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aurea
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03 Sep 2008, 6:50 pm

I thought I would add an update.

No go on the other school this year :( I have been told J can join next year if we want.

Their classes are full right now, and it would be to disruptive for J and the other kids already there. They want me to stick it out at the current school. I have a meeting set up with the autism resource worker on Monday, perhaps she can help. She is coming to my house, so hopefully I can have an honest open talk about whats going on and J's mood related to school.



ster
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04 Sep 2008, 11:30 am

good luck with that......i'd try checking out a therapist.



Tortuga
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04 Sep 2008, 1:20 pm

School can be a nightmare for some kids with ASD and I don't really think that administrators are capable or willing to change the environment for these kids. My son was horribly depressed until I pulled him out to homeschool. He was labelled emotionally disturbed by public school and I concede that he was stressed and anxious to a severe degree in public school. He has not had an episode of depression since I took him out of public school.

I hope you can get your son into that other school. Maybe that would work for him. If depression continues, then I would consider homeschooling before medication. I was on the verge of medicating my son before homeschooling, but I can see now that he doesn't need meds.



Jennyfoo
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05 Sep 2008, 12:12 am

I used to be so anti-medication. Since I went on medication myself to help with my anxiety and depression(mild bipolar) and saw how much it helped me, we decided to try Allaura(10) on something too. She is on the same medication as I am, but 1/2 the dose. Sometimes depression is caused by a chemical imballance. It's also possible to mistake withdrawl for depression. Withdrawl does not mean a child is depressed. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain my daughter's "moodiness" to relatives. It frustrates me that they always think she's depressed, when she's just overwhelmed from relative visits and withdraws into herself.

Allaura is also on a medicatiion that has been approved by the FDA now to treat aggression, depression, and meltdowns in children with autism. She participated in a study at the UC Davis MIND Institute of this drug and it has helped her sooooo much! At her evaluation through the local REgional ceneter, she did not show enough autistic traits for the psych to dx her with autism, but she was not verbal enough for Asperger's. I trust the MIND Institute's Dx of HFA personally. Her dx was PDD-NOS by the RC psych- no eligible for services, which sucks because they have some great programs that could help her, but it's also a good thing since she's not exhibiting so many of the "negative" autistic traits.

I personally am against home schooling unless there is no other option. I know from my own personal experiences, that it really stunted my development of peer relationships and made it much harder for me to leave the nest, break out on my own, have any self-confidence, etc.