Dealing with irrational fears in a SN child

[dkpalaska]

Hello,

 

My 9yo son has Asperger's Syndrome/HFA, and in the last few months has developed a steadily increasing fear of the wind. He'll go hide in his room under the bed covers until it's nearly calm again; it's getting more and more debilitating, with mere breezes turning into something to get stressed about.

 

 

Has anyone else with a SN kid had an experience with the development of a phobia or near-phobia? How did you handle it, what worked/didn't work, etc.? I have seen suggestions for NT kids, but I'm unsure how any will transfer to my autistic child.

 

• Trying to reason through it has not helped.
  
• His biggest issue seems to be a concern that a tree will fall on the house; discussing how everyone will be fine even should this happen did not help. (I think it's rooted in trees because the only thing I can recall that might have prompted this is a mention we had months ago of friends who - 15 years ago - had a tree fall on their house in a windstorm. There haven't been any recent traumatic incidences involving high winds and people we know, and we don't allow the kids to watch TV news, films of natural disasters, etc.)
  
• It is building-specific. Travelling in a vehicle is fine; going from the vehicle into a building is nerve-wracking. If we put blinds down or are in an enclosed building he might still be stressed, but not seeing the wind moving trees, etc., does enable him to better focus on something else for a brief time. We can't always do that, though.
  

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you.

[Misty]

My daughter with Asperger's used to have irrational fears.. These can get worse and lead to compulsions as well (and an OCD diagnosis) so this needs taken care of ASAP.

 

What worked for us:

 

Diet change, first and foremost. We did food sensitivity testing and removed the offending foods.. This was the #1 thing that helped her.

 

We did meds too because she also had severe OCD.. However, I am now weaning her off of the meds because she is fine now with diet change alone.. And if she accidently eats an offending food, her OCD and anxiety comes back full force despite being on the medication.. so it's basically useless.. Diet is our #1 control for OCD and anxiety. If you can't do diet change or if you don't think it applies to your situation, then I recommend an SSRI such as zoloft.. These fears are VERY real and VERY scary to our kids.. They need relief from them any way you can give it. And like I said, they do get worse and they can lead to OCD. My daughter ended up with severe OCD and it was a nightmare!!

 

Counseling also should be considered.. It's difficult to find a good psychologist who can work with children this young.. But if you have one in your area, you might consider it.

 

If you don't want to do meds or diet change, then you might consider supplements.. Google Inositol and 5-HTP.. You might get some relief with one of those. Inositol would be my first choice. If he is having trouble sleeping on windy nights, you might consider melatonin. We use the 1mg sublingual cherry-flavored tabs from GNC. They taste great. Also, consider a fish oil supplement.

 

My daughter is 8 now and her OCD, anxiety, and irrational fears are completely under control now.. And she is barely on her medication at all anymore.. So I highly recommend looking into diet change.. We had to remove gluten, casein, and soy.. she tested highly sensitive to all three.

 

Good luck!

[elise1mds]

For my son, the anxiety and OCD symptoms only surface when he's anxious about something else in his life. The OCD symptoms are his way of finding something else to try to control because he can't control whatever he's anxious about. When he was 5 and attending a private school kindergarten, he refused to step on rays of light. The light from bedrooms shining into the hallway at night meant he was literally leaping from shadow to shadow. Stores made him cry because the shadows were so intermittent. His most recent anxiety attack had him jumping over every crack in the sidewalk. He would forget that he'd be in the middle of a parking lot and go leaping in front of cars. Counseling to find out the cause of his anxiety has been the most helpful for us. I hope you're able to figure out what's going on and get things settled. :grouphug:

[AngieW in Texas]

I'd love to know. My 18yo is Aspie and ADHD and the psychologist who did the evaluation and the psychiatrist who is prescribing her ADHD medication also think she might possibly be OCD. They're not sure yet if she has crossed the border between perseverating over her thoughts to being truly OCD.

 

My 18yo is terrified of peanut butter. She is NOT allergic and actually used to love peanut butter, but when she was 10yo she saw a movie at a friend's house called The Peanut Butter Solution ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089789/ ). She has been terrified of peanut butter ever since. I have to keep the peanut butter on its own shelf on the door of the fridge so it won't contaminate anything else. I actually have 3 different kinds of peanut butter in the fridge at all times because my 13yo, 15yo, and dh all prefer different brands. My 15yo goes through at least 2 jars/month. My 18yo is worried that her roommates in the dorm next year will put peanut butter in the mini fridge.

 

She's embarrassed by her fear of peanut butter because she knows it's completely irrational. That doesn't lessen her fear though.

[dkpalaska]

Thank you to everyone who responded so far!

 

Misty, I've been looking into dietary changes anyway. I will try to speed up my reading/research and get that underway as soon as I can.

 

We started fish oil supplements earlier in the year, but I will check into the others.

 

He is not on any medication at all yet; all I'd read had made me uncomfortable with the lack of knowledge concerning long-term use of almost all common meds on young kids. Being homeschoolers, I've been able to manage his issues one-on-one, though it's certainly hair-pulling frustrating many days. But I am not closed to it, and have always held the thought in my mind that one day it might switch over to being in his best interest to use meds. It's interesting that it did not seem to help your daughter much - I'm glad she's able to get rid of it almost completely!

 

Thank you to you and Elise for the comments about counselling, too. I'll contact the pediatric psychologist who did his diagnosis.

 

Were there any systematic things you did at home that helped at all? I'm thinking behavioral modification techniques, etc., like trying to link something pleasant with breezy days. He'll go on bike rides in the same breeze that upsets him when inside the house!

 

AngieW, :grouphug: to you. My son asked me yesterday, "What do you do, Mom, when you are worried about the wind?" It's no fun for any of us.

[SkateLeft]

Were there any systematic things you did at home that helped at all? I'm thinking behavioral modification techniques, etc., like trying to link something pleasant with breezy days. He'll go on bike rides in the same breeze that upsets him when inside the house!

 

My son has taken anti-anxiety meds for a few years now, but even so, we still get crazy phobias. He's also terrified of the wind, and what worked for us was to have him wear a fleece ski hat whenever he's out of the house, or whenever it bothers him. He wears his hat everywhere, and sometimes at home. He can pull it over his face if the wind is really scary. Sometimes, he'll even wear it to bed. It's not a behavioral modification thing, and I don't know that it would work for you, but it helped us! :)

[SonshineMama]

My son has crazy fears. . however, he is a cancer survivor so for awhile he was afraid of his own shadow. He has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and Depressive disorder.

 

Rather than medicate, we have taken him to a classical homeopath. I was VERY skeptical about it but watched a friend's child improve so dramatically that I decided it was worth attempting to avoid medication. We have also done OT and he is on a therapeutic sensory diet. For our ds, it seems that when he has a very extensive sensory diet, his anxiety and depression is under control. As an adult with sensory issues, anxiety and depression, I find this to ring true for me.

 

I also have a dd with sensory issues and ADHD. She doesn't have irrational fears (except of bugs which I find fairly normal) but reacts wildly to spiders.. . .

 

I am getting much more into weighted items (vest/blanket) for processing the fear. I think the weighted items make both of them feel safer somehow. It doesn't cause the irrational fear to go away but for them to be able to process it.

 

That said, my 2 dc with sensory issues are not aspies so I am unsure how much this will apply to your situation??