Guest guest Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 From: Eileen Brischoux <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Saturday, January 22, 2011, 7:41 AM Hello I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. Eileen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 I'm not familiar....what is AIT? P. From: Eileen Brischoux <ebrischoux@...>autism Sent: Sat, January 22, 2011 7:41:00 AMSubject: Handling Bad Behavior Hello I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. Eileen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Auditory Integration Therapy. There are different programs/brands. My understanding is that most of them use music or other sounds, that are filtered or modulated, and that (hopefully) effects the child's ability to process sounds. Some occupational therapists who accept insurance also do AIT.From: <npcox649@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Saturday, January 22, 2011, 9:13 AM I'm not familiar....what is AIT? P. From: Eileen Brischoux <ebrischoux@...>autism Sent: Sat, January 22, 2011 7:41:00 AMSubject: Handling Bad Behavior Hello I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. Eileen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Eileen, hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois Handling Bad Behavior Hello I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. Eileen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 It is a mood stabilizer. My son takes it twice a day. Don't you have any help for respite? It is not good that your son is hitting you and broke your rest. He should be hospitalized. Lana From: lois noland <jlois@...>autism Sent: Sat, January 22, 2011 7:56:56 PMSubject: Re: Handling Bad Behavior Eileen, hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois Handling Bad Behavior Hello I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. Eileen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 It is an antiseizure med used also for mood stabilization. We just lowered the dose b/c it can cause low sodium levels in some and it did with my son. Lowering the dose leveled his sodium to normal levels. My son needs this combination of meds but since lowering the trileptal he had gotten a bit more irritable too and OCD skyrocketed again. Right now I am going back to giving him Inositol for his OCD and it helps his moods too. I have seen a tiny decrease in OCD. Very tiny. I have just started and so not up to the mega doses required by some to help the OCD. So many variables with our kids. We have used many many meds and my son is very sensitive to them all. The OCD meds really do a number on him too:( Has anyone used several antidepressants with bad results and then found one that helped? I am so afraid to try them again. We have used 3 or so. Thanks Eileen > > Eileen, > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > Hello > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > Eileen > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Eileen, Which ones have you used? What were the reactions. And of course they are different for everyone. I am in the same boat. When my son was 12 or 14, they tried him on Lexapro which made him manic. He was the happiest little boy, but pulled out all of his eyelashes and eyebrows. When we went to the mall he would open the door before I could get the car turned off and "take off" across the parking lot. We live in a rural area and he would unlock the back door, go to all the neighbors mailboxes and retrieve their mail and bring it to me. Before he would never leave the house. Then he stopped talking(even a little) and started chirping like a bird and whining like a puppy. So they switched to Luvox which made him have hallucinations. After going off of these he became so fearful of everything that we couldn't even get him to go outside to the swing. He was terrified of anything that flew, birds, bees, flies, mosquitos. But would pick up a spider and hold it in his hand. He had always been fearful of animals but now babies, children, people of a different color, people with no hair. Last year he became combattive toward his dad, then me. He was put on Risperdal, then Abilify and Klonopin because the Abilify causes over the top anxiety. You could hear him licking his lips through the whole house. So they added prozac which made him him have physical issues(tremors, weakness, shaking, vomiting, sweating, etc.) I pretty much came to the conclusion that he can't take ssri's, so I too would love to know the experiences of others. Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 8:41 AM It is an antiseizure med used also for mood stabilization. We just lowered the dose b/c it can cause low sodium levels in some and it did with my son. Lowering the dose leveled his sodium to normal levels. My son needs this combination of meds but since lowering the trileptal he had gotten a bit more irritable too and OCD skyrocketed again. Right now I am going back to giving him Inositol for his OCD and it helps his moods too. I have seen a tiny decrease in OCD. Very tiny. I have just started and so not up to the mega doses required by some to help the OCD. So many variables with our kids. We have used many many meds and my son is very sensitive to them all. The OCD meds really do a number on him too:(Has anyone used several antidepressants with bad results and then found one that helped? I am so afraid to try them again. We have used 3 or so.Thanks Eileen>> Eileen,> hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> Handling Bad Behavior> > > > Hello> > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > Eileen> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Hi Drissa Wow your son can really communicate what is happening to him much more than mine can. Altho my son has communication skills he cannot verbalize what the meds make him feel like and we have to go by behaviour alone. Most of them (ssri's) were ok in the beginning and then after a three week trial he would spiral down becoming aggressive and headaches almost always. We have tried lexapro and anafranil (those being the worst offenders) cymbalta really did nothing, luvox also sent him into a tailspin. I was going to ask the doctor for prozac as a last resort with his OCD. We have tried all the naturals including yeast killers, anti-virals for 2 years and antibacterials. Done the B complex which causes an overgrowth of yeast for him too. We even did a 6 month course of IVIG which did nothing. So I am back to where we started with meds with the added OCD. Risperdal put a tremendous amt of weight on him when he was a teenager and again now but the other antipsy meds were horrible with him. We did use Geodon for 3 years and he was still in such a state. Finally we told his doctor that he had to go back to what worked before and it was the right decision. Just trying to address the OCD now. Unfortunately most of the natural things have left a bad taste in our mouths here but I will never be sorry that we tried. We try to do everything possible to know that we have given our son the best chance at a better quality of life. Sorry I rambled on here:) Eileen > > > > Eileen, > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > Eileen > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Eileen, Thank you so much for your response. This whole thing is making me crazy. I am trying to figure it out, but am so afraid of the drugs. How much Risperdal is your son taking now? The most took was one mg. and he went back and forth between being a zombie and raging. I forgot they did try Elavil for migraines because we had a family history of that. He really doesn't communicate very well at all. He is doing a little better now. When he has a problem with a situation and starts to growl at me, I try to give him an appropriate phrase. Sometimes it kicks in but more often it doesn't. How old is your son? is 18 and I have spent the last 10 years trying to homeschool him. I think I really failed him, but the schools are so horrible here, it's beyond description. When he was in school the doctor said he acted like he had ptsd, so whatever was happening was traumatizing him. So we pulled him. I have been bit, pinched, scratched, headbutted, my hair pulled out by the roots. Where do you live? Are the schools better there or are they pretty much the same? Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 11:39 AM Hi DrissaWow your son can really communicate what is happening to him much more than mine can. Altho my son has communication skills he cannot verbalize what the meds make him feel like and we have to go by behaviour alone. Most of them (ssri's) were ok in the beginning and then after a three week trial he would spiral down becoming aggressive and headaches almost always.We have tried lexapro and anafranil (those being the worst offenders) cymbalta really did nothing, luvox also sent him into a tailspin. I was going to ask the doctor for prozac as a last resort with his OCD.We have tried all the naturals including yeast killers, anti-virals for 2 years and antibacterials. Done the B complex which causes an overgrowth of yeast for him too. We even did a 6 month course of IVIG which did nothing.So I am back to where we started with meds with the added OCD. Risperdal put a tremendous amt of weight on him when he was a teenager and again now but the other antipsy meds were horrible with him. We did use Geodon for 3 years and he was still in such a state. Finally we told his doctor that he had to go back to what worked before and it was the right decision. Just trying to address the OCD now.Unfortunately most of the natural things have left a bad taste in our mouths here but I will never be sorry that we tried. We try to do everything possible to know that we have given our son the best chance at a better quality of life. Sorry I rambled on here:)Eileen> >> > Eileen,> > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > Handling Bad Behavior> > > > > > > > Hello> > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > > > Eileen> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Hi Drissa We are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family! My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert. My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse. Eileen > > > > > > Eileen, > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Eileen, Thanks for the communication. I am in North Carolina, about 30 miles west of Charlotte. I have asked the doctor to refer us to a behavioral specialist, a nutritionist, anything and according to him, there are none worth my time and money. is taking Abilify; 10ml. in the am and pm. He still won't take pills. Chews them, but doesn't swallow. He has gained 40 lbs since August, when he started this. A doctor in Charlotte has been recommended, but I am concerned about changing the meds. His aggression and SIB was so bad that my husband was close to a breakdown. I don't think we could go there again. I keep on with the biomed hoping that one day we will find something to help him. Right now he is pretty stable as long as I am calm. If I act like I am upset with anything he does the headbanging is right back. The only difference is instead of him hitting his head until he can't go on any longer or attacking me, once or twice is enough. He takes Klonopin to deal with the anxiety, but that is one of those drugs that you have to increase the dose as time goes on. If he could take me or my husband down at 100 lbs. I can't imagine what he could do now at 140, or if he keeps on gaining weight. My husband and I are close to 60. There is a day program here, but not for people with autism. They have nothing here for adults with autism or even with behavior issues. There are only 3 places in the state who have residential placement and we don't even want to go there. I feel like there has to be an answer but we have just missed it. The neurologist he goes to inferred that we didn't have good parenting skills and now he had to be put on drugs because of us. We reared another son just the same way and he is going to be a neurosurgeon. He is independent, kind, compassionate, etc. We have a daughter with Downs and she was brought up in the same environment. Everybody loves her, thinks she is the sweetest thing ever. I don't know what we did different with him Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM Hi DrissaWe are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family!My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert.My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse.Eileen> > >> > > Eileen,> > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > Handling Bad Behavior> > > > > > > > > > > > Hello> > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > > > > > Eileen> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 That neurologist sounds like he is ignorant about autism. We have to stay calm with Karac too, but that just sounds like good parenting to me. Pat K Re: Handling Bad Behavior autism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM  Hi Drissa We are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family! My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert. My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse. Eileen > > > > > > Eileen, > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I was reading your post and got to the end and cried; I understand the part where a doctor tells you this is your fault. We went through this with our daughter Maddie. She is 15 now and for the past 2 years she was out of control. We linked her behaviors to puberty. Before that, she was happy, sweet, a joy to parent. Then she got her first period and she became the opposite - mean and aggressive. When we first went to the doctor he told me I wasn't being strict enough - we got a good laugh over that. We have 4 kids ages 15, 15, 13 and 10. When they were little (and the 2 girls are both autistic plus Maddie is MR, Destiny is ADHD) I had to get control or we would have never been able to do anything. We use 1-2-3 Magic with the kids when they were younger; my mom used to tell other people if you want to get your kids to listen and behave send them to Rhonda's boot camp. Don't want to give the wrong impression; it's not terrible here - I just have to have where they listen to me when I ask them to do something. It made everything so nice for us - I don't have to scream or yell, just ask what I want and if they don't respond I say that's a one and usually we have kids running - even Maddie:) We went out to eat, traveled, etc. Even with Maddie as long as we had sensory, story boards, etc. she went everywhere with us. Finally she had an episode in his office - happy, giggling one minute and the next she picked up a lamp and threw it at him. As much as I hated the behavior inside I was thinking, "you go Maddie!" The doctor was trying to calm her down and then he looks at me and goes we can't have this. I'm like well, be strict with her - he just glared:) hehe! I know you didn't want to send your son to an RTF, but neither did we. To be honest, I think it was the best decision for us. The sad part was it took us over a year to get the insurance to pay. They started out they wanted her to have a TSS - 6 of them quit after the first several hours with her (she broke one's nose, bit the other and drew blood, gave the other a black eye and the list goes on and on). The last one we had would just stand back and kept saying what do we do? I looked and said not to be rude - that's your job to tell me since I don't parent correctly. Finally we took her to a mental hospital for autistic children (we are in Pennsylvania); she ended up being there 3 months and they pushed for the placement of an RTF. They said her behavior was so out of control it wasn't safe for her or for us; the insurance finally paid. I know while Maddie was home it put a tremendous strain on our marriage and even with our other kids. How do you tell your ten your old we can't go somewhere as a family because Maddie won't leave the house and if she does she will cause a scene. Our family life was gone - one of us stayed behind with Maddie and the other went with the other kids. Any quality marriage time was gone also. My oldest son told me after Maddie was in the hospital and we went to his band concert that at least his friends would realize he was telling the truth. I asked about what and he said everyone thinks you guys are getting a divorce - you both came to everything for us. Now it's just one or the other so the rumor was we couldn't be in the same building together! What a thing for my son to go through along with everything else he was seeing at home:( Maddie is in an RTF, but our goal is to get her stable and bring her back home. Now I know that always doesn't happen; but for now that is our first goal. If we see after two years it isn't working; then we can re-look at that goal and see if we need to change it. She does enjoy where she is at, but they have all the same behaviors we had at home. The one doctor told me she has no idea how we lived like that for as long as we did. When she goes into a rage, it takes three to four of them to control her so she doesn't hurt herself or others. They are working on different meds and therapies to help her, but it takes time. And like they said they can work 24/7 with her with fresh people every 8 hours to get faster results and watch for any side effects. When she was at home - we went up so gradual where it would take over a month to tell if there was any positive changes or reactions to it. There they have a doctor/nurse on staff 24/7. She sees her doctor every day; plus he sees her reactions. I know I would explain stuff to our doctor at home and I don't think he realized how bad her behavior/reaction was. He would just shrug and say well give it time. Plus they understand that Maddie's behavior has nothing to do with bad parenting. They keep assuring me they have dealt with worse kids than Maddie and they will figure something out; it might not be my best scenario, but something that will work for her and us. I hope you will be able to find something to work for him soon. If you do look at an RTF, you can go visit them and interview before you make your decision. That was what we did and as I said before, we love where she is at. They have a mini-zoo, swimming pool, dining hall, school on campus, etc. And they do so much with the kids if they can ever get Maddie to cooperate.RhondaFrom: drissia wright <ritzywright@...>autism Sent: Mon, January 24, 2011 10:22:10 AMSubject: Re: Handling Bad Behavior Eileen, Thanks for the communication. I am in North Carolina, about 30 miles west of Charlotte. I have asked the doctor to refer us to a behavioral specialist, a nutritionist, anything and according to him, there are none worth my time and money. is taking Abilify; 10ml. in the am and pm. He still won't take pills. Chews them, but doesn't swallow. He has gained 40 lbs since August, when he started this. A doctor in Charlotte has been recommended, but I am concerned about changing the meds. His aggression and SIB was so bad that my husband was close to a breakdown. I don't think we could go there again. I keep on with the biomed hoping that one day we will find something to help him. Right now he is pretty stable as long as I am calm. If I act like I am upset with anything he does the headbanging is right back. The only difference is instead of him hitting his head until he can't go on any longer or attacking me, once or twice is enough. He takes Klonopin to deal with the anxiety, but that is one of those drugs that you have to increase the dose as time goes on. If he could take me or my husband down at 100 lbs. I can't imagine what he could do now at 140, or if he keeps on gaining weight. My husband and I are close to 60. There is a day program here, but not for people with autism. They have nothing here for adults with autism or even with behavior issues. There are only 3 places in the state who have residential placement and we don't even want to go there. I feel like there has to be an answer but we have just missed it. The neurologist he goes to inferred that we didn't have good parenting skills and now he had to be put on drugs because of us. We reared another son just the same way and he is going to be a neurosurgeon. He is independent, kind, compassionate, etc. We have a daughter with Downs and she was brought up in the same environment. Everybody loves her, thinks she is the sweetest thing ever. I don't know what we did different with him Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM Hi DrissaWe are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family!My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert.My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse.Eileen> > >> > > Eileen,> > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > Handling Bad Behavior> > > > > > > > > > > > Hello> > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > > > > > Eileen> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Thanks Pat, you are an encouranger.From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM Hi DrissaWe are in NY. Where are you?Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family!My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field.He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert.My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse.Eileen> > >> > > Eileen,> > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > Handling Bad Behavior> > >> > >> > >> > > Hello> > >> > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with.> > >> > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > >> > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > >> > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > >> > > Eileen> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Rhonda, Where do you live? I always ask because if there is something available that I don't know about, I want to find out. We live in North Carolina. The group homes here are not ideal. They are just that. A place for them to live when they are not at some workshop. The best one I have heard of is a horse ranch where they take care of the horses. There is a 3-5 year waiting list there. I don't even know of a treatment center here. The psychiatric floors in the hospitals don't know what to do with them, not even how to communicate. Thanks for the support. Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM Hi DrissaWe are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family!My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert.My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse.Eileen> > >> > > Eileen,> > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > Handling Bad Behavior> > > > > > > > > > > > Hello> > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > > > > > Eileen> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Pardon my ignorance but what is RTF? Re: Handling Bad Behavior autism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM  Hi Drissa We are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family! My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert. My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse. Eileen > > > > > > Eileen, > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Wow, a horse ranch would be ideal for Karac. I wonder if there is one close to Dallas, Texas. Pat K Re: Handling Bad Behavior autism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM  Hi Drissa We are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family! My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert. My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse. Eileen > > > > > > Eileen, > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 It would be logical. For people who enjoy animals, that would be ideal. is terrified of animals. He had a one to one worker that tried to take him to just horses. No such luck. DrissiaFrom: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM Hi DrissaWe are in NY. Where are you?Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family!My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field.He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert.My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse.Eileen> > >> > > Eileen,> > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > Handling Bad Behavior> > >> > >> > >> > > Hello> > >> > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with.> > >> > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > >> > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > >> > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > >> > > Eileen> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Karac goes to Equest and he also goes to SpiritHorse where he saddles, rides, and unsaddles the horse when he is finished. Pat K Re: Handling Bad Behavior autism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM  Hi Drissa We are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family! My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert. My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse. Eileen > > > > > > Eileen, > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Drissia You did nothing different. Please don't feel that way. Autism is the most overwhelming disorder. It is like they have EVERYTHING wrong and nothing out there to truly help. The Day program my son goes to is not just for autism. We do not have many of those programs here and the residential that they have here for autism has an extremely long waiting list and most often you have to have had your child start at them from school age to have them even considered for adult placement. You sure have been given a full plate. I feel for you! All we can do is take each day at a time. Not easy:( We have tried abilify twice but my son was very irritated with it. I forgot to mention my son is also taking Klonopin at and extremely low dose. If we try to increase it then he gets worse. He is going thru something right now. At dinner he starts to use repetative talking and we have to answer him a certain way. Well tonight he was so obsessive about it and started screaming the words at us and was shaking also. This went on for 1/2 an hour. We just dont know what to do at these times anymore. Nothing we said or did helped calm him. Eileen > > > > > > > > Eileen, > > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Drissia You did nothing different. Please don't feel that way. Autism is the most overwhelming disorder. It is like they have EVERYTHING wrong and nothing out there to truly help. The Day program my son goes to is not just for autism. We do not have many of those programs here and the residential that they have here for autism has an extremely long waiting list and most often you have to have had your child start at them from school age to have them even considered for adult placement. You sure have been given a full plate. I feel for you! All we can do is take each day at a time. Not easy:( We have tried abilify twice but my son was very irritated with it. I forgot to mention my son is also taking Klonopin at and extremely low dose. If we try to increase it then he gets worse. He is going thru something right now. At dinner he starts to use repetative talking and we have to answer him a certain way. Well tonight he was so obsessive about it and started screaming the words at us and was shaking also. This went on for 1/2 an hour. We just dont know what to do at these times anymore. Nothing we said or did helped calm him. Eileen > > > > > > > > Eileen, > > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Wow. I know there are certain words we have to use for certain things. Like change and trade mean the same thing to us, but not to him. When was on the higher dose of Klonopin, he was drugged. He walked out into traffic twice and I just caught him by the back of his shirt. He takes 1/2 of a 1/4mg. tablet 3 x a day. If we miss it by 30 min. he is a nervous wreck, pacing and licking his lips off. I really wish I had stuck with the Risperdal a little longer. The Abilify doesn't do what I think it should. And the side effects are horrible. He was born with hypoglycemia, which makes him more prone to diabetes. He has to eat every 2 hours to keep his blood sugar from bottoming out. It scares me that diabetes is a side effect of this medicine. What do you mean "irritated". Did it make him irritable? Nervous? I don't think they have a lot of practical help anywhere for this population. And that's a shame. I use to think it was just here, but we have the TEACCH program here and we have CAP services, if you can get it. They have a very big, long waiting list. Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 8:13 PM DrissiaYou did nothing different. Please don't feel that way. Autism is the most overwhelming disorder. It is like they have EVERYTHING wrong and nothing out there to truly help. The Day program my son goes to is not just for autism. We do not have many of those programs here and the residential that they have here for autism has an extremely long waiting list and most often you have to have had your child start at them from school age to have them even considered for adult placement.You sure have been given a full plate. I feel for you! All we can do is take each day at a time. Not easy:(We have tried abilify twice but my son was very irritated with it. I forgot to mention my son is also taking Klonopin at and extremely low dose. If we try to increase it then he gets worse. He is going thru something right now. At dinner he starts to use repetative talking and we have to answer him a certain way. Well tonight he was so obsessive about it and started screaming the words at us and was shaking also. This went on for 1/2 an hour. We just dont know what to do at these times anymore. Nothing we said or did helped calm him. Eileen> > > >> > > > Eileen,> > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > > Handling Bad Behavior> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello> > > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > > > > > > > Eileen> > > >> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Now he is doing something really weird. Walking with his head down and his arms in a certain dangling position with palms turned backwards. Haven't seen this before. Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 8:13 PM DrissiaYou did nothing different. Please don't feel that way. Autism is the most overwhelming disorder. It is like they have EVERYTHING wrong and nothing out there to truly help. The Day program my son goes to is not just for autism. We do not have many of those programs here and the residential that they have here for autism has an extremely long waiting list and most often you have to have had your child start at them from school age to have them even considered for adult placement.You sure have been given a full plate. I feel for you! All we can do is take each day at a time. Not easy:(We have tried abilify twice but my son was very irritated with it. I forgot to mention my son is also taking Klonopin at and extremely low dose. If we try to increase it then he gets worse. He is going thru something right now. At dinner he starts to use repetative talking and we have to answer him a certain way. Well tonight he was so obsessive about it and started screaming the words at us and was shaking also. This went on for 1/2 an hour. We just dont know what to do at these times anymore. Nothing we said or did helped calm him. Eileen> > > >> > > > Eileen,> > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > > Handling Bad Behavior> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello> > > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > > > > > > > Eileen> > > >> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Hi,We live in Central PA. What really frustrates me about the system and the organizations that are to help us through this, is when Maddie really started to struggle I had called our one worker and asked what do I do? She goes, I don't know what to tell you. I found out about Merck (hospital for autistic kids) from another parent - the worker did all the paperwork and was "supposed" to be getting us on the list to get her in. One time I called to see how much longer we were looking at and the woman said to me Maddie hadn't been on the list for MONTHS! I asked why and she said the workers have to call in every 2 weeks to verify they are still in need. Just puts reminder calls out to help, but our worker never called her back:( After that I dealt with the hospital myself and got her in (they were so nice and easy to work with). I then talked to another parent who told me about Devereux and I looked into that, spoke to the administrator, and did a tour. We decided it was perfect for Maddie so called the worker to do the process. Two weeks later got a call from the admissions director asking if we changed our mind - no why. Never received initial paperwork to start dealing with insurance and no return calls. I called worker, gave some sob story and I fired her. I'm very patient and understanding, but I just didn't think we were a priority. The worker we have for Maddie now is wonderful and goes above and beyond what we expect. Maddie has been at Devereux for 3 months and even though she is still struggling, they seem to be aggressive in trying to find ways to help her. It has also given me time to focus on my other kids whom I felt I ignored/neglected for the past two years. I know one of the problems Maddie has is she doesn't want to leave the house. At first when she got there she was transitioning to some places on campus and I thought wow. But now that it is cold - they really have their hands full. But the one thing I like at school here they let her have her own way - it was easier. There if it takes them 3 hours to get her to school - they get her to school. I also know I'm very funny about her appearance - hair fixed cute, dressed nice, etc. At the hospital they kept her clean, but didn't really fuss with her appearance. There she always looks nice - it's part of their education plan; they are teaching her to take care of herself like we did here. The encompass the entire process - not just education or not just school. I know here I struggled to get everyone on the same page. Doctors would recommend stuff and the school didn't want to do it, etc. I looked online - they do have centers in different states (not as many as I feel they should. If they are all ran like this one - they should be in every state!). They don't have in North Carolina. The closest to you would be Georgia or maybe us??? But then to get the insurance to pay for out-of-state I don't know how that would work.RhondaPS - An RTF is a residential treatment facility. She lives there, goes to school there, her doctors are there - she has care 24 hours a day to protect her.From: drissia wright <ritzywright@...>autism Sent: Mon, January 24, 2011 11:17:08 AMSubject: Re: Handling Bad Behavior Rhonda, Where do you live? I always ask because if there is something available that I don't know about, I want to find out. We live in North Carolina. The group homes here are not ideal. They are just that. A place for them to live when they are not at some workshop. The best one I have heard of is a horse ranch where they take care of the horses. There is a 3-5 year waiting list there. I don't even know of a treatment center here. The psychiatric floors in the hospitals don't know what to do with them, not even how to communicate. Thanks for the support. Drissia From: EileenB <ebrischoux@...>Subject: Re: Handling Bad Behaviorautism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM Hi DrissaWe are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family!My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert.My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse.Eileen> > >> > > Eileen,> > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois> > > Handling Bad Behavior> > > > > > > > > > > > Hello> > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place.> > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it.> > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home.> > > > > > Eileen> > >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 That sounds ideal. Maddie is blessed to have such a tenacious mother. Pat K Re: Handling Bad Behavior autism Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 5:54 AM  Hi Drissa We are in NY. Where are you? Oh I know that growling. That happened and still does occassionally here too. We also tried Elavil and we also have a history of migraines in my family! My son attends a Day Program now and altho the Adult programs are far from perfect, he has a wonderful group of councelors that work very hard for very little pay. We have very little help outside the Day Program. I feel more comfortable with males and there are very few who go into that field. He is on the top dose of Risperdal. 6mg per day split in two doses. You would think he would be a zombie but he is not. Very alert. My son does alot of repetative talking along with his other OCD rituals. These are the behaviors we are trying to address right now. We just tried topamax to offset the lowering of trileptal and we had the worst aggression we have seen in over a year. and the headaches were MUCH worse. Eileen > > > > > > Eileen, > > > hi! what is trileptal? my jj is now 23 and agression (towards me) is out of hand. I broke my wrist and jj is so mad about it he has been hitting me alot latley. thanks! lois > > > Handling Bad Behavior > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > > > > I am not on the board much but do get a chance to read once in awhile. My son is 26 and has had the same behaviors. For the sensitive hearing we now use headphones to muffle the intrusive sounds and for the aggression we have had to resort to medication. Risperdal and trileptal. We had a slide back at age 21 and experienced the worst behavior for 3yrs of raging. He was off the risperdal and trileptal at the time and went thru tons of other meds. Finally going back to the very meds we had started with. > > > > > > I realize that meds are not for everyone and I never wanted my son medicated but we had no choice. It was either live or get seriously hurt by him. He was tormented by what he had done after the fact. We still have our ups and downs but he is in a MUCH better place. > > > > > > We did AIT with him when he was young. Altho it did not help his sensitivity it did explode his receptive language so it was worth it. > > > > > > Hope that helps. I have been where you are and my son still lives at home. > > > > > > Eileen > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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