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RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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cyberdad
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22 Jul 2011, 12:48 am

Wreck-Gar wrote:
Speaking of OCD I am really worried about my son's perservation on numbers. Now he writes 1 to 100 on the magnadoodle over and over. The only time he puts that thing down is to go in the shower. Sometimes we can get it away from him for a while but then he just makes numbers with his fingers or just counts verbally.

Basically we are worried that the cause of his delays could be this extreme hyperfocus on one subject. Does anyone have any ideas on this?


Can't comment on your son's situation.

But my daughter's main distraction from focus seems to be noises. She used to write numbers but now does math equations for enjoyment. At the moment she is stopped everything because somebody is using a chain-saw about 4 blocks from us.



claudia
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22 Jul 2011, 2:41 am

nostromo wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
Congratulations Nostromo! all the best for your baby.

Thanks very much cyberdad :D
Hey we're bang on the same age..can you imagine a new born arriving next year in the house!? Me neither :lol:


Congratulations!
I had a very busy time, as often happens and I didn't notice this information. I had speech therapy with my son... school ended, I am still working and I take care of him. He's improving his receptive language, he understands sentences now and learns quickly! I'm the only who suceeded doing speech therapy with him. He didn't cooperate with therapists and I decide to become his therapist for a while. Now he isn't opposing to ABA therapists and they eventually can masterize in receptive language programs... he's a complicated boy, but he's affectionate and nice.



nostromo
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22 Jul 2011, 5:12 am

Thank you Claudia! My wife told her mother today, she was stunned into silence and couldnt believe it but is very happy for us.

How do you find being your sons therapist? I have done it for james succesfully, it is fairly tiring i find. Perhaps especially for us parents because our emotions are mixed in too much.



Wreck-Gar
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22 Jul 2011, 5:57 am

Add barber shop poles to the list of spinning things our autistic kids like to stare at.



DazednConfused
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22 Jul 2011, 6:05 am

Oh, barber shop poles! I like those too (although I think it cos we always got a particular kind of favourite toffee when we went there as kids).

My son's SLT showed him a toy that releases a spinning flying thing into the air. She wanted to teach him to take turns with it. All he was interested in was taking out the flying thing so he could stare down the handle at the cogs inside, turning away. Completely flummoxed her, I had to laugh!



blondeambition
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22 Jul 2011, 6:55 am

Wreck-Gar wrote:
Speaking of OCD I am really worried about my son's perservation on numbers. Now he writes 1 to 100 on the magnadoodle over and over. The only time he puts that thing down is to go in the shower. Sometimes we can get it away from him for a while but then he just makes numbers with his fingers or just counts verbally.

Basically we are worried that the cause of his delays could be this extreme hyperfocus on one subject. Does anyone have any ideas on this?


This is 100% like my younger son with OCD, but his fixation is letters. I have had the same worry with him. (He has some mild speech and social skills delays and is still not potty-trained at almost 4, despite being of above-average intellect).

We are currently trying to work on the OCD, just starting the prescription med Prozac again. We tried it before but quit because he didn't like the flavor, and he put up a fuss. We have not yet reached a therapeutic level, which can take weeks with this particular med.

We might try working with a psychologist down the road if meds don't work out or do not provide full relief of symptoms.

The president of the local Autism Society has a son with classic autism who was fixated on the alphabet as a child--over and over again on the magnadoodle. He has comorbid OCD, is nonverbal, but can text. I have heard of the fixation on letters or numbers with other kids, too.

My younger son has always been a little ball of anxiety, beginning with separation anxiety as a baby. My experience is that if you just remove one object he uses to stim, he will find another.

Distracting my younger son and keeping him happy helps, but he needs stim breaks even if things are going pretty well.


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Wreck-Gar
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22 Jul 2011, 9:45 am

blondeambition wrote:
My younger son has always been a little ball of anxiety, beginning with separation anxiety as a baby. My experience is that if you just remove one object he uses to stim, he will find another.


Yeah we take the board away sometimes but then he just counts verbally or with sign language.

He can't have the board back unless he asks for it. With actual words.



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22 Jul 2011, 10:02 am

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It was a pretty quiet birthday party.

My younger son (the one who has OCD and AS and will turn 4 in October) interacted with the six-year-old twin boy a little bit. We sat at a table near an exit, and both AS kids were fascinated by the "exit" sign and kept commenting on it.

My older son with classic autism (almost age 7) was seated between his younger brother and a new friend who is 8. Basically, his friend's mom would say, "M_______, ask Ben what his favorite thing to play on in the gym was." M______ would ask the question the question and Ben would answer it. Then, I would give Ben a question to ask M________.

My two kids were also interacting with each other a little bit. My younger son was doing silly things with a pair of sunglasses given to him at the party and Ben was comenting on it. "Look! Heath has the sunglasses on his chin!" That kind of thing.

One of the twin boys across from my sons couldn't tolerate the noise and had his ears covered. His mother was the one who thought that my kids seemed "normal."

The two 11-year-old twin girls were extremely quiet, attempting to get more food and drink without having to talk. Their mom was able to prompt them into making verbal requests for more juice rather than just handing her empty cups, etc.

Birthday girl didn't say anything, but smiled a little. Her sister, who was NT, was the chatterbox of the group.

One girl talked to herself. A boy went home before cake was served because he was not doing well.

The parents had arranged for the party to occur in an empty gymnastics classroom, and there was some parallel play going on earlier--kids jumping on a trampoline side-by-side, etc.

On a positive note, all the kids were really well-behaved. (I think that parents who knew that their kids wouldn't do well stayed home, for the most part.)

The kids didn't know each other well, so maybe they would have done better if they had all been in school together.

Basically, the parents had rented out space in the gym, but it appeared that just about no one was going to show up, so they sent out an invite to members of the Autism Society (the parents are active members). A few people with kids the right age decided to come.

I knew three of the moms, and the moms had fun seeing each other.

The cake was okay. (I cannot cook, so who am I to judge?)


After Ben went to the party on Saturday, Ben spontaneously wrote thank you note to the birthday girl. This morning, I had him read his note, and I filmed it. (Past the link below into your browser to view).

http://youtu.be/ahn6a1NJc5s


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Last edited by blondeambition on 22 Jul 2011, 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

Wreck-Gar
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22 Jul 2011, 11:17 am

DazednConfused wrote:
Oh, barber shop poles! I like those too (although I think it cos we always got a particular kind of favourite toffee when we went there as kids).


I admit, I was staring at it too. It was a really strange one, the part that is usually white was clear on this one.



Wreck-Gar
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22 Jul 2011, 6:47 pm

blondeambition wrote:
My younger son gets very upset if the family gets into the car in the wrong order, someone goes in or out the wrong door to the car or house, etc. He's really big into doing the same thing the same way every time.


How do you handle this? I think it would drive me up the wall!



blondeambition
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22 Jul 2011, 7:13 pm

Wreck-Gar wrote:
blondeambition wrote:
My younger son gets very upset if the family gets into the car in the wrong order, someone goes in or out the wrong door to the car or house, etc. He's really big into doing the same thing the same way every time.


How do you handle this? I think it would drive me up the wall!


Right now, I just try to do stuff his way, and have his older brother do it that way, too. (Even if it means everyone getting out of the car and getting back in again if someone forgot, for example.) I may get more creative after summer vacation is over and my oldest returns to school.

If I cannot get OCD under control with meds, I think that I will let my older son's ABA therapist have a try with the younger one. She has an M.A. in psychology, a special ed degree, and comes to our home for a reasonable rate.

Also, come to think of it, my younger son is much more responsive to rewards than my older son is. Telling him that he has to behave a certain way in order to get a trip to the ice cream shop, for instance, often results in good behavior. Reasoning with him or making him sit in the corner doesn't seem to work.

Delayed gratification never worked for my older son with classic autism--he could never remember that he was working toward receipt of a reward.


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cyberdad
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22 Jul 2011, 8:38 pm

Hi Blondeambition,

Getting back to one of your earlier posts, I read on the Eli Lilly website that Prozac can only be prescribed by a GP/paediatrician to a child on a mental health plan and given (in the US) to children over the age of 8.

With this in mind how did you obtain permission to give Prozac to your son? does he get the minimum dose of 10mg/day or the larger dose of 20mg/day. Sorry I hope you don't mind me asking.

My daughter is having behavioural/tantrum issues at school this week and I am now broadening my treatment options, if only to research the topic (at this stage).



blondeambition
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22 Jul 2011, 9:35 pm

cyberdad wrote:
Hi Blondeambition,

Getting back to one of your earlier posts, I read on the Eli Lilly website that Prozac can only be prescribed by a GP/paediatrician to a child on a mental health plan and given (in the US) to children over the age of 8.

With this in mind how did you obtain permission to give Prozac to your son? does he get the minimum dose of 10mg/day or the larger dose of 20mg/day. Sorry I hope you don't mind me asking.

My daughter is having behavioural/tantrum issues at school this week and I am now broadening my treatment options, if only to research the topic (at this stage).


Actually, the Prozac was first prescribed by a pediatric neurologist and then, when I changed to the child psychiatrist, he kept my son on it. I have actually never had my son's pediatrician do anything more regarding his issues other than write a note to the school district saying that he needed services.

To my knowledge, the majority of different medicines used to treat young children with mental health disorders are prescribed "off label," meaning that it is not illegal to prescribe the drug for this purpose or this age group, but it has not been specifically approved by the FDA.

Risperdal is actually FDA approved for treatment of autism, but with its side effects, many doctors look in other directions and try a strong drug like this as a last resort.

I think which drug might work depends on the child and whether a specific comorbid mental health condition can be identified.

My son currently gets 10 mg/day. He was up to 20 mg/day at one point, and it seemed to be making him hyperactive without better control of his symptoms. (He only weighs about 50 lbs.) I therefore decided that some of his behavior issues could not be handled with medication, and that they would have to be addressed by other means.


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www.freevideosforautistickids.com is my website with hundreds of links and thousands of educational videos for kids, parents and educators. Son with high-functioning classic autism, aged 7, and son with OCD/Aspergers, aged 4. I love my boys!


DazednConfused
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23 Jul 2011, 4:50 am

Yay! Not to change the topic too much (it's still drug related!) but I had to come on here and skite to people who would understand...I just got my three year old to swallow proper adult B6 vitamins. This is the culmination of several weeks of work getting him to swallow first mini M&Ms, then big M&Ms, and now white-chocolate coated large vitamins. It is all in aid of getting some metronidazole into him for giardia, which he has had for months. We failed with the nasty tasting liquid form of it, and the tablets are incredibly bitter, so trying to crush and hide them in the few foods he eats just resulted in him going of those foods for a while (argh!). Now I think we are safe to try chocolate coating the metronidazole tablets as they are a similar size to the vitamins.

This opens up a whole new world...no more trying to hold him down and squirt liquid paracetamol into him when he in pain, no more expensive chewable vitamins... :)



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23 Jul 2011, 5:05 am

Blondeambition your sons are beautiful and the way you describe your younger son sounds a lot like my Maddy. How old is he in the video?
Maddy wasnt really talking until after three years old then it was only one word at a time but she could lable letters and numbers on flashcards. She started speaking in two to three word sentences around 3 1/2 -4 but most was scripting and echo. She started more appropriate speech around 4 1/2- 5. I started making videos of her to show her speech progression. Unfortunately some are on camcorder tapes that we are going to send away to put on CD....but I got a digital camera that took video a few days after she turned 5, then a real digital video recorder after we moved here. I have these videos posted on youtube under Aspiemom42 Im going to post the most popular one so you can see, it has over 500 hits. She was 5 1/2 here and she no longer does the throat clearing or "Ummm" vocal stimming. She typically will do a type of vocal stimm for a few months and than change to something else.
Her last video I posted was right after she turned 6 her vocal stimm then was "Ok" and "dot com", I need to get in gear, I have videos that I need to edit and post. I post mainly for positive Autism awareness because at the time the majority of the autism posts were of meltdowns. Why people want to film a meltdown and post it on youtube is still a mystery to me!
Anyway the story about your son getting upset when you dont open the doors to the car correctly sound so much like Maddy. She is very ritualistic and I know that it is how she feels safe, by doing things the same way everyday. Like she has certain rocks that she has to step on and certain poles that she has to touch on the way to school. I always make note when she is very obsessive about this or when she sometimes just forgets to do it, it tells me a lot about how she is feeling that particular day. If her rituals start to interfere with life like when she had to count EVERYTHING then we have to redirect her and we have gotten good at this over the years. Its sort of like picking your battles, somethings, like the rock and pole touching do not interfere with life so its not a big deal.
Anyway, here is her video. I love the very first one I put up even though I had my Aspie behind me making a bunch of noise because he wanted to get past me but he would have interfered and caused her to stop dancing. You can find the first one under my name or even under Autistic Princess, its fuzzy and dark but adorable all the same. So here is the one I did last October right before Halloween....our first here in France.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpFSlnhd2M0[/youtube]



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23 Jul 2011, 5:22 am

DazednConfused wrote:
Yay! Not to change the topic too much (it's still drug related!) but I had to come on here and skite to people who would understand...I just got my three year old to swallow proper adult B6 vitamins. This is the culmination of several weeks of work getting him to swallow first mini M&Ms, then big M&Ms, and now white-chocolate coated large vitamins. It is all in aid of getting some metronidazole into him for giardia, which he has had for months. We failed with the nasty tasting liquid form of it, and the tablets are incredibly bitter, so trying to crush and hide them in the few foods he eats just resulted in him going of those foods for a while (argh!). Now I think we are safe to try chocolate coating the metronidazole tablets as they are a similar size to the vitamins.

This opens up a whole new world...no more trying to hold him down and squirt liquid paracetamol into him when he in pain, no more expensive chewable vitamins... :)


Great idea...do you do the chocolate coating or do they come that way?
I remember having to get my daughter to take nasty Clindamycin when she would get MRSA infections, she was too young for a pill and it tastes horrible no matter what you put in it....even chocolate. We finally got her doctor to find a different med and I did some abscess drainage at home as well (I worked in the medical field so it wasnt so bad for me) just to help keep her off the meds as they are very powerful antibiotics. Fortunately she no longer gets them due to the fact that we got her out of diapers, we take very good care of her skin and we also believe that it was my older son who was the carrier and he no longer lives with us or visits. He lives in the US and we are in France. Also he is far more healthy now as well.