anxious

[jayjay]

wonder if anyone can help me for the past 2/3 weeks now our son ASD has become very anxious to the point that he wont be left in a room on his own by this i mean i can be in the kitchen looking at him in the conservatory and he panics about being in there on his own and he can see me all the time. Today i had to do the polishing upstairs and he didnt want to come up with me as he was on the playstation, so in the end he suggested putting our dog in the room with him and closing all the doors so the dog couldnt get out of the room so he had someone there bless luckely the dog is well behaved just wondered if any one can help with any suggestions as to why he has started doing this. many thanks

jayne xx

[lainey]

my little boy also has started doing this saying come the toilet with me i'm scared and also u stay with me when he's in a room my only explannation to this is that he's getting older and is thinking a bit more and also is picking things up off tv because he started also having nightmares lainey

[reuby2]

I find my son will either see something on his T.V programs or hear something and then later he starts to be afraid. When he needs the loo upstairs he always wants us to go with him and the door shut behind us etc.

When the school nurse gave a talk about washing their hands and germs, he spent the next two weeks with his hands pulled up his sleeves and wouldn't touch things with his hands!!!!!!!

 

I struggle to know how best to help him so I always try to be there for him but then, I wonder whether I aren't just making it worse in the long run and would it be better to make him face some things alone??

 

A lot of things that he sees make him anxious.......he saw a cartoon that mentioned how fat makes it difficult for the heart to work....So now he is worried that his heart will pack up etc.

 

At 7, he won't go anywhere without me or dad. I can't leave him at a friends house or an after school club etc.I want to build his confidence but he flatly refuses to try anything outside of his routine.

 

Just a thought, you mentioned his playstation, is it possible that there is something in one of his games that has scared him? I think that the games now are so lifelike that it's scary !!!!!

 

Wishing you all the best <'> <'> Fiona.

[darky]

hi there, my daughter has been very anxious in the past and at one point became scared of her own shadow literaly.

its taken a long time to over come this, but we are getting there now. i know its tough and time consuming but i have found a visual timetable backed up with pictures has been very useful. you could also try social stories where you could explain to him that there are times when you have to get on with things and then maybe give him things to do say for a few mins at a time and slowly build it up. i use an egg timer here and that works wonders.

i bought my daughter a gameboy, only cheap but its portable so if we go somewhere that she may get anxious we take it with us.

something else i have found useful as it isnt always easy for our kids to tell you exactly what they are afraid of, but you could try drawing pictures, say your house and then a picture of you, a picture of him and write speech bubbles and get him to write how he is feeling, if he can, if not you could fill the words in for him. i did this with my girl for playground time at school and i was amazed what came out. consequently i went up the school and witnessed what she told me first hand and i was able to help her.

i have found a great deal of anxiety is umpredictability, not knowing whats happening next.

[Tylers-mum]

My son has recently started to get upset about going to bed alone, he says he's lonely and wants me in the room with him. Never had this issue before but hey, maybe something's in the air!

 

Sorry I can't offer any sound advise but wishing you all the very best. <'>

[raelien]

C is the same - Always has been - hes seven now and he needs to be on the same floor as us - I have to stay upsairs when hes gone to bed which isnt so bad as the computer is there - but the only time I can leave him alone on a different floor is if he is playing the computer - for all other times he will follow me from floor to florr - and If I send him up for his shoes for examplke - I have to come up the stairs with him - I dont know - why - cant offer any suggestions - Can only add to the fact that you arent alone - this sems to be another common thing!!

[ray]

Oh yes - this has been a real biggie for us over the years. Scared to be upstairs on his own, particularly at night, scared of being downstairs when we are upstairs. I used to have to sit by his bed until he went to sleep. Not so bad now he's older. But he still today wont watch any films with 'horror' in them, he's even gone off thrillers. Tried to get him to watch 'shaun of the dead' with us the other night (he's 17) but nothing would convince him that a film with zombies in could be a comedy. Recently somebody at college told him that Freddie Kruger really does visit you in yr dreams, and whoa, that was it - didn't want to go to sleep at night. But here's a funny thing, he would be OK if he didn't have to go to sleep until after midnight because he views after 12.00 as morning and therefore he's made it through to the next day without being got, so thats OK.

 

I would say that the scared of being alone thing is not as bad now he's older - largely because the normal stroppy teenage instincts, and he's OK with us going outat night and leaving him alonein the house. So I guess only thing is perhaps its something that might get better as they get older.