Supplements and behavior problems
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Supplements and behavior problems
| Mon, 03-20-2006 - 9:46pm |
Hi,
I'm new here. My 5 yr old son was recently diagnosed with AS. He is in an ESE Pre-K class, which he started a month ago. He is having a lot of behavior problems, which has occurred in the past and is what lead to testing. He is very active, highly exciteable, aggressive, lots of inappropriate behaviors, and over reacts. He has ALOT more problems at school than home. At home he is manageable. I was considering taking him to a psychiatrist to see if there was medication to "tone him down." But if we can help him out with more natural methods, I prefer that. So, my question is, what have you heard, tried? What has been your experiences? Where can I find more information on this?
Thanks,
Melissa

Tried, lots and lots. Loads and loads.
I was in your position about 5 years ago exactly. My son had just turned 5 and was having a hard time behaviorally in preschool and was due to go to kindergarten the next year. It was recomended by his preschool special ed teachers to take him to a psychiatrist to look into medication for fear he would need a special classroom in the future if he couldn't manage his behavior.
So we went through 4 years of meds and never found anything that really helped med wise. Some would help for a little while and then backfire or bad horrible side effects or just wouldn't work enough to justify taking them. A year ago they were backfiring so badly and the cocktail the doctor wanted to put him on was so scary that I took him off meds all together.
I have tried a number of supplements and dietary treatments as well. Nothing really has been the magic bullet but he is doing alot better with what we are using now than he ever did on the meds.
It is a combination approach. First he is in a special classroom that understands him adn is under less stress. Second, I have changed my expectations and set more realistic ones on what he can do. Not trying to make him be typical or fit in with typicals anymore, less stress on him and me.
As for treatment, we use a mix of sugar free/organic diet (thinking of going cassien free), sensory integration techniques, digestive enzymes so I don't have to be militant about the diet, omega 3's, acidopholus, ABA behavior and teaching techniques, and social skills/play therapy.
Renee
Hi Melissa,
My son is almost 4 and also in prek ESE, but he has been there the whole school year. Eric's problems are a bit different than your son's. He is not aggressive, but tends to be obsessive compulsive and it gets worse under stress. He also has emotional meltdowns usually due to some expectation he has that no one else may be aware of. Also, he is worse at home, he manages to hold it together for school. So the situation is not exactly the same, but similar in that the school environment causes stress for him which affects his behavior.
We are doing similar things to Renee. Our neuro did suggest SSRI drugs (things like zoloft, prozac, etc.) but we do not want to do that, at least not yet. We consider it a last resort in our son's case, not that it is not a good choice for others. Each child is different with unique needs. Eric is not really ADHD, but if he were I could see wanting to try meds, perhaps.
We already do a lot of sensory, relaxation exercises right after school at home which helps calm Eric. We also are on a organic GFCF diet. I give Eric high potency multi-vitamins, as well as Omega 3,6,9 jr. We also just started giving him digestive enzymes, which frankly has helped him a lot. For Eric, most of the supplement/diet things we do are to help him with his overall health. He has always had immune system, digestive problems and we observe that when he's having tummy trouble, his behavior gets worse. So by alleviating his biochemistry problems a little, he feels better and does better. Like anyone.
However, he is still ASD with OCD issues. We are starting to explore doing more ABA. We are still trying to figure out what Eric's "triggers" are for his OCD stuff. Once we figure that out, we can come up with a behavioral approach. Hopefully your boy's teacher can do the same, maybe keep track of what precedes his problem behavior. Sometimes it is easy things, like something in the environment that bothers them (like, they sit too near the window and get distracted. Or the school's bells set them off. Things like that.) Those are usually easily fixed. But often it's more complicated.
Another idea might be to do something active with him before he goes to school to feed any sensory needs and calm him down. For a long time we had Eric jump on his mini-tramp before school or bounce on a hop-ball. Or if your son likes to swing, maybe there is a way to do that before school so he goes in calmer to begin with?
Also, do they use PECS at school? That really helped my son and I use them at home some too. He likes being able to look at the pictures and know exactly what is going to happen. Maybe you could do a schedule for your son of what happens at school and go over it at home, sort of prep him, so he can feel a little more in control?
Just a few ideas. I know how you feel. We are struggling with some of the same things, for slightly different reasons.
Hope this helps a little.
Katherine
Dear Melissa,
We have identical twin boys who were dx'd w/ PDD-NOS back when they were 4 yrs old. We recently found out that the one twin we had tested has issues which stem from mercury poisoning via shots (vaccines contained thimerisol which is about 50% ethylmercury in weight, and very toxic). We had the more severe twin tested first, but his brother is a few weeks behind him in the process now that we know we are "barking up the right tree."
Anyway, for the last 3-4 weeks as per his DAN Dr's protocal to prepare his body for chelation, he has been taking supplements prescribed according to urine & blood labs we had done and address his various deficiencies. Incidently, Gareth's Special Ed teacher called me on Friday of last week to say that she is astonished over how *well* he is been doing over the last 3 weeks (which is when we started the supplementing). She said he's like a different kid, and feels like a mircale has occured. This is what we're seeing at home but I wasn't sure if it was carrying over to school also... We start Chelation on March 29.
He is currently taking daily: fish oil, liquid minerals, chromium, multivitiman, folinic acid
Then every 3 days, injected vitiman B-12 shots in his little butt (w/ lidocain cream to numb the area first)
Also, the boys are taking digestive enzymes with any wheat or dairy, while also limiting their intake of both (gluten & casien) -- we got them from Houston Nutritionals online. We saw amazing improvements in behavior and moods swings when we started the GFCF diet, and continue to see more normal behavior with the enzymes when they do eat the gluten/casein.
I hope this helps you... if you are looking for a DAN Dr, go to http://www.autismwebsite.com/ari/dan/danus.htm & http://www.autismwebsite.com/ari-lists/danus.html
Everyone's child is different, and each kid may respond better to some supplements more than others. It might be worth having his blood tested for RBC elements and his urine for a Metabolic Analysis Profile to find out what's going on biochemically. Our son's test were extremely informative and showed exactly where he was defficient and what that was indicitive of behaviorly, its quite incredible. His tests were done though Doctors Data, and Great Smokies Diagnostic Lab.
GL,
meg
(mom to 4 cute kids: Caelan 12/96, Duncan & Gareth- 11/98, Adele- 4/02)