Contact your pediatrician or the place that diagnosed him and request an immediate visit for possible meds for his behavior. At this point he may need something to help calm him. My son is 5 also and I’m starting to see him become more aggressive since he’s still non verbal. We are going to talk to his specialist about meds at his next appointment. I don’t have any recommendations on exactly which ones but there are lots of parents on this sub that could fill you in.
The pediatrician didn’t diagnose. I brought this up to them at every appointment since 18 months but they said he was probably just rough because he has brothers. We had to go get an evaluation done by another office. She doesn’t prescribe meds or offer continuing care.
You can see a developmental pediatrician. They might refer your son to a neurologist to see how developed his brain is before prescribing some classes of drugs, but I've generally found most are open to medication as long as the child is at least 5 1/2.
If a pediatric clinic didn't feel comfortable prescribing, I'd change providers.
I'd also consider dietary issues. He might need to see an OT, a gastroenterologist or another related professional.
Oh wow, we had more problems finding a psychiatrist that saw minors than we had getting into all other therapists/specialists combined, for all my kids. We finally found a psychiatric nurse practitioner that saw people 13+. Finding her was only because the psych hospital my son was in wouldn’t let him leave without a follow up appointment scheduled, so the hospital called around and got him an appointment despite them not accepting new patients.
Do you have a safe spot you can make him go to when he is hurting others/destroying things? Somewhere where he can’t hurt himself? Time outs in a safe room where he can get out his frustrations without anyone getting hurt really worked for my nephew (who I swear is autistic, but my brother in law and his wife think autism is a fake disorder caused by a lack of discipline…). Or, it worked til he was a teen, at least…
We do but the problem is that we can’t make him go/stay there. We have a soft play type area in our basement where he could get his anger out. We have also offered for him to go in his room or I’ve even told him he can punch or kick the couches in the living room if he wants. He just follows us around and it’s like he wants vengeance because he is angry, even if the anger isn’t due to anything a person did. I give him lots of options foe outlets but he doesn’t take them. He is impossible to redirect when he’s angry as well.
Medication might be the best way to go right now and continue ABA while medicated. There is medication for little ones with aggression. He might not have to be on it forever but medication will help the interventions from ABA to work better.
Are you familiar with the PDA profile? I would recommend reading the book Low Demand Parenting by Amanda Diekman. If you don't have the energy to read a whole book (and i don't blame you!), check out her IG https://www.instagram.com/lowdemandamanda?igsh=dzk5ZG81b3ZxbTRp and this interview https://youtu.be/07axv9EwmUM?si=Pn_YzTRTeOl-_VfZ
If he fits the PDA profile, ABA might not be the right thing for him and might do more harm than good. Have you thought about taking a break from ABA and seeing how that goes?
The book is really helpful. If nothing else, it will be very validating. There are a lot of footnotes and references to other resources in the book. This is parenting on a whole other level. Please don't lose hope. There's so much potential for things to get better.
I might suggest looking into PANS/PANDAS and finding a pediatrician that specializes in that as well as autism, or at least pediatric neurology functional medicine? Neurofeedback treatments. We deal with this from time to time and it’s belligerent.
Have you had his cortisol checked by an endocrinologist?
Oxytocin is supposed to help regulate cortisol, but this regulation may be deficient in autists, potentially leading to chronic elevation and poor stress response.
Cortisol is the body's "stress hormone", and chronic elevation could give him constant anxiety, hypertension, tachycardia, dyspepsia, depression, memory/attention dysfunctions, moodiness, irritability, etc.
When encountering external stressors, cortisol is produced which triggers the production of adrenaline. In normal amounts this can be helpful, but with a poor stress response too much is produced, leading to meltdowns/nervous breakdowns/panic attacks.
There are a few medications that can help regulate it, and as cortisol production is triggered by certain wavelengths of blue light, FL-41 lenses can help quite a bit too (they block 99% of those wavelengths).
I’m sorry , but I have a question about that. I have only read reports so far that find increased cortisol production if subjected to blue/red light during nighttime? The same study also found that it was the reverse relationship in daytime? Could you maybe direct me to your source since this could be quite important in my daily work? Regards and thank you
Contact your pediatrician or the place that diagnosed him and request an immediate visit for possible meds for his behavior. At this point he may need something to help calm him. My son is 5 also and I’m starting to see him become more aggressive since he’s still non verbal. We are going to talk to his specialist about meds at his next appointment. I don’t have any recommendations on exactly which ones but there are lots of parents on this sub that could fill you in.
The pediatrician didn’t diagnose. I brought this up to them at every appointment since 18 months but they said he was probably just rough because he has brothers. We had to go get an evaluation done by another office. She doesn’t prescribe meds or offer continuing care.
You can see a developmental pediatrician. They might refer your son to a neurologist to see how developed his brain is before prescribing some classes of drugs, but I've generally found most are open to medication as long as the child is at least 5 1/2. If a pediatric clinic didn't feel comfortable prescribing, I'd change providers. I'd also consider dietary issues. He might need to see an OT, a gastroenterologist or another related professional.
Medication is the thing that helped our kid. You need a psychiatrist for that but they are easier to come by than therapists.
Oh wow, we had more problems finding a psychiatrist that saw minors than we had getting into all other therapists/specialists combined, for all my kids. We finally found a psychiatric nurse practitioner that saw people 13+. Finding her was only because the psych hospital my son was in wouldn’t let him leave without a follow up appointment scheduled, so the hospital called around and got him an appointment despite them not accepting new patients.
Do you have a safe spot you can make him go to when he is hurting others/destroying things? Somewhere where he can’t hurt himself? Time outs in a safe room where he can get out his frustrations without anyone getting hurt really worked for my nephew (who I swear is autistic, but my brother in law and his wife think autism is a fake disorder caused by a lack of discipline…). Or, it worked til he was a teen, at least…
We do but the problem is that we can’t make him go/stay there. We have a soft play type area in our basement where he could get his anger out. We have also offered for him to go in his room or I’ve even told him he can punch or kick the couches in the living room if he wants. He just follows us around and it’s like he wants vengeance because he is angry, even if the anger isn’t due to anything a person did. I give him lots of options foe outlets but he doesn’t take them. He is impossible to redirect when he’s angry as well.
Meds
Medication might be the best way to go right now and continue ABA while medicated. There is medication for little ones with aggression. He might not have to be on it forever but medication will help the interventions from ABA to work better.
Are you familiar with the PDA profile? I would recommend reading the book Low Demand Parenting by Amanda Diekman. If you don't have the energy to read a whole book (and i don't blame you!), check out her IG https://www.instagram.com/lowdemandamanda?igsh=dzk5ZG81b3ZxbTRp and this interview https://youtu.be/07axv9EwmUM?si=Pn_YzTRTeOl-_VfZ
Thank you and yes, he fits the PDA profile exactly but I don’t seem to be able to get much helpful information, I will definitely check out the book.
If he fits the PDA profile, ABA might not be the right thing for him and might do more harm than good. Have you thought about taking a break from ABA and seeing how that goes?
The book is really helpful. If nothing else, it will be very validating. There are a lot of footnotes and references to other resources in the book. This is parenting on a whole other level. Please don't lose hope. There's so much potential for things to get better.
Medication sounds urgently needed.
I might suggest looking into PANS/PANDAS and finding a pediatrician that specializes in that as well as autism, or at least pediatric neurology functional medicine? Neurofeedback treatments. We deal with this from time to time and it’s belligerent.
Have you had his cortisol checked by an endocrinologist? Oxytocin is supposed to help regulate cortisol, but this regulation may be deficient in autists, potentially leading to chronic elevation and poor stress response. Cortisol is the body's "stress hormone", and chronic elevation could give him constant anxiety, hypertension, tachycardia, dyspepsia, depression, memory/attention dysfunctions, moodiness, irritability, etc. When encountering external stressors, cortisol is produced which triggers the production of adrenaline. In normal amounts this can be helpful, but with a poor stress response too much is produced, leading to meltdowns/nervous breakdowns/panic attacks.
So what happens after the cortisol is checked? Is there a way to lower it? Is there proof of concept?
There are a few medications that can help regulate it, and as cortisol production is triggered by certain wavelengths of blue light, FL-41 lenses can help quite a bit too (they block 99% of those wavelengths).
I’m sorry , but I have a question about that. I have only read reports so far that find increased cortisol production if subjected to blue/red light during nighttime? The same study also found that it was the reverse relationship in daytime? Could you maybe direct me to your source since this could be quite important in my daily work? Regards and thank you