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Advice on what to do for my 6 year old with ASD

AbC123

 Hello,

I'm asking for some advice please. 
My son has ASD. 
He is 6 and a half years old. 
He often talks about and asks how you would hurt yourself. 
We walk along canal and he asks 'if you wanted to die would you swim in there?' Or driving to Eastbourne there are some white cliffs. He asked 'if I wanted to die would I fall off that?' 
He has said he has a brain voice that makes him do bad things. 
He talks about hurting others as well, very graphically.
I'm obviously very concerned. 
Is there anything you can suggest I do? 
We are on the wait for CAMHS, but I know this will be years. 
What I can do to help my son? 

  • Hi, adult with ASD and OCD here.
    I don't think this (what is going on in your son) is ASD, it sounds more like OCD where the intrusive thoughts feel like voices in the head (horrible imaginings of things you dread people telling you, a girl in school I knew many years ago had intrusive audio-like thoughts that would shout "ugly!" and "friendless!" at her, though they are more usually visual, vivid pictures/"movie"clips that feel very loud) but they are fears not wants. Ask him if he really wants to act on these things or not because if the thoughts scare him it is more likely OCD, and people with OCD are not a risk to people, just themeselves if they become very distressed and depressed.
    If it's not OCD, and it really is "voices" and things he wants to act upon that is something else happening that is more immediately concerning.

    Be aware the way he expresses it (it may be missing key nuances) may be due to ASD though so you might  need to read between the lines if you can't get a specific answer out of him. try direct questions like:
    "Is it voices you hear or do you see pictures that feel like voices?"
    "Do these things upset you?"
    "Would you ever try to do these things?"
    "Have you ever done anything like that before?" (To see if he has a different behavior when you aren't there/looking.)

    Good luck OP,  it sounds really distressing, I hope you can narrow it down a bit more because that I think will inform your next big step.