My question from my other post stil stands. COULD he be on the spectrum instead of Bipolar/ODD? Around here, many of us believe ODD is just a catchall label for "we don't know what else to call it". Mood swings and what appears to be defiance can also be part of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). That is what my son was diagnosis'd with for 4 years until they realized it was Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) all along. Who diagnosis'd your kids? Are they on any medications? What behaviors do they tend to display that caused you to have them diagnosis'd? How are their behaviors now, over all?
Again, WELCOME and many, many {{{{(((HUGS)))}}}}. Others will be along in the morning. You have definitely come to the right place. You'll love it here!!
Living with a high functioning autistic child I don't believe at all he could be autistic. Then again I'm Not an expert. He has seen many psychiatric docs been evaluated, taken tests etc ... No one even brought up the possibility of autism for him. The reasoning of even having him diag. was because of very abnormal behavior and abnormal responses. I'll take you back to the Day I said, "something isn't right, I'm calling the counseling center".
My then 6 year old child and his older brother were out playing in the back yard, normal boy setting ( water pistols and warm sun) my autistic child comes inside to tell me a frog is jumping , he likes it. Of course coming from a child that doesn't show a lot of emotions and he "likes" something I jump all over the chance to go "mom investigate" with him. It's a frog!! Awesome, Mommy has an aquarium in the garage lets make him a home! I explain to them we need a couple nice sized rocks some sticks maybe even a little dirt and leaves. We make Mr Frog a home and the boys are pretty proud. We put Mr Frog in the boy's room on a dresser so they could watch him. I left the room went to clean my hands and sit down before the dinner rush to get things done in my house. and I went to check on the boys. My autistic son is sitting alone reading a book and rocking gently. I noticed the aquarium was gone. I peeked into the closet and there sat my little man remember he is 6. Just sitting there not talking not crying just face blank, I saw that he had stuck a screw driver through the frogs back. I said What is this! He looked at me and calmly said He made me mad mommy, I told him to jump but he would not listen. This is the day I knew .. Yes boys do weird stuff, but mostly at least show emotion for what they do. I had no Idea that they would diag. him with Bipolar until they started asking me questions, He has every sign of ODD, his mood swings are uncontrollable, He is violent at times but he is learning how to keep the violence a way from people. He really has learned a lot in these past several years, but he continues to make horrible choices that effect others in a negative way. He still throws things ( desks, chairs, pencils, books) the difference is as soon as he does it he does recognize it was a bad choice. but then gets mad at himself for making the wrong choice, I'm afraid he will get mad at himself enough to hurt himself. so far the only thing he did to himself was hurt his own hand by punching stuff.
He is taking 2- 36mg pills of Concerta along with .5mg of Risperadal in the morning, and a full 1mg Risperadal at night. The Risperadal is helping a lot. I did notice a full night and day difference putting him on this. He started taking it 1.5 years ago. Sometimes I feel like the doctor should get him on 2 mg a day, but she will not go any higher.
