Heavenly Father,
We adore you, the Father of us all
We ask you to assist those families with an autistic child
Give these parents wisdom and angelic help in their care for their children
Help the child's siblings to be patient and to grow in self-giving love
Grant these families your special support and give them friends who understand and love them
Most merciful Father,
Give light to scientists and doctors so that they may find a solution to autism
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
My mom sent me this prayer. She heard it last night and copied it down. It comes at a perfect time, as Ryan continues to struggle with his emotions. We're seeing behaviors that we have not seen since before we began the GFCF diet and treatments for Ryan. Family members that see Ryan often have commented about how "off" he seems and how violent and anxious he has become. However, it is almost as if he has a double personality. Caring Ryan makes his way out at times and it is so nice to see. Over the weekend we were at a birthday party and a little girl fell and Ryan ran over to her, helped her up, and said, "Are you okay my little friend?" This is the same boy who in an instant became angered doing his homework this week and jabbed me in the face with his pencil.
Ryan's increasing violence towards us has sent us into a panic. It is scary to watch him meltdown, punch things, scream at people, throw things, and reach for knives because he says that he wants to stab us. This is not the Ryan we know and love! This is not our sweet, gentle little boy. Something is wrong! And what seems like minor things are what triggers his biggest episodes. His emotions are in overdrive and we need professional help to get to the bottom of this. We used to be able to help him cope during most meltdowns, but now more often than not, we are unable to help him. Our bag of tricks that used to get him to calm down and put a smile on his face, no longer work. They only irritate him more. We can't reason with him.
On Friday night I contacted his developmental pediatrician, Dr. Cowan, who was away at a conference but read my email and called me back almost immediately. He feels Ryan may need to begin an anti-anxiety medication. He said it sounds like Ryan is dealing with something big inside. It can be a mix of school, peer relations, hormones, as well as other things. He holds himself together all day at school and can't control himself any longer once he gets home. School personnel are working with us to secure outside counseling, and a meeting is being set up to revisit his counseling sessions at school and add individual counseling sessions to his IEP. Last year we were denied individual counseling as part of his IEP and instead given group counseling with his peers. We have an appointment set up with a therapist who specializes in working with children with special needs, but unfortunately that appointment is still two weeks away. We are working on getting a psychiatrist to see Ryan. Any suggestions of someone in the Dutchess/Putnam area, please let us know! We're waiting to hear back from his regular pediatrician for recommendations, but if she doesn't have any we're heading into this blind.
We're also trying some new supplements as per Dr. Cowan's suggestion, including L-Theanine which is an amino acid and may help curb anxiety. He also suggested Ryan take a bath in Epsom salt since the magnesium may have a calming affect on him. Ryan took one on Friday night and enjoyed it so much that he asked to do it again on Saturday and Sunday. I pray that he has a good day at school tomorrow. We will, as always, continue to keep everyone updated. And I ask again that you join our prayer chain!
DC
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