FoggyRock General Forum

autamom · 2008-07-09 01:56:18

Our youngest is a sweet natured boy, but he has been very, very aggressive the last few months. A little background: He is nonverbal--he has maybe 3 words, but the rest are one-hit wonders. He babbles, but doesn't actually have much language. He is frustrated a lot. He is constantly climbing things, and gets angry when not allowed to do so. He also has some GI stuff going on with acid reflux and enzyme deficiencies, so he may still be having some slight stomach pain. Hard to tell, since he can't tell us if his medicine is working or not.

The problem is that when he gets upset, he has become very physical. He has bitten my husband and I both, as well as some of his providers/babysitters. He broke the skin and left a scar on me. The worst was last week when we took him to a clinic at a university, and he flat out attacked me. It was like trying to harness a wild animal. The clinician was very surprised by his behavior. He's only 4.

He is already seeing a psychiatrist and is on clonidine. There has been some talk of moving up to Risperdal eventually, but he is too young to begin that. One counselor thought that he might possibly have bipolar disorder in addition to autism, but the psychiatrist discounted that, and said that the aggressive behavior is just part of the autism. We have had to stop taking him in to Sunday School and Wednesday night nursery unless one of us can go with him, because he is fully capable of hurting the other children unless very closely supervised. Don't get me wrong--he is loved at our church and is not being banned, but it doesn't make sense for me to sit in the nursery with him angry about not being able to climb everything when we can do the same thing at home in his own space. There are more helpers available during the church hour, so he is able to go in to children's church.

I guess my question is, is there anything else we can do to curb the aggressive behaviors? They happen every day and are exhausting our family and other caregivers. I know my son must be frustrated! We will be starting a Hanen "More than Words" program soon, so hopefully those techniques will help. Meanwhile, what are our options? The only things that seem to work consistently to calm him are either being carried around while walking, (usually works, although he has attacked from this position; also he is a very heavy 40 lbs) or riding in his wagon. The wagon works really well, but it is over 100 degrees here currently.

Any suggestions?
Thank you!

LisaAutismAdvocate · 2008-07-10 20:11:22

What about getting a behavior therapist to work with him? Behavior Specialist, specialize in this type of behavior and might be able to come up with some Ideas that work. Talk to your case worker/social worker...or the psychologist and see if they can suggest someone.
Something that did jump out at me....My son is also low functioning and he became really frustrated when he couldnt communicate...what type of communication does your child use? It also sounds like he might have some troubles with transitioning....something that helped my son, was the picture schedule...so he knew what to expect and what was expected of him ahead of time and that helped to cut out on his tantrums and meltdowns too.
Hang in there hun, I do know that bipolar is also a possibility...as I know some other parents who are dealing with that too...and it is very hard!

shannonj · 2008-07-11 00:58:33

Hi-that sounds tough and I'm sorry that you and your son are having to go through this. My son started being aggressive around age 8 and unfortunately, medication has not really helped. It has somewhat taken the edge off, but his moods are erratic and just plain difficult to live with. I would caution about going down the med route too quickly. I found that once we started on medication, that dealing with the real issues (his gut, mainly) has become secondary to just managing the meds. Now it is hard to tell what is side effect and what is really my son....His new DAN doctor seems to think that my son is in a lot of pain--and even though he is very verbal, he doesn't even know how to express his pain and so it comes out as aggression. He has been scoped and his GI tract is a mess. We're on a special diet to assist in healing and are hoping to come out of the other side of this. I would just recommend that you find a really good doctor to help you treat his real issues--to help him actually feel better instead of masking the symptoms with medications. Good luck!

Sherry · 2008-07-11 22:31:45

We started seeing the aggression and lashing out from anger/frustration with our 6-year old Autistic girl just a couple of months ago. Seems there is no way of predicting when or if they will go this way.

The hard part for us is to get everyone to work together and be somewhat consistent. She lives with her mommy and me (the gramma) and spends every weekend at her dad's house. After a year of family therapy we are doing better, but still not being very consistent between the three of us.

Last year I tried using the Naughty Spot (a la Nanny 911) but as I was the only one doing it, the results were pretty poor. The little one went after her big sister with her fists a couple of days ago, and I sat her down in the Naughty Spot again, and set the timer for 6 minutes of screaming and crying. Whew.

Yesterday she was ready to go off again and this time the target was going to be her mommy, so I told her to go to the Naughty Spot while I got the timer out. She knew what was going to happen this time and really rebelled. But I stayed calm and got her to sit there where again she screamed and cried for the whole six minutes. Her mommy can't stand to listen to that, even knowing that it won't last for hours like it used to, so she got up and went to take a shower.

So far today is going well. She started to argue with her mommy but backed off. Looks like it's up to me to be the tough one, but at least my daughter isn't negating the discipline this time. She's really scared that the little one will get kicked out of school for this behavior so she's willing to try this - or willing to let ME try this.

Our little one is somewhat verbal, but doesn't always make a lot of sense. She didn't start talking until she was 4 years old although she was babbling a lot before that. Hang in there, things can and do change over time.

autamom · 2008-07-16 23:15:38

Thanks for the responses! He does have ABA therapy. He's been in that for over a year now. The picture schedule has been suggested, but it hasn't been implemented yet. I'm hoping we can get our act together on that soon. (It seems that we are just keeping our heads above water!) Somebody misplaced the PECS card we use all the time, so I have to replace that, too...

We just saw the GI doc again yesterday. He's starting him on laxatives for a short period of time to try to relieve some constipation & gut pain. There was a med student there that mentioned something about the DAN protocol after the doc was out of the room. No clue if the GI doc himself would have sanctioned that. I mentioned something to the GI doc about our son having thick spit that he can pull out and play with in strings, and the doc had never heard of it. My dh says that he has that too, that's not a big deal. Hmmm...I've been told by others that it's a yeast issue.

striving · 2008-07-18 14:13:33

I do not profess to go through issues to the point that you are experiencing with your son, but this very night I've prayed for you both. It does sound like your son has to be having some sort of pain, a dan doctor and a special diet I believe is the best road and I agree with Shannon that medication just masks the issues. . My son does have some sensory issues and his sound progam with calming mozart music seems to help him. Would your son keep headphones on? Also, any upset in our home affects my son, so if we have an arguement we take it outside, that may not even be an issue in your home-- but we disagree strongly at times around here. Does your son have any sinus issues, I mean thick spit sounds like it could be related to sinus and sinus could make one feel poorly also.

lisadianne2 · 2008-07-26 10:26:42

Hi! I haven't had access to the internet for awhile so I haven't been able to read or reply to any postings until now but...aggression is one of the most horrifying issues for our family. Our son is now 10 and it has been an ongoing struggle. We're constantly on the alert but he can get angry so fast and reacts so fast that we aren't always expecting it (also we don't always know what he's reacting too, of course). The thing that has worked best as a general way to keep Benjamin's aggressive tensions lower is the "squashing" method. We do a lot of squeezing him, rolling him in blankets, smooshing him between pillows, etc. A lot of times we do it deliberately and make a game out of it but we also try to fit in huge bear hugs or holding and rocking him throughout the day. We find that if B. hasn't had enough "squashing" than he's definitely more keyed up and tense. Hope this helps!

FoggyRock General Forum

#1 2008-07-09 01:56:18

Extreme Meltdowns

#2 2008-07-10 20:11:22

Re: Extreme Meltdowns

#3 2008-07-11 00:58:33

Re: Extreme Meltdowns

#4 2008-07-11 22:31:45

Re: Extreme Meltdowns

#5 2008-07-16 23:15:38

Re: Extreme Meltdowns

#6 2008-07-18 14:13:33

Re: Extreme Meltdowns

#7 2008-07-26 10:26:42

Re: Extreme Meltdowns

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