Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Cart before horse??

Thanks, Evemomma. We did mention to the teacher that incentives had worked before, and work at home, but for some reason she seemed cool to the idea; maybe she thinks DD is enough work as it is, but I do think that it would make her work easier as you suggest. And DD would still need 'extra' reminders, but a lot less, at least from what we've seen. We have an appointment with a specialist for a couple of weeks from now and hope that will be helpful. I'm just worried because we really don't have that many school options here, and DD is actually very happy where she is, for now. But we'll see, and keep our fingers crossed.

Sometimes teachers have a hard time seeing how the short term investment of focused work on a problem will yield the long term result; and if they're not used to this way of thinking, it can be hard for them to see why some kids need the incentive when most don't. ("You're so bright, why can't you just behave," etc.)


A dx would not necessarily mean a change in school placement; one can accomplish a lot by educating teachers and getting resources pushed into the current environment. A professional might help you get the school and the teacher on board to make it an effective environment for her.

Try not to worry too much. Worrying itself doesn't yield progress...

DeeDee

Thanks, DeeDee. I am hopeful that a diagnosis might not lead to us changing schools, but the teacher seems to be losing patience so we are concerned given our reluctance to medicate at this point.

I've been wondering about the medications you found for your DS. The local psychologist told us there were not medications for ASD-type behaviors, but you said your son benefits from Strattera for helping with his attention issues, even though it sounds like he doesn't have a formal ADHD diagnosis--is that correct? How did you find your expert prescriber? (feel free to PM me if you would be more comfortable)

Dbat - there is no federally approved medication to "treat" Autism. There are, however, a slew of medications often used to treat the symptoms of Autism and co-morbid disorders. From the reading I've done, ADHD has a very high co-morbidity rate among those with Autism, and for some reason, non-stimulants have a higher rate of success with these children. Our DS is on Tenex to treat his ADHD symptoms, and Risperdal to treat his mood swings. Neither med is really 'for' his PDD-NOS, but they both help tremendously. Our son did have a formal ADHD diagnosis prior to us medicating him, though. (He was originally informally diagnosed with a 'mood-disorder' before we came to PDD-NOS & GAD.)

The vast majority of pyschotropic meds are prescribed off-label to children. There are very, VERY few psychotropics that are actually indicated for 18 and under and even less for 12 and under. Six and under? Only a handful.

Dbat, I'm PMing you details.


Correct: there is no "autism drug." However, people with autism very commonly have problems with attention and anxiety; attention can be treated with the meds that improve ADHD, and anxiety can be treated with SSRIs or other antidepressants (depending on family psychiatric history--one has to be careful about that).

One is treating some symptoms of the autism, not the totality of the autism, by giving these meds. The social deficits of autism will persist; however, relieving anxiety and improving attention can vastly improve a person's ability to access behavior therapy to improve social functioning and other issues associated with the autism.

Anxiety and attention mix in a complicated way. Relieving anxiety can calm down the brain enough so that it actually can pay better attention. Fixing an attention issue can help a person feel they're not missing stuff by drifting off in the middle of something important, which can make them feel less anxious. Seeing only an expert prescriber who really takes the time to understand the patient is very very important to figure out how best to treat the particular symptoms.

DeeDee

My eldest DD has a diagnosis of ADD, in progress of diagnosing with Aspergers. When she started stimulant medication the primary change she reported was reduced anxiety. Both general and social. We were aware that this might be due to improved attention reducing her anxiety about missing things, misunderstanding, doing the wrong thing, and helping her be more able to keep up and join in socially. So we stuck with the trial despite reduced anxiety not being what we were expecting her to report. After a few weeks she decided it wasn't really doing much after all and we were unable to clearly see a difference either (unlike our second child, in whom we see a daily difference). So she's no longer taking medication, but we are absolutely aware of that connection between attention and anxiety.

I know for my son the knowledge that he's not doing what he's "supposed to" makes him very anxious and upset... so the ADHD meds helping him to whatever he's meant to be doing greatly calms him down. He hates the idea that he's being "bad".