My ASD Child

“Do younger kids with ASD have meltdowns on purpose? Can they be prevented? What's the best way to respond? Should the child be punished for having a meltdown? When might meltdowns be a sign of something more serious? Sorry for all the questions, but we are trying to learn all we can to help or little girl.”  A meltdown (which oftentimes looks like an intense temper tantrum) is the expression of an Aspergers or high-functioning autistic youngster's frustration with the physical, mental or emotional challenges of the moment. Physical challenges are things like hunger and thirst. Mental challenges are related to her difficulty learning or performing a specific task. Emotional challenges are more open to speculation. Still, whatever the challenge, frustration with the situation may fuel an ASD kid's anger — and erupt in a meltdown. Consider this: Most 2-year-olds have a limited vocabulary. Moms and dads may understand what a toddler says only 50 percent of the time. ...

Even the best-behaved Aspergers children can be difficult and challenging at times. Aspergers adolescents are often moody and argumentative. But if your Aspergers child or adolescent has a persistent pattern of tantrums, arguing, and angry or disruptive behaviors toward you and other authority figures, he or she may have oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). As many as one in 10 Aspergers children may have ODD in a lifetime. Treatment of ODD involves therapy and possibly medications to treat related mental health conditions. As a parent, you don't have to go it alone in trying to manage an Aspergers child with ODD. Doctors, counselors and child development experts can help you learn specific strategies to address ODD. Symptoms— It may be tough at times to recognize the difference between a strong-willed or emotional child and one with ODD. Certainly there's a range between the normal independence-seeking behavior of Aspergers kids and ODD. It's normal to exhi...

Question My son is 8 and has Asperger's with sensory integration disorder. Recently he was having a LOT of anxiety, biting his nails until they bleed, he worries, etc. His pediatrician prescribed a low dose of Prozac and we had 2 weeks of that. It was a disaster… it really badly affected his sleeping habits. We stopped him cold turkey and now realize that wasn't the right thing to do. We stopped the medication about 2 weeks ago. About one week ago he started having real problems in school with paying attention, etc. Now the Dr wants to put him on Concerta and I am just worried. He is very fidgety and has a really hard time sitting still and paying attention. But I fear that once we start on these meds it will be a merry-go-round that we can't get off of. Answer Although parents are often tempted to give up on a medicine when their youngster is having problems with it, since any medicine can cause side effects, it is often better to adjust the dose before...

Question My 15 year old son recently started having more meltdowns, is there a way to convince my wife that too much information may start these meltdowns. Such as repeating herself too many times when giving him direction for something that he really doesn't want to do? Answer Yes. Please refer to the "Anger Management" chapter [in Session #3] in the online version of My Aspergers Child eBook . Be sure to (a) read the text as well as (b) watch the instructional videos on that webpage.

Question My son with Aspergers tends to be tactless, very literal and overly honest and idealistic-is there any way that I can help him to be able to get a long a little better socially? Answer Socialization is a necessary component of life. Social communication is how we interact with the people around us. If a child struggles with socialization and communication, he will have problems getting along with his peers. Asperger’s Syndrome manifests differently in each individual, although all children with Asperger’s have some form of social and communication deficit. There are ways to help turn your concerns into non-issues. You can help your son achieve a more balanced social life. You can start working on this at home where he is most comfortable. Social stories are stories written about different real-life situations that follow the desired steps to correct problems in social behaviors. You can find books filled with social stories on the Internet or at your local libr...

"Our 5 y.o. son with Aspergers [high functioning] can be very aggressive when he's frustrated. He's not beyond attacking whoever is the closest to him at the time, especially his playmates and siblings. He will push, spit, hit, kick ...and it's uncontrollable once his anger reaches that level. Any suggestions?!" Few situations are more difficult to deal with than having a youngster who is aggressive toward other kids. It can be embarrassing as well as frightening when your Aspergers (high functioning autistic) youngster bites, hits, scratches or kicks to get his or her way. It’s not uncommon for younger Aspergers kids to engage in this type of behavior at various points in their development and in a variety of settings. However, when it becomes very frequent or seems to be their consistent way of reacting to something they don’t like, it’s time to step in and help them change their behavior. The first step is understanding the underlying reasons why your ...

Kids with Aspergers (high functioning autism) share some of the same characteristics as kids with autism, and there is debate on whether Aspergers is an independent diagnostic category or another dimension at the higher end of the autistic continuum (Szatmari, 1995). Although Aspergers shares some characteristics with higher-functioning autism, there are some unique features, and a different developmental progression and prognosis (Myles & Simpson, 1998) for children with Aspergers. According to DSM-IV (1994) criteria, the youngster must meet the criteria for social impairment, repetitive activities and age of onset, but have normal cognitive and language development. Aspergers involves fewer symptoms than autism. Learning and Behavioral Characteristics of Children with Aspergers— 1. Although kids with Aspergers usually speak fluently by five years of age, they often have problems with pragmatics (the use of language in social contexts), semantics (not being able to r...