My son's frightening behavior. Help!

[Kay1]

My son is 16 and has autism. He communicates on a toddler's level. He's quite disabled but is generrally happy. A few years ago he was diagnosed with migraine headaches, puberty-onset, but is otherwise healthy and takes only Risperdal twice a day.

A couple of weeks ago, out of the blue, he started to scream - a high-pitched, horror movie scream, then began to slam his eyes with the heels of his hand. We calmed him down but this keeps happening.

Yesterday was the worst. He was screaming, hitting his eyes, he hit me, he ran in circles and jumped up and down, then bit his hand until it bled.

We keep asking him why he does this but he doesn't understand the concept of why. We don't know if it's related to his migraines but the behavior comes and goes so quickly we're not sure if this is likely.

Before we visit his doctor, does anyone here have any advice? Have you ever heard of such a thing? Nothing seems to be triggering the incidents that we can see. They seem to just come out of the blue, then vanish and he's his own sweet self.

 

[KirstenB]

I don't have any advice firsthand, but have you gone To autismspeaks.org? They have a discussion forums section called "Coping with Autism". I've often posted questions there about my toddler dd Zoe who has autism too. I hope you find some answers.

 

[Kay1]

I don't have any advice firsthand, but have you gone To autismspeaks.org? They have a discussion forums section called "Coping with Autism". I've often posted questions there about my toddler dd Zoe who has autism too. I hope you find some answers.

No, I'd never been to Autism Speaks before. I read just a couple of pages and boy, I can see I'm not the only one. Where we live, some disabled kids are in regular schools but the severely disabled ones go into special schools they call centers. My son is somewhere in the middle and goes to a regular school and seems a lot more disabled than his classmates.

Anyhow, thank you for the advice, Kristen. I'll start going to that site every day, now.

 

[KirstenB]

Kay, I'm glad you found the website. I hesitate to say this, but the forums can get very inflammatory over there sometimes. I've found them very helpful, especially about some of Zoe's more, ahem, challenging behaviors. There are many parents of teenagers there, and I'm guessing they may be of help to you.

But at the same time, emotions can run very high over vaccinations, chelation treatments, alternative medicines, etc. There are also several young adults with autism who have strong opinions, and will definitely share them. As a parent, at first it was hard to "hear" their struggles. Now I've come to appreciate how they can explain firsthand what it's like to have autism.

Regardless, I try to steer clear of controversial stuff, and limit myself to 5 minutes a day.

 

[Kay1]

Regardless, I try to steer clear of controversial stuff, and limit myself to 5 minutes a day.

Thanks for the warning, Kirsten. I'm good at ignoring the controversial. Btw, I Googled some of my son's behaviors and checked out different sites and found an interesting one.

http://groups.msn.com/TheAutismHomePage/outofcontrol.msnw

I know nothing of this person but I decided to try the technique of avoidance. Scott couldn't get his CD to work and I told him he'd have to wait until his father came home to help. He pouted then started to screech and walked over to me and started hitting his face. I kept a poker face and walked away. He followed me so I locked myself in the bathroom for a minute until my other son came to investigate.

I went back to the kitchen and continued to work. Scott grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face him and slapped his face some more. I just totally ignored him and he stopped. My other son said, boy, he was sure obvious about that! It was like ignoring him flipped a switch and Scott went back to the computer and started to type something on Microsoft Word.

It was amazing and we were - and are - shocked by how well it worked. Please keep your fingers crossed it continues to work as well.

 

[Schmeck]

If he's doing this behavior at school as well, make sure you let them know how you handle it at home so there is consistency. Here's some positive vibes ~~~~~ that your response continues to work!

 

[ireland_nicole]

I would certainly talk to his Dr. as well. Any time there is a sudden onset of a new behaviour/symptom, there can be a physical as well as emotional reason for it. If he is in pain, he would have a difficult time articulating that. I think its certainly worth checking out. In the meantime, continue the behaviour mod, it won't hurt, and seems to be having a positive effect. You're already doing the most important thing, which is staying calm and keeping your eyes open for any clues, triggers, etc. Keep up the good work! Nicole

 

[mechurchlady]

I think something is causing him severe pain in his head. I am still a biter and when I am worn out and exhausted I sometimes bite myself in frustration. I am not sure what is causing this but something is causing him to beat at the area that hurts and the biting also shows extreme fustration or biting to make pain go away like when my knee hurts I do not feel the back pain.

I hope you can get this solved soon. To help the doctor you need to note time and place of occurance to see if there is any pattern. Ask him questions in a form that your son can understand like where does it hurt or are you scared.

 

[Kay1]

Thank you all for your thoughtful and caring responses. So far, so good with the screaming. He does often say he has pain in his forehead so I've been treating him for pain with Advil, though we have stronger meds if he asks for them.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I feel for you. It is so hard to not know what our little angels are trying to tell us. My 18 year old DS is at an 18month old ability level. He had not been sleeping well the past few months. My DH and I were going nuts. He didnt seem to be in any real pain but he would go to sleep for a few hours and then wake up and be awake the rest of the night. We tried Advil and he did seem to sleep better but that was a fix all we still didnt know what it was. Last Friday we went to the hospital for his dental cleaning (every 2 years he is sedated and he has all his dental work done, cleaning, x-rays, any caps or crowns..etc) well they called from thr O.R. and it seemed 3 of his wisdom teeth were impacted. They had oral surgery come and take out all 4. I am thinking perhaps this is the cause of the sleepless nights...not a lot of pain but mayb e dull ache. He is still on meds for the pain so I am not sure if it worked or not but maybe teeth????? I know some toothaches feel like they are up in your head....just a thought.

 

[Kay1]

I feel for you. It is so hard to not know what our little angels are trying to tell us.

It sure is. Scott had all his wisdom teeth removed over the Christmas break. It was a good thought, though. Thanks.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

Darn, can you try a hot shower? That fixes my migranes fast! Good luck I know how hard it is.....

 

[barkley]

i'm wondering if he might be getting cluster headaches. they can happen to migrane sufferers and come on REALY fast and linger or disappear just as quickly (with some i have it's just like waves of pain for several minutes then it's gone). with mine i also get a massive surge of 'floaters' accross my field of vision which might account for why he's hitting his eyes.

just as a heads up-if your son has ANY genetic link to strokes, no matter the age of the family member that had them, be sure to advise whomever is prescribing his migrane meds. my ds (11) gets migranes and his pediatric neurologist asked us in detail about this because some of the meds prescribed to younger migrane sufferers can in later life cause issues with strokes. when the ped neuro learned of our family history he would'nt prescribe until ds had a full body mri/mra to ensure no early signs of narrow blood vessels.