DS keeps hearing voices in his head

[amynnixmum]

Ds behaviour is often challenging and with the runup to xmas he is climbing the walls. I am exhausted as he is such hard work at the moment.

On sat he was awful all day and by the end of it I was in tears. He cried as well and we tried to talk about him making more of an effort to behave himself. He got really distraught and said that he didn't mean to be naughty but the voices in his head kept telling him to do naughty things. I told him that the voices in his head are all him and that he can tell himself "No - I won't do that naughty thing" but he said that when the voices tell him to do it he can't stop himself

He has said about the voices in his head only twice before and each time it has been when he has got really upset after a bad day and I don't think he's making it up as an excuse for his behaviour as he seems really upset by it - especially because he feels he has to do what the voices tell him.

My mum is a SENCO and says that it isn't uncommon for children with ASD to say they have voices in their head that tell them to do things. She worked with one lad who had called his voices a name even though he appeared to understand that the voices in his head were all him. She doesn't really have any practical advice though and I was hoping that one of you may have had some experience with this sort of thing.

TIA

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I've got no experience of this, but feel for you when you said you had an awful day that left you in tears

Hopefully someone might come along that has a bit of knowledge of this.

How old is your DS? By ASD do you mean autistic spectrum disorder? I work for a consultant psychiatrist and might be able to provide a bit of reassurance as regards the voices. Keep your chin up.

Hi,

When my ds (AS) has a melt down or is very badly behaved he says there is a "train in his head" which is making him do naughty things.

I think what he means is that he feels compelled to behave in a certain way even though another part of him knows it is not a good idea.

It is worrying when he talks about this, its like he has a jeckyll and hyde personality. However I think it is his way of trying to rationalise the effects of his AS. I just encourage him to do the usual things to try and calm down, play relaxing music, have a warm bath, watch DVD etc.

I have every sympathy, it has been a very long term, everyone is tired and getting excited about Christmas. All the rubbish food he is eating at school Xmas parties is not helping either. I am finding that ds's behaviour is worse at the moment as well.

Thanks for the replies.

Ds doesn't have a diagnosis but I am sure he is on the autistic spectrum. He has a statement and fulltime 1:1 at school.

I am not overly worried about the fact that he says he can hear voices in his head as I have some experience in psychology and am currently doing an MSc in psychology. Its more that I don't quite know how to handle the situation and I hoped that someone might have some ideas.

As I siad my Mum is a SENCO and has come across this before with children with ASD (yes I do mean an autistic spectrum disorder) but she didn't have any practical advice as to what I should do or say when DS mentions the voices in his head. My instinct is to keep reminding him that all the voices in his head are a part of him as I am concerned that if I am not careful I could make him think that they are almost like a seperate entity to him and that would not be a good thing.

As you say caroline it is probably his way of trying to rationalise why he feels compelled to do something he knows he shouldn't. I knew it would be bad this time of year as it always is Roll on the new term and normal routines(bah humbug!)

Anyone else got any ideas? Please