Hi! A Mom new to the HFA world...:)

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I have just discovered WP while researching and going thru a link and thru a link and thru a link..and here I am!
Hi! I am THRILLED to be here.. I have been lurking for about an hour and decided to step up to the podium and introduce myself. I hope to meet some wonderful people here and learn thru the experiences of other parents as well as the insight of other AS and HFA persons.
I am Caron and a mother of a 10 year old young man that as of last week was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism. It was in fact to my relief.
Our DS started out with a few difficulties-speaking being the main one and attended a Speech and Language facility at age 4 just prior to going to school. This he only attended a very short period of time and had flying colors and an amazing vocabulary. At the onset of Junior Kindergarten, his social skills were not the best in the class but I put it down to that up to this point of his life, his socialization had been only his home life and his older sister(2 years elder).
Well to make a long story short, his first Mycologist's diagnosed him with ADHD and wanted to prescribe Ritalin-something that we were very apposed to as our belief was that Ritalin was really to benefit those AROUND him. This was the beginning of Grade 1. DS knew he was not the same as the other children and knew of the drug being proposed and asked to have it. We could not deny him. Much ill effect came of this and we stopped the treatment within a short period of time. We had been doing research on ADHD so that we could understand his world and the more we read, the more it was not our DS. 1 year later we started seeing a different doctor whom he has seen now for 3 years. Her diagnosis was also ADHD but after a few visits had a conference with us and explained that he was indeed NOT 'textbook' and felt he had other PDD's going on-possible Aspergers. Now at the time, all these jargons went over our heads and the terms got lost in our minds. Last year while in his 3rd school I ran across the term Aspergers again and took some time to read up on it. Wow! So much of this was my little boy! I was overwhelmed with the discovery but my suggestions & explanations fell on deaf ears to everyone in DS's life. It was horrible.
To end this book, the past couple of weeks have been traumatic. DS has had numerous meltdowns. I will backtrack to say that we had applied to have him evaluated thru the Board of Education and finally this past fall it took place. Just prior to this evaluation, we decided to take him off of all meds(Respirdal, strattera, and then concerta)as I was unsure of who my DS was anymore. So many explosive moments..I just wanted my little boy back. Several suspensions from school were beginning to happen labeling him a threat to other children and eventually to himself. They told us they believed(although I dont know what degree they have to come to this kind of conclusion..)that he was not behavioural but rather psychotic and wanted him institutionalized. 3 weeks ago his doctor arranged with the head of the hospital to have him admitted for a 2 week evaluation that should hopefully erase the nonsense they had placed in his school record and get the school off or backs so to speak. It broke my heart to even think of doing this but felt I was up against a wall. I have always talked in great honesty with my DS about the circumstances so he knew what was up. I must say he faced this last hurdle better then I. He has been in the hospital now for 1 1/2 weeks. We will have our meeting tomorrow to discuss the plan from here. Last Friday we got the diagnosis that he not ADHD but rather High Functioning Autism.
They have also reported that the School is to undergo serious Educating and they will oversee that everything that needs to be done for our DS is done. To start he will be provided with a home teacher until the school is set up to meet his needs. I have felt like I have won the lottery. The last 6 years of my DS life in society has been cruel, vulgar and disgusting.
Although I have done my reading on AS and believe HFA to be closely related, I am here to learn and help him in any way I can. Insight from fellow parents and persons with similar differences would greatly help me understand his world so that I am better equipped to guide him and be an advocate..
It is great to be here and I am so looking forward to getting to know each of you..
Caron

welcome to wp. it was interesting reading your son's story. what meds worked the best for him?

Welcome Your story sounds so familar to mine . Many drs. nothiong wrong Im a bad parent ect. It took his 2nd grade teacher to say I think he has Aspergers. She gave me a copy of symptons and I coulld have just put my sons name at the top of the paper. It fit exactly. I know its frustrating but half the battle is over . Now you know what the problem is and you can make a game plan .

welcome to wrongplanet!
i also take concerta, but i have been diagnosed with BOTH ad/hd and AS. you said your son is having problems with meltdowns, if you think one may be coming on, tell your son to look upwards. that's what i do, it's impossible (scientifically proved) to stay in a bad mood while looking upwards.
you also said you want to learn how to help him. i don't want to sound like a billboard or anything, but if you want, i have written a book for bassically what you are looking for. the link for it is in my signature, you can also check out one by a kid from ireland. that book is called "asperger's syndrome, the universe, and everything" i have read it, and i think its a good book in what your looking for. anyone here at wrongplanet is willing to help you with learning about your son's AS.
hope you like it here!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome..
Alex, I really cannot answer your question as Im not sure. Two that SEEMED to help were the Risperidal and the Strattera. They were given relatively close to each other and in combination. I did find that the Risperidal did take away the frustration but did make him chatty and I believe aided his sleep. Remember back in November we took him off of everything because of the reports we were hearing from school. I can say that the concerta was the LEAST beneficial and seemed to make him more angry. I hated getting him up in the morning because of attitude he exhibited. he hated the world and everything about it..very sarcastic. Right now he is on an antidepressant..um..celipram or something of that effect which has taken that anger edge off of him..and they started him back on a low dose of the rispiridal again on Monday. We go to our meeting today at the hospital for the conclusion of this saga and bring him home. THAT is the best part right now for me!
aspimom, I didnt get any slack that nothing was wrong, nor did I get labeled a bad parent..at least not to my face. Although this last episode the school did call Childrens Aid on us and reported a neglect for not institutionalizing this poor boy that in their eyes was suicidal. After letting CA know the story, they reported back to the school that they were NOT persuing this and there was no case. They are now on our side and have been of great support.
Squier, thank you so much for that little tip. I will surely share it with him.. This is exactly the kind of information I need to seek. I need to get a more insightful view of what he is going thru as I feel at the age of 10, he is unable to really put into words the way he feels about EVERTHING. I have not had the opportunity yet to check out your link but I most certainly will, thank you! I will also make sure when I bring him home, to show him this site and go thru it together with him. I am hoping he will be relieved to see that he really is not alone in all this...(perhaps I can even post for him!)
Caron

Welcome to WP!

Tim

Hi tmstudio,

Welcome, My son has aspergers and adhd and odd it is all tied onto the same spectrum. My son is also on risperdal and methylphenidate they are 2 forms of ritalin, at first just the word scared us but we felt we had no choice he had huge meltdowns and a lot of social problems which the meds still didnt help but the risperdal i find helps with his aggression(somewhat), he still haves meltdowns but not as bad. The other med helps keep him focused at school,we tried to take him off but literally( all hell broke lose) we could not deal with it we had to put him back on. Without these meds the school could not handle him and neither could i. He is a great kid with a very upbeat personality he loves to tell jokes but he has alot of odd behaviors and he says a lot of things that dont make sense but i guess he thinks it makes sense so i try to understand. That book squires mentioned i read it great book.

hi welcome. your sons story was very interesting, i hope things improve for you and him both now that you have a diagnosis.

Welcome Caron!

I sure can relate to your sense of relief in your son's diagnosis. It's such a struggle frought with hardship to get to that point. Knowing is the first step to a whole new world. Best wishes, and I look forward to seeing you here.

Thank you Tim, Daisy, Raph and Doug for your warm welcomes...
We had our big meeting at the hospital last Wednesday. It all sounds so good theoretically..its the way it will all play out that still has me concerned. DS came home with us that day and was excited to be finally leaving. The school has set up for a teacher to come here to teach him which has been deamed to 5 hours a week beginning today. The teacher of choice is one from the school and one that he likes very much. That is a good start. She is scheduled to be here after regular school hours and we will begin with an hour and expand it as it seems fitting to him.
He has a few episodes where he has gotten angry at his sister and has said that the looking up DOES help so both he and myself thank you squier...
Just starting to get back into the swing of things here as so much has been put on hold the past couple of weeks. My involvement may be sporadic but I have not abandoned ship here...just trying to get the pieces of our lives to fall into an orderly fashion for us all...
Thank you again for the warm welcomes and your stories. It is so good to know and feel that we really are not all alone.
Caron