What do i do when I am having trouble understanding my son's behavior?

[katie_katie85]

I have a four year old son who has been diagnosed with adhd and autistic disorder. He is currently on two different types of medicines to help with his adhd; metadate, and risperidone. He has a problem with communicating his wants and his needs. He also throws constant fits/tantrums about everything, especially when he doesn't get his way. One example is he may want to stay at the grocery store longer or wonder off outside with out an adult present. I understand that he may want his personal space but he doesn't understand consequences. He is on an IEP currently at school, but there is not enough support within the home to help him achieve his goals. He has trouble answering and asking questions. He wakes up about every day in the middle of the night flipping lights on in the house, opening the front door, and distructing things within the house. I am not sure how to handle his behavior because it is constant and he doesn't seem to understand when to stop his behavior. He has no patience in understanding he has to sometimes wait for things such as, going some where. He also neglects to understand others feelings such as, he will push his brother on the floor for no reason and not understand that he has hurt his brother. I am just at a lost as to what to do. I have gone to the doctor many times to talk about his adhd and autism but there is very little support when it comes to the aspects of his disturbing behavior. I as his mother, am having a terrible time getting through to him mentally to know what is going on inside his head. He speaks very little about what is wrong, so his communication is lacking the ability to know what I should do to help him. I really just don't know what to do or how to handle his behavior. I really could use some answers and suggests on what is best to do. Because this is really affecting me as a mother and my family as a whole.

[Heatherm4]

Sounds stressful. What you need to do is take some time to really learn about autism. Maybe find a workshop in your community for parents and how to deal with the tantrums and such. I'm not sure how old your son is but the sooner you start behaviour therapies with him the more successful they will be. Look into ABA and IBI treatments. You are in for a long road but don't give up on your son. He's just having a difficult time understanding...it's almost like they live in their own world. Tantrums are mainly because they cannot express themselves the right way. A little bit of knowledge about the whole thing can take you a long way. Also...diet can help a lot with an Autistic child. Look into that as well. A doctor is just going to prescribe pills...do some research and see where he stands on the spectrum and see what will work best for him and your family.

[cheli55]

OMG!!! My 4 yr. sounds exactly like yours... the only difference is he doesn't get up in the middle of the night... but pretty much sounds like same as urs.... My son was a twin... when I was 4 mts preg. we found out we were carrying twins but one of the babies was dead.... it was hell the whole pregnancy... but to make long story short, My sons behavior now is very different from his siblings and I always wonder if something was going on with him as far as autism or anything of that sort... after a year of fighting with doc... I was finally referred to CVRC...central valley regional center... U should go on line and look it up for a consultation in you area...
U mentioned that ur child already had the diagnosis so I'm asuming u are familiar with these programs... they offer services with pple like psychologists who can help u and ur family how to deal with autistic children..
My child had several evaluations and still couldn't pinpoint his problem until yesterday when he had his appointment for psychological evaluation....
It hurt me soo much to find out he is autistic and even though I kinda knew... I was in plain denial...
Heatherm4 mentioned about diet and medication... I agree... plz look into it because thats what I'm going to do... I read about this stuff already and I plan on knock as many door down to get through to help my child.... Good luck with U as well... plz keep us posted....