Aspergers and Violence...please help!

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Hi everyone,

I'm really worried about my little brother William. He's an Aspie, and he can't stand to hear people cough. Whenever someone coughs, he suddenly becomes really violent and starts hitting everyone, even total strangers. We were out yesterday, and he started violently attacking an old woman...he's 14 now, but what happens when he gets bigger and stronger? I'm worried that he might really hurt, or even kill, someone.

He's the sweetest kid in the entire world, and he always feels so bad afterwards. He needs help.

What should I do?

Are there any places where I can go to get him de-sensitized to the sound of coughing?


Please help!

Thanks guys.

-Angelica

The doctor's office should have people coughing, but I don't know if that's what you had in mind.

What does he not like about hearing someone coughing? Maybe if you knew the answer to that, you'd be able to evaluate why he does it and what you can do to stop him from hitting people.

Hope this helps,
Alex

It's weird, though. It's like he can't help it, and he has no control over it once he's in that state. He just snaps, and becomes out of control. Like an animal.

Then when it's over, he feels terrible and starts crying.

I don't know what to do. Rationally, he knows it's wrong, but he can't control it.

Unfortunately the courts won't understand that point of view.

Have you tried any kind of therapies to "normalize" him to the sound of people coughing?

We have tried various drugs, but none of them have helped. Do you know of any good treatment centers that might be able to help?

There is some sort of therapy called AIT (auditory integrative training) but I don't know if it would help desensitize a person to one specific sound. I have heard of before but am sceptical about it myself. There seems to be either two sorts of opinions about it - it helped or it didn't do anything (lol) and it can be expensive. Maybe others here have used it before or could give you more info.

Is it a loud cough that is upsetting him or any kind of cough? I know when someone has a really harsh cough the sound can be grating like if someone makes a loud banging noise. That could be a sensory overload for him and mkaing him get out of control. If it is just any type of cough than maybe he is relating that to a bad experience. Or it could be some sort of OCD behavior but if it was a germ thing than I don't think he would be getting close to the person to hit them but running away from them. I would also think that someone sneezing might set him off to if it was that.

Thanks for all of your responses!

I'm curious about AIT therapy, if there's even the *slightest* chance that it could help.
I think his behavior is definately what you would call "OCD". This whole problem originated when we took him on vacation with us to Mexico. My sister and her best friend were both sick, and spent the whole time coughing.
Ever since then, he hasn't been able to stand hearing anyone cough.

He has really good hearing, so it could be that he's just really bothered by the noise itself. On the other hand, he seems to get upset even if someone quietly clears their throat.

It's definately some kind of OCD thing, so I'm not sure how you would go about improving it.

Has he tried wearing earplugs while in public places? Maybe that will dull the sound enough so that he doesn't get out of control...

Or a walkman?

I will often times get upset when my mother clears her throat, not other people, just my mother. I don't get violent, thank heavens. The sound just has a tendecy to trigger my coprolalia. It's like a primal instinct. That's the best way that I can describe it.

Gelbel: This might be a stupid question, but what happens when he, himself, coughs?

Might it help to teach him what the actual, medical reasons for coughing are? I'm thinking that understanding the "mechanics" of the action, would help him respond differently to it. (He would understand that people aren't doing it to agitate others, for example.)

Might he have a fear that people are going to get sick (like those on your vacation) because they cough?

I can hear people chewing food from across a room and it drives me absolutely nuts, but the sound of my own chewing has no effect on me and seems normal. I don't get violent (self-control), but I leave the room or have to turn on music when I'm feeling especially sensitive. Frequently during my adolescence I would leave the dinner table for most of dinner, to my parents consternation. Even when I try to focus on other sounds in the room, I can't help but hear people chewing. It's painfully uncomfortable, but I just sit silently and deal with it. I'm 28 and still affected.

On the plus side, I'm a musician. So sensitive ears pay off. Most of the time I enjoy hearing everything. And that pleasure makes those infrequent irritating times easier to cope with.

Angelica, getting older and stronger isn't just physical but mental as well. He cries, which means he's aware of what he's doing. So he might grow into some self-control. You care, and know his condition, and he does too, so he's got compassionate family. That's a huge advantage.

I have sensitive hearing and that combined with the OCD seems to make me even more hypersensitive to sounds that I am bothered by (like coughs or sneezes). As to what advice I can give you - not much as I am in my 30's and still am dealing with this. I've tried medication that had too many side effects and didn't seem to work. It could be that since this seems to have appeared after the vacation that it could really have been one or both of either sound sensitivity or an OCD kind of thing. Did he get sick also? If not it might help to point that out if he is concerned about being near someone who coughs. Otherwise, it could have been that being around the same two people coughing (the repetitive sound of it) has made his ears very sensitive. My husband tends to cough (smoker) and his particular cough bothers me because I hear it so many times. (The best analogy would be that it is almost like someone clanging cymbols). Maybe you could share some of the info from the other posts with him and see if he can explain what it is about the coughing that makes him go off like that.

Auditory processing Disorder, this could be his problem. very good hearing could be that he hears some sounds very clearly too clearly.
I make noises that make Claire get irritated with me. Like sucking on my fingers, or even licking my lips. She doesn't get violent but it really does irritate her. She does have Auditory processing Disorder. Some sounds she hears really well.; usually she has problems hearing conversations or words in a conversation.

I used to have an issue sort of like this when i was verry young.
When i ate some types of candy i went mad.
I used to beat up people and even stripped naked once.
Altough i can't remember any of that.