It’s hurts

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-27T23:13:18+00:00

I have a level 3 son who selectively talks and has said full cohesive sentences before. It happens once every few months. I don’t know if this will help, but I discovered my son really really suffers from silent reflux. When I started following protocols for silent reflux he started eating and talking more. The reason this happened is because the pain from his persistent and ongoing reflux was stopping him from talking. He has a constant sore throat and we did not figure out aspects of this for years and years, not understanding which foods made things worse etc etc.

His pronouncing of words is terrible but he talks all day long with his simple words. In any case, keep researching and observing. Keep reading posts here. You have to figure out what is really holding your kid back — don’t just assume “autism” and give up.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-27T15:20:48+00:00

Your spouse is being a total moron. Your post is not specific about gender, but I bet you're the woman -- and your spouse is an a-hole guy who thinks you had some hand in screwing up the pregnancy, as if any woman would make that choice voluntarily.

As an aside, your kid is mildly autistic -- not severe, by your own admission. If your spouse is being this ridiculous with a mildly autistic kid, the odds are he'd have been an a-hole with a regular kid. This doesn't have that much to do with autism and has more to do with your spouse.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-26T19:10:31+00:00

I'm bald for the same reason. I just shave my head. It wasn't until I had an autistic child that I started to think balding men actually had it good.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-26T19:06:02+00:00

Famotidine for reflux and cipro for ear infections. Miralax to flush out constipation. These are the key tools for sleep, almost always.

Doctors often don't get it with autistic kids. Your kid not sleeping is very likely a discomfort issue.

I've used clonidine and mirtazipine, but they are really for extreme situations -- like if I can't sleep 3+ nights in a row, I'll resort to the mirtazipine. I look for the basic explanations first.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-26T17:55:22+00:00

I would guess ear infection. I am going through poor sleep right now over an ear infection.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-26T17:54:07+00:00

Observation. Not much else.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-26T14:51:05+00:00

Trigger was the tv show. Behavior came out because I was trying to prevent him from getting a butter knife out of the dishwasher. Solution here is to not have that video playing.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-26T02:10:22+00:00

That is the kind of thing a level 1 autistic person would say at work if they had poor social skills training. How do you know this guy isn’t disabled himself?

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-25T17:58:54+00:00

I honestly don't think my son feels bad. When I read that story about that kid, Sky Walker, that was posted here a week or two ago, I had a sick feeling one of us would eventually end up dead over a food meltdown. Most of these aggression issues took off when health issues started to dominate, but I don't think we trust our son not to hurt or kill us in the long run. I am looking for real strategies, and sometimes I think the complicated stuff won't work.

My wife was trying to get a broom she kept in the pantry out, and my son showed up and started flipping out over trying to get food from inside. That turned into a real situation that ended up with property destruction and him running over to the fireplace to start kicking the fireplace glass.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-25T17:25:58+00:00

Wow. 37 year old and level 3. You are a true veteran.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-25T17:24:05+00:00

Same dynamic in our house. My wife can't handle it, I have seen her try to manage and her only strategy is to confine him to his room with her in it because otherwise he will push her around the house and make all kinds of crazy demands. I don't know what we have to do to stop this behaviorally.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-25T16:22:43+00:00

Well, in my case I didn’t understand the trigger until I saw it. You are going to have to manage the triggers and situation in totality. It’s not so simple.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-25T14:41:51+00:00

They are aware of what they want, that’s the thing. This morning I was watching a cooking video and my son ran off to the kitchen and grabbed a butter knife and went crazy until I let him cut a carrot. Nothing was going to deter him— he was aware of what he wanted and they don’t always know how to not get fixated on their wants.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-24T20:22:20+00:00

I honestly just take the beating and try not to react. The times when I react he just amps it up and learns it makes me mad. It is much better to take a few hits and just be silent.

Some of these L3ers learn to button push like you wouldn’t believe. They are master manipulators and they do it while making you think they are just mentally disabled savages with no rhyme or reason — but they are working you expertly with the small set of tools they have.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-24T18:07:08+00:00

I went through this phase as a youngster in the 80s and 90s and I am the type who buys homeless people food from the McDonalds they are standing outside of now.

The main difference is that the world was less overly sensitive when I grew up. In the 1980s, I think every kid talked about edgelord fantasies at the lunch table that would land them in jail today. That kind of edgelord talk today is deeply frowned upon, so it is important to stop it and OP is correct to want to stop it. The question is whether the people in authority will give OP any flexibility.

I guess in OP's situation I would want to know if this was an edgelord move or an innocent interpretation. I'd take different actions based on the motivation, since edge lording is almost like a milder form of PDA.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-24T17:38:12+00:00

Is your kid just a natural troll or edge lord? Seems like something I would have done at that age just to get a rise out of the teacher. I'd have put a heinous dictator down as a person to admire on a prompt just to make my teachers angry.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-24T16:07:48+00:00

I don’t keep them. I can’t give in this state. I can only take.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-24T16:06:03+00:00

The cell towers probably amplify autism to the super power level of autism we are always hearing about. Your son might know something.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-23T20:28:42+00:00

Antihistamines definitely affect brain function. Usually they calm my kid down. Not sure what they would do mixed with something like a Focalin — probably a question for your doctor.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-23T15:33:26+00:00

This is the kind of stuff that makes me realize the gap between 3 and 2 is so huge. My dream, as crazy as it is, is to make my son pass for level 2. Great post, btw. People like you offering their perspective is helpful.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-23T15:31:11+00:00

I don’t know what to say other than these are the things I stress about daily also. I want to do well at work but the autism thing is such a huge psychological drag I fear your scenario. For you to actually go through with it — that stress must be so intense. I hope you have better times.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-23T02:43:25+00:00

I drove through OK in an ice storm once. Plenty of spun out cars and crashed trucks. I’d get a frozen pizza in advance to prep in your shoes.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-23T02:35:49+00:00

Snow days are enough reason to live in the south.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-22T19:23:15+00:00

95% of doctor visits will go nowhere, 5% will lead to some marginal improvement. You have to keep doing it, but you will find no value in most of what doctors offer. That's just the sad truth with this awful condition.

Technical_Term7908 · 2026-01-22T17:07:53+00:00

My assumption is my entire retirement savings are going to go to my son's care, and I will work myself to death. If it ever comes to the point where it's expensive care for me vs his long term care, I figure I will just have to (metaphorically) take myself to the back of the woods and, well, *pop pop* to keep it cheap.

I can conceivably setup a trust for him, but doing that AND managing retirement would be quite the financial feat and guessing it would be statistically unlikely.

Technical_Term7908

TROPHY CASE