Guest guest Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 Hi everyone, I'm usually a lurker but decided to post because of one particular behavior of my child that bothers me. My child 3 years old. He is in a VB program. My child has sleep problems and sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night (2:00 - 3:00 a.m.) and doesn't go back to sleep until about 6-7 a.m. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he is usually very " stimmy " ,laughs uncontrollably and runs around. (There's some laughing during the day but not that much). Rather than letting him stim, I would get up and let him watch a video (so that I can get some respite instead of running around after him) as letting him watch a video is much better than unproductive stimming and laughing. This behavior really saddens me. I feel like I'm the only one dealing with this. Is this type of behavior attention-seeking? We do some biomedical interventions but in " moderation " . But somehow, I'm not sure if I'm ready to ascribe this behavior to " opiate " activity or a leaky gut. Any advice, ideas are welcome. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 My son used to run around and laugh for what seemed to be no reason. He also used to be up through the night. I did the diet with him, but all the other interventions biomedically were not on the horizon as yet, particularly chelation. That being said, what I've found is that as my formerly non-verba son continued in a verbal behavior program I've seen a lot of things balance out including the laughing and not sleeping through the night. I have nothing else to attribute it to except a vb program and his maturing (he is 7 now). I'm not sure how helpful that is for you right now, just our experience and hopefully something to help you hang on! best of luck, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Has your child had an EEG recently? My son has had sleep problems his entire life. We tried Feberizing. We tried melatonin. He had a couple of abnormal EEGs, but we opted not to " treat the EEG. " Then, he had a couple of events that we were able to define as seizures, and some other weird neurological things going on. We started treating him with an anti-epileptic medication, and his sleep problems cleared up. I suspect he was having seizures or some abnormal neurological activity during the night that were causing him to wake at night. You are right, the laughing fits are incredibly distressing. Our neurologist diagnosed my son with probable gelastic seizures, which are laughing seizures. I don't think these laughing fits are behaviors. My son can't seem to control them and they can't be stopped while they are happening. Moreover, they often happen while he is sleeping, and sometimes he doesn't even wake up while it happens. In our case, I believe this is really a medical problem, not a behavioral problem. I do my best not to respond when it happens, so he doesn't learn " hysterical laughing " as a behavior in his repertoire of mischievous-attention-seeking behaviors or to gain access to anything or to get out of anything. Geraldine [ ] Behaviors > Hi everyone, > > I'm usually a lurker but decided to post because of one particular > behavior of my child that bothers me. My child 3 years old. He is > in a VB program. > > My child has sleep problems and sometimes wakes up in the middle of > the night (2:00 - 3:00 a.m.) and doesn't go back to sleep until > about 6-7 a.m. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he is > usually very " stimmy " ,laughs uncontrollably and runs around. > (There's some laughing during the day but not that much). Rather > than letting him stim, I would get up and let him watch a video (so > that I can get some respite instead of running around after him) as > letting him watch a video is much > better than unproductive stimming and laughing. > > This behavior really saddens me. I feel like I'm the only one > dealing with this. Is this type of > behavior attention-seeking? We do some biomedical interventions but > in " moderation " . But somehow, I'm not sure if I'm ready to ascribe > this behavior to " opiate " activity or a leaky gut. > > Any advice, ideas are welcome. > > Thanks. > > > > > > > > > List moderators: Jenn - ABAqueen1@... > Steph - Stephhulshof@... > > Post message: > Subscribe: -subscribe > Unsubscribe: -unsubscribe > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 > > >Hi, >My son is 6 and thankfully (touch wood!) hasn't done this in a >while. Sometimes it would be just a one of, like we all have nights >where we can't go back to sleep but other times I was able to pin it >down to the following things. > >Need for sensory input. Turned out that my son needed deep pressure >to sleep. He would sleep through the night in my bed, but he would >crawl under me and need the pressure of my body on him. I made him >a weighted blanket and he slept through. Also for a while there >when he was being overstimulated with kinder and ABA he needed >swinging for a while before bed. We would swing him while he was >laying in a blanket and then later we built an indoor swing so he >could do it himself. It is 6pm here in Australia and he is swinging >in the playroom > >Dental problems. My son has a wonderful specialist dentist that >only deals with special needs kids. He asked me about what was >doing at night time and I told him that he was waking sometimes 3 >times a night, happy but wide awake and ready to start the day. He >would sometimes giggle uncontrollably. At this stage he only had >echolalic speech. He also had no sense of pain. He had to have a >general anesthetic to have a tooth filled and come out with 4 root >canals , a filling and a tooth out. He must have been in terrible >pain but had no way of letting us know! This also happens if he has >an ear infection. > >Yeast. Yeast infections make laugh crazily. > > " White noise " . needs the TV going all night. My friends son >has the radio on low with it just off the station so it is static. >If either of us turn these off during the night they wake up. They >need the constant low level noise to stay asleep as if it is quiet a >dog barking in the distance, trees rustling, a car going past etc >etc will startle them out of sleep. Both the boys have a very keen >sense of hearing and are bothered by high pitched noises. > >It could also be that he just doesn't need that much sleep. >sleeps approx 8hrs a night (much less than his sisters did at his >age). My friends son who is 4 only needs 4 hours a night! Many ASD >people need less sleep (some more) than NT's and cope well.......not >helpful though if the parent needs more! I used to be a 9 -10 hrs a >night girl (oh those were the days!) but I have learnt to adjust and >come to terms with the fact that I get no 'me time' that I used to >get when my girls went to bed and I could relax. I have a nice >comfy chair in 's room and he lays in bed watching TV while I >read until he falls asleep. He usually falls asleep around 10pm and >I feel like I have had a little me time. I use a book light so >there is not too much light in the room and have the TV down low. >Do you turn on the lights when he watches his videos? Is it >possible for him to have a TV in his room or a radio or something >that is not too stimulating? > >Hope some of this is helpful! > >Kind regards, > >Kelley >in Australia > > > > >>Hi everyone, >> >>I'm usually a lurker but decided to post because of one particular >>behavior of my child that bothers me. My child 3 years old. He is >>in a VB program. >> >>My child has sleep problems and sometimes wakes up in the middle of >>the night (2:00 - 3:00 a.m.) and doesn't go back to sleep until >>about 6-7 a.m. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he is >>usually very " stimmy " ,laughs uncontrollably and runs around. >>(There's some laughing during the day but not that much). Rather >>than letting him stim, I would get up and let him watch a video (so >>that I can get some respite instead of running around after him) as >>letting him watch a video is much >>better than unproductive stimming and laughing. >> >>This behavior really saddens me. I feel like I'm the only one >>dealing with this. Is this type of >>behavior attention-seeking? We do some biomedical interventions but >>in " moderation " . But somehow, I'm not sure if I'm ready to ascribe >>this behavior to " opiate " activity or a leaky gut. >> >>Any advice, ideas are welcome. >> >>Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2005 Report Share Posted November 20, 2005 I have found with both my sons, especially my older AS son, every feeling he has is intensified and over exaggerated. I think that explains alot of the angry words and impulsivity when they are mad. I remember my son's psychologist telling dh and I years ago not to let the words bother us, they are just that only words. It is a way for the child to vent. It can be extremely hard to redirect them in that moment, but maybe processing it later on after they have calmed down would be an effective way for them to deal with it. I also recommend this book: _Amazon.com: Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage, and Meltdowns: Books: Smi.._ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0967251435/002-9450785-2548053?v=glance & n=2831\ 55 & v=glance) Also found this article...I only breezed through it but bookmarked it to read later. _Asperger's Syndrome Meltdowns: How to Cope_ (http://www.myboot.com/articles/2314-aspergers-syndrome-meltdowns-how-to-cope.ht\ ml) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2005 Report Share Posted November 20, 2005 The anger may be a a result of the frustrations most AS kids have. A goodc book that has helped me a lot is the " Explosive Child " --- <lisam618@...> wrote: --------------------------------- Hi Everyone, As you know I am still trying to get the behaviors down pat. My son gets angry alot and when he does he says things like " dont look at me " and then asks why i'm looking at him. I ignore it most of the time then he says " you can look at me " The other thing I get a lot is " I hate you " or " you hurt me " (when I didnt even touch him). Are these things typical of AS? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2005 Report Share Posted November 20, 2005 Hi My name is Helena and my son does the same thing. I would really like to know what to do too. _____ From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Bradford Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 1:06 PM Subject: Re: ( ) Behaviors The anger may be a a result of the frustrations most AS kids have. A goodc book that has helped me a lot is the " Explosive Child " --- <lisam618@...> wrote: --------------------------------- Hi Everyone, As you know I am still trying to get the behaviors down pat. My son gets angry alot and when he does he says things like " dont look at me " and then asks why i'm looking at him. I ignore it most of the time then he says " you can look at me " The other thing I get a lot is " I hate you " or " you hurt me " (when I didnt even touch him). Are these things typical of AS? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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