New here have a problem need advice
Find a Conversation
| Sun, 12-25-2005 - 8:23pm |
Hi,
I am new here and I'm the mother of a beautiful 5yo boy with symptoms of Aspergers Syndrome. My DH and I are all alone in this, we have no support at all and certainly no one with any understanding of what we are going through. Our child is extremely bright and very beautiful but completely complex and full on. We also have a rambunctious four year old and between us DH and I we're exhausted.
We recently read a book by author Tony Attwood and I've read pages and pages of literature online and although Aspergers literature describes our son's behaviour there is one trait that I have yet to find a mention of and it's the most troubling one that we have. And so I came on this board to see if anyone has the same problem or has experienced anything similar to what we're going through.
Our 5yo constantly hums, it's as though he feels that life should have a soundtrack and he supplies it! If he hears a jingle on the radio he hums it over and over like a sound loop all day. There are breaks when he's busy with the family but when he gets going again he starts the process all over. If we tell him not to hum he unconsciously forgets and starts all over. There's no use yelling or getting mad because he doesn't realise he's doing it and he certainly isn't doing it to be purposefully annoying.
I have to stress that the humming is always an exact copy of music he has already heard - not monotone but still relentless. For instance we played the movie Star Wars the other day - I had John Williams musical reprises for a week!
Has anyone experienced anything like this? And if so what did you do about it?
Thanks,
Paula

Pages
yep! My son, Weston has been Dx w/ high functioning autism, he hums most of the time when he's not whopping or clicking his tongue. For him it's a sensory thing. It's a way that he's discovered to make himself calm. Sort of a self stimulation techinque (sometimes called stimming) but for him it's more of a quieting technique. Weston has pretty severe sensory integration dysfunction, but has found several ways to make himself more able to cope and humming is one. It wouldn't surprise me if this is the case for your son as well. One of my NT children does this as well, so it's not necessarily only a ausie thing.
HTH!
Betsy
Hi Paula, (great name!)
welcome to the board.
I agree with Betzy, The humming sounds like a stim. Ya never know, maybe he will be a great musician some day...
On the issues of being all alone: DH and I are immigrants, and we had no local support here either (and support from *home* was pretty limited...). It was tough (still is sometimes), but we muddled through and our kids have made great progress.
I am guessing you are Irish or Aussie? Do you live in the States? If you can give us soem more details about where you are in the world, we may be able to give you some pointers on next steps towards getting your son evaluated and helped.
-Paula R
Mom to Peter, 7.5, HFA and Siobhan, 5, suspected AS
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Thanks for the replies - We're English/Aussies but our kids are American! We're a mixed bunch here. Unfortunately I'm back in Australia right now and the help here is very limited.
This last year has been very hard for us. We noticed that our son's eye was beginning to turn in more and more and he was dx'd with a strabismus but nobody ever mentioned it might be related to AS. We didn't even know that AS existed.
We went looking for answers after our son started having trouble at kindy, we put him in an expensive private school because he's super bright and we thought that they would cater for him but instead they allowed him to be bullied relentlessly by other kids (despite so many complaints) and then tried to convince us that he was ADHD and needed "help".We knew our son was not ADHD in the slightest and that help meant drugs and so we pulled him out of school after 8 weeks and started researching on our own.
We came across AS quite by accident but the shoe definitely fits - we are now homeschooling and our son is just so much happier, I decided to teach him how to read and he's blown through 3 reading grades in 4 months. We just consider ourselves lucky that we can do this at all.
What is sensory integration dysfunction? Does it hurt?
Thanks,
Paula
I looked up sensory integration dysfunction - I can now see how this definitely applies also.
Thanks,
Paula
Paula,
OK I was close. ("full on" is an Irish/Aussie expression). MY DH is Scottish and I am Irish. Kids are American. We live in NYS.
I have mild SID, (and ADD) and it doesn't hurt, but it can itch! Read "The Out of Sync Child" by Carol Stock Kranowitz. Basically, sensory theory states that there are 8 senses, and some people can heve problems wth modulating those sensory inputs in the brain, so may "overfeel" things or "underfeel" them (or a mixture). Kids who are underresponsive to movement, for example, need more of it to feel normal, so they can look hyperactive to the untrained eye. My boy is constantly in motion, and although we haven't ruled out ADHD, yet, (-for obvious reasons), his Autie issues are the ones holding him back the most, so we are working on those first. Auties/Aspies typically don't do well on ADHD meds anyway. I am going to try meds myself first, and then review.
SID is identified by an occupational therapist trained in sensory throry, and you should be able to arrange an eval through your school district (they will evaluate in all functional areas, BTW and don't usually diagnose, just treat what they find.)
Have you checked out public school for him? Private schools in the US are not reknowned for their Special Ed services, but public schools are required by law to provide them. My concern is the peer interaction he is missing. (OK the bullying he can easily lose, -I'm talking real peer interaction). If he is Aspie, he needs lots and lots of peer contact, and that is much more difficult to provide in a homeschool environment.
I HTH some and is not too confusing.
-Paula R.
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
I am going to have to have DS eval soon I know it - both DH and I are also fully aware that we may also be aspies that met in the middle of the night...
The bullying issue was only part of the reason we pulled DS out of school - the other problem was that he was incredibly bored with what they had to offer accademically and often acted up when he became bored or disinterested or when he wasn't allowed to continue with an activity that really interested him. Computers are of an especial interest and he's specifically gifted in the tech area for his age.
I'm not saying that DS will be homeschooled forever - we are due to come back to the States this year and there are more educational choices available there - Aussie schools whether state or paid for are just harsh full stop, esp if you're in anyway different. Right now social interaction is handled with a good diet of extracurricular activities - we're putting him in Karate to help with his motor skills:)
Paula
Paula,
I wasn't criticizing, just making an observation. You have to do what works best for your family and circumstances. I also misunderstood your circumstances. I somehow thought you were just *home* for the holidays, but still lived in the States.
We have another Aussie on the board, and I think she had to get pretty creative because of the lack of help she was getting over there. It's probably good that you are returning Stateside. People often ask me if I ever plan to return to Ireland, and the answer is a resounding NO. -I couldn't get half the services over there that are available here, AND the services available would be 20 years behind....
Karate is great for balance and coordinaton. Swimmming is great for limb and core strength. If he can handle a team sport, both my kids played soccer, but I know that doesn't work for many of 'our' kids because it is quite fast, with a lot going on. (Peter is a good goalie, tho). Therapeutic horseback riding is awesome if you can find/afford a place.
For evaluations, I recommend a full neuropsychological evaluation, (dunno if they call it that over there).
-Paula R.
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Hi Paula,
I am also Irish (like Paula.R) and live in the states, (dh is a yank).
Pages