Welcome to this week’s Aspergers article about Aspergers Medication.

Two quick announcements –

1. My wife is due to have a new baby any time in the next few weeks; so if you find a delay in my email responses or one of my future articles over the next couple of weeks you’ll know why!

2. In amongst this I hope to finish the Christmas/Holiday Season ebook in time for early December; so look out for that.

Here’s this week’s article:

Question

Where can I find the right medication to help his Asperger’s, not cure it?

Answer

Asperger’s Syndrome is not something with a cure. There are no medications that can make Asperger’s go away. Many children with Asperger’s benefit from social skills training and cognitive behavioural therapy. In addition, many children can benefit from medications for symptoms related to the syndrome. Many children with Asperger’s suffer from anxiety or depression. Some suffer from hyper-activity or attention deficit disorder. Some children with Asperger’s suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Medications designed to alleviate those symptoms are available for children with Asperger’s. Working with your doctor to understand the symptoms your child suffers from is the first step. Once those symptoms are understood, it is important to then talk with your doctor about which medications might be available to treat those symptoms in your child.

A variety of medications are often available for some of the symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome. For example, many different drugs are available for ADD. If your child suffers from ADD, your doctor will decide which medication and what dose is right for your child. Your child will need to try the medication to see how it affects him. During that trial period, you’ll need to watch your child carefully to see how he reacts. If he reacts well and tolerates the medicine, and the medicine alleviates the symptoms, your child will continue on with the medication.

If your child tries a medicine and suffers from side affects or if the medicine doesn’t help alleviate the symptoms, you’ll need to consult the doctor about changing the medication. This process could be a long one. It is not unheard of to try three or four different medications and dosages to find the medication that is right for your child.

Be sure that you understand the benefits and the possible drawbacks and side affects of any medications you give your child. Also, try to understand how the medicine can work in concert with behavioral therapy in helping your child manage the symptoms of Asperger’s. Be sure to tell the doctor about any herbal medicines or other supplements your child might be taking. Supplements can often have harmful interactions with medicines, or they can render the medicines ineffective.

Consulting a book such as Luke Tsai’s “Taking the Mystery Out of Medications in Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome” can help empower you with knowledge of the medications used in treating Asperger’s symptoms. This book pulls together twenty years of experience in working with people with Asperger’s and autism. It describes many scientific theories and practices that are effective in Asperger’s treatment.

Thanks

Dave Angel
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Hi there and welcome to this week’s Aspergers article.

Just before that I want to say thanks to everyone who visited the relaunch of the Aspergers website last week at www.parentingaspergers.com/relaunch.html
- and if you’ve not been there yet the web page is still up if you want to take a look.

Anyway here’s this week’s article …

Question

Sometimes my son with Aspergers reminds me of an adult trapped in his little body – mostly when he says to me “mom, I don’t understand what you mean when you say… (whatever I said) … can you please tell me again?” Wow. Unfortunately, I have just today resorted to trying a medication to help control his aggressive behavior because he’s punching his own face and slapping his legs and kicks at adults; leaving bruises on day care teachers. He just doesn’t understand sometimes that you cannot have a banana if there aren’t any. That’s one example of a reason for a blow up. Do you have any advice on how to bring him out of a flying rage?

Answer

Most of us have moments where we have to stop and regroup and try to get our behavior in check. Even the most even-tempered of us can blow up over something seemingly trivial. For children with Asperger’s Syndrome, understanding their own emotions and being able to control them is more than an occasional challenge. It is an everyday struggle.

Judy Endow, MSW, has written a book entitled “Outsmarting Explosive Behavior – A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders.”

In this book, she addresses the question you ask here. Even in the best of situations, we cannot create a world where our children will never be stressed or experience anxiety or frustration. How do you teach children with Asperger’s Syndrome to cope?

Judy Endow has created a visual model designed to try to eliminate explosive behavior. This model uses a positive approach to behavior that takes away the ability to self-blame or blame others that can complicate those behaviors. The children who are taught using this model begin to learn to stop their behaviors, identify the triggers, and change the direction of the behavior into something more acceptable than a rage.

Using a model such as this can be very effective in helping children with Asperger’s first identify the situation and their feelings and then to help them learn new and acceptable ways of handling the situation. This system of identification and modification has been shown to be an effective way to bring about lasting change.

During this process, try to understand that your child with Asperger’s has a very difficult time understanding the world. He doesn’t understand why he can’t have a banana today when he had one yesterday. As he gets older, he will gain a bit more understanding of these types of situations and he will begin to learn to apply experiences from one circumstance to another. But these are skills he will have to learn.

Try to be patient with your son and try to be firm and consistent with your responses to his behaviors. If you react calmly to his actions and rages, this will help to temper his reactions. Be sure that you talk with him when he is calm about acceptable ways to behave and alternative behaviors to situations he has found himself in. The more you can talk to him about his behavior and his choices, the better chance he has of beginning to make the correct choices more often.

Have a great day,

Dave Angel

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Hi there -

Just a quick update if you didn’t get chance to read my email from yesterday yet …

The Parenting Aspergers website has been relaunched with a whole new look and new information on it; to see what’s new and find out how you can get a copy of my best-selling Aspergers ebook on a 56 free trial you should go to -

http://www.parentingaspergers.com/relaunch.html

To celebrate this relaunch I have posted a sample of one of the many topics and questions that are covered in the ebook for today’s article.

Here it is …

Question

My son is 10 years old and awaiting an Aspergers diagnosis.  He frequently misinterprets the actions of others and becomes quite angry.  He loses his temper frequently.  How can we help him?

Answer

Your son is experiencing a great deal of stress due to his likely Asperger’s.

Some people react by becoming depressed, some become anxious, and others become angry and experience rage against the frustrating events that occur in their day.

Some individuals externalize their feelings and blame others, while some internalize their feelings and have a difficult time controlling their anger.

Their may be no particular event to his anger – just an aggressive mood or reaction to a frustrating experience.

Encourage self-control and teach your child to consider alternative behaviors.

Self-control can be strengthened by teaching your child to stop and count to ten, taking a deep breath and reminding themselves to keep calm.

Or for some children it is helpful that they have an agreed room or particular space that they take themselves too when they feel that they are getting anxious/angry.

Specific relaxation techniques can be practiced and your child can be taught the cues when they must calm down and relax.  Explain the alternative to your child and in specific terms.

There are three stages to help your child when he/she is losing his temper:

1.) Make a list of signals – Construct a list of the signals that indicate the person is becoming increasingly stressed (e.g. rocking, reddened face, pacing, shouting etc.).

2.) Draw attention to the signals – Once these sign are recognized, the person’s attention must be drawn to their actions and behavior.  The angry individual is usually the last to recognize the change in their behavior.

3.) Find calming alternatives – Then construct a list of activities which will calm them and encourage them to participate in those behaviors.

Keep in mind that your son will most likely have difficulty expressing what is making him angry.

You will need to assess the situation to determine what may be provoking him.

Another alternative is to keep him engaged in activities that burn off energy and reduce his need to express the anger that he is feeling.

Thanks and have a great day,

Dave Angel

PS Don’t forget to check out

http://www.parentingaspergers.com/relaunch.html

for all the lastest developments now!

Hi there and here’s this week’s Aspergers article – and I’m having the night off from writing;  thanks to a talented teenager with Aspergers!

I have posted a great little interview that Matthew Readman carried out on his own parents about Aspergers.

For those of you who don’t know Matthew – he is an exceptional teenager with Aspergers from Canada.

He has written several articles for the blog and is a regular contributor to http://www.ParentingAspergersCommunity.com

Here’s Matthew’s interview which makes fascinating reading …

The Interview

After reading questions and answers to Mr. Angel, I was so sad to hear all the problems parents are having.  I know I’m only 10 but I decided to interview my parents what they thought about my aspergers and how they helped me so that I could share with you.

When did you first think I was different?

We noticed when you were about 3 years old, when you decided to stop eating.

What did you do?

Well we went to the pediatrician who told us this was normal, and not to force you to eat, that you would eat when you decided to.  Well that was a mistake still to this day you won’t touch a lot of foods.

What did you think when the psychologist told you I had aspergers?

We were torn.  We were happy in away that we finally found out why you were acting differently, but sad thinking how can we help you

I don’t understand?

Every parent’s first impulse is thinking what did I do wrong.  When we found out it was aspergers, and it was not our fault, this made us feel a little better.  But now knowing that you have Aspergers Syndrome it made us feel helpless thinking how can we help you.  Matthew, every parent wants to help his or her child live a happy life.

Is there anything you think helped me get this far?

Yes.  I made sure ever since you started school I asked you four simple questions.  Tell me something good, something bad, something happy something sad.  This made you talk about your day and we could elaborate on a specific topic, which was most important to you.  Now everyday we talk about all different topics.

Yes we still do it today,  but I call it debriefing now.

How did you get me to try new things?

The one that best works for you is reward and consequence.  Do you remember when you would not ride your bike for the whole summer?

Yes

Well it was not until I purchased a computer game and told you, that you could not play it until you rode your bike.  You learned to ride a bike in 2 hours.

Is there anything else you think that helps me?

Matthew its all trial and error.  There have been times a strategy may work but the next day fails completely.  We find its one step forward and 2 steps back.  I get told a lot of the time that I’m a pessimist.

What does that mean?

It means I look for the worst things in life.  I do this to try to look ahead on what problems could arise for you.  Everything I try to teach you now is not to learn for today but 2 years from now.  I have always tried to teach you some problem solving of situations that may arise as you get older.  Hopefully with constant repetition when this time comes, it would have sunk in and you would be ready.

Are you tired of having a son with aspergers?

If you mean tired as exhausted, there are times, but I get the same exhaustion from telling your brother to pick up his clothes.  Matt I’m a mom.  I’m tired all the time.  It goes with the territory.  If you mean am I tired of you… NEVER.  I wanted two boys and I was blessed with two wonderful boys, so to that answer no!!!!     You are a wonderful son with so many gifts to offer and I love you and will always love you.

I hope that this may help parents.  As my mom and dad said, “ it all trial and error” and if these worked for me maybe they may be able to help your kids with aspergers.

Please feel free to add any comments to this blog post as I know that Matthew enjoys the feedback he gets.

Thanks for the great article Matthew.

Dave Angel

PS – You can read more of Matthew’s insightful and helpful articles by becoming a member of http://www.parentingaspergerscommunity.com

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Articles posted this week at The Parenting Aspergers Community

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How should I help my son with Aspergers who I suspect is being bullied at school, but school officials are not saying too much about it?

As a child with Asperger’s Syndrome, your son is very susceptible to bullying by others. Being just a little different can be devastating in the school setting. Your son is an intelligent person, but those struggles with sensory issues and social skills make him stand out. The other kids do not understand what this means, so they take advantage. Fortunately, most school systems have strong anti-bullying policies. Unfortunately …

To read the full article go to: -

http://www.parentingaspergerscommunity.com/members/357.cfm

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Daydreaming and Autism

Empty daydreaming sounds a little redundant, but a few years ago, researchers digging for an answer to the rapidly increasing Autism diagnoses said just that. This study was performed by researchers at the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital Research Center in La Jolla, California. You can read the details in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Included in the study were fifteen people with a diagnosis on the Autism spectrum and fourteen neurotypical individuals. Utilizing functional MRI scans, researchers were able to examine the brain activity of all twenty-nine participants while in a resting state. The results showed that areas of the brain that are usually active during daydreaming were not active in the group representing Autism. This resting brain activity is necessary for …

To read this article go to: -

http://www.parentingaspergerscommunity.com/members/358.cfm

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Gluten Free Pop Tarts

How to make delicious gluten-free Pop tarts …

To read the full article go to: -

http://www.parentingaspergerscommunity.com/members/359.cfm

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