Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Terrible Teens - Dealing with Autistic Teenagers
For most parents, one of the most trying times in their lives is during their child’s teenage years. When puberty hits, young adults go through serious changes in their bodies and minds, and parents have little or no control over many situations. In an autistic child, puberty is no different. Although your autistic child is not experiencing puberty in quite the same ways as others his or her age, major hormonal changes still occur in the body. This can lead to extreme results, and this can be either good or bad depending on how your child reacts to the new hormone levels.
One of the scariest side effects of changes in an autistic person’s body is the onset of seizures. Many autistic individuals experience seizures from birth to adulthood, but even if your child does not suffer from these episodes, he or she may begin to experience seizures during puberty and afterwards, due to the new levels of hormones in the body. Strange as it may sound, violent shaking seizures are not necessarily a bad thing. Almost a quarter of autistic children experience seizures, but many go undetected because they are not textbook versions of seizures. If you recognize that your child is experiencing a seizure, you can do something about it, and doctors will be able to better treat your child. However, if the seizures are subconsciously happening, you and your child may not realize it. The result of these small hidden seizures can be a loss in function, which can be devastating, especially if you child was improving before puberty. Regular check-ups during puberty, therefore, are extremely important.
The [...] Continue Reading…
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
family interventionIt’s time to take control of your life, your outlook and your happiness. You cannot change that terrible thing that happened to you. However, with a crisis intervention you can deal with loose-end emotions before they eat you up. You don’t have to deal with your crisis alone. It’s tempting to feel self-pity and wonder, “Why me?” Yet, when you attend abuse treatment or group therapy, you’ll realize there are many other people who have been through the same thing. You may feel you can’t bear to go on living, but through tragedy comes the phoenix of courage, self-enlightenment and change. There are many situations when a crisis intervention is recommended, such as surviving suicide, rape, abuse, surviving a kidnapping, runaways, military discharge, or following the death of a loved one. These intervention services are available not only for the victims but for the loved ones as well. The support net is critical for a person’s recovery, although many of us weren’t born simply knowing the right things to say or do. An intervention program such as this is helpful in creating that strong foundation of family and friends that will ultimately provide the long-term therapy for the recovering victim. Dr. David Springer PHD called runaways the “Huck Finn Crisis,” meaning that it is often a reaction to problems, rather than a lust for thrill-seeking that drives adolescents to run away from home. It can be extremely painful for family members to have no idea where their child has gone, but it can also be difficult for the runaway teen to come to terms with the emotional problems that prompted the runaway. In [...] Continue Reading…
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
