Comments for A Shade unDifferent

Comment on About this NT by Keith

Keith — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 11:55:08 +0000

Hey JH,

Hope you are well. I check in every once in a while to see if there are new posts.

Until then, thanks for sharing your unique POV. Many of your posts were great conversation starters.

Keith

Comment on Namenda and Aricept: Not a Cure for Autism, but a Start by Melinda

Melinda — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:30:07 +0000

In addition to Namenda, my 8 year old also attended social groups. It really seemed to help too. Unfortunately, they were very expensive so I had to discontinue after 3 months. If I get a chance to enroll again, I will do it right away. While at the groups, I got a chance to visit with other parents in my shoes. That was helpful to me as well. There is no cure to this, but any assistance we can get is helpful.

Comment on Namenda and Aricept: Not a Cure for Autism, but a Start by Peter Cole

Peter Cole — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:06:26 +0000

Hi Patty,
Good to have things working, isn’t it! Congrats on the improvements. I think Melinda has it right when she diagnoses the reason for aggression: “because he doesn’t understand”. Which explains why his aggression is less, since he understands more.
My irritation still persists at the “experts” lack of results with their controlled tests for side effects of Memantine.
Perhaps we can conduct a little survey of our own here over time ..!
We have presently discontinued Memantine for our son this Term (which started last week, in Australia), and will compare his behaviour and happiness with last term when he was on the stuff.
You may be interested in the results, since later on you might like to try your sons again without Memantine. If so, I will report what differences if any we notice.
Cheers.

Comment on Namenda and Aricept: Not a Cure for Autism, but a Start by Patty

Patty — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:21:34 +0000

It has been almost 2 months now since we tried Namenda with my 14 yr old. I AM glad I did try it. I have seen improvements in my son. Engaging with me in school work better, socializing with family, special needs friends and even same age peers. The behaviors are still an issue but the occurances of the major aggressions have decreased in frequency. We’ve had to add another med for the aggression and testing it out now. Thanks all for your input!

Comment on Parenting an Aspie: A Cerebral Task by “Aspie” of the week! « macmamachronicles

“Aspie” of the week! « macmamachronicles — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:24:09 +0000

[...] Parenting an Aspie: A Cerebral Task (jholverstott.wordpress.com) [...]

Comment on About this NT by Sometimes What Looks Like Empathy, Isn’t | Autism and Empathy

Sometimes What Looks Like Empathy, Isn’t | Autism and Empathy — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:02:27 +0000

[...] it’s inevitable that students with Asperger’s would run into a few bumps along the way. Jeanne Holverstott recently wrote an interesting post about some of the challenges she’s experienced through [...]

Comment on Namenda and Aricept: Not a Cure for Autism, but a Start by Melinda

Melinda — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:45:14 +0000

Your 14 year old sounds like my 8 year old. He had the same outbursts because he didn’t understand. On Namenda, I have seen dramatic improvement. I highly recommend you at least give it a try. I was like you, didn’t feel I had much choice but truly, it has helped alot. If you don’t like it later, or want to discontinue, then do it then. If you don’t try, you may always wonder why.
It helps all the neurons in his brain work together to understand. School work and behaviors have improved as well. Good luck.

Comment on Boys in Social Skills Group: “My Autism is Forever” versus “My Autism Used to Be” by cat mikkelsen

cat mikkelsen — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:36:46 +0000

If and when we fully understand autism, in all its forms, autism may well be “forever.” However, we are fallible and we do not properly understand what’s going on with all of the different people and their different types of brains, so we do not always diagnose people correctly. A recent report said that in order for children to get services, many more of them are diagnosed with autism than really do qualify. And here is another study claiming that people “recover.” http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20090511/researchers-see-recovery-from-autism

I would say that when a child is young, sometimes other things can seem like autism and that we are learning a lot. I would also say that everybody is different and wouldn’t really push it. You’re right that it really is something dealt with differently in each family.

And yes, this is something that people fight about a lot, but I personally have such skepticism about test results at this point that IMHO some of the fights seem almost theoretical. (e.g. if diagnostic techniques for brain and neuro issues were fail-safe, hey, you bet it would be forever.)

Comment on Namenda and Aricept: Not a Cure for Autism, but a Start by Peter Cole

Peter Cole — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:10:34 +0000

Patty – I agree, no-one wants to use meds if there is another solution. I like to justify our giving our son memantine on the basis that it is a supplement, like diabetics take insulin-boosting meds daily.
And I think Kavalier has it right when he describes the action of memantine as:
“Dr. Kavalier states that Namenda clears up the interference among signals to nerves in the brain.”
HOWEVER ! Although I believe it helps with improved clarity of thought, making better neural connections, that by itself is not the whole story (in my opinion). You will need to match your son’s improved clarity of thought with additional training, so the end result is he can better-cope with some challenges that he has not been able to handle in the past.
Which means select a simple thing that he doesn’t understand currently, and after a few weeks on the meds see if he can now understand. If he can, it will give him renewed hope of self-improvement, and the all-important thing, give him confidence! Those two benefits should reduce his anger (As well as demonstrating to you and him that memantine works for him. Not everyone benefits I understand, but that may be because there is more to be done than simply administering a drug)
So I am saying that you also need to accompany the meds with extra support because the med by itself is only partly the answer.

Comment on Parenting an Aspie: A Cerebral Task by ScienceMama

ScienceMama — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:37:11 +0000

You are so right. BUT, I am soooo tired of having to think smarter and be a creative problem solver ALL the time. Any suggestions for getting them to do the personal hygiene chores or perhaps even homework.. My Aspie just tells me he is thinking whenever he is told to do something. He spends hours trying to plan how he might get something done without making an effort. UUUGGH! I am just too tired to think anymore.