Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone, I've just joined the site and wondered if anyone has an ASD diagnosed child who self harms?
My son Izaac is10. He was only diagnosed in may this year and the stress and anxiety of long-term bullying has left him emotionally scarred. We now have Chams involvement but it took for him to hold a knife to his chest to get it.
I am a single parent and find it hard to cope with the daily meltdowns, panic attacks and fear of him hurting himself.
Does anyone else have similar experiences?
You are amazing to have home schooled your child and how you understand his ASD, an inspiration x
Hi there, Yes, I have had similar problems with my son (Asperger's, 15 years-old) in the past. I also suffered from such meltdowns as a teenager (I have Asperger's too). I would say that when it gets to the point of feeling like you want to harm yourself, it's due to depression. This is brought on by feeling so different that nobody understands and feeling very alone - like you're the only one. Looking back, I was being bullied (mostly comments about being weird), I had no real friends, I couldn't communicate to anyone how I was feeling or what was going on, I was scared of everything, I had OCD, I felt guilty about some of my behaviour brought on by a meltdown (like I was a bad person), and I was a hermit which didn't help because anyone stuck staring at the same four walls 24/7 is going to go crazy. My son was also bullied, teachers mistreated him and he had many fears, etc. It got to the point that he was saying he wanted to kill himself when he was seven years old. I took him out of school and home educated him and he was a much happier child. Having said that, there have been the odd days when he's been so upset or having a panic attack that he's threatened things. He has felt down on occassions and asked why he had to be different. But over the past couple of years, it hasn't been a problem.