My son with ADHD and mild Autism

Re: My son with ADHD and mild Autism

• torrey111

  July 2012

  I've got an ADHDer and would offer you our experience, but really, Auntie is the most experienced and articulate here!  She is a great resource for info, for sure.

  That said, it's been such a roller coaster ride around here- you have the school telling you one thing, your pediatrician saying another, your friends chiming in with their opinions, and your own gut feeling, that in the end, you don't know what to believe!

  All I know is that my son definitely is not a typical student and has a different way of learning.  I am working to foster an environment both at home AND at his school (a language immersion program, ugh,) that works WITH him, not against him.

  GL and stay strong! 

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• meghans30 member

  July 2012

  I also have a son with PDD-NOS and ADHD. It certainly is a rollar coaster ride.  He is not currently taking medication, but I am not anti- medication. GL!

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• pinitbaby member

  July 2012

  -auntie-:

  I have a son with Aspergers and ADHD. He starts college in 2 days.

  Some random thoughts/questions-

  1. Who dx'd your son? Did he see a developmental pediatrician, a psychologist, a school psychologist? Was this done privately or via the school district? Well he was in grade 1 this past school year and his teachers have been mentioning his behaviour since junior kindergarten, the teacher he just had pulled me aside and we ended up talking for an hour about him and how she thought she could help. She explained she had 10 yrs of backround with behavioural and recommended the pediatrician that she took her own daughter to for her adhd. The pediatrician is just a regular pediatrician as far as i know but considering the rep she has with the teachers in the area and other parents i had spoken to and thats shes been in practice for 20 years showed me she had the credentials and i trust her opinion. My son was seeing the counselor at school and an EA to spend individual time with and he started to improve. The kids will be starting at a new school in september, his teacher said she would contact his new school to talk to his teacher and the counselor to put an effective plan in place.

  2. Not a huge fan of PCP prescribing psychoactive medications- ideally a dev pedi (acceptable) or a psychiatrist (ideal) should be managing your child's meds. The next thing i would like to ask his ped about is referring him to a psychiatrist. We have been through alot in the last couple years and he has anger that I'm sure burdens him from achieving the best he can.

  3. In a kid with a dual autism and ADHD, autism will be the primary presenting condition and ADHD will be considered a comorbid. Generally, autism trumps any other behavioral, developmental or mental issue except bipolar and schizophrenia. You need to address the autism (assuming the dx was made by a competent clinican) before attacking the ADHD. See that's where I get confused. I can see both of the issues presenting themselves as if he is 2 different kids. Now him being on the medication has totally tuned him down a bit as far as the hyper activity. He can focus and is doing much better overall. I almost feel as if hes showing more of the autism now..he loves his lego and he will sit in my room with his bin and develope these detailed contraptions for 2 hours straight like hes in deep thought. I'm assuming i see more autism because the behaviour is more under control?

  4. I'm not anti-medication. My own son used medication when he was a bit older than your son. Meds are only part of the tx plan. DS also attended a special school or had a bulletproof IEP that included differentiated instruction to address the ADHD and an hour of social skills instruction weekly for the social piece. His SLP used Michelle Garcia Winner's Social Thinking curriculum.

  DS also has a private psychologist who trained us in Floortime, CBT and CSIT to address the social piece associate with the AS. At 7, he was going weekly.

  5. We backed up the social skills instruction with scouting. I am at odds with the BSA's take on gays and atheists, but give them kudos for being absolutely inclusive of boys on spectrum. My own son is an Assistant Scoutmaster now. He learned all kinds of life skills in scouting, especially as he completed his Eagle Project. He also found a group of peers who supported and included him as one of their own. This is worth looking into.

  6. I'm a huge fan of Adderall when it is a good fit as it is for my DS. If your DS is having trouble settling down, his dose may be too high or you may be giving it too late in the day. Regular Adderall should clear his system in about 8 hours, XR may stay on board for up to 11. DS always had a few days of trouble sleeping while adjusting to a higher dose, but it passed in about 3-4 night. My bigger concern would be the anxiety portion of autism and adding a stimulant- that could be ramping up the defiant behavior. Many kids with autism need something for the anxiety piece, especially if they're being medicated for ADHD. The two classes of meds most often used would be an SSRI (Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac, etc)or a neuroleptic/(atypical antipsychotic (Risperdal, Geodon, etc) at a suclinical dose.

  See i'm trying to find the right time to give him the adderall. The problem is when the medication wears off its around 7 or 8pm and then he's awake until almost midnight because he can't settle to go to sleep and then he sleeps in until about 10am. If i wake him up earlier he is grumpy ohmygoodness lol so hes not getting his dose until about 1030 and thats almost forcing him. Its not the fact that he won't take it, he loves that hes a big kid to take medicine like his sister does. Its getting him to eat breakfast when he takes it, it usually takes him an hour to wake up and feel hungry and because it supresses his appetite during the day he HAS to eat something.  I was going to read up on melatonin i believe its called? natural way to help calm and fall asleep easier?

  7. What's in his IEP to help him attend to taks and be more successful socially? He doesn't have an IEP just yet, hopefully working on that this coming school year so he doesn't have so much trouble. He barely passed grade 1 because he wouldn't do any work. He is very bright and loves math, he's always interested in numbers but its a matter of putting pencil to paper for him.

  Thank you so much for replying, i felt like a total loss as a mother. There's this stigma that we're supposed to know what to do and have all the answers for everything. i see his potential and i'm glad this medication is helping him to thrive...so far anyways. its a matter of getting the right tools to educate myself and putting plans into action. Thanks again I really appreciate it!!

  

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• pinitbaby member

  July 2012

  LOL Glad you survived!!! And thank you so much again for replying, I don't live in the states, I live in Ontario, Canada. But I'm going to write down all of the points and people that should be addressed in order to get him where he needs to be to thrive. There was a child in his class who had an IEP so I know there is help available to get one set up for him. I'm going to look online tonight for support groups in my community because I'm sure they will have more info on what I can do as far as getting the help. I'm his only advocate and I'm sure I might have to push for some things.

  I really can't thank you enough for all of your input..I've been on here since february and I don't think I've received quite as much insight from the forums as you have given me.  
  

  

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