ASD Families Support Group

My 2 year old has just been diagnosed with autism and Im hoping that someone can tell me what are some things to expect as he gets older. He iis starting to show aggressive behavior, such as hitting, biting, and kicking his brother and cousins. He also has a problem with eating thongs such as dirt, glass, wood, plastic, the fuzz out of couch cusions, and anything else he can get his hands on. I'm very worried that these problems that seem small now, will follow him into his older years. Does anyone else face these same problems???

Hi welcome to the group. My name is Deja and I have a daughter who is 6 with autism. Let me tell you it does get better! But children on the spectrum need to be taught and dealt with differently. Normal punishment does not work! Usually they love to follow a schedule and respond well to reward systems. I would def. Try to start aba therapy as soon as possible if that's available. How is his speech? These behaviors can be from frustration on not being able to communicate.

His speech is only at a 7 month level. He is so much work because he does not talk and he can barely understand basic things like sit down or no. I have him enrolled in a school for autistic children so gopefully they will get him caught up on alot of things. Its just really overwhelming at times Im so glad I joined this support group because noone close to me seems to understand how stressful this all is.

Im so glad you joined too, reaching out to others that share this experience is really positive. It's great your having him in therapy I promise you, that him being so young will help him tremendously. My daughter is still very challenging but went from being non verbal to speaking within a year of therapy. Of course her speech is not where it should be but I stopped comparing milestones and just looked at how much she has accomplished. You have to retrain your thoughts when having a special needs child. I hope you will see even though they are more work they are amazing,loving and very smart. They need tons of attention but I never hate that my child is autistic I just don't like that she will cross many bridges that won't accept who she is. She is only 6 but from 2 till 6 she has grown so much she can speak in sentences is potty trained and she is in a normal class with an aid because her test scores are fairly normal. I hope this helps! Dont give up have hope push hard and strive for the best for you son. He will amaze you

My son is 6. From age 2 to somewhere near 4 he would eat the stuffing out of cushions and chairs. The nutritionist at the WIC office suggested that it might be a nutritional deficiency, but his bloodwork was fine, and I really think he just enjoyed the texture. Now he only eats a very limited selection of foods, mostly dairy and chicken products, and he understands the difference between food and uh...not food. He also has had a problem with hitting and aggression, but it is getting noticeably less as he matures and his speech and communication improve. He has an aid at school to help him stay on task and to model speech and behavior, but we think he might be able to do without her by second grade.

I'm just really afraid that he might eat something one day and have to go to the hospital. I try to keep alot of small items out of reach but having another small child can make it all the more difficult to keep things out ofreach. I am very hopeful that he will grow out of it. He also has a thing where he has to rub his food on the floor before he'll eat it which makes it very hard for me to feed him at times. He also had blood work done and everything came back normal. I read that pica goes along with autism but when I mention this to his doctor she. Seemed to kinda just brush it off. Thank u so much for the supporr, knowing that I'm not alone makes this whole thing so much easier.

We have are house on lock down we have an alarm system locked cabinets locked doors. Its so hard because they are sneaky and smart. I have had my daughter get up while we were sleeping and basically trash the house I thank God it was nothing serious. I totally understand.

I haveto do the same thing, my son will open the door and walk right out. And I live in an upstairs apartment so I'm scared to death that he will end up falling because he runs everywhere and doesn't look where he's going.

Its so scary my daughter will bust her window out....

That's really scary. I hope everything works out for your family. Things like that are the most frustrating.