I have a 9yr old son who has been diagnosed on the ASD. I have been searching the web for natural remedies and the best one i can find is called Mindsoothe Jr, i was wondering if anyone has used this or any other natural remedy on their child and if you saw any diffence in your child's behaviour and concentration, please help!!

Hi Grasshopper, I have a boy with ASD.
Once, and only once I gave my boy a can of that energy drink with all the b group vitamins in it & caffeine & stuff.
It was a 'Virgin's brand I believe.

We'd been to the chippy for our dinner & sat outside as it was nice day to eat them. The drink was all they had on sale that day.

I couldn't shut him up for about 30 minutes after - and he was making sense. Which, at the time, was very unusual as speech has been his main deficit.

Don't know if it was coincidence as I've not 'experimented' since.

Recently I've noticed he talks to us alot more because we've started eating at the table for meals instead of on trays sat watching TV.
He loves it & lights 'the candle' everytime :rolleyes: like in a restaurant.
The change in routine & pretend environment has worked positively for us.

Good luck, I hope you get some serious answers & no "where's your evidence" type hectoring.
TTFN*:)

On a similar theme, have either of you chaps tried something called the "Brian Gym"? Its apparently where kids do some specific exercises which help concentration and it's been beneficial for ADHD.

One of my family has heard about it, and wondered if it would benefit her daughter who has Aspergers. Just after some feedback if you've heard anything!?

Would just like to say to all the parents who have kids with behavioural difficulties (and I don't want to sound patronising at all), I really admire what you're doing.

My friend's son has ADHD, amongst other things, and can be a handful... She sometimes gets grief from members of the public when they're out and about if he is not behaving "normally", because they think he's a brat and she has no control over him.

I know it can be stressful, so I would just like to say that you do a brilliant job.:clap:

There is a natural supplement called Eye-Q and made by a company called Equazen and it's around £20 for 60 tablets, you can get it from Boots, Co-op and good chemists really. it's basically essential omega 3 marine oils and fatty acids that are essential to the brain development that our kids don't get enough of and can help with their concentration levels. My son was diagnosed with ADHD 3 years and because i refused to dope him with conventional medicines, my sister and I did a little browsing on t'internet and we found this. It does seem to work, his concentration levels lasted a tad longer that usual and even his teachers noticed a difference in his behaviour. His basic motor skills, social skills and academic skills have all improved.
So I'd definitely recommend you check this out.

Cutglass i agree with you, my friend has an autistic child and she buys eye-Q. she noticed a difference quite soon after he started taking it.

A friend in the States has recently set up an unusual web project involving her autistic son, Tim, and an African Grey Parrot. See http://www.peppertalk.org/

Hi Grasshopper, if you take a look at the Equazen website, (www.equazen.com) there's tons more essential info that you need tellin you exactly what's in their product and what the ingredients actually do. I know it's a little scary, you worry what you're gonna be pumping into your child, but rest assured both my sister and myself did a lot of research into natural remedies before I even tried this. I contacted my son's behavourial therapist and even they had heard of this and convinced me that it was safe to use.
When my son was in nursery and then the infants dept, he was always decribed as the "difficult, badly behaved one", the child that the other kids didn't play with, and simple things such as communication with his peers was something that just did not happen, his speech was very poor, his motor skills, just everything basically. He was first tentatively diagnosed as ADHA when he was 5, because of the similarities, with Aspergers, dyspraxia, etc, it was some time before he could be accurately assessed.
But within a remarkably short time of him taking Eye-Q, he was actually sitting and listening for longer than 20 seconds. I was amazed!!!
He's 9 now and although he still has his moments, they are few and far between, and it's what any parent would expect from a young boy. He's never going to be classed as academically gifted, bless him but he's brought home certificates for reading, maths, english and swimming and more importantly he's not the one sitting on his own while all the other children play around him because they couldn't understand him.
My hearts go out to parents when their kids are first diagnosed because you just don't know what to do to help your kids or where to go to look for any help.
Hopefully this'll give you some ideas as to what your options are.

Thanks Cutglass will definately look into that one, sounds a lot better than Mindsoothe Jr that i was looking at. Does your son still take eye-Q or did he only use it for a short period??

Also feargal, my son does Brain Gym at school and although i don't know exactly what it's about i know that they do excercises involving co-ordination and are supposed to drink plenty of water, doesn't seem to have made much difference in my son as if he doesn't want to do it he'll just walk off, but anythings worth a try!!

Hi
Sorry to appear vague,

ASD ------are you speaking of Asperges Syndrome or something related to it. Not sure what the D stands for
Hazel

Sorry, should be more clear, ASD = Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Thanks Grasshopper for the help
hazel

all the omega oils suppose to benefit things like that. there was once an article in the newspaper.




If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, If you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime (Confucious

so sorry cutglass didnt read your post properley until now.

my teenage son was thought to be on the autistic side when he was younger.
he also has learning difficulties in the sense that he has no concept of things.
he never watches tv for longer than 5 mins unless its the simpsons. i use to think it was because he didnt understand the programs but its probably his concentration span.
hes at college now doing art.
But he had a rough time before that as the education authorities did not provide him with any schooling for over a year.
i tried everything tribunals and things but all he finished up with was one day a week at connexions.
all this happenned because he was mugged and bullied at his old school.
probably because of his learning difficulties etc.
and we were promised a new school for him when we moved
house but he never got one.
he still gets a bit locked inside himself sometimes even now.
and has these funny mannerisms - fiddles his hands in the air when he's exited etc.
Hes doing ok now though hes on foundation studies and is doing btech in september.
he never eats much though and has episodes where he says his thoughts go dodgy- his words.
i think they must be little anxiety attacks or something.
i tried him with a product called source of life , its a liquid full of absolutely everything good you can imagine.
it helped with his concentration etc but he wont have it anymore.- pitty.
he wont swallow any tablets either.
have you tried this product. its by natures plus.
i got it off the internet.
pitty that eye q is not also in liquid form.

Tara, my son is very fussy and i doubt he would swallow tablets but i've just got back from Boots and they now do an eye-Q smooth which is in liquid form and can be taken straight or mixed in with yogurt or milk so i am trying him on this (wish me luck!) you could try your son with it, it cost £14.99 for a months supply.

Thanks everybody with helping me on this, it's so frustrating not knowing what to do for the best hopefully soon i'll be singing the praises of eye-Q too!! (fingers crossed!) :bigsmile:

Just another post on that 'Eye-Q' stuff from Boots - it really appears to do the trick. I used to befriend a severely autistic boy in Bristol through the National Autistic Society Befriending Scheme - i don't know if they have it in Sheffield but the idea is that young adults are matched with a family with one or more autistic children and over time become the child's friend; it's a mutual learning experience and I found it so rewarding. Anyway, the 7 yearold boy I looked after was going through a very fraught stage and was often disruptive when his mum heard about Eye-Q. Within a few days of taking the citrus drink version, his whole manner had completely changed; his speech was much clearer, his attention span better and he was much calmer. I don't want to post this as a 'miracle cure' because autism doesn't really work like that, but it is worth trying out, despite it's expense. Further more, I was so impressed I started to take it and had better skin and concentration pretty quickly!

Hi Grasshopper

I work as an ABA Therapist in Sheffield with a few families. ABA is an intensive behavioural programme for children on the spectrum and is usually paid for privately, or, if you are very lucky, funded by the LEA. If you are interested in ABA it may be worth checking out www.autismpartnership.com - this company supervise many programmes in the Yorkshire area and there is a description of ABA on the website.

On the biomedical side of things there are loads of options. Lots of families I have worked with have opted for gluten free and casein free diets, but these aren't suitable for all children and can prove expensive. I have noticed others have suggested Eye Q oils, these can be taken in either liquid or capsule form and also most children I have known that have taken them have improved, although a few parents I know have seen an increase in "stimming" behaviour such as hand flapping, figer flicking etc. There are also some theories regarding the link between mercury poisoning and autism, although I don't know a lot about this. Some families I know however have tried "chelation" which is the process of ridding the body of heavy metals such as lead and mercury. But, as I said I don't know much about it so you are probably best googling it! All the biomedical interventions have their pros and cons and I'm afraid it may be a case of trial and error in order to find out what might work for your child.

In the meantime I wish you the best of luck with whatever path you decide to take, I am sure your head is still spinning at the moment and my heart really does go out to you.

Best wishes xxx

could you emphasise on this stimming behavior.
ive been worried for ages about my sons habbit of holding both hands in the air and intertwinning his fingers in a flapping motion.
he doesnt know hes doing it.

Stimming is short for "self stimulatory". When we look at how to intervene with behaviours we look at their cause and these can often be broken down into avoidance, attention seeking, self stimulatory and pain.

Self stimulatory behaviours are difficult to deal with, our methods of intervention involve removing reinforcement (rewards) for the inappropriate behaviours and reinforcing more appropriate behaviours. Unfortunately stimming is rewarding in itself, the child often does it just because it feels good, not to gain anything as such. Compare it to me twiddling my hair, I do it for no other reason than I like the feeling. Ways in which we may approach stimming include redirecting the child to do something more appropriate, or working on programmes where they get a treat for not engaging in stim for certain lengths of time.

On the biomedical side, many children seem to become more "stimmy" when they eat certain foods. Although this isn't fact, I have known many parents see increases in stim when their children eat foods containing certain additives, a common one being the sweetener asparthame. But in terms of causes nobody really knows why children with autism display these odd looking stimming behaviours, we just try to deal with reducing them and making them more socially appropriate. I would personally argue people with autism stim no more than any person, they just do so in more socially unacceptable and noticeable ways. Look at me, I bite my nails, twiddle my hair, chew pens etc etc. But these are socially acceptable so nobody notices them. But that again is just my personal opinion.

Sorry about the long post, there is so much I could write about this topic!

Can I just ask what the difference is between stimming and stereotypies? My son has Tourettes, OCD, attention difficulties and possible ASD and does lots of flapping, arm waving, hand shaking and noises as well as a lot of strange 'accents' when he speaks, all of which I have been told are stereotypies. It's really hard sometimes to distinguish what are stereotypies, which are compulsive behaviours and which are his tics!! I am pretty ok on the tic side of things as they are pretty obvious (the screaming and twitching etc) but the others just seem to all blur together!

Do you think that Eye-Q would benefit my son at all? I have looked at Omega3 fish oils as it was suggested they may help his (lack of) concentration.

There are days I would do anything to help him as he gets very distressed by it all.

most of my family seem to have some form of austistic spectrum disorder. Everyone else thinks we're weird and diffidcult. WE think we're fine and they're a bit lacking in the art of understanding other living things!

My kids are 16 and 18 now, suffered in our attempts to do the school thing and mostly just didn't attend or did it but in pretend normal mode.

All I can say is dont let the B*+$%'s grind you down. IF yours don't talk and don't concentrate its hard and other opinionated people don't help but be proud and be strong, and cry whenever you feel like it. I find occasionally a roaring great tantrum helps too. I don't see why we adults/carers have to be normal or perfect 100% of the time!

I found diet generally had a great impact, we don't touch highly coloured food (they have rules about colours anyway) and avoid wheat and dairy as much as possible. Also high sugar foods, but then they ignore me alot nowadays. They are calmer, happier, less frustrated and the outbursts and tantrums are quite rare now. Maybe they did just outgrow them, but food seems to be a factor. They also eat more if they help prepare it and prefer succinct stuff ie an egg a potatoe etc, mixed up stuff like stir fry or spag boll is a big no-no. Also try to do omega fatty acids, but also have 2 who find swallowing pills a problem., they do it now, but had to learn to do it with margarine at first, so they just slipped down despite the gagging reflex, its very strong isn't it, mine is dreadful I have real probs at the dentist!

I have talked to them a lot about how they cope and drilled them in certain sitations, so if something kicks off at school, my son knows to run tot the library or learning support unit and wait there. My girl regularly talkswith me about understanding peoples face expressions and how to cope with non-verbal communications, she's trying hard but knowing she's got a different perspective helps her.

Both mine communicate very well with animals, they work well with dogs, horses and have a cat. They are non-verbal and think in pictures as well, knowing that can make it easier to work out how they are ticking and help them to talk about or understand things.

They are very clever though so maybe we find it easier, if a bit strangely analytical. They do tend to drift into their own bubble worlds though and they both find it demanding coping with other people in the big wide world out there. Frankly sometimes get into my own bubble and feel like staying put!

Best wishes and hope you cope, wish there was more support abd understanding out there.

For some reason, I keep being drawn to this thread. Not sure why, I don't know anyone with ASD, but I read the thread once, and found it fascinating.

The thing that has struck me is how well-rounded all the posters have been; you all seem so cool and well adjusted, despite the fact that things in your own lives and famillies isn't perfect.

I'm really sorry if this sounds condecending to anyone; that's not the way it's meant, I just wanted to celebrate your sucesses with you! Keep on with the good work!

K x

Originally posted by FetishFairy
Can I just ask what the difference is between stimming and stereotypies?

That's a really interesting question as I have never heard of stereotypies been applied to autism. I have heard it applied to schizophrenia, where patients make odd gestures etc and also to OCD sufferers (which I notice you say your son has) to explain their ritualistic behaviours. But every "professional" (lol-I hate that word) I have ever spoken to has called these sort of behaviours in autism self-stimulatory behaviours. Maybe it's just a label thing, as I think we are thinking of the exact same behaviours. Essentially I think it is how you deal with these behaviours that are important.

I terms of the Eye Q oils I would definitely suggest trying it. In my experience it totally depends on the child however. Some children I know have had huge breakthroughs when it has been introduced, others however have just become more stimmy and hyperactive. I would suggest keeping everything else constant and trying it. Then any changes you notice you can immediately put down to the oil. And have faith in your judgement, you know what is best for your child so act on what you see. If your child improves, great, if not, you have at least tried. I suppose you won't know unless you try xxx

Sometimes something as simple as cutting out certain additives can help. I stopped giving my (autistic) son drinks containing aspartame and noticed a real improvement with his hyperactivity and aggression almost immediately.

i have a 4 yr old nearly 5 who has behavhouir problems from writing on the walls ,staring in to space tantrums for no apparent reason throwing things not interacting with other children she just likes to sing if you interupt her she plays hell evrey thing has got to be by rouitine or in a special order if not we have to start evreything again ,she doesnt sense danger or see it ,shes under the hospital and they have referred her to a speech therapist to see how she plays and how her imagination works also with the child development team and pediatrition her school work is suffering ,her motor skills are not what they should be she carnt write her name yet she has to have one to one she hurts her brother who is just one when i tell her off she just carries on with what she was doing we have timeout but that doesnt work for long she carnt hold her concentration for longer than 2 mins without fidgeting when watching telly she goes into her own little world she is waiting for a hearing test and another eye test dont know if anyone can share any information on whether this is a sign of autism

I would say lots of the symtoms you are describing are typical of autism. It sounds like the hospital are in the process of trying to diagnose her which is good, make sure you keep applying the pressure.

Good luck and best wishes for what must be a very difficult time at the moment xxx

Originally posted by Lucy_Smith
That's a really interesting question as I have never heard of stereotypies been applied to autism. I have heard it applied to schizophrenia, where patients make odd gestures etc and also to OCD sufferers (which I notice you say your son has) to explain their ritualistic behaviours. But every "professional" (lol-I hate that word) I have ever spoken to has called these sort of behaviours in autism self-stimulatory behaviours.

I asked his psycologist about these behaviours and she said they were stereotypies. When I asked what it meant she said behaviour typical of ASD children or children with other neuro-diversities. His obsessive/compulsive behaviours are mainly touching related, his tics are both vocal and motor but the others just didn't seem to fit either catagory but are equally as odd. Flapping, spinning, jumping, noises etc which are very ASD like, although they have only said 'possible' ASD difficulties.

Someone once said to me that it takes very special parents to have special children!

u guess it ,its a nightmare she is so unpredictable im scared to death to leave her with her brother incase she hurts him to her she doesnt realise what she has done she has always been like this scnce before she was 2 she used to sit staring at the tv for hours watching barney dindnt here a peep out of her so pleasant and good but gradually her behavhior got worse she was a very late developer crawling at 16 months walking at about 18/19 months but she had severe ecema so we put it down to that she was very late at speaking and was put forward for speach therapy but she just started speaking so we never went and then she started to stutter and repeat her self all the time and then the behavhouir started but will take at least 4 months for an appointment at least i got her school supporting me which i am very pleased of

Originally posted by FetishFairy
Someone once said to me that it takes very special parents to have special children!

I think it does. I think I have a difficult job, but then I remind myself I can walk away and go home and forget about it all. Whereas parents have it 24/7. It's incredibley patronising I know but your bravery is so inspirational, and that is one reason why I love my job, I see little miracles every day.

Lucy, what does being an ABA Therapist entail? What's the training? What professional background would a typical ABA therapist have? Do you have links into Ryegate?

I was trained privately by a consultant called Sean Rhodes. Some therapists are trained by larger companies such as autism partnership or PEACH. The theory can be taught in an afternoon but ABA practice can take months to learn, I shadowed a tutor for about 3/4 months.

Most therapists don't have links to Ryegate as ABA is all done privately but I know have worked with some of the people who work at Ryegate and have been down to visit their Footsteps centre for children on the spectrum.

Dear Grasshopper,

My son has been diadnosed with childhood Autism, and we give him the Eye Q Liquid twicw a day and it seems to help with the concentration, the liquid is citrus flavor and is easy to mix in with his juice so that he doesn't notice it any more.

Lucy Smith

I would like to get in touch with you regarding ABA therapy for my son,

Please send me a reply

Thanks

There is so muxh work being done with Autistic childrren nowdays, In a way you parents are so fortunate.
In the early 60's when my child was born there was no help whatsoever for Aperges Sydrome, There was no diagnosis. I had to find out myself what was wrong.
So hopefully todays autistic children will face a beter future than mine did.
I learnt so much about it in the process I could write a book.
hazel
.

Originally posted by Cutglass
There is a natural supplement called Eye-Q and made by a company called Equazen and it's around £20 for 60 tablets, you can get it from Boots, Co-op and good chemists really. it's basically essential omega 3 marine oils and fatty acids that are essential to the brain development that our kids don't get enough of and can help with their concentration levels.

My son's behaviour is extremely manic at the moment and I am having huge problems knowing how to deal with it. He has zero concentration and is 'all over the show' all the time.

I have looked into getting some Eye-Q but unfortunately, my megre budget won't allow me to buy it at £10 a bottle. Does anyone know if anything similar is available on prescription for kids? I called NHS Direct but they are not allowed to give out information about what is available on prescription. I used to get evening primrose oil from my doctor for PMS so wondered if Omega3 oils were prescribed too.

I would love to try this before it gets to the stage where he ends up on serious mind altering medication as he is only just nearly 8.

Fetish Fairy....... Eye Q is expensive but worth it in my opinion, my son has been taking it for just over a week and already has better concentration at school, when looking for Eye Q i saw another fish oil supplement, think it was haliborange?! at £3.99 a bottle (it's in an orange box) don't know if you can get supplements on prescription no one has ever mentioned it to me at the doctors but you could try for nowt!!

Originally posted by Grasshopper
Fetish Fairy....... Eye Q is expensive but worth it in my opinion, my son has been taking it for just over a week and already has better concentration at school, when looking for Eye Q i saw another fish oil supplement, think it was haliborange?! at £3.99 a bottle (it's in an orange box) don't know if you can get supplements on prescription no one has ever mentioned it to me at the doctors but you could try for nowt!!

I really wish I could afford it but I don'thave a spare 10p never mind £10!!

I too must endorse Eye Q. I have a very bright ten year old who can sit in front of a playstation for hours giving it his full concentration, but when it comes to anything else e.g homework, he had the concentration span of a butterfly. After giving him one spoonful each morning, we noticed a great improvement and after speaking to his teacher at parents evening on Tuesday, she too has noticed an improvement. I would certainly recommend it to any parent.

Its down to boots then for me.