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A Pleading Mother's Nightmare

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buckeyegrown

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Ohio
I'm in a jam in Ohio reguarding my 13yr. old son who has asperger's syndrome, and my daughter who is 12yrs. old. My son has asperger's syndrome a form of autism. He was seeing a psychiatrist and a counselor through a city guidance center. They were treating him for bi-polar, which he did not have, with a medication called lithium carbonate, a stimulant drug, and several antidepressants. The antidepressants were used one for so long then switched to a different one due to them not working correctly for him. He was on one called paxil at the time to which I will refer to. Back in 2001 he started getting really out of control with his behaviours and I had him hospitalized to get his meds. straightened out. By the time 2002 rolled orund, he was much worse. He started setting fires in our home while I was sleeping. When asked why he had done this, he stated that the devil and his dad had told him to. He had not seen nor talked to his dad in over 2 yrs. We had divorced and my son wanted nothing to do with him. My x was mean to him. I told his counselor and tried to talk to his psychiatrist about this. They suggested taking him to a fire class at the hospital. I signed him up but they weren't having another one for months. He had been going to this psychiatrist for 3 months and we still had not even meet the guy. All we saw was the nurse receiptionist. She said the dr. was too busy to see all his patients. Yet he was the one deciding on his meds and perscribing them. The previous psychiatrist checked his level at least once a month. This guy never checked his level. I had finally had enough and took him back to the E.R. and told them he was a danger to himself and others. They immediately took him off of all meds. except for the stimulant drug. They put him on risperdal and wellbutrin along with the concerta. My fiancee's mother is a registered psychiatric nurse and she said to check into asperger's. She said she didn't see the bi-polar which the psychiatrist where he was being seen was treating him for. The dr. at the hospital agreed. I told him how we had been going to the guidance center and that we still had not met the psychiatrist who was perscribing his meds along with upping the dosage evrytime I called and complained. He said to call and make a follow up app. with him and to tell them I would not bring him unless I could talk to thye dr. directly. We went and the dr. met with us for 15 minutes. I told him about the asperger's and asked his diagnosis. He asked my son what the expressions on some childrens faces meant and my son told him exactly so therefore he did not have asperger's according to him. My mom has the exact picture in her home so my son knew what they meant. He said he saw signs of it but not to the full extent. He then asked my son if he was ever sad. He said yes so according to him he had bi-polar but not to the full extent. I was seeing a counselor and I told her all of this and that something needed done because of all the stress I was under my bloodsugars were way out of control. She called every agency that took our insurance for help with my son. She then called children services and told them I needed a respite so I could get my bloodsugars back under control and that I may have to be hospitalized and had nowhere for him to go. They took him on June 24, 2002 to a respite and that the last time he has lived at home. I've contacted all of the attorneys in our local phonebook and nobody will take this case. As soon as I tell them who the parties involved are they say sorry good luck. Can a CPS agency not be sued? They had him in a group home from 6/02 till Aug. 2002. They then told me that in order to get him the correct treatment he would have to go to a residential treatment facility to address his previous behaviours, due to the meds. mind you,. I asked them if I would keep custody and if when he got through he could return home and they said yes to both. By the time he had got to the residential in Aug. his behaviours were a complete turn around due to the meds he was on. Since then he has been fine when on those meds. He had no problems whatsoever in the residential. Afetr he was there for a yr. they were ready to send him to a step down and then home. The childrens services kept stalling on their part. They then said that the cluster group, who was paying for his treatment ran out of funds and that they had to have custody to get the state to pay for it. Yet he was on medicaid but they were not billing them for any of his treatment. The court gave them temp. custody. The guidance center felt he had not recieved enough treatment yet so childrens services said the same. They have since moved him to a foster home for his step down and he has been there since dec. 2003. He has to complete a 6 step program and he is still on the first step. He was ready to be moved to the 2nd and he told them he wanted to do it all over again because the other group memebers said he rushed through it too fast. We just went back to court and they got a 6th month extension on their custody and childrens services said after the 6th months is up they will need another one that my son will still not be through. How can they do this. I have a public defender and my son has a GAL and a public defneder and they are not helping at all. Any suggestions? They have violated so many of our cival rights and nothing is being done. My son is suffering in their care yet it's in his best interest and he has not even got to be at court for any of the hearings. Please forgive me for writting so much but nobody will take this case. Do any of you know of an attorney of lawfirm that will take this?
Thanks so much
 


rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Asperger's disorder is difficult to diagnose and difficult to treat, often medications do not work as expected, or help for a time, lithium often helps behaviors but may not help the underlying thought disorders. It is not unusual to also have symptoms of bi-polar, OCD, ADD/ADHD, psychosis and can range from quiet and shy to behaviors you describe or worse. Cognitive restructuring takes a long itme and may not be available. Your son would have memorized the face/emotions chart and that in not the test for Asperger's, it is a battery of tests usually administered by a neuropsychologist.

Asperger's is chronic, unfortunately it does not go away although it may improve or even be high functioning. It is new enough a Dx that the long term outcomes are not known but more and more adults are Dx with it and eventually degenerative brain disorder. Although your child may catch up to grade level and be very intelligent, even making a match for skills may have an opportunity for employment he may never live without support of some type. However, learning appropriate behavior, once it is learned by rote another way is difficult to change or to teach skills requiring flexability, that is why it is so difficult to treat and why he may believe or confabulate things that don't exist.

It is a good thing he has a PD and a GAL, although they may not understand what they are working with. It is importnat to establish before he is 18 that the is disabled so he can access services also that it is understood that he has a developmental not a mental health disorder and that he is placed appropriately otherwise he will learn the wrong behaviors because he cannot tell right from wrong, he may know the rules and recite them, but he has no way to know when to apply them.

Insofar as attorneys you will need to explore advocacy groups for special education special/ASD populations here are several links with resources including some attorneys also contact the Asperger groups and Autism groups:

Special Education Attorneys and Advocates - Behavioral Specializing in special education law and autism spectrum. ... .
http://rsaffran.tripod.com/legal.html
ASO - Links http://groups.yahoo.com/group/connecting2worlds
For parents, professionals, and advocates who live in Ohio. It is not intended to be for general autism chat as http://www.autismohio.org/links/
also see http://www.faaas.org

I hope this helps.
 

buckeyegrown

Junior Member
Thank you so much for the info. I will deffinately keep all of this in mind and will look at the websites you referred. I know this is going to be a hard road for him and I want to get him what he will need to help him through. I have contaced the AFRA and they are going to help us possibly. It is just so unfair how they have more or less kept him from me, the only one who really understands him. I just don't understand how they can force him to take s.o. treatment when nothing has actually been proven to the extent that they seem to think it has. My son wants to come home so bad and has been lied to so many times by these people who are suppose to be there to help. Again, I thank you for the advice and will check into these sites. :)
 

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