Help with my 4 yr old ASD with social anxiety"shyness&q

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I am honestly curious about how you are so certain that cognitive-based therapies would not ahve worked. Did you try them for any length of time and find that it didn't work? I just find the thought of giving Prozac to 3 and 4 year olds shocking.

My son with classic autism would not have benefitted from cognitive therapy at the age that he started Prozac (just before 4) due to several factors: 1) selective mutism (he would not have been unable to talk to a therapist at all due to this severe social anxiety disorder), 2) his speech was very delayed, 3) his ability to sit still and pay attention was limited (anxiety attacks and tantrums would occur whenever he felt stressed), 4) his memory was not very good.

Now that he almost 7, the meds have him calmed down, and he can talk well, he is able to work with an ABA therapist on his issues. He continues to take a low dose of Prozac, too, though. It was higher to start with (as much as 20 mg/day) and then I started decreasing it last year under his psychiatrist's supervision when he was doing well because I felt that the relatively high dose was producing some hyperactivity.

I was able to drop the dose down to 5 mg/day without a problem, but when I tried to get him off of it completely, crying and tantrums started up again. A few months ago, his dose went back up to 10 mg a day because his teachers complained about his behavior at school. I guess that he had gained some weight and needed to raise his dose accordingly.

It is very important to me and him that he stay in the regular class in school, rather than the special ed class, if possible. Autistic kids who cannot avoid disruptive behavior are removed from the regular ed class. Also, the Prozac makes him happier. I wouldn't want to go around all day feeling anxious.

i think the biggest difference with the situation that blondambition is dealing with is the selective mutism. its hard enough handling the communication difficulties that come with autism, but a child who is absolutely unable to speak, and not because of being truly non-verbal, is a very different story.

mutism isnt something we've had to deal with thankfully, but my SO does have severe social anxiety, and put him in a position where he has to speak about himself, such as with doctors, and he loses his ability to communicate effectively. this highly intelligent fully grown man who can bore you to tears with lectures on his interests becomes a stammering mess when a therapist/doctor asks him about himself. its more than just a loss of words, its an inability to get his thoughts across coherently, they get all jumbled.

since being on medication, this has improved a bit, altho i couldnt say whether its from prozac or xanax. i tend to think its more likely the xanax, as he takes one every time he has an appt and it relaxes him a lot more. to be honest, he gets the same effect from alcohol, but i dont think showing up to the doctor smelling of a few stiff drinks is the way to be taken seriously.

I stand corrected.

That doesn't mean, however, that I in any way support drugging your children.

Last edited by K-R-X on 13 Jul 2011, 10:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Of course there is no drug that can cure autism--it is neurological. However, drug therapy can work on various symptoms and comorbid psychiatric conditions.

Speech therapy (particularly if it is intensive, started when the child is young, visual aids are used) usually results in improvement. How much improvement results varies child by child.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... x/abstract

The above is an abstract of a scholarly article. Apparently, a large group of young children with idiopathic (classic) autism were given fluoxetine (the generic form of Prozac). The drug resulted in improvement in the majority (not all) of the kids. Improvement in the children was most likely if there was a family history of mental illness. There is another article on the net showing improvement with Prozac use in children with a family history of depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.

Prozac has also been shown to improve kids with selective mutism in research studies. Selective mutism is a very severe social anxiety disorder.

Prozac is one of several different medications used to treat symptoms of autism spectrum disorder and comorbid conditions here in the U.S.

Of course many people are against giving medications to children, and I respect that.

speaking does not rule out autism and automatically mean pdd nos. classic autism does not require one be non-verbal. there is also nothing in pdd nos criteria that requires verbal language, altho i doubt the pdd nos label would be applied to a non-verbal autistic. no autistic labels require non-verbal, only aspergers has a verbal requirement of any kind and it requires verbal development in the form of a lack of significant delay.

also, the selective mutism described is not the same thing as being non-verbal. those with mutism CAN speak, but generally due to anxiety they are unable to in select situations. in this case, the medication is not curing autism but rather decreasing the anxiety and thus removing the mutism.

there are also kids who can speak and choose not to, my youngest was one.

I do not want anyone to think that selective mutism and non-verbal are the same thing. However, a child can have both selective mutism (or just regular social anxiety disorder) and autism. (The case with my older son with classic autism).

If anyone wants to see examples of kids with selective mutism or hear doctors, professors, and other experts discuss autism, selective mutism, and various other medical conditions related to, associated with, or confused with autism, you can check out the "favorites" on my Autistic Kids YouTube channel (user vids4autkids1). Videos for the kids to watch themselves are in the "playlists." There may be about 150 informational videos in the "favorites" section of this channel.

I did not make these videos, just surfed YouTube for educational material provided by experts.