Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Help for DS - anxiety issues

I wasn't sure where to post but this seems the closest. He has not been ID as 2E but has some anxiety issues, transient tics, and sometimes I wonder if he has mild Aspergers.

The anxiety causes problems at bedtime because he has trouble shutting off his mind. If he thinks of anything distressing, he can't sleep. He will say he has a stomachache & can't sleep or cry from the thoughts & worry.

I try to calm him, tell him to think of positive events, relax his body from his toes up, listen to music, etc. I have thought of trying yoga to provide a calming strategy for him but haven't found a DVD yet.

Any suggestions how I can help him? He sleeps like a rock but does wake up really early & says he is awake in the middle of the night, thinking & worrying.

My son had the same problem up until he was about 6 or 7. The only thing that worked for him was a very small dose of Melatonin and white noise.

My dd (10) has ASD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. She takes 1.5 mgs of melatonin nightly, which really seems to help. Her Dev Ped (whom we love) also suggested that she pick out a boring book to keep by her bedside that she can read if she wakes up in the middle of the night. The Ped recommended Little Women, LOL. She also has a stuffie with a pocket given to her by a child life specialist. When she's particularly worried about something, she writes the worry on a slip of paper, then puts it in the lion's pocket so he can worry about it so she doesn't have to. That worked really well when she was younger (6-7), she doesn't do it as much now.

-Amanda

My dd is 11, and has struggled with anxiety issues for some years now. She has streaks where she can't fall asleep for several nights in a row; if she can't sleep within 15 minutes of lights-out, we know we've got a problem for the night. She has a long, exacting bedtime routine that we stick to, including reassuring her that she "won't stop breathing and won't die, and neither will anyone else for a long, long time." Rubbing her back with lavender lotion can help, as can putting a dab of my perfume on her wrist and telling her to smell it with long, deep breaths. She also likes "quiet things," where I choose a location she's familiar with--the soccer park, the grocery store, the lake--and describe its nighttime state in poetic detail (often a tall order for me at 11 p.m.!). If nothing works, it's downstairs on the couch in front of the TV, which is the only thing that works for me when I can't sleep.

My son is 2e (autism) and had anxiety problems when he was about 5. A psychologist was able to really help him with talk and play therapy. We were not sure if medication was going to be necessary, and it turns out that it was not because the psychological therapy did the trick. Kate

We're dealing with sleep anxiety right now as well, so I'm interested in what others suggest here. We're working through the book What to Do When You Dread Your Bed. Too early to know whether it is helping, but DS6 is really enjoying it. There's also a What to Do When You Worry Too Much book in the same series. We were able to find that at our library.

It never occurred to me this was happening to so many others. DD8 has this issue nightly. It's either cries of "I'm scared" or "my tummy hurts" and doesn't end up sleeping until 10PM or later. It's odd how her tummy ache suddenly starts, according to her, about half way through her last nighttime reading.

I'm going to try that melatonin therapy.

I got her a kids' book about not worrying which she liked and she even made and decorated the worry box, but she just won't use it.

Did any of you co-sleep? All of your kids sound old for that, but now I am wondering if the transfer to DD's own bedroom will go as smoothly as I hope.

There are quite a few guided visualizations for kids on itunes.

We cosleep IslandofApples, and we just did a really slow transfer. It took quite a while but DS is almost always in his own room now.