Son

Hi there, I have literally just joined this site and your thread was the second one I have read and it's exactly how my son is. My 11 year old was diagnosed just 10 days ago with Aspergers. Always knew in my mind he was different to most kids as did he (it just makes him even more special to me, hes a fantastic young boy). He has a variety of sensory issues and one of them is itching, some materials drive him insane and he will scratch until he is bleeding, its trial and error with what he will wear. He said he doesn't do it on purpose, i do believe him. He can get a tiny spot and just pick and pick away at it until it's a patch of sore skin. He has awful marks on his arms and legs from raking at his skin. We recently had an incident at school where he got a pencil jammed into his foot (yes, right in there and surgery to remove it) since his mind has been on that healing his arms have cleared up a lot. He bathes in sea salt baths and I put lots of sudacrem on him at night. I do find when hes feeling a but off sorts he tends to scratch more. 

Just something that occurred to me, have you thought about another way to communicate with him about his feelings? Maybe via email, or a note book. perhaps he feels stressed and pressured into saying the right thing and he's not sure what that is So keeps changing it. Giving him a way to think about the real him without pressure may help towards eventually being able to talk face to face and feel comfortable.

emma 

ps (schools not everything ;-) )

Priobiotics are good to have anyway even if they have no visible impact on behaviour.

You could also look for an online mindfulness technique audio track he can listen to as it has been shown to reduce stress levels.

I have heard that probiotic may help with his anxiety and feeling of sickness.  Any body have any ideas

Say to him that you want to speak to the person who did it, and can you have their name (even if you know it is himself) and that might prompt him to admit it.

He needs to know that he has support however it happened.

I did ask him this morning if he knew how he had done it and he said no.  I asked if he had done it himself and again he said no, but I am not sure.

All of the things you have mentioned I have asked many times and i never get an answer.  if he does say anything whatever he has decided can change in an instant.

Have you spoken to him about what he wants out of his life?  People on the spectrum often find it very hard to speak up, and if they have alexithymia (known to occur in ASC) they find it hard to even identify their own problems and feelings.

Perhaps ask him to write a list of things he would like to do/achieve.  It might be that he spends a lot of time in his room but would actually like to socialise and doesn't know how, so is hating himself and seld-harming as a result.

Or, has he come into contact with bullying socially that you are not aware of?  Maybe someone has put him down and he is hating himself because of that.

Self-harming is stress relief, he may alternatively may have compulsive skin picking which is very common on the spectrum and exacerbated by stress.

Ask him what the marks are, he is likely to be honest enough to tell you.