My 11 year old son has L3 autism and very limited speech. He's self-harming so much right now. It's to the point that his arms, forehead, and legs are covered in bruises. He started hitting/throwing things at me. I can deal with all that, but he attacked his teacher on Friday. He punched her in the face and when she walked away he ran after her and punched her in the back of her head. He's NEVER hit anyone but himself and me when he gets frustrated enough. This all started in about September of last year. I don't know what to do. He's on the ABA wait list in our county. His doctor prescribed him Risperidone last month. I haven't had the courage to give it to him yet. Have any of you guys had experience with it? Did it help?

My boyfriend’s son (5) is autistic and has some issues that I can understand are related to the fact. But some things I feel are related to how his father lets him act. His dad lets him do a lot of what he wants to do because he only has him on the weekends, and the weekends are also my bf’s relaxing time. I’m trying to set structure and boundaries with the little boy because I know it will be good for him in the long run. But my bf doesn’t support what I’m doing in that he doesn’t always back me up and he says that some of his behavior is solely attributed to his autism. I want this baby to learn some ground rules bc he’s smart and can learn how to act appropriately. But at the same time I don’t want to over exert myself just for my efforts to be futile. This situation is kinda heartbreaking.

My son is 5. We had to reschedule his official evaluation from March to April, so he will be seen in a couple of weeks.

Long story short: My son can speak, and I'm very thankful. My son communicates mainly by telling stories of his own interests. Even when talking about other things, he always brings it back around. He will answer a question (if you get his attention and he wants to), but he mainly loves to tell stories. Long stories that if you don't know what he's talking about, you won't be able to follow. He also gets VERY upset and sensitive. If you don't let him finish, don't listen or don't understand him. I'm more angry if you don't understand him. That is also a problem bc the more you don't know what he's talking about the more upset he is the more he "whines" or shuts down and scream tells you which ofc makes things worse.

I homeschool, so I'm not worried about school. However, we would love to be involved in other things. Mainly, we attend church, and I haven't been in 5 years. However, we recently found a church that offers special needs on Sunday school for children and adults. It says on their website they are there for all types of needs, including "behavioral problems." Which, I assume my autistic child falls under.

Should I just let him continue to be himself, and we all continue to accommodate him the way we are. Pretty much, we let him talk! We listen. We don't interrupt or make him wait when he feels he really needs to say something. Is this bad?? I'm sorry, but we waited so long for him to speak, and the meltdown and crying from not allowing him to do so seems to not be a good idea? Idk.

Also, his attention span is extremely short. Depending on what's going on. He would rather play with kinetic sand than color a picture. He's not the sit down and listen to this and complete your worksheet type of boy! (And I love how special he is! 🥰)

I just don't know if I'm hurting him more by allowing him (at 5) to kind of have his own time and way to communicate. I know that isn't "real life." However, I don't know what I'm doing. This is all new to me. I don't want to force my autistic baby into a head space of negative emotions bc I want him to be a certain way. You know?

Please do not comment to me about religion or church as this is not what this is about, and we all have different beliefs, etc. I am choosing to raise my children, even my autistic son, in the church. We don't need to debate that. 🙏🧡

ETA: We aren't doing ABA (I don't think), and we have a referral for other therapy, OT, SLP, and feeding, but still waiting for the appointments)

My son was diagnosed when he was 3 last year. We started ABA when he was 3.5 years old. He has been in ABA for seven months now. He has definitely learnt many things but is still behind his peers. Some days i feel he is doing well when he wants to do a certain thing but when i see him with other kids then i feel so sad and disappointed. Today, my friend’s daughter came to our house and she is just as old as my son. There was a huge difference between them. My son was not listening to her ( she wasn’t speaking good English but he was just not listening. ) I had to grab his attention by tapping him many times. Her conversation was so mature, she was helping my son to do so many things. She could write her name and was helping him write his name. My son can write his name but won’t do it willingly. My son kept asking - “. Where is Bella? “ she said” im going home you are not listening to me and you are talking too much. “

Anyway, does anyone have tips on how to help him talk less unnecessarily. We were reading story books and he was always predicting on what happens next or commenting on pictures. He has an okayish language. Struggling with pronouns though but his narrating is good so he keeps doing that.

How to set this expectation of not talking “at” others and to listen to them? At this age it is still okay but as they grow up if this becomes a habit then what will happen? Im really struggling with this

My baby is starting aba therapy tomorrow. I am so so nervous and so sad, honestly. I know it's going to be great for her..but not being with her is killing me. I have major trust issues. 😭😭 I just pulled in here and lost it because I have to go get her lunch box and stuff for lunch..

I have a 4 year old with insanely good memorization skills, but he also has an insanely short attention span. He likes being on the ipad and learns new things from it the easiest, but he gets distracted by the weirdest things like settings and menus and he will skip anything that gives him the option to skip. The weird thing is that if he is forced to sit through a video or answer a question correctly to move forward he will learn it and memorize it excellently. Do you have any suggestions for favorite educational apps for the ADD type?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been quietly working on something personal for a while now, and I wanted to share it with a community that might understand. I recently finished writing a book called Asperger’s and Me.

It’s a mix of personal stories—some funny, some painful—and the lessons I’ve learned navigating life on the spectrum. I talk about things like dealing with social anxiety, job interviews, misunderstandings, and trying to make sense of the world around me.

I wrote this book mostly for myself, but also for anyone else who’s ever felt different and wanted to feel seen.

If you’re interested, here’s the link: https://amzn.eu/d/2IRSmbY No pressure at all—just thought it might help someone out there.

Hello. I've been volunteering in a school for several weeks and worked with a few children with ASD. Up until now I feel it was going well, but I was working with someone new and had a few issues.

He's 6 or 7. I met him off the bus & he seemed quiet, confident, showed me where his classroom was. First lesson went okay without anything unusual.

• Incident 1: It was snack time and the teacher had left, so it was just me supervising. The student crawled under the desk with another boy and I think they kissed? I was talking to a child with a different condition at the time so I wasn't fully watching. (So I can't say 100% they kissed, or were just goofing around.) I told them to get out from under the desk & get their snacks.
• Incident 2: Lunchtime, no teacher again. He started kicking his lunchbox at ppl like a soccer ball. I told him to stop several times so he wouldn't hurt the other children but he ignored me. Finally I tried to pick up the lunchbox and hold it away so he'd stop doing it. (Not a great plan, but I didn't want anyone to get hurt.) He started jumping on me an trying to get it back, and whacked me in the nose. Ow. When I returned it he kept kicking it at ppl.
• Incident 3: At recess he kept taking the ball away from another student. I said they should take turns being the goalie but he refused to share.
• Incident 4: On the way up from recess he waited on the stairs and punched a child in the stomach. A few minutes later he apologized & hugged the student.
• Incident 5: He wouldn't get ready for the bus. The teacher was here for this one, and was getting agitated. I told him "the bus is here" and he instantly got ready.

So... part of the problem is I've never worked with children before. I have limited experience working with ppl of ASD, so I don't have very good strategies. I also don't want other children to get hurt. I guess I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions so I can help the student better?

I found out about autism a few years ago, and I soon learned many of the autism traits line up with peculiar traits of my daughter. But I am unsure if there is a possibility that she's autistic. She is 15 years old. Below are the lists of signs my daughter wrote herself.

• Seeking sensory input: Weighted blankets(I've always loved sleeping with blankets stacked on top of me since I was a child- the weight soothed and grounded me), smooth textures(I loved the smooth and cool textures of pebbles and tumbled rocks since I was a child. Also, when I was a child, when my mom ordered clothes online, a ribbon would come with it tied around the clothes inside the packages. I loved the texture of those ribbons and would collect them.), marble runs(I was into it real long, used to watch the marble runs its tracks at the malls and Science Centers over and over again. Then I got the Gravitrax as a birthday gift when I was in my 5th grade, which I still am obsessed with till now.), bubble wraps(When mom ordered things online, there would be bubble wraps. I always loved popping them long before I got to know about pop-its and the fact it was a fidget toy.)
• Avoiding certain textures: I can't bear to walk on mud or sand barefoot, even though I am a passionate nature-lover. The mushy texture of mud makes me cringe, and the sand hurts my feet even when I walk on them with socks and sneakers on. It's really hard for me to brush hair regularly because doing so hurts my scalp. And though it's quite common in younger children, the struggle continues until now(I am in my late teens now). My mom would have to force me sometimes. Luckily, I found a brush that would not hurt my scalp as much as the others, and have been using it since I was 7. I hate mushy textures of food, like porridge, mashed potatoes, or cooked beans. I remember when they gave me mashed potatoes at preschool. I had to eat all of my food, but the mashed potatoes made me want to throw up, and I heaved when I took the first scoop. I prefer bland, chewy, and crispy foods, which makes me quite a picky and specific eater. Also, according to my mom, getting me to brush my teeth when I was younger was a real struggle. I would fight tooth and nail not to, and it was so extreme compared to the other kids.
• Hyperfixation on interests/collecting: I collected pebbles and smooth rocks when I was younger. I now mostly collect different specimens of agates. And since I was 6, the Harry Potter series was one of my hyperfixations. I read the books and watched the movies over and over, collected the LEGO sets, wands, books about Harry Potter, figurines, posters, and other kinds of goods. I would memorize the family trees and every spell in the books. Every art project I did at school from age 6 to 11 was about Harry Potter, with no exceptions. And since I was 12, the Percy Jackson series became one of my hyperfixations too. Other than these, I just really love physics.

I also have extreme difficulty managing time, which is especially odd because my grades are very good at school.

I am not by all means social, but my social skills are average. I had enough friends when I was younger(like in elementary school and below), but then the pandemic happened when I was in fifth grade and forward, I had no friends. Now, I am in the freshman year of high school, and I do struggle to make friends, but I am not sure if that can be related to autism.

Is this actually autism, or just her peculiar personality?

English is not my nor my daughter's first language, so please excuse any grammar or context mistakes.

I've held onto this for 5 years now, and I can't make it go away. I have a beautiful little boy, who was diagnosed with level 3 ASD just shy of his second birthday. He is the absolute light of my life, and brings joy to literally everyone he meets. He's smart, he's funny, he's so incredibly curious, just all around the best son a mom could ever wish for.

When my son was 6 weeks old, I tripped down the stairs while carrying him. I dropped him while we were both falling, he hit his head, I went through a whole wall when I hit the bottom, and he cried the most blood curdling cry I'd ever heard. I called 911, ambulance came, he was taken to our local children's hospital, and by gods grace, he was later cleared with no injuries, not even a scratch.

I cannot help but feel like it's my fault he ended up being diagnosed with Autism. All these years later, and I still cannot shake the feeling that it was my fault. Could he possibly have sustained a brain injury from falling and it was misdiagnosed as Autism? More recently than ever, I think about it everyday and the guilt is eating me alive. I don't know what to do. He's still mostly nonverbal, and I've watched him struggle through therapy, frustrations with language barriers, and self harming. I cannot help but wonder if he would've had a chance to be a normal kid if that day never happened.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I cannot stop thinking about it. Everytime I look at him, I just want to cry. I was suppose to protect him, and I didn't.

Hello Everyone, Does anyone know of any good New York or TriState area Homeschool Co-Ops suitable for Autistic Children (pre-k and kindergarten) that also allows medical exemption & medical freedom for those who’ve been vaccine injured?! Thanks in advance

I don't have anyone to tell about this, so I figured I'd post it here. My two year old daughter is very possibly autistic. At her intake, the doctor told me that they are confident she is high on the spectrum. We get her evaluated on April 18th. So while going through this whole process, her pediatrician diagnosed her with sleep distributions. My child has barely been sleeping. The poor thing has dark circles under her eyes. Her pediatrician recommended melatonin until we find out if she's autistic, then they'd consider medication to help her sleep. However, due to my beliefs, I believe in natural medicine and herbs for certain problems, such as sleep issues/distributions. My daughter is two, and I'm very skeptical and paranoid to put her on sleep medication. But I was willing to try the melatonin. After a week of doing the melatonin and it NOT working, I stopped giving it to her, and started something new tonight. As usual, she was wired tonight and just would not lay down. If I force her to lay down, she tends to get slightly aggressive, and start hitting me. And screaming at the top of her lungs. (I also have a 4 year old daughter who usually is asleep by 8-9pm. My youngest has woken up my oldest a few times already)

So when my youngest wouldn't lay down, I decided instead of forcing her to calm down, I'd take her outside. This would prevent her from waking her sister, and hopefully tire her out. I let her run around, play with some toys, and walk to the mailbox. We were only outside for 30 minutes. I brought her back inside 30 minutes ago, and she's already asleep. So, for anyone going through something similar, maybe you can try letting them go outside for a bit, if it's possible.

My 4 year old is on the same mix of supplements as most ND kids: fish oil, magnesium, B vitamins, vit d. About 3 months ago we were prescribed L-Carnitine for him and we've seen a substantial boost in his spontaneous (but still non-conversational, and rarely actually functional) speech. He chatters and sings all day now. So, the dosage has been upped, and now folinic acid (leucovorin) has been added to the routine.

I'm hesitant/nervous, but also interested to see what additional changes may occur in his speech, if any. We'll be monitoring for 6 weeks for side effects, etc. and if all goes well, upping the dose of that as well (or if not, cutting it out altogether).

The last thing I want to do is put him on something that makes him feel strange or less like himself, especially when he can't express it to me, but the L-Carnitine has worked so well that I'm inclined to trust the process with folinic acid, as well.

I'm not sure what I'm asking for from the larger group here. I think I just needed to put this with a pool of people who understand the journey.

My son is 6 and profoundly autistic. Dentistry has been a struggle and I noticed some dark spots late last year. A few trips to the dentist to get him used to it went well and we were then referred to a paediatric dentist in Feb who used a sealant on two of his back teeth that seemed to be the solution without sedation. Tonight while brushing I noticed that they have both fallen out and a sizeable piece of both teeth have decayed away. I’m so upset and angry at myself for letting this happen. It’s been hard to brush his teeth for so long and he’s a big grinder too but I have tried my best, they don’t seem to be causing him pain and I’m calling the dentist first thing but just feeling incredibly low now and a complete failure to him.

My child (12m) is very into cologne and his hair right now.

I don't mind that he's deep into hygene but the kid has hundreds of dollars in scents; makes us listen listen to him talk about the ones he has, the ones he wants. Tries to get me to buy cheap cologne from scammy sites. Sprays it where he doesn't need it (like before bed)

He drags a mirror around the house and sprays down his hair with water about 15 times/day. It's a little compulsive.

Today it's very important to get to a store to look at scents. I really don't enjoy taking him to the store. He's also doing everything he can to get money, which is annoying because it's my money. (Although he will take soccer ref training and the babysitting course; he might do mothers helper class or minecraft lessons in the summer)

Nit a big problem, just annoying

My son will be 13 in June and is really the best kid. He was diagnosed with “asperbergers” when he was 9. Around age 11 he started having pretty violent tantrums. He would hit us, break things, hurt himself and scream. We spoke to his neurologist and he was prescribed Guanfacine ER 2x daily. His outbursts arent as often but when he does have them they are BAD. I honestly can’t even count how many bruises I have/had.

He is a big boy, 5’11 190lbs and predicted to be 6’4. Hes STRONG and my husband and I are having a hard time getting his violence under control. I’m mainly worried for my daughter, who is 16 years old, and has been a target of his a few times. She’s such a good kid and deals with it the best she can but it’s taking a toll on her. We’ve tried taking things away. Punishments. Ignoring him. Talking to him. De-escalating. Giving in. I can’t even tell you how many things we’ve tried. I’m not sure what else to do. We all know it’s not his fault. He can’t help it. But I’m scared that it’s gonna get to a point where he really, really hurts somebody.

All I do is cry for him. I don’t know what else to do.

Almost 4yo, minimally verbal, strongly prefers being by herself and gets upset often if her siblings are even in the same room. I was planning a bday party for her at our house in a couple of months, and had planned to invite her daycare classmates. Only the more I am thinking of it, I wonder if she will actually enjoy this or if she will runaway to the comfort of her bedroom the entire time? But at the same time it feels wrong not to plan something like this. Any thoughts?

Perhaps a weird question but how do we tell people my son has autism. He the best guy ever and we are very proud of our 7 year old. We have been open with him and his sibling about his diagnosis and want him to be proud of his unique brain. That being said we recently when to an inclusivity event and my husband said to another mom ( after she asked), “he’s our amazing boy, he’s our autistic son” her reaction was aggressive and she told us that incredibly offensive but didn’t correct us. Our whole world is our kids and my husband is very very proud of our son. In no way do we want to be offensive but how do we say it? *it’s also important to note that my husband recently late diagnosed autism and I have ADHD.

Today our neighbor across the street had a birthday party for their child who turned 4. There are a few families on our street with kids around the same age (2-5 years old). They invited the other kids on the block but not ours. My son is 5 and has moderate support needs. He didn’t seem to notice but it still felt, well, really shitty. We get along fine with those neighbors (we say hi, at the holidays sometimes we’ll drop off goodies for each other). It feels like my son wasn’t invited because he’s autistic. Yes, he acts differently. He sometimes stims by tapping on things. Sometimes he yelps when he’s excited. But he’s a happy kid overall and likes being around others. I don’t want pitty invites to things, but if you’re going to involve the other kids around the same age on our block, would it kill you to include my kid too? At this age, it feels weird leaving kids out.

Maybe I would feel less salty about the situation if I didn’t already feel isolated as a parent in this situation. I feel like our world keeps shrinking to a smaller and smaller size. I’m trying to build my village, but haven’t made much progress yet.

Vent over, thanks for reading.

Does anyone else have mixed feelings about Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month?

On the one hand, I’m glad to raise awareness, but on the other hand, my son’s autism is so severe and nonverbal, I kind of hate it. It also looks like my second will also be nonverbal, and that is devastating.

The self harm, harming others, destroying property, screaming, lack of danger awareness, severe developmental delays, sleep deprivation, INSANE waste of money on therapies that did nothing or very little, high cost of respite, stress and depression-How can I “celebrate” any of this???

There are a lot of posts like this; I read them all the time and take the advice given to others in the comments. Sigh.

My son is 4.5, L3 bordering on L2. He's verbal, but very hard to understand. Tons of energy. School during, OT and speech therapy every week.

He's a sweet boy, but goes through phases of being very frustrated, hyper, angry, aggressive. He struggles a lot with boundaries and impulse control. He has the desire to listen and be 'good', but when he gets in that mode, it's like Dr Jekyll / MR Hyde.

He targets me, mom, the most. Nothing severe, but he'll throw stuff, hit and kick me, scream, chase the cats (he knows it's a rule to leave them alone).

Some of the things that trigger this behavior are the obvious, like being hungry or tired, but also being told to stop doing something or that he's being naughty - he'll just amp it up.

We try the Gentle Parenting tactics - "it makes me sad when you hit"; "you can't hurt people". Bla bla. He just doesn't care when he's in that mode. Sometimes he'll feel a little bad and say sorry, but usually he's made to do so.

I'm SO SICK of having to be kicked and hit in the face while asking gently that he stops. We've tried being firm, raised voices, restraining him, time outs, explaining empathy, etc.

There's gotta be something more effective than just taking it to the face. Very triggering for me as well, because I've been in abusive relationships.

My son is amazing in so many ways and I love him beyond words. Just depleted as fuck right now. Help.

I've been forced into this life and I want to KMS every day. Nobody can tell me not to drink. I'm a great caretaker and have 50/50 custody. When I don't have them I drink until I can't feel, or talk really. When I do, they are in good hands until I'm not around anymore

My son and I listen to a lot of SpongeBob songs. Today we were walking in the park and I sang "when big Larry came 'round just to put him down" and my son took it away and sang the rest of the song. Using mostly word approximations but he carried the tune, kept the rhythm and whole structure of the song.

I'm so proud. He's struggled with speech his whole life. He's almost 4 and barely spoke at all 6 months ago.

My soon to be 5 year old generally has issues with questions. Some he can answer such as "Do you want to Pee?" He'll immediately say no. Otherwise if you ask him a new question his default answer is just yes, even if it makes no sense. "are you a fish?" "yes"

Overall he's level 2 autistic and only speaks if he needs something, like food.

What advice would you give me to help him understand what i'm asking?

Not sure what other parents are doing for discipline. Looking for ideas that would work for for 4 yr old daughter who is autistic and speech delayed. Corpral punishment is a HARD NO. She doesn't even understand what her hand is supposed to be used for, let alone that.

What have you tried. What level is your child at what has worked vs what hasnt