| I am no expert and haven't any credentials, but considering no one has offered you any help, I will try. I do a lot of reading and online research about natural remedies and alternatives to surgery and medications. I am also a huge fan of traditional Korean healers and would love to see the American Medical Association embrace this time-proven approach to healing the human body along with standard American medicine. They could dovetail nicely. That being said, "yes", I would try taking him off the meds. I would start looking into other ways non-autistic people handle anger and stress. Martial Arts is not just about self-defense, it's a mindset. This helped my husband, when he was little and had rage issues; he's a calm and even-tempered adult and credits it to various Martial Arts instructors. Massage, chiropractic care, acupressure, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, stretching, various sports and even plain ol' walking and bike riding can all be options that may help redirect his aggressive energies into something more constructive and acceptable. Hippotherapy (where therapists work with children as they ride horses) may sound a little hokey and Beverly Hills, but it is a highly recommended and recognized form of autism therapy in even the US medical institution and our daughter's neurodevelopmental pediatrition and pediatric neurologist both have encouraged us to try it for Amanda. We have found water, yes, water, to be very beneficial. Keeping her well-hydrated makes a big difference, and if you consider the brain is comprised of app. 90% water, it makes sense. Swimming pools, our apartment's hot tub and even the bathtub calm her when she's angry/frustrated and she will like back and soak for up to half an hour or more. There is a special plastic brush for brushing their arms and legs that her last teacher found effective, but I keep forgetting to try it here....you can get them from just about any children's occupational therapist. There are SPIO (I might be misspelling it) suits that insurance companies usually pay for that squeeze them and a lot of kids calm down well with them. There is something about being squeezed/compressed that helps autistic kiddos---I'm reminded of how they use this method to "break" horses, gently. Finally, dietary changes like the GFCF diet and even simplifying the home with minimalism and low lighting, have done wonders for our daughter. Something I just thought of, Amanda was, well, hostile, when she turned 3. For weeks she was just pissed, to put it bluntly. It turned out she had 2 bowel obstructions. We treated the issue w/ the help of a pediatric gastroenterologist at the children's hospital and she was back to her ol' self. Maybe your son is not feeling well. He may have a food allergy(s) that is affecting his well-being either consciously or subconsiously. Just a thought. I hope something here is of help. ~R ↑ |
| Aggression is actually a side effect of Risperidone. If the aggression got worse after increasing that is a major red flag. That generally means the spike in insulin triggered by the med has depleted his energy reserves. His brain is hungry. The initial positive some kids experience in the beginning is a sugar rush which lifts serotonin. ↑ |
Amanda! I am an AAC specialist dealing with autistic children. I have gone through your prev. conversation and I can suggest you to try alternatives to Risperdone since it will only worsen the aggression.
Anuna.
www.avazapp.com ↑ |
