hard to watch. kara has severe autism. >> kara, stop it. stop. >> reporter: her fits are dangerous, frequent, and disturbingly violent. >> i decided to journal all of her hitting and i started back in 2016. >> this is her mother. we met up at their home in texas. >> closed fisted punches to her face, hold her down. aggression and self-injurious behaviors are unfortunately very common in especially children with severe autism. >> for three decades she was the chief of the pediatric department. >> even some children higher functioning will have aggressive or self-injurious behaviors. anything from repetitively banging their head against a wall to hitting their head with