aspergers

[cheeryface]

do most kids with AS have problems with explosive angry outbursts. do they struggle to control anger ?
would you say it is one of the obvious signs for AS ?

Yes, definitely. Have you read Tony Attwood's book. It has a bit on this. But poor emotional regulation is one characteristic - but one of many.

Yes.

My son doesn't have an aggressive tempter it's more that he is utterly overwhelmed by emotions/feelings he can't compute/deal with. He is actually a very gentle child and his outbursts are always aimed at himself.

Same with HF ASD. My DS doesn't control his emotions very well at all. He's all highs followed by deep lows, then back to normal all within minutes.

It helps to talk through emotions, how they make you physically feel, what they are called, what causes them, giving them a scale from mild to severe, what to do to get back to normal if appropriate. Has to be done when they are calm, initially, but if you can move on to when they are upset, angry, excited, just to name the emotion, not criticise it at that time, just get them to recognise it. Then move on to having an agreed coping strategy, eg punching a cushion, having a bounce on the trampoline, etc. HTH

thankyou

No. But the children who are on the autism spectrum and who have angry outbursts are the ones whose behaviour means they get diagnosed. There's not any proven link between autism and aggression overall. The quiet ones are just left to sink until they develop other problems like eating disorders, anxiety etc through not having the right support.

But yes, it can really look like autism = aggression because that's how the funding of diagnosis works. Same with adults - the ones who trash relationships get diagnosed, the ones who manage a quiet and gentle life are never spotted.

(generalising)

agree with Amberlight.

Ds only got assessed because of depression and anger management issues.
Before he blew up ( as such) no one even thought to say anything. Even though through out school reports before then was written, peer relationship issues, eye contact issues, turntaking in speech issues etc etc etc

My DS is really vocal and stroppy and has difficulty controlling his feelings, but he's not at all aggressive. He's hit someone about 3 times in the last 7 years, which I think is fairly 'average.' Having difficulty with understanding emotions doesn't necessarily make you aggressive.

Ds (9) is not yet dx'd with Aspergers/Autism (we are awaiting CAHMS), however, I am certain he is on the spectrum, it is just where. He struggles with his emotions but he isn't physically aggressive with it. He tends to clench his fists and get in the other persons space, but has not (yet) hit out.

As I'm typing, I would like to ask you knowledgable ladies a question on this though. the other day I put a yoghurt in ds's packed lunch which he thought he didn't like and consequently didn't eat (no problems for me there). When he was telling me this, a couple of hours later, he got extremely angry, shouting at me why had I put it in his lunch. But he was only angry at the point he was asking me the question, before and after he was calm. It was as though he was remembering how he felt at that time and his emotions then were reflected in his question now IYSWIM. Is this a trait seen in children on the Spectrum, or not? (Ds is dx'd dyspraxic as well, sometimes I am not sure whether I am looking at a dyspraxic trait, and autistic/aspergers trait or a purely quirky ds trait)

AGHENL, it's fairly typical of those of us on the spectrum that we react later rather than at the time. Takes many of us ages to work out what happened, and then how we feel about it, so the event and the reaction can be minutes, hours, days or even weeks or months apart. Just takes so much longer to connect up the wires in our brains (again generalising)