Aspergers Children & Anger Control

My 7-year-old boy becomes very angry a lot of the time. What can I do to help him deal with his frustrations better?

A great deal of stress is likely due to his Aspergers. Some kids react by becoming depressed, some become anxious, and others become angry and experience rage against the frustrating events that occur in their day. Some kids externalize their feelings and blame others, while some internalize their feelings and have a difficult time controlling their anger. There may be no particular event to his anger – just an aggressive mood or reaction to a frustrating experience.

Encourage self-control and teach your youngster to consider alternative behaviors. Self-control can be strengthened by teaching your youngster to stop and count to ten, taking a deep breath and reminding themselves to keep calm. Or for some kids it is helpful that they have an agreed room or particular space that they take themselves too when they feel that they are getting anxious/angry.

Specific relaxation techniques can be practiced and your youngster can be taught the cues when they must calm down and relax. Explain the alternative to your youngster and in specific terms.

Keep in mind that your son will most likely have difficulty expressing what is making him angry. You will need to assess the situation to determine what may be provoking him.

Another alternative is to keep him engaged in activities that burn off energy and reduce his need to express the anger that he is feeling.

Asperger’s Syndrome Therapies

There is no cure to the Syndrome called Aspergers which is a form of mild autism and referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder and as Pervasive Developmental Disorder or PDD. There are several medicines that are often prescribed to keep the various symptoms of the syndrome in control but the long term use of these drugs is not advisable as they have their side effects. There are anti-depressants and stimulants of various sorts which are given to patients of Aspergers to try and keep their symptoms and their comorbid conditions in check but most people still prefer natural ways to treat Aspergers and various therapies which help the victims.

There are several herbal as well as homeopathic drugs that are used to help the various symptoms like irritability, depression, anxiety, attention deficiency, hyperactivity, repetitive behavior and much more. There are herbal therapies that include the ingredients Passiflora, Chamomile, John’s Wort and many others.

The therapies which are used for Aspergers are:

• Speech therapy
• Social skills training
• Sensory integration therapy
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy

The cognitive behavioral therapy is the one which is the most famous procedure and in this the focus is kept on teaching the youngster with Aspergers social norms and right behavior as well as right conduct. Usually in this therapy the youngster is made to understand certain situations that may arise in his or her life and then he or she is taught the right reaction in such a situation. A specific learned strategy is something that helps the youngster to understand and cope up with new and problematic situations. The youngster is also taught as to how he or she can control the emotions which is very hard for one with Aspergers.

In the social skills training sessions the youngster is taught social skills like a foreign language and they are also taught as to how they can understand the various communication techniques like gestures, body language, eye contact and undertone of the speaker.

In speech therapy a youngster or an adult with Aspergers is taught and trained to speak in a rhythmical way which is not extremely monotonous. They are also taught to speak in a normal tone and pitch which is usually distorted in a person with Aspergers.

In physical and occupational therapy the motor skills of the person with Aspergers is improved. He or she is trained to acquire skills that require motor functionality and then develop these skills with time. They are also given enough training to make them independent in their future so that they can work individually with little help from others. In occupational therapy the therapist deals with the youngster’s finer motor skills and in the physical therapy the therapist deals with the gross motor skills and a part of occupational therapy is sensory integration therapy which has shown successful results over the years. Kids who go through these therapy sessions show better mannerism and behavior than those that live with Aspergers without any training or therapy.