Problems with 13 year old Autistic son..

Im having a lot of problems with my son at the moment who is 13..

He was diagnosed with classic Autism when he was 3 and although he can communicate verbally (mainly for self interest but will answer sometimes) he is well below the standard of a normal 13 year old in language and understanding and he also has learning difficulties.. . 

For the past few years he has not wanted to go to school and at the moment is completely refusing to go and doesnt seem to understand the importance of going to school or anything like that... This has been bad enough but he is now wanting to stay up late at night watching videos and on his ipad and if i try to make him go to bed or turn his ipad off or even his bedroom light off he gets nasty and attacks me and pushes me out of the bedroom.. He also doesnt want to do anything much and is very controlling with his behaviour about what he will do.. 

Ive used a visual timetable with him for years and this isnt working much with his routine anymore.. 

Has anyone had any experience or this or thoughts?? 

I would appreciate any help regarding strategies i can try to get him back into a good routine..

  • Hi

    Thank you so much for your reply...

    Im glad you eventually got it sorted out with your son.. Its funny but when i was writing out my problem i did think some of this sounds like a typical teenager type problem.. And he obviously has got hormones flying round his body as he is developing..

    Yes, my son has said openly that he doesnt like the school where hes going or the children there... Ive already addressed it with the teachers but they are saying its the best place for him as it is special school.. I am waiting for them to ring me back about it all at the moment so i will see where that goes.. I think they need to look at whats happening at school as well.

    Once again thank you so much for replying..

  • Hi, 

    I don't have experience with an autistic teenager but I do have experience with a teenage boy! At about the same age my son got very aggressive and refused to go to school he would stay up late and play XBOX (tablets weren't really that available then) and he would get verbally abusive when I tried to intervene. 

    In our case it was a mix of a school bully, hormones and dyslexia. He felt out of control in school as he didn't understand they bully reinforced this and his hormones made him unable to think clearly. 

    We set a compromise he could have the games on late but after homework. We gave him a late bed time ( found him asleep well before it but because I wasn't forcing him he went) and I blew a gasket at the school for allowing him to be bullied for a learning difficulty! School addressed the problem got him extra help and he settled back to his usual self 

    As I said my son was not autistic but I wonder if something has changed at school for your son to stop going 

    Good luck hopefully someone else has some more ideas for you x