Help with an autistic teen

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My son is 12 and started a dangerous ritual of trying to smoother himself. He will wrap anything and everything around his face to the point of suffacation? I have sought help from all of my resources with no solution. Most tell me they have not heard of this in an autistic teen before. I asked him flat out WHY would you do this? He did say he wanted to die and was tired of his life. What will stop this kind of behavior because I have never had a problem with him like this before! HELP!

Speak to your son's Guidance Counselor at his school and ask him/her to direct you to resources in your community that provide
mental health counseling to adolescents. Your 12 year old is obviously overwhelmed with the challenges and adjustments he is facing while growing up. His behavior is a "cry for help." Get him the counseling he needs...as kids who engage in such behavior
as smothering themselves usually do end up killing themselves...and many times it is unintentional.

Best of luck to you!

Some possibilities:

a. He likes the sensation; a way of hiding and altering sensory input (my NT daughter pulls her pillow over head when she is upset; it helps her feel buffered from the world).

b. He is seriously considering ending his life (my NT daughter is also my child who experiences depression and has talked not seeing the point in living, but for her I do NOT think the pillow thing is any sort of trial run or experiment).

A is OK but risky. B requires serious counseling. I don't think its an AS thing, although there definitely could be a sensory component. It is, after all, my NT daughter who came to my mind when I read your post, and not my AS son. He needs to talk with a counselor that he feels safe with.

Also, keep your eye out for sudden and unexpected POSITIVE changes in his mood. People who have been suicidal often get happier and calmer once they've made an affirmative decision on how and when they plan to end their lives. It is an important thing to know, when living with someone who experiences depression and has expressed any sort of suicidal thoughts.

When my son was 12 he was suicidal.

I would take your son's comment seriously, and find him professional psychological counseling as quickly as possible. His situation could be far worse than you perceive.

I was like that, when I was 12. It was all because of the way that my parents were treating me that summer, too. I also tried to drown myself in swimming pools. They didn't notice, and they didn't care. They only wanted a firstborn, without an accent who was fit to be a Canadian citizen. I've even wrapped towels around my neck and twisted the ends together. My sister asked me what I was doing with the towel, and I'd tell her that it was a new type of thearapy to improve my brain function. She didn't know that I was trying to take my own life. I'm glad that I didn't succede, and I'm happy to be alive, today.