If you have a child with ASD ?

Question

My son who just turned 3 was diagnosed with ASD this past march. Hes transitioning into a pre school from a toddler infant program, his first iep right now. He goes to regular pre school and has excelled. Lately though since his therapy has ended for now, he has become severely agressive and it takes all my strength to hold him down to calm him. Ive read this can be normal. Anyone else experiencing this and what have you done? medication ? any help would be great

Answer 1

How I sympathise with you. We had our son son diagnosed at 2 years. He is moving from Special Ed. to Grade 1 in 07 and has an IEP that would stun a herd of stampeding rhinos.

My boy is strong too but holding him down only seems to aggravate him. Try a distraction and provide him with a different stimulus. You will need to develop a routine that involves all household chores, mealtimes, bath times and bed times and make sure they are stuck too. Our psychologist gave us a Velcro board with pictures of all the things to do during the day and he would look at that to see what was coming up next. Autistic children are very strong but you have to strong to - not just physically but in your resolve and determination to make his an your family's life and lifestyle as normal and stress free as possible. If he is strong now at the age of three wait until he's my son's age. strong "in your face" words can sometimes work but don't shout in his face - their interpretation of sounds are entirely different to ours. Tell him what you want and make him do it.
Unfortunately we have been told that there is no medication that is suitable for an ASD child.
Good luck and kind regards.

Answer 2

You have your answer right there...he has no therapy. Children with ASD depend very greatly on continuation of services, and he must have that therapy to continue progression. In IDEA it's called regression, and you are proving regression. It's a very strong case, and you should call another IEP meeting and make sure that therapy is added back into his daily schedule.

Medication should be a last resort, not a step taken because of inappropriate services. Even if he's in a regular preschool, they must provide a continuation of therapy that he needs...whether it be speech, occupational, or behavioral. If therapy is discontinued, it should never be cut of completely, but weaned down to ensure he is still receiving the supports he needs to succeed.

Holding him down in place is probably one of the worst things you can do, because he does not fully understand why he's being forced to do this. Not only that, but his immature nervous system will instantly go into a high state of 'fight or flight', increasing his adrenaline and making him freak out even more. All medications have strong side-effects, and it definitely isn't something you want to start unless you have absolutely NO other choice.

For now, I would talk to the school and call another IEP meeting. You have rights as a member of the IEP team, and any problems he's having at home can be considered under life skills. Remember to keep everything in writing, and if they say that they can't do anything, ask (in writing) for 'prior written notice' in writing. That is them telling you what service they are denying and why. Please visit www.wrightslaw.com and read as much as you can while there.

Also please contact your local autism society and try to get a mentor, or attend a support group. Your son is very young, and you've entered an entirely different world of schooling. It will be difficult, and you will need support. In my experience as a mother and as an advocate, I've come to observe that often the only happy parent of an ASD kid is one who either doesn't realize how things are really going at school or doesn't realize that their child has more rights than the school provides.

Granted, that's pessimistic, and there are some few schools that are awesome...but even those have their limits. My friends daughter was in one in NYC, and they loved it. However, after a certain time, they were told that there was a time limit for each child in the school because there were so many on the waiting lists.

Answer 3

No child with an ASD is alike, so different types of therapy work for different types of children. In fact, I did my English-comp paper on autism and ASDs, and I was diagnosed with an ASD myself (not regular autism, but I'm very sensitive about it, even though my condition is one of the mildest forms). Try putting him back on therapy or maybe trying other types of therapy because it seems to me that the severity of his condition can be solved with therapy. Medication may help, but talk to your doctor first. The aggression your child has could be a result of his ASD because some autistic and ASD children tend to be aggressive. Good luck...

Answer 4

My granddaughter. Clonidine at very low dose. Good luck, you've got a long road ahead of you and a very lucky little son to have you.