Ask Dr. Doreen: ABA ~ Medication ~ Regaining Attention and More!

On this episode of Ask Dr. Doreen, the founder of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders answers viewer questions about ABA, regaining attention, depression, anxiety, medication and much more!

Questions Asked:

05:36 - Hi! My son is now 3...he does 12 hours of denver a week but it's not enough because he's nonverbal and moderate..now that's he's 3 well start more hours. ..like 20-30 a week of ABA...will he still have a chance to get out of the spectrum? Thank you

09:35 - How to deal with depression? My son autistic 10 years old and most of the time is depressed. How can I deal with this?

20:13 – Medication for depression and anxiety

23:34 - My 7 years old son clenchs his jaw like an underbite . He does this like it is his stimming. I keep telling him to close his mouth correctly and He does it but how to make him aware because his lips are getting dry and I imagine that can cause pain in his jaw.

27:36 - How can I deal with when my son is in his head to bring him back to interact with us . Telehealth is difficult some times. Regaining his attention. Any suggestions?

29:57 - What is y'alls thoughts on the covid vaccine, there is a lot of hesitancy including from my own parents, some due to the wakefield paper, some due to other things. Do y'all recommend it?

38:41 – Hello Ladies, I would like to ask for help with my son who just a few weeks ago started having intense behaviors. Which include doing rituals like tapping on things, going back to step on the floor, running towards the door of the house, running towards the kitchen wall, he is also crying out of nowhere, screaming, asking for help and saying things like "Don't take me" and "I don't want to die". When my husband or myself try to stop him from doing some of the rituals he becomes aggressive towards us or himself. I'm not sure where all this behavior came from but it all started around Christmas time. Prior to the procedure the behavior starting he had a dental procedure to remove two baby teeth that were not coming out on their own and adult teeth were already coming in. The experience was traumatic. They had to strap him down because he was trying to hit. He had never had a procedure like that done before. The whole time from start to finish he cried, screamed and asked for help. It was the most traumatizing day I swear. I feel like all these behaviors started the day after the dentist. He has never had such rigid behavior before. He seems scared and super anxious it almost looks like he has panic attacks a few times a day. I asked him the other day after he had calmed down why he was squeezing his head. He replied that he heard a "Chin-Chin" Type of sound and that he wanted to touch his brain. He also added that he couldn't put his body back together and that there were a lot of sick people dying. Please help. Help me, this is really terrible seeing him. He looks like he lost he's so lost and almost like he can't control his body or his brain. Please, I don't know how to help him and I don't know how much longer I can see him like this. Thank you.

47:58 – At what age can EFT Tapping be affective with a child with trauma?

51:27 - wish I knew how to handle my brother, even after many years I still don't know how to prevent his anger bursts. He's in his 60's now and still unpredictable and has a very short fuse.

56:10 - Is it normal for schools to not want to be on board with your child ABA program? I thought ABA was generalized? They want to do their own thing and I wanted ABA to be a part of his IEP.