Autism | Autism PDD

My son is 14 years old he simply goes crazy when he gets around alot of people he starts hugging everyone he knows and gets right up in there faces . I like to know if these kids can't handle big crowds .

Not all autistic kids react in the way you describe, but most do not like big crowds. My 9 year old son reacts by trying to escape or by touching/snuggling me to get comforting sensory input that counteracts the unpleasant sensory input of a crowd (noise, lots of visual details, people bumping into you -- an unpredictable environment that is beyond the individual's control).

An indoor crowd is harder for my son than an outdoor crowd, maybe because of the acoustics or sense of not being able to escape easily.

Autistics kids often have problems getting inappropriately close to people and touching them inappropriately. Your son hugs, whereas my son has been known to touch his classmates' ears when stressed.

Does your son have a diagnosis? Best of luck with everything.

When my ds is in a room with many people he gets hyper and starts
hugging or bouncing into people. He also has almost no eye-contact,
poor physical boundries and seems very disoriented to me.Hi Jackie, My 12 year old aspie son acts this way. In his case we believe it is anxiety, he has never been able to be in a room with other people without going nuts on us, and the other people. It might be anxiety or a sensory issue, Does he sit to close to people, have personnel space problems when he is alone with you? My son does this even if there is only one person in the room other than our own family. he is also a big hugger inappropriately. My son behaves similar to norway moms son in noisy, crowded places. He wants me to hold him and rub on my elbow and squints eyes shut and rocks his head in a ticking motion or he gets very upset and yells at everyone or escapes away from everyone or puts himself to bed. Altho in places that arnt so loud and crowded he will be very hyper and loud and roll around on the floor.

Jackie -- Do you know about Sensory Integration Dysfunction? Since I'm assuming you're a nurse from your name, I'm posting a more professional book to read -- Sensory Integration and the Child. It's the original text on SID. SID is part and parcel of autism. Our kids have various degrees of it and are bothered by various types of stimulation (or need MORE stimulation). It's also at the bottom of ADHD symptoms. Read up on it. A more parent-friendly book, which is great, is The Out of Sync Child. Since your son has reached 14, I'm assuming he's had sensory issues before. Talk to an OT about getting therapy for him and parent training for you so that you can help him tolerate large groups. He's going to be Transition age this coming year. That means you must already begin preparing him for the world of work. He won't be able to hold a job if he cannot tolerate being around lots of people. Getting good OT interventions with a therapist who understand SID should be a part of his IEP.

Here are some online resources which might come in handy for you:

http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16099&am p;KW=puberty+resources - links to puberty resources

http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17860&am p;KW=transition+to+adult - links to transition resources

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html - sensory processing disorder checklist

http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16265&am p;KW=iep+goal+resources - links to an IEP goal bank and other IEP resources.

Good luck with everything.