Seeking Parents or Providers for Autism Children

Hi M.,
I wish I had some sepcific advice for you, but I don't. I am not sure where Pittsfield is, but i have been to trainings ( I was a special ed teacher before I was a stay at home mom) at a school in Southborough ma called the New England Center for Children. It is a school for Autistic kids and it is amazing! They may be able t offer some advice or resources to you. Also, I post on message boards on Ivillage.com and I know that they have some boards speciafically for parents of autistic kids. I will post the link bellow, just scroll down to the "special needs" section and there is an autism board and also one specifically for PDD-NOS. I have found iviallge to have some great message boards so I hope someone there can give you some more specific advice. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
J.
http://parenting.ivillage.com/messageboards

My best friend has a son who is autistic and she has done massive work with him over the last few years. She too says that reprimanding does not work.. at all. He can be aggressive at times with some of the behaviours you have mentioned. Is he getting any kind of outside help? Is he on any meds? How old is he? If you like I will put you in touch with her. She has made amazing improvements with her son but it's been a long slow frustrating journey.

Hi M., my sister is a nanny for a family that has two autistic boys. They also get very aggresive at times. She tells me stories about them bitting, scratching and pinching her. They seem to do it most when they are very upset, because they do not talk much, or when they are very excited. They have a certified behavior specialist come into there home a few times a week to work with the boys. From what my sister has told me, it seems to be helpful, and she too is learning how to deal with the boys in such situations. I wish you the best of luck...T. D

Hi M.,

The best I can offer is the name of a wonderful school in Natick,MA called The Crossroads Center for Children. They have a website, and perhaps you might be able to find out (through them) if there are similar schools like setting in your area you could investigate. They are specifically a school for autistic children.

I recently did a vendor show over the holidays at the school(my friend's 4 yr old son attends there), and found the staff and enviroment wonderful!

My son is 17 and has Asperger's syndrome, among a list of other medical conditions. He would have meltdowns and also when younger "fits". The best way to deal with that is to BOOST HIS ADRENALINE. Assign a chore that requires physical work...for us , it was vacuum the car when he had fits. Running helps, as well. We had times he had to run to the end of the backyard and back 3 times. It ends up calming him down. Also, there is a remarkable new program for children with autism in which they are linked with service dogs. These dogs are trained to actually sit on the child and lick them to calm them down. Usually they are larger dogs such as Labs and Golden Retrievers. There is a process to be accepted and they are very expensive so fundraisers are sometimes done. However, if you do enough reading and researching it is very possible a dog specific for your child can work with the proper training. http://www.autismservicedogsofamerica.com/

Hi M., I have a son who was diagnosed in October with autism. He is 2. I am also a mommy of a 4 year old daughter. Are you revceiving services with your son, such as developmental therapy? I would reccomend seeing a behavior specialist. You can contact your local child devlopmental services with help. Or you can contact a behavior specialist on your own. I have heard of an amazing one named Alan Tomasello, he has his own business and I hear he is amazing. I know my life is a challange each day. I hope that maybe this group will help.