure as hell haven't hit my kid or anyone for that matter. But when you are at your most angry and someone just starts laughing at you, it really invokes a lot of restraint on anyone's part. I can't think of a worse thing to do to someone who is angry at you than to laugh at them.
What I have done out of my way of dealing with it is call her a name or something and then go to my bedroom to calm down. I later regret the name calling and she regrets the laughing bit and I apologize to her and I get the same from her. I am pretty sure if this same thing happened with a friend that they would physically attack her for doing such a thing, male or female. As far as I know she only has done this with me so far.
Now the weird part and the part I don't understand is that she claims she cannot control the laughter. She says that she doesn't want to laugh but she can't help it. To me I can hear her, but I don't understand how someone can find humor in seeing you angry/upset with them.
Has anyone else experienced this? And if so, how did you deal with it?