Odd behavior driving me crazy!
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| Tue, 12-06-2005 - 3:12pm |
I'm mostly an occasional lurker on here. I've posted a few times in the past.
DS age 7 was diagnosed with ADD in January and Asperger's Syndrome in May of this year. I would have to say the thing that bothers me the most, and the thing that I just can't find much info on is his behavior. I don't know how else to explain it except this....he acts very strange and wierd. He will get a word in his head...anything...right now it's "tint". And he will just say it constantly...especially at the most terrible times..like around others that don't understand him. When we ask him to stop or tell him it's inappropriate he'll just smile or laugh. He also just has very odd behaviors.....at the bus stop he has been known to sniff other kids....he will just keep running around them in circles. He will sometimes make the oddest noises. I hate to say it but he sounds like he's mentally handicapped sometimes. He just thinks he's funny of course, but his 2 yr. old brother sometimes immitates this inappropriate behavior.
I know I've probably done a terrible job of describing his behavior....It's so hard to explain without seeing him. Is this just one of those things that goes along with AS? Is it just the fact that he doesn't understand how to act socially? Is anyone else experiencing this in their AS kids? How do you deal with it? We can tell him till we're blue in the face that what he's doing isn't acceptable and yet he doesn't seem to understand. What can we do?
Thanks so much!
Julie

I can picture the behavior because my son does this alot. Often when he is overstimulated. OMG you should have seen him at Karate last night. He was out there. Making weird noises, acting weird, you name it, and getting LOADS of stares. Oh well. I am used to it. Yesterday he had a field trip at school, my mom picked him up late afterschool (she was babysitting) then he went to her house, then to the play therapist and then Karate. By the time he got there he was way overstimulated and off the deep end. He is odd every week there but yesterday was the worst.
I think it is a variety of things. One is lack of social awareness and what is socially appropriate. Often he thinks he is trying to be cool and funny. Another is self stimulation or "Stims". Most of Mike's vocal noises and repeating words are stims that he will do over and over. He stims more when he is overstimulated or stressed. ANd biggest of all, sensory overload. He has a poor sensory system any way and it takes all he has to pull it together and "act" normal and when his system gets on sensory overload he will either get totally hyper and weird, or he will get angry and aggressive.
We have been working on this behavior for a long time. Some of it is just Mike. I would rather have him stimmy than aggressive honestly. The social skills and social awareness is a skill that is going to take him the most time and effort to learn. So one step at a time.
Next, I think I am going to video tape him at Karate so he can see his behavior vs. what the other kids are doing. Video modelling has always worked great for Mike but it is things like watching videos of others and how to behave in certain situations. I am afraid it may back fire in this particular case. If he sees how goofy he has been he will either a) be horribly embarrassed and not want to go back or b) think it is really funny and keep doing it.
HTH
Renee
Julie,
My little guy will be 7 next month. He was dx'd HFA when he was 5. He also acts "weird" at times. Right now he's been counting on his fingers...1,2,3,4,5,etc...you get the picture? He'll do this over and over. He also has words and phrases that he will say over and over too. And he likes to just laugh out of nowhere ....usually thinking about something funny he says.
He doesn't really do this in public though. Very rare, and not usually too noticeable. Although I believe it will become more noticeable as he gets older. He's quiet, reserved, and likes to watch other kids. He picks up on their behavior to see what he should be doing...and then tries to blend in with them.
The one thing he does do in public, is become very self involved. He spaces out, his eyes start looking all around...blinking. And he'll have this grin on his face. He says he's thinking. But I'm always "interrupting" him when he does this. Not because of embarrassment, but because he gets so out of it that he's not paying attention to what's going on around him. People could bump into him, a car could run him over, etc. I always hold his hand in parking lots because of this. He becomes so unaware of his surroundings, it's quite scary.
I do understand what you mean though, about your ds acting like he's mentally handicapped. That happens here too. Lots of odd behavior, odd noises. This mostly happens when he's stressed or worried about something.
michelle
Wow, Julie, that sure sounds familiar.
David, 8, used to do that kind of stuff, although I suspect more severe. When he was about 5, he got the phrase, "fat patrolly" in his head, and he'd go out front and shout it at everyone who was near (sometimes with accompanying lewd gestures). Unfortunately, the people nearby were usually an older kid named Patrick and a few other kids who are kind of chubby. He also latched onto a few words like, "buttcrack", and NOTHING we did made any difference. It wasn't just words, but his behavior was sometimes kind of like he was on some kind of drug. If I left a ball of yarn or some Scotch tape lying out, he'd grab an end and wildly stream it about the house, totally unable to control himself (although at the time, I *thought* he was doing it on purpose...which was really hard.)
At age 6, he was dx with Asperger's and mood-disorder-nos. The developmental pediatrician said that sometimes that weird kind of behavior, can be explained by Asperger's, but David also showed signs that he was having some psychosis (freaking out at sounds no one else heard, etc.) He is now on a mood stabilizer (Trileptal) and an anti-psychotic (Abilify), and the "weird" stuff has mostly stopped.
My guess is that your son is not able to control this behavior, since you say he doesn't seem to get it when you tell him something is unacceptable. I remember being so puzzled by the fact that David would misbehave EVEN when that meant missing out on some reward that he really wanted. I knew that kids often test boundaries, but he would do freakishly unacceptable things that only resulted in lost privileges and angry parents (and scared neighbors). I would wonder, "How much TESTING does he need to do before he figures it out???" I already knew that he was an exceptionally bright child, which made this stuff all the more puzzling. Well, it turned out he's got a brain disorder, which, thankfully, responds well to medication. In another era, our whole family would have been burnt at the stake by now.
Mostly, I think I know what your going through, and how hard this can be. Surely if you knew how to discipline him he would behave, right? This is a great place to come for support, because you can be sure you aren't going to get many blank looks.
Evelyn
What if you tell him/show him what IS acceptable. Role play with acceptable behaviors, give him acceptable words to use. You may have to do it over and over again before it is learned. If he craves smells (like my DH and his brother) give him something to smell. Dh and his brother used to smell telephone
My ds, age 6, though hasn't been diagnosed with anything yet gets stuck saying a word all the time. Last school year he'd say 'chicken' all the time. He'd say it in the classroom and the other children think he is calling them chicken and the teachers have to explain that he is just saying the word and not calling them chicken. Ugh! You ask him to stop but he just say but I like saying 'chicken!'
Sorry no advice though.
Michelle
*sigh* My daughter says, "School a-pee pee." I have no idea what that means. She says it to the bus driver every day as soon as she gets on the bus. She thinks it's hysterical.
Yours in solidarity,
Jennifer
How about something he can wear and sniff? I dont have much experience in the field, but just a thought... maybe scratch and sniff stickers or something. I have a friend who's NT son, will sniff a chair when you get up NO JOKE! It is odd, but who doesnt have a single quirk? hehehe!