Anyone know what can help concentration/Autism.

[mummy2aaron]

DS2 is now at mainstream school. He is quite hyper and unmanagable and if he could just be brought down a notch he would actually do very well, he is a very bright boy. Is there anything that can help him and aid his concentration. I think the fact his sleep pattern is pants doesnt help but the Melatonin doesnt help much, he is up anytime after 4am.

Have you tried fish oils? I find Efalex helpful with ds.

We use eyeQ capsules. Don't know if they work or not really.

Apparently Eskimo Oil is good too though a bit pricy

I have yes he takes them quite willingly and there is a slight improvement, will this build over time taking them or will it stay the same. It just seems like when he does settle he learns quickly and enjoys school but when he is hyper he kind of shuts down and goes crazy with this awfull mad laughter iyswim. The staff aren't brilliant at tackling this. I find it hard myself. I would try any natural rememdy that anyone could recommend, even if it just made these episodes less severe.

How long has he been taking them? I think it's common to take up to 8 weeks for them to be really beneficial although we did see an improvement in ds in just 3 days. I also notice a difference in him if he hasn't had them for a few days. Its not a massive difference but every little helps

He has been taking them for a couple of weeks so i may shift to the eskimo and give it a while, thanks for that. I don't want him to get any kind of medication in case it makes him too different iyswim.

Thanks everyone i'll let you know how it goes.

xx

I felt like that too although things have got so bad recently that i'm going to ask the paed if we can give medication a go

If its only been a couple of weeks and he's not got worse on the fish oils (some do) then i'd stick with that a bit longer.

Don't use EyeQ as the EPO can make children hyperactive. I know a child with ASD who went bonkers on it! You could also try deep massage and other sensory things???

what are they doing with your ds in the classroom so that he is not getting sensory overload, my ds is v passive & calm but if he gets overloaded he'll throw the nearest chair.

His table is in the quietest corner of the class, visual stimuli around his table kept to a minimum etc but there is a noticeable difference if he is doing an activity that is busier or in a livelier part of the class.

Sorry if the above is asking the obvious - as for the sleep if you find an answer let me know, I think i look older than my mum now

Thats a good point mymatemax.

DS used to have a seperate workstation and this really helped

actually thats a good thought - it;s the end of the day he gets hyper - i must talk to his teacher about quiet time at the end of the day. sleep lol whats that

dusty is it constant or intermittant - dh is convinced ds has adhd but i dont think so as sometimes he is fine.

Pretty much constant now but it used to be more intermittant. When he first started schhol 3 years ago he had big problems and they mentioned ADHD to me but I was convinced they were wrong as he was ok at home. I researched a lot and decided that it was more likely to be AS or ASD and that the ADHD type behaviour was the result of his frustration and confusion.

I am still not convinced 100% that he has ADHD but things are so hard now that I want to give ritalin a go - in the owrds of his pead three years ago " if it works then he has ADHD if not then we look elsewhere" i said no then but times change.

However, I would be inclined to forget the dx and simply concentrate on his behaviour. It sounds as though he find all the children etc in the classroom difficult to cope with and my ds was just the same. A seperate workstation where they are facing a wall and not a classroom or table full of other children may help him a lot. Also using visual timetables and letting him know when activities are due to start and finish may help him cope. these strategies really help my ds.

www.yourhealthfoodstore.co.uk/search_results.php?keywords=eskimo&brand_ID=-1&search=Search

We buy our eskimo oil from them - best price I could find and free delivery. Tastes yummy too, bubblegum flavour.

Or if you are interested in something a bit more alternative and long term:-

www.sunflowertrust.org.uk

dusty he has the visual timetable and the time out sand timers , he gets one to one from the teaching assitant too when she gets chance and says he is much more recepetive then. they are very fond of him so will try anything to help the head is a bit more formidable tho. when we go to the paed ds just sits there and if he talks it is very quietly, a totally different child so she doesnt sympathise, in contrast the hv has seen him at his worst lol, he is used to her.

kaz thanks gfor the links i will definately have a look at those.

Just a quick update - we started straight away on some samples I got from Boots of Baby Eye-Q (sorry Davros) so far so good but have the Eskimo Oil on order. Ds2's teacher today came out with him at hometime to tell me what a good boy he had been today and had 3 stickers for good behaviour. Thanks for all your help ladies.