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Asperger's Syndrome Community
This forum is an un-mediated, patient-to-patient forum for questions and support regarding Asperger Syndrome issues such as: Balance, Behavioral Issues, Causes, Characteristics, Classification, Clumsiness, Communication, Diagnosis,
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medicate or not... HELP
by meme281, May 07, 2008 09:50PM
My nearlly 5 yr old son has asperge's and i have had a couple of ppl in my network suggest medicating him. My son can be very trying alot of the time and is very difficult to deal with. His older 2 siblings get harrassed by him on a regular basis and his tantrums are herendous. But when he is haveing a "good day" he is an angel ( disreguarding paticular things he cringes upon ) he is in a mainstram schhol with a special ed unit that he visits some days he does well other days he cant handle it. i am worried that if i medicate him he will become "stoned" and not be the individual that he is and that the drugs will surpress his talents and abilities but have a calmer child at the same time. i would like him to be medicated to make my life and especially his life easier but i dont want to medicate him because i want him to be capable of doing things the way he finds he needs to and learn to deal with life on a pro-normal basis. So please help me with this decision any comments would be greatly appreciated.
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I have aspergers syndrome, so does my mother and brother.
the world around him will seam loud and chaotic with far to much stimuli - try taking some of this away - like when you go shopping he will find a big shop to much.
some colours will be to bright he may not like touch or some food groups.
he may also have dyslexiea and dyspraxia like my brother or dysgraphia ( handwriting like a drunk spider ) like me.
may I suggest you get a dog - preferably a labradoor or some simmerler well tempered one. now the reason I suggest this is because I have seen especily boys in the same situation on films and in books and they responded well to the dog - you can train dogs to be companions and also you can act as the dogs voice as I saw one father do to aid compliance to your training of him.
animals have an amazing effect on young children and he will learn so much in an easy to understand way - you will see he will be a different person in time
medication is not nesesery perhapse
dad teaches autistic and aspergers children and teenagers this publisher you may find usefull
www.jkp.com
they have a good number of books in their new catalog about the subject in question.
look for tony attwood and temple grandin they are very good authers - dad recomends them
hope of some help
every blessing
a-R
But firstly I would suggest reading as much as you can about Aspergers and seeing what aspects of it are most relevant to your son.
When you know that, you will begin to understand 'what pushes his buttons'.
When you know that you can change things around home/routines/rituals etc that take into account his difficulties and his interests/obsessions.
You can also tell his siblings what they should/should not do to him.
You need to set him boundaries with his siblings and what he can/cannot do.
If he trashes their rooms and their things then they may need to have a lock on the door that they can close to keep him out.
But he may also need a lock on his bedroom if his siblings are going into his stuff and getting him all anxious etc.
I am not totally anti-medications because I have spoken with some parents with ADHD who also had children with ADHD and they said that the meds really helped them.
But I am of the opinion that it is better to try to do without them, for the very reasons you have given.
Whatever his main problems are at home try to meet those needs. If he is full of energy find a karate club or trampoline club that he can join, or set up an exercise regime in the house.
If he is really anxious etc try to find a yoga class or something relaxing that he can do.
Always try to include things that are in his areas of interest or obsessions because he will give these his full attention.
These are all really useful skills for him to learn because he will begin to see how he can control himself and his emotions. Exercise is a really good way of relieving stress and anxiety and releases some really good brain chemicals to make you feel good.
As mentioned by Annarose, sometimes animals can be a really good influence on autistic children because they are very accepting and also tend to initiate social interaction and can be very forgiving. But I would recommend trying out if he is interested in this type of thing before you commit to an animal. There may be a Play Therapy centre that uses a dog as part of their programme that you could try with your son to see how he responds. It can also help to teach responsibility and outcomes etc if you get your son to feed/clean the dog etc.