[carrie_ann]

a child who has tourettes and also suspected aspergers plus severe behavior problems (i.e. permanently excluded from school for beating teachers/pupils) ...recently been put on meds (anti-psychotics) but professionals haven't got any other ideas. i suggested therapy via art/drama etc but he is too angry ...it's not his fault, he had brain damage at birth and has a lot of love for his mom and cries when he says he doesn't mean to be bad, it just happens. can i suggest anything else to his folks plz? any ideas much appreciated!

[Dresden:)]

My cousin is autistic and he takes chinese herbs. You might want to try alternative medicine. Chinese herbs seem to be the only thing that works for him.

[silver_moon]

Any [creative] activity in any form is great. I.e. a sport, a craft, art, music... find something that he's interested in doing (he may not want to do it for long to start with, but there'll be something). Try and encourage progress within that over time. Build it up, get him involved in it more and hopefully things should settle down slightly and enough to introduce doing the same activity in a social (a group specifically for children with learning difficulties) setting. Obviously it will not be a quick process. Can I ask how old he is?

[carrie_ann]

he's 11 years old. he loves violin...he smashed it, he loves horse-riding, he beat the horse...

Oh Roz... I so hear you! I wish I could be of some help, hun. All I can say is that I feel for both you and your son. My own soon 14-year-old son is violent and can't deal with his emotions. He breaks things around him, hit/punches teachers and personnel etc.
I'm ready to listen if you need an ear, hun.
(My son has Asperger's, ADHD and tics)

[carrie_ann]

((((HeartWhispers))))

my 2nd eldest son also has aspergers but luckily no behavior problems, he is such a deep thinker tho that he digests even the simplest of questions before answering ... it's actually quite funny sometimes to watch his "brain ticking over" before a response. unfortunately, due to his brothers violence, he won't associate with him ... neither will the youngest. it hurts trying to explain that the more they exclude him, the more hurt and violent he will become.

may i ask if your son is on any meds or has therapy of any kind?

[Callista]

Why no art therapy? I can understand that maybe you wouldn't want to give him things that are fragile or dangerous; but anybody can slap finger paint onto paper or squish clay. Maybe he could do some things that have a low frustration potential, like splattering paint onto paper Jackson-Pollock style.

I think he probably has a lot of trouble dealing with his impulses; is that true? He just does things before he can think about them enough to stop himself. Maybe you could teach him how to stop before he does something. Teach him when he's calm and listening carefully. Maybe you could teach him how to ask himself, "If I do this, what will happen?" He's still so very young, and it'll probably take him a while to catch on. Don't punish him when he doesn't manage it. But the easiest situations, the lowest-stress ones, the ones where he's just on the edge of learning how to inhibit his impulses, maybe he could start with those. When he messes up, maybe you could go over the incident with him and try to figure out what the best way to deal with it would have been--whether he could predict it and stop it himself, or ask you for help, or whether it was just too sudden and better to wait it out.

It's weird that he's only on meds. I don't like antipsychotics personally, but I admit they can be helpful sometimes. It's just that it seems like it doesn't make sense that they would just put him on meds without also teaching him those crucial new skills that would be so useful to him.

He obviously knows that he's hurting himself and others when he acts impulsively; otherwise, he wouldn't cry when he messed up. Talk to him, tell him you're going to find someone to teach him how not to do that stuff, how to control himself and think before he does things. I don't know how much he'll understand, but the important thing is to make it clear that he is not powerless or defective, that he can learn, that you're behind him all the way.

[carrie_ann]

Callista, you say don't punish him when he doesn't manage it, i would NEVER do that to any child! But there's nothing i can do right now to help him, the cops carted him off to a special unit (think of a cross between juvie and the psych ward for kids) for another violent outburst.

[Callista]

Oh, wow, poor kid Can you visit him, at least? Maybe bring him familiar things from home--a favorite blanket, etc.?

I've been hospitalized myself; it's not a sign that you're messed up for good. I mean, that was like eight years ago and I haven't needed it since. So just this one incident doesn't mean that he can't learn.

[bipolarmedstudent]

Originally Posted by Roz_G

a child who has tourettes and also suspected aspergers plus severe behavior problems (i.e. permanently excluded from school for beating teachers/pupils) ...recently been put on meds (anti-psychotics) but professionals haven't got any other ideas. i suggested therapy via art/drama etc but he is too angry ...it's not his fault, he had brain damage at birth and has a lot of love for his mom and cries when he says he doesn't mean to be bad, it just happens. can i suggest anything else to his folks plz? any ideas much appreciated!

I don't have asperger's or behavioural problems, but I have tourette's. My tourette's started when I was 8, and it was SEVERE. I would get constantly made fun of and ostracized. Everyone would look at me like I was a freak, or ask me over and over again why I was flinging my arms and legs and head around like a crazy person.

Advice? Get the parents to talk to the teacher. The teacher should put an hour aside in the class to talk to all the students about what Tourette's disorder is, and explain that someone with tourette's doesn't have control over the tics. The teacher should allow students to ask questions about tics (e.g. is it contagious? is it dangerous?) and then make it clear that anyone who makes fun of the child for his tics will get into trouble. The teacher can also send a letter home to the parents of all the children in the class explaining that a child in the class has tourette's syndrome, and asking the parents to talk to their kids about the disorder, and make sure that their kids don't bully the kid in question.

Finally, if the tics are really that bad that they are bothering the child, you could try medications. Clonidine is a good place to start, as it has few side effects.

[Callista]

Yeah. Kids are just so mean. Sometimes, when a child gets bullied and they can't fight back, they'll become very on-edge and likely to lash out in self-defense with very little provocation. It's pretty much a case of PTSD, because if you live in an environment where you don't feel safe, for a long time, then you just get used to always being alert, always being ready to defend yourself; and when anybody attacks or seems to attack, you lash out just for survival.