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10 yr old with asperger's and 8 yr old undiagnosed?? help please
Hello,
I have two daughters with ASD.. I am at wits end . They have severe behavioral issues. It is not stop all day long. My 10 yr old is on ritylin 20mg ,ambilify 15mg in daytime and trazodone 50mg and clonidine 0.1 mg at bedtime. My 8yr old is on adderall 10mg 2x day and clonidine 0.1 mg and trazodone 50mg at bedtime. My question is could there be a better medication for them to help with the behavioral issues. I am going crazy with never ending issues between the two of them. Please help me .. Thank you.
I have two daughters with ASD.. I am at wits end . They have severe behavioral issues. It is not stop all day long. My 10 yr old is on ritylin 20mg ,ambilify 15mg in daytime and trazodone 50mg and clonidine 0.1 mg at bedtime. My 8yr old is on adderall 10mg 2x day and clonidine 0.1 mg and trazodone 50mg at bedtime. My question is could there be a better medication for them to help with the behavioral issues. I am going crazy with never ending issues between the two of them. Please help me .. Thank you.
I wish medicatiin was the answer. It wasn't for us - the aphentamines made him worse. We are down to Tenex (it works like clonidine) - at least that helps with the impulse control.
We spent two years taking applied behvaioral management classes geared for parents - that worked out pretty well. He probably has the longest IEP ever devised. We put him in a special ed school designed for children with neurobiological disorders but that is a very hard route to go (and it is an expensive process) so try to work with your school system first. But it was the right choice for us. We used to be a neurotic, unhappy screaming family of a mess. One with ASD and ADHD and another with Tourette's, ADHD and OCD (non-medicated but with probably try ritalin soon). Now we are a much happier family. But it was a long road.
Cheer up - it gets better. Last year his regular school tried to haul my 8 year old off in the paddy wagon in a straight jacket. (assisted by four large NYC policeman) - that was June. Six months later - with the right supports and environment - we have a happy kid again.
Your kids are on alot of different medications - I hope you are seeing a child phsychiatrist who has a speciality in pharmapsychology.
You are really going to have to look at your life and make alot of choices when dealing with this. We have walked out of supermarkets with full grocery baskets (and made them eat rice and beans for an entire week because we had "no food") , we have cancelled Hannukah (and really meant it - my husband actually cried), walked out of movie theaters (and given away the tickets in front of then to another family) and major amusement parks five minutes after paying (and we are a family of five) because the behavior was inappropriate. We have walked right back into stores and returned things that we had bought 10 minutes before - well, you get the point. thye are beginning to learn that their behavior has consequences.
On the other hand, rewards are meaningful and usually immediate. we do it by the day - not the week. Everyday is a new day. The reward is as big as a horseback riding lesson or just sitting and watching my son play his favorite computer game for a 1/2 hour. No grudges - this isn't personal.
It took us 2 years to get our life back. It was work. You can also get yours back. Good luck.
Susan
We spent two years taking applied behvaioral management classes geared for parents - that worked out pretty well. He probably has the longest IEP ever devised. We put him in a special ed school designed for children with neurobiological disorders but that is a very hard route to go (and it is an expensive process) so try to work with your school system first. But it was the right choice for us. We used to be a neurotic, unhappy screaming family of a mess. One with ASD and ADHD and another with Tourette's, ADHD and OCD (non-medicated but with probably try ritalin soon). Now we are a much happier family. But it was a long road.
Cheer up - it gets better. Last year his regular school tried to haul my 8 year old off in the paddy wagon in a straight jacket. (assisted by four large NYC policeman) - that was June. Six months later - with the right supports and environment - we have a happy kid again.
Your kids are on alot of different medications - I hope you are seeing a child phsychiatrist who has a speciality in pharmapsychology.
You are really going to have to look at your life and make alot of choices when dealing with this. We have walked out of supermarkets with full grocery baskets (and made them eat rice and beans for an entire week because we had "no food") , we have cancelled Hannukah (and really meant it - my husband actually cried), walked out of movie theaters (and given away the tickets in front of then to another family) and major amusement parks five minutes after paying (and we are a family of five) because the behavior was inappropriate. We have walked right back into stores and returned things that we had bought 10 minutes before - well, you get the point. thye are beginning to learn that their behavior has consequences.
On the other hand, rewards are meaningful and usually immediate. we do it by the day - not the week. Everyday is a new day. The reward is as big as a horseback riding lesson or just sitting and watching my son play his favorite computer game for a 1/2 hour. No grudges - this isn't personal.
It took us 2 years to get our life back. It was work. You can also get yours back. Good luck.
Susan
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
It is not uncommon for children diagnosed with an ASD to emit severe problem behavior.
Regarding the medication, make sure that you are working with a proscriber that you are comfortable with. The doctor supervising the use of the medication should be explaining to you exactly what a medication is targeting for your children, how the effects of the medication will be measured, and what the overall plan is for determining if the medication is successful. For example, the plan might be to target the child’s aggression with risperidone, starting at a certain dose and titrating the dose upward to a certain point until either a clinically significant effect is observed (in which case, you’re convinced that the child is on the right med at the right dose) or a clinically significant effect has not been observed (in which case, you’re convinced that the child is not on the right med and the med should be removed). Make sure that you’re clear on the plan, data collection system, and reasons why decisions are being made. If you’re not happy with the proscribing doctor, seek a second opinion. Look for a physician is one that has experience proscribing psychotropic medication to individuals diagnosed with ASDs.
Regarding the problem behavior, although medication can, in some cases, be effective in suppressing problem behavior in children diagnosed with ASDs, the intervention that has been shown to be most reliably effective is applied behavior analysis. Over 20 years of rigorous experimental evidence has shown that children can learn appropriate alternatives to severe problem behavior given the right teaching arrangement. Behavior analytic interventions typically involve identifying the situations that are most problematic for a child and the things that are most rewarding and systematically teaching a child more appropriate ways of handling problematic situations and of obtaining reinforcing things and events. These interventions are individualized to the needs of the particular child and, with the right services, the prognosis for treatment of severe problem behavior can be quite good. I recommend that you also look into identifying a board certified behavior analyst who has experience treating behavior problems exhibited by children diagnosed with ASDs. You could start at the certificant registry on the BCBA website: http://www.bacb.com/
Regarding the medication, make sure that you are working with a proscriber that you are comfortable with. The doctor supervising the use of the medication should be explaining to you exactly what a medication is targeting for your children, how the effects of the medication will be measured, and what the overall plan is for determining if the medication is successful. For example, the plan might be to target the child’s aggression with risperidone, starting at a certain dose and titrating the dose upward to a certain point until either a clinically significant effect is observed (in which case, you’re convinced that the child is on the right med at the right dose) or a clinically significant effect has not been observed (in which case, you’re convinced that the child is not on the right med and the med should be removed). Make sure that you’re clear on the plan, data collection system, and reasons why decisions are being made. If you’re not happy with the proscribing doctor, seek a second opinion. Look for a physician is one that has experience proscribing psychotropic medication to individuals diagnosed with ASDs.
Regarding the problem behavior, although medication can, in some cases, be effective in suppressing problem behavior in children diagnosed with ASDs, the intervention that has been shown to be most reliably effective is applied behavior analysis. Over 20 years of rigorous experimental evidence has shown that children can learn appropriate alternatives to severe problem behavior given the right teaching arrangement. Behavior analytic interventions typically involve identifying the situations that are most problematic for a child and the things that are most rewarding and systematically teaching a child more appropriate ways of handling problematic situations and of obtaining reinforcing things and events. These interventions are individualized to the needs of the particular child and, with the right services, the prognosis for treatment of severe problem behavior can be quite good. I recommend that you also look into identifying a board certified behavior analyst who has experience treating behavior problems exhibited by children diagnosed with ASDs. You could start at the certificant registry on the BCBA website: http://www.bacb.com/
medication alone is never the answer. Group therapy is probably needed and maybe spending time with each of them alone might help.
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