Aspergers Children & Middle School

The following post was written by Myla, a 17-year-old middle school student with Asperger Syndrome [good advice for all]:

Aspergers information for middle school teachers is essential as the youngster suffering with the disorder will face social as well as behavioral problems as he grows up and enters middle school, especially because he will need to adjust with the more mature environments. The unfortunate part is that these kids are often not properly classified as having Aspergers at all because of several reasons, for example, if the youngster is good in studies or is not very prominently different compared to the others, he may not be noticed at all, until and unless the Aspergers youngster suddenly bursts in an extremely inappropriate manner due to the pressure that has built up in him over time. They are thus misunderstood by their peers, educators and even moms & dads and their peculiar habits are blamed on emotional and motivational issues.

The social environment of middle school is tough for a youngster with Aspergers, it is a place where rules are strict and being different means either mistreat or isolation from the peers. What will happen due to the teasing and isolation is that the Aspergers youngster will withdraw further into shell due to the contrast between his wish of making friends and the reality of his inability to do so. Non-cooperation, angry and violent behavioral outbursts and depression are the most frequent symptoms seen in Aspergers kids during middle school. The youngster might be hardly recognizable as someone having Aspergers, especially if he has no learning disorders because then his academics would most likely be great. However, tendency to misinterpret data and communicating with idiomatic language might be torturing the youngster.

The most important way to help a youngster with Aspergers is by understanding him or her and the developmental disorder, and that’s most important for the moms & dads and secondly for the school staff. These kids cannot be treated as other general kids meaning the youngster will require special treatment from the school staff as they react differently to the different stimuli. Humorous and kind affectionate behavior from teachers would definitely influence the youngster with positive effects like better mood and social skills, because the emotional attitude of the teacher will affect the Aspergers youngster unconsciously and involuntarily.

Resource Rooms or tutorials for these kids are often helpful in case they have learning disabilities although such cases are not always observed. Social skills training by the school counselor can be quite an effective move to help the kids with Aspergers and if an issue with pragmatic language is observed, then the school therapist would most probably be able to help in a great way. An important thing to remember is that one should avoid surprise tests and quizzes while teaching the Aspergers kids; they mostly are uncomfortable on being surprised. Aspergers kids tend to follow rules with absolute perfection therefore they should be subjected to more flexible and special rules. Schedules, pictures, lists and other visuals are great ways to connect with these kids, rewarding also works great as far as learning is concerned. Educators can also associate the youngster’s special interest with his teachings therefore making it easier for him or her to learn.

The above are a few bits of important information which can be really useful to the teachers of the middle school while teaching Aspergers kids, moms & dads, however, has the most important duty as the youngster’s personality will mostly shape on how he is being treated at home by his or her moms & dads. Also it is the duty of the moms & dads to understand their youngster’s problem and take the appropriate steps to ensure that he or she has a good and safe life ahead.

Myla

Aspergers Medication

There is no official medication or treatment which can cure Aspergers but as there are many other disorders often seen to reside along with Aspergers medication is used to treat them or at least to bring these secondary disorders in control. Disorders like ADHD, Torrette’s Syndrome, Anxiety Disorder and Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD and many others are commonly found in a youngster or an adult suffering from Aspergers.

Certain drugs like clonidine, naltrexone, antipsychotics, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs have been used over the year to try and reduce the various effects of Aspergers. These drugs help to treat the repetitive behaviors but a lot is to be tested before one starts with these medicines as many children in the past have complained about having to face abnormalities regarding metabolism and cardiac transference time as well as long term neurological problems.

Risperidone is one drug which is supposed to help out the child in dealing with self-injurious behavior as well as with violent outbursts and stereotyped behavior. But this drug can cause a child to gain weight and also causes fatigue and for some these symptoms lead to restlessness and sustained muscle contractions.

Many drugs are used to deal with hyperactivity, irritability and aggression but none of the medicines are regular. The doctor prescribes the medicines based on individual patients as the other conditions of his or her health is a determining factor of the probable treatment. There are medicines given for mood swings, attention problems, bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD.

These drugs are only used to control the situations so that they do not get worse than what already is. They can be anti-depressant medicines in order to help the child with severe depression issues and it can also be stimulants. There are medicines given to make the child with Aspergers more relaxed so that he or she is not stressed out all the time which is fairly common.

The medicines can be both over the counter and prescribed but it is always advisable that one gets prescribed drugs only as the medicines can indeed worsen situations as these are all chemicals and chemicals can always react in an adverse way. Using the drugs for a long time also causes side effects and almost all of the medicines have been reported to cause this. SSRIs like Prozac, Zoloft or Paxil are prescribed to treat idiosyncratic thinking and aggression and these are basically anti-depressant drugs.

Mainly there are a few therapies which are in popular use with people having Aspergers and these therapies help them to get trained in the social norms and the appropriate behaviors. There are natural ways in which one can deal with the various comorbid conditions as well as the various severe symptoms and it is better to take natural medication than to go for prescription or over the counter drugs when it is about treating Aspergers.

Aspergers Children & Anger Control

My 7-year-old boy becomes very angry a lot of the time. What can I do to help him deal with his frustrations better?

A great deal of stress is likely due to his Aspergers. Some kids react by becoming depressed, some become anxious, and others become angry and experience rage against the frustrating events that occur in their day. Some kids externalize their feelings and blame others, while some internalize their feelings and have a difficult time controlling their anger. There may be no particular event to his anger – just an aggressive mood or reaction to a frustrating experience.

Encourage self-control and teach your youngster to consider alternative behaviors. Self-control can be strengthened by teaching your youngster to stop and count to ten, taking a deep breath and reminding themselves to keep calm. Or for some kids it is helpful that they have an agreed room or particular space that they take themselves too when they feel that they are getting anxious/angry.

Specific relaxation techniques can be practiced and your youngster can be taught the cues when they must calm down and relax. Explain the alternative to your youngster and in specific terms.

Keep in mind that your son will most likely have difficulty expressing what is making him angry. You will need to assess the situation to determine what may be provoking him.

Another alternative is to keep him engaged in activities that burn off energy and reduce his need to express the anger that he is feeling.

Asperger’s Syndrome Therapies

There is no cure to the Syndrome called Aspergers which is a form of mild autism and referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder and as Pervasive Developmental Disorder or PDD. There are several medicines that are often prescribed to keep the various symptoms of the syndrome in control but the long term use of these drugs is not advisable as they have their side effects. There are anti-depressants and stimulants of various sorts which are given to patients of Aspergers to try and keep their symptoms and their comorbid conditions in check but most people still prefer natural ways to treat Aspergers and various therapies which help the victims.

There are several herbal as well as homeopathic drugs that are used to help the various symptoms like irritability, depression, anxiety, attention deficiency, hyperactivity, repetitive behavior and much more. There are herbal therapies that include the ingredients Passiflora, Chamomile, John’s Wort and many others.

The therapies which are used for Aspergers are:

• Speech therapy
• Social skills training
• Sensory integration therapy
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy

The cognitive behavioral therapy is the one which is the most famous procedure and in this the focus is kept on teaching the youngster with Aspergers social norms and right behavior as well as right conduct. Usually in this therapy the youngster is made to understand certain situations that may arise in his or her life and then he or she is taught the right reaction in such a situation. A specific learned strategy is something that helps the youngster to understand and cope up with new and problematic situations. The youngster is also taught as to how he or she can control the emotions which is very hard for one with Aspergers.

In the social skills training sessions the youngster is taught social skills like a foreign language and they are also taught as to how they can understand the various communication techniques like gestures, body language, eye contact and undertone of the speaker.

In speech therapy a youngster or an adult with Aspergers is taught and trained to speak in a rhythmical way which is not extremely monotonous. They are also taught to speak in a normal tone and pitch which is usually distorted in a person with Aspergers.

In physical and occupational therapy the motor skills of the person with Aspergers is improved. He or she is trained to acquire skills that require motor functionality and then develop these skills with time. They are also given enough training to make them independent in their future so that they can work individually with little help from others. In occupational therapy the therapist deals with the youngster’s finer motor skills and in the physical therapy the therapist deals with the gross motor skills and a part of occupational therapy is sensory integration therapy which has shown successful results over the years. Kids who go through these therapy sessions show better mannerism and behavior than those that live with Aspergers without any training or therapy.