** Aspergers** What Is the Best Treatment for a Child with Possible Aspergers...

I'm really sorry that you are going through this. At this point, you need to get him emotionally stable before worrying about the Asperger's. It's contributory, but pales in comparison to what you are describing.

I have worked with children with Asperger's for years and my husband was diagnosed as an adult.

The FIRST thing you need to do is find a psychiatrist and therapist outside of the hospital for on-going support and accurate diagnosis. When he's stable, they can assess him for Asperger's. Right now is not the time to do that.

Treatment for Asperger's is vague, as there is no clear "course" that you follow. It depends on the individual. Primarily, though, it involves significant social skills training and helping the child learn to take perspective and how to interact with peers appropriately. It takes time, but children and adults with Asperger's (not High Functioning Autism- very different) can often lead very successful lives, especially in the fields of math and science.

Get the depression and anxiety stabilized first, then get him involved with a good therapist and ideally a community and/or school-based social skills group.

It sounds like he needs to have an overall assessment to identify any learning disabilities, social development problems as well as assessing how his anxiety and depression fit into the big picture. Talk to some developmental pediatricians to see how some additional assessments may help him and you get a better understanding of what is going on.

Hi S.,

Misdiagnoses are very common today because there are so many variables in everyone's life. My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and did have the symptoms but she did not have the disorder. It was manmade.

I recommend that you detox your home and detox your son's body. Once the synthetic chemicals that linger in his body (from past meds, even OTC, bath and body products, and even simple cleaning products) are gone, a proper diagnoses can be made. Our immune systems are absolutely resilient when the outside interference is gone. Hopefully, like my instance, there will be absolutely nothing wrong with him!

God bless,

M.

PS If you want to try this and need info, I'll be glad to walk you through what I did.

So sorry to hear that you're going through this - just wanted you to know that.

Also - has anyone mentioned bi-polar disorder to you? My friends brother has it and his experience sounds very much like your son.

One thing I have learned (via several peoples experience... so you may want to take it with a grain of salt!) is that if a person is being treated for one thing but he medicine isn't correcting it... 99% of the time they have been misdiagnosed. For example, my nephew was on ADHD meds and they made him tired.... someone who has ADHD is not made tired by their meds.... they get calm and can finally function. He went into a psych hospital for a week, is on new meds and is not functioning properly. Best of luck

I'm so sorry that you and your son are dealing with so many distressing emotional issues. I can feel the stress in your post.

Has your son been evaluated by a pediatric psychiatrist? or a pediatric neurologist? a developmental-behavioral pediatrician? Please consider having your son see a team that includes these specialists who are familiar with Neurological Disorders including Autisms and Behavioral Disorders. He needs a very in-depth evaluation to determine what's going on. The fat that your son is 11 means he's entering puberty, so that new surge of hormones could be affecting him dramatically. He could also be having a growth spurt and his body and brain don't know how to respond.

If he has multiple diagnoses, it's very common with Autism Disorders and Depressive Disorders, as well as Anxiety Disorders and other Neurological Disorders. Co-morbid Diagnoses, or dual diagnoses, are very common and often expected.

I have a child on the Autism Spectrum with a couple of other dual diagnoses related to the ASD. What I want to make most clear to you is that every diagnosis of Autism, every diagnosis and treatment of a Neurological Disorder, is dependent on the person being treated. There is no one single treatment. If your son has Asperger's Disorder, that's the ASD that is most receptive to various therapies but as every person is individual there isn't one single treatment that can ever be considered the best. If anyone ever tells you otherwise, they're lying. The same can be said of any Neurological Disorder.

But right now, your first step will be to have your son evaluated, okay? Get a referral from your pediatrician for any of the specialists I suggested, whichever you can get into first just to get started. If you can get an initial diagnosis that can help your son get special services at school as well with a PPT that can set up an IEP.

I have to kinda agree with another poster about the possibility of bipolar. My son is only 5 but has been confirmed by 3 drs. He also has been in hospitals a few times. We recently had an EEG and MRI and even spent $3000 on one blood test to see if there was something else to explain his behaviors and there was nothing. While he's in the hospital I would ask to have him looked at for bipolar. Sorry you are going through this I know all to well how hard it can be to have to leave your child in a hospital even if it's for their own good.