Let's share our parenting success with our special loving kids

[Aixa720]

Dear Parents,

I just joined this group, and I would like to know if you can share with me what strategies have worked for your kids.  My son is 8 years old.  He was diagonsed as mild to high functioning autism few months ago.  I have heard about so many solutions: from Chelation to Vitamins, to Yoga.  I am looking for options that could help my son.  I don't know where to start with.  I have a counselor in Kaiser who listens to me, and gives me some ideas, but no specific solutions. 

[kykeyu]

   Specific solutions are hard to pinpoint. If there was one specific 'blanket' thing that worked for all on the Spectrum it would be easier for the professionals to give solid advice, but that's not how it is. If you would like solutions specific to your child you need to put his behaviors out there. What does he do? Do you notice his behaviors are worse at home, or in public, or neither? Which behaviors would you consider to be the most troubling? If you put those things out there and tell us what your actual issues are it will be easier for us to tell you what worked for us in similar situations.

   I have 2 on the Spectrum, and they are different as Night and Day. Just a thought.

[letstalk747]

since diff things work for diff kids , i started with what i thought would work best with my kid , and tried various things , meds really are the only thing that works , he is 11

[rocknrazrbld]

I would say get him behavioral aid, they will help him and will help teach you ways for dealing with and changing his behaviors. it has done wonders with my son. One of the main things i hear from behavior therapist is ignor the unwanted behavior, and heavily re enforce the wanted behaviors. Allot of our kids act out for attention, and when you react to the behavior you are giving them attention, most children even nurotypical dont really differentiate between the two forms of attention, attention is attention. A child who gets more reaction for unwanted behaviors will act out more because it getas them noticed. but if they get noticed more for their good behaviors they will be more likely to behave well and seek your approval. Warning though at first this method seems fruitless because they will try to seriously push the envalope, but when it doesnt work for them and you make a big deal over their preffered behaviors, you will see more good then bad behaviors. Just be sure to do Lots of reenforcement for the behaviors you want to see. you can also start a reward system where if he gets so many stars he gets a preffered item or activity.

[BeccaGK]

My main advice would be to make sure that the rules and consequences are the same at school and with any other caregivers. We had a hard time with my 5 yr old because of the problems we were having with his teachers. We got him in a new classroom and the teacher is a much better fit with us and with my son. His behavior has improved a lot with his new teacher. He still has his meltdowns and stuff but not nearly as much

[heidifisher]

We also have a mild to high functioning child. She is 14 and in september was reading at a first grade level. We pulled her out of public school and entered online school (connections academy). She is now reading at a 4th grade level and doing multiplication in her head. We are so proud of her! Online school has eliminated the social distractions and allowed her to focus on academics durring the day. It's not a fix all but a hug part of the solution for us. Good luck to you!

[Aixa720]

Amazing.  I am so glad you found a way to help her progress in academics.  I will keep this in mind in case my son cannot make it in school.