Stimming/absence seizures?

I agree with longman, the ignorance amoung professionals (and public services also I might add) is woefully poor.

Re : Absences. Both of my sons are very prone to daydreaming/absence. Both stim, but quite differently. One knee jerks, paces and grinds his teeth, the other flaps his hands, squeezes bluetack in his pocket and nose rubbs incessently making the cartlidge click. Horrible sound. Pacing most often occurs when he's using the phone, which he finds very stress inducing. Truth is, I believe these behaviours are necessary to compensate for outside slimulus or the feelings of being overwhelmed. Some older children do report it helps them to concentrate.

The blue tack thing is very clever in fact, it allows him to stim covertly without drawing obvious attention to himself. An effort to 'fit in' I guess.

When reading some of my sons old assessments recently, I noticed the practitioner mentioned his absences and the constant need to bring him back to engage in a given task and the fact that efforts should be made to do this when in the classroom for example. These absences appear to me to be quite beyond the control of some individuals who are bombarded by their environment and personally I think it's the brains way of coping. However, I could see no mention by the practioner of the need for him to have 'down time.' which I believe is equally as important.

As the child gets older, demand grows and so does the disparity between what's expected of them and their ability to cope. With it comes the need to retreat to the safety of ones own world to prevent overload. Naturally, it's important that a child does not retreat completely, so you will need to work on improving the length of these periods of concentration to allow them to engage at least some of the time.

The ability to stay 'on task' is essential in everyday living and it's very important that ASD youngsters learn to improve that, but equally important is the need to also give that child time to retreat and relax, so do try and work on improving the periods of concentration, but make sure they get adequate down time also. And bare in mind that the ability and duration of concentration depends on many factors. Try and look at the triggers for retreating/absence (environment, certain situations etc) and work on different coping strategies to help with those triggers. Additonally, also remember that if your child has been at School all day, the need for 'down time' is likely to be when the child returns home.

Re: Night Terrors: My son also has night terrors where he shouts out with a piercing scream, apparently at things in the room that he sees, but doesn't remember anything the following day either. You can't rouse him from these terrors and indeed the ASD support worker at the hospital advised me not to. Very bad terrors occur when he's highly stressed, but he shouts out and sleep talks most nights, he can also be prone to getting up and walking around the house in a trance state. I generally have to point him toward the bathroom (otherwise he can wet himself) and then direct him back to bed. He also pulls his hair and makes his scalp sore and grinds his teeth in his sleep so stimming for him is both a day and night issue. We were told he'd probably grow out of it, sadly in our case he never has and he's a teen now. When they become teens it all gets a bit more complicated. He's been teased by his peers on the rare occasions he's slept over at a friends and trys very hard to cover his embarrasment over such issues, refusing to speak about it really. He's even removed some barier protection from the matress despite having accidents in bed. (Not ideal, as he's just had a new matress) In his darkest terror periods, he's frightened to sleep at all, but he won't tell you why. Melatonin can be useful to get him off to sleep, but has never really improved the quality of his sleep which he reports as being awful. He's also been diagnosed with a sleep disorder, but the therapy has not really been very effective so far. The Mohdoh does provide a stress ball type reliever though and the oils can be effective to relax, but he has to be directed to use it as he seldom remembers it when needed. My other son also puts lavender on a towel and sleeps with it near him which he finds a comfort.

Whilst reviewing his 'sleep hygiene' we were also advised to eliminate all light in the bedroom. TV's, standby lights on appliances, main lights etc. Some report a significant change in sleep difficulties as a result and in desparation for a good nights sleep (For myself, as much as for my son and his siblings) I took this to the extreme. For me this made it slightly harder, as I was scambling around in the dark during a sleep episode. Obviously common sense must prevail and it's not worth tripping over something and breaking your neck for, but it maybe worth a try.

I saw a very interesting video recently and I have posted it many times before, but if you havn't seen it then here's the link.

www.youtube.com/watch

It's by Sarah Hendrickx, an adult with asperegers who talks about and advises on support for those with ASD. In it she addresses anxiety and mentions the need to accept certain behaviours (Such as overt stimming) and if some behaviours are unacceptable in certain environments and you take them away, then you must replace them with something. ie It's not enough to take things out of the 'toolbox' of an Autistic person, you should replace it with something that is acceptable. It's a long video (45min), but a facinating insight and one many professionals and parents should watch, not just educationalists.

With regard to the reduction of night issues, which on the face of it appears to me to be anxiety of the day overspilling into the rest period, I'm still battling with the answers. I think that reasoning and discussing a childs concerns with them to alay their fears may help reduce such episodes, but when you are faced with a child who has difficulty discussing what's worrying them, that's a hard nut to crack. Some believe CBT is the answer, but more recently i've come to observe in myself, as well as my children, that the constant anxiety we experience, tends to be internalized.

For some, like myself and my sons, this may take the form of migraines or sleep issues. For others it may manifest more externally into behavioural issues.

It's likely, to be that a multi-pronged approach is the best way forward, but as with many on the spectrum, no one cap fits all and much tweeking is necessary before I come to the answer for my particular situation. Trial, error and percerverance remains the key it seems. I'd welcome any ides you have.....

Coogy

I agree with longman, the ignorance amoung professionals (and public services also I might add) is woefully poor.

Re : Absences. Both of my sons are very prone to daydreaming/absence. Both stim, but quite differently. One knee jerks, paces and grinds his teeth, the other flaps his hands, squeezes bluetack in his pocket and nose rubbs incessently making the cartlidge click. Horrible sound. Pacing most often occurs when he's using the phone, which he finds very stress inducing. Truth is, I believe these behaviours are necessary to compensate for outside slimulus or the feelings of being overwhelmed. Some older children do report it helps them to concentrate.

The blue tack thing is very clever in fact, it allows him to stim covertly without drawing obvious attention to himself. An effort to 'fit in' I guess.

When reading some of my sons old assessments recently, I noticed the practitioner mentioned his absences and the constant need to bring him back to engage in a given task and the fact that efforts should be made to do this when in the classroom for example. These absences appear to me to be quite beyond the control of some individuals who are bombarded by their environment and personally I think it's the brains way of coping. However, I could see no mention by the practioner of the need for him to have 'down time.' which I believe is equally as important.

As the child gets older, demand grows and so does the disparity between what's expected of them and their ability to cope. With it comes the need to retreat to the safety of ones own world to prevent overload. Naturally, it's important that a child does not retreat completely, so you will need to work on improving the length of these periods of concentration to allow them to engage at least some of the time.

The ability to stay 'on task' is essential in everyday living and it's very important that ASD youngsters learn to improve that, but equally important is the need to also give that child time to retreat and relax, so do try and work on improving the periods of concentration, but make sure they get adequate down time also. And bare in mind that the ability and duration of concentration depends on many factors. Try and look at the triggers for retreating/absence (environment, certain situations etc) and work on different coping strategies to help with those triggers. Additonally, also remember that if your child has been at School all day, the need for 'down time' is likely to be when the child returns home.

Re: Night Terrors: My son also has night terrors where he shouts out with a piercing scream, apparently at things in the room that he sees, but doesn't remember anything the following day either. You can't rouse him from these terrors and indeed the ASD support worker at the hospital advised me not to. Very bad terrors occur when he's highly stressed, but he shouts out and sleep talks most nights, he can also be prone to getting up and walking around the house in a trance state. I generally have to point him toward the bathroom (otherwise he can wet himself) and then direct him back to bed. He also pulls his hair and makes his scalp sore and grinds his teeth in his sleep so stimming for him is both a day and night issue. We were told he'd probably grow out of it, sadly in our case he never has and he's a teen now. When they become teens it all gets a bit more complicated. He's been teased by his peers on the rare occasions he's slept over at a friends and trys very hard to cover his embarrasment over such issues, refusing to speak about it really. He's even removed some barier protection from the matress despite having accidents in bed. (Not ideal, as he's just had a new matress) In his darkest terror periods, he's frightened to sleep at all, but he won't tell you why. Melatonin can be useful to get him off to sleep, but has never really improved the quality of his sleep which he reports as being awful. He's also been diagnosed with a sleep disorder, but the therapy has not really been very effective so far. The Mohdoh does provide a stress ball type reliever though and the oils can be effective to relax, but he has to be directed to use it as he seldom remembers it when needed. My other son also puts lavender on a towel and sleeps with it near him which he finds a comfort.

Whilst reviewing his 'sleep hygiene' we were also advised to eliminate all light in the bedroom. TV's, standby lights on appliances, main lights etc. Some report a significant change in sleep difficulties as a result and in desparation for a good nights sleep (For myself, as much as for my son and his siblings) I took this to the extreme. For me this made it slightly harder, as I was scambling around in the dark during a sleep episode. Obviously common sense must prevail and it's not worth tripping over something and breaking your neck for, but it maybe worth a try.

I saw a very interesting video recently and I have posted it many times before, but if you havn't seen it then here's the link.

www.youtube.com/watch

It's by Sarah Hendrickx, an adult with asperegers who talks about and advises on support for those with ASD. In it she addresses anxiety and mentions the need to accept certain behaviours (Such as overt stimming) and if some behaviours are unacceptable in certain environments and you take them away, then you must replace them with something. ie It's not enough to take things out of the 'toolbox' of an Autistic person, you should replace it with something that is acceptable. It's a long video (45min), but a facinating insight and one many professionals and parents should watch, not just educationalists.

With regard to the reduction of night issues, which on the face of it appears to me to be anxiety of the day overspilling into the rest period, I'm still battling with the answers. I think that reasoning and discussing a childs concerns with them to alay their fears may help reduce such episodes, but when you are faced with a child who has difficulty discussing what's worrying them, that's a hard nut to crack. Some believe CBT is the answer, but more recently i've come to observe in myself, as well as my children, that the constant anxiety we experience, tends to be internalized.

For some, like myself and my sons, this may take the form of migraines or sleep issues. For others it may manifest more externally into behavioural issues.

It's likely, to be that a multi-pronged approach is the best way forward, but as with many on the spectrum, no one cap fits all and much tweeking is necessary before I come to the answer for my particular situation. Trial, error and percerverance remains the key it seems. I'd welcome any ides you have.....

Coogy