Don't let anyone be the voice for your child with autism. "YOU" are there best advocate. I know it seems like other people may have the best ideas, but it all comes down to trial and error such is life.

There are all kinds of things that you can try for different symptoms of autism, but you need to really understand what autism is before you can attempt to lessen the symptoms. The truth is there just in not enough information to help with it all. I can only tell you that from my experience the things I have tried that work for my kiddos.

For my son it was the scariest feeling to know that he can't control himself. He tried to but even his teacher pointed out he wants to do it he just can't. I was confused and didn't understand the cant part. He is a great son. He laughs all the time he was curious a lot, but his anger surged out of nowhere. It's like a volcano erupted in him. Kindergarten was the most challenging time for him. They didn't want him to come to school without being on medication.  They said he was destructive. Noone understood what he was going through. A divorce, grandpa moved out and mom got a new boyfriend all within the span of a year. Thats a lot for anyone to handle. For those that say "oh, there just kids they won't remember"! well, an Autistic child can remember a lot more then you know. With my son he can remember but can't process or talk about how he feels but he can show you.

He was mad at mom, dad, and grandpa for changing his life around. He was not handling that well at all. He tried to change with the times but how? This was the only life he knew and now it was all taken away from him. He stopped listening and started yelling and screaming more. Hitting his sister was a constant. I would separate them then they would play together again and right back to anger. The sad part is I am just realizing that maybe that's his own defense against his thoughts. Maybe he felt he would lose his sister and mom to. 

He was treated for symptoms that were more severe. I needed his impulsiveness to stop. He would play with the outlets and tear the white covers off of them so he could see the electrical components inside. He would look and search through all the rooms to find stuff he wanted to play with or take apart. It was stuff that was not safe for him to be doing. He figured out by watching me how child locks worked and could get what he wanted anyway. All the knobs for stove gone. Knives had to be moved to the top of the fridge, door locks what a joke. I was spending money on stuff that just didn't work for my escape artist. We just had to figure it out every day. What he wanted vs was it safe or not. It was a case-by-case basis. The things I thought would hurt him didn't and the things I thought wouldn't did. One day I was at work and my father was watching my kiddos and when I came home, I had found he had taken apart my Keyboard and took the keys portion of it because he wanted it. Then next Suprise was when he got my sewing machine dismantled and made something else out of it. His favorite movie at the time was "Meet the Robinsons", He built a memory scanner. He took a photo I had and put it where the bobbin goes and broke then needle area then spent the day with it outside in the dirt. It never worked the same again neither did the keyboard.

It was time to do something different. We saw his Primary Doctor and told him what was going on and our concerns. He suggested that we should try guanfacine and something I can't remember. It didn't work. It made him very sad all the time and it dried his nose out, so he was always sniffing. So, it did help slow his impulses, but it changed his moods.  Then we went back to the doctor about 2 months later and I said this wasn't working and his side effects. He suggested we see a medical specialist for Landon and that's what we did.  She said let's try aripiprazole and guanfacine.  He was on that from First and Second grade. We had to increase it, but his anger was getting worse and worse. He was having issues at school with people telling him no. He lost his mind on students and teachers. He kicked at them and wrecked the classrooms. I had enough of this anger man. What is going on with my kid. 

We moved back to Az and started seeing another med specialist. She helped with a different med to try and took him off the guanfacine and aripiprazole. He was now going to be taking risperidone and amantadine. The amantadine is for short term memory and the risperidone is for anger, mood, and impulsivities. OH MY GOD! It worked. I at this point was home schooling for 3rd grade. I was super excited. Hitting stopped. Meltdowns were fewer and far between. He could sit for a long period of time and watch his movies and not be going 100 miles an hour. He was talking a lot more. I asked him how he liked the difference between the two meds. He said the aripiprazole made his head fill like a busy airport, but none left to fly. The new one the airport is empty now. This is just the rollercoaster of trials and error for my son. I also have a daughter that has not been medicated until recently and with her the medication risperidone don't work at all. She is still angry moody and impulsive. For here we are going to try CBD oil, magnesium, and melatonin. a more natural not FDA approved approach. I will keep you posted on what worked or didnt. 

Remember were doing the best we can. Love yourself.

BREATH

ANNE GOEHLER