Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone. I hope I'm not intruding as we are only in the assessment stage and do not have a confirmed diagnosis. My son Is a wonderful little 8yr old boy whose behavioural traits started raising concerns 4yrs ago. At first we thought it was dyslexia and very low self esteem. In p2, it became apparent that it was something more. He started having emotional outbursts, punching himself continuously on the forehead, hiding in confined spaces and becoming very agitated when asked questions. After meeting with the school and our gp, we were referred for an asd assessment. Two years later, we are finally going through the assessment phase. My husband and I met with asd team and they made a further meeting for our son. We have done a lot of work with over the last few years to help him cope with different situations. He is very complient at school and will adhere to all the rules. The asd team immediately realised that our sons anxiety levels were sky high and therefore didn't push very hard with their questions. Afterwards, they told us that he scored low on the asd scale but felt that there was asd which would have been more prominent if they pushed harder. They scheduled a school visit...to which they observed my son being very obedient. At one point he interacted with a little girl beside him and therefore they don't think there is an issue. His teacher spoke with the assessor afterwards and explained that she has seen him, on several occasions, repeatedly stab himself in the back of the head with a pencil, have emotional outbursts, and requires social stories to help with changes at school. I'm sorry for my long winded intro but here is my question....my sons behaviour is completely different at home. He has outbursts on a daily basis and still bangs his head when frustrated. For the last two weeks, I've been recording everything from monologues to emotional outbursts to walking on tippy toes. Can I send the videos to the asd team to show them what life is really like for my son and us as a family?
I am so frustrated and just want my son to get the support he needs. I'd appreciate any advice....thank you!
Thank you for all your input. It is greatly appreciated. This is a huge learning curve for us. We've come a long way by changing certain things in order to make life easier for our ds. We love him just the way he is and will do anything to make life easier for him. We've introduced the phrase "we can't help you unless we know what's wrong" which has been quite successful. He'll never tell us exactly what's wrong but we're learning the key words...if his ears are hurting then I know there is a noise that really bothering him (usually my daughters singing...lol). Thanks again!
"We've introduced the phrase "we can't help you unless we know what's wrong" which has been quite successful." I'm thinking he probably understands that on some level, that's why it's having some success. He's likely trying with varying degrees of success to explain what's wrong. The ears thing is a great start. I could be wrong, but I'm thinking he'll get comfort that he has worked out a way to explain that part to you that you understand, and that you're trying to help him. He may not understand what you're doing, but if the impact is that the thing that's annoying him stops, then he will connect the two, cause & effect (at least on some level).