Aspies For Freedom

This morning my son was his usual self. Talkative, active, imaginary games and so on.  He likes school and always runs in school gate without even saying goodbye.

This morning, on way to out of school care, he said he had a sore tummy.  He seemed ok and didn't seem to be in any pain, so I didn't really make much of it, other than to say "Oh, do you?".  Then he said that he wouldn't be in the gang today - that's his wee group of friends.  I asked if there was something about being in the gang that gave him a sore tummy and he said that they did a lot of running about and the sore tummy meant that he wouldn't want to do that.

Has anyone had anything similar to this with their children, or when they were children?  My son's six.  There is to be a sponsored obstacle course today, which they did last year and he had to be helped down from a high bit and helped over a wall, but he's looking forward to that.  As he's small for his age, it's not surprising he needs help and he seems to accept that.  However, I do wonder if that's a factor.  

Any ideas?

Pain often makes me unable to concentrate much.

It's probably nervous pain.

I always worry about pain. Hrick is hypotactile so he often just does not feel it like the next guy, and when he does feel it,  he has difficulty locating its source. I actually do regular 3 month well check ups w/ Dr. just to make sure he hasn't broken anything or inadvertently hurt something we don't know about.

In this instance the other options mentioned make far more sense in their likelihood, but I thought it might be worth mentioning for someone as future reference that  Sepsis is in the top 3 causes of death for autistic children. Drownings are up there too. If he subsequently gets a fever and/ nausea to go with it I'd have Dr. check him out just to be safe. With these kids what you think might just be a virus can actually be a real killer.

Sounds like he may be nervous about something to me.

I used to get a lot of nervous stomach aches and had quite a few medical investigations for them. Saying I was scared of doing particular things would have only got a response that I had to do them anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts.  I think it probably is nervousness, and I'll just have to work out what it is that making him feel that way.  It could be trouble with the gang or maybe a fear of this obstacle course.  He often is really desperate to do things, then discovers that it frightens him.  Or it could be something else altogether that I'm unaware of.

I was interested in what MomofHrick had to say because I've noticed that while he'll make a huge fuss over some minor bumps and grazes he often seems oblivious to more serious cuts, sometimes bleeding.  When asked about them he doesn't know what you're talking about, and when you show him he still doesn't know what happened and is unconcerned.  I'm a bit like this myself with minor cuts - sometimes it's only when I notice blood that I realise I have a cut.

Why is that drownings are a major cause of death?  Is it because autistic children are more drawn to water, weaker swimmers or something else?  My son is attracted to water, but can't swim yet.  Hope to start lessons next month.

My son was the same way with injuries. He would fall or hit his head and it wouldnt even phase him. Luckily, now he cries and rubs whatever he hurt. He'll come to me to hold him but I have to tell him - he doesnt have that instinct.

As for the drownings, I believe it has to do with the deep pressure the water gives. My son tends to gravitate toward the water which scares me. My friends husband is a police officer and told me to get him swimming lessons due to a lot of autistic drownings. He also has an autistic son.

Thanks Breeze,

One worry I do have about swimming lessons is that the greater confidence it gives may lead to more risk of drowning - if you see what I mean.  No one in father's family was taught to swim because my granny said it meant you'd be more likely to drown because you'd be in the water, whereas if you couldn't swim you'd keep your distance.  

I think it's a matter of constant vigilance and constantly teaching respect for water.  Children who live near rivers and lochs are less likely to drown than visiting children.  The children who live near water have the dangers impressed on them from a very early age.  Mybe some kind of safety version of social stories would be helpful...

I still like water although I don't go swimming often - I don't like the noise and busy atmosphere of swimming pools.  Also don't like getting my face wet so I always end up with a sore neck keeping my face out the water.  As a child my parents always had to keep a close eye on me near water, often got wet feet and fell in a loch once - very scary - and a hotel pool once too.

One thing to keep an eye on, Marica, is that Aspies do seem prone to digestive problems.  It could be his diet, and it could be constipation.  My son started complaining about the elastic in his undies, asking for bigger ones, and that went on for over half a year before the cramps got so bad that I realized it could not be the elastic, and took him to the doctor.  It turned out that he was constipated, despite pooping regularly, because he was never getting it ALL out.  I had no idea that was possible, but that was what was happening.

I posted a very similar thread about my son's headaches/stomach aches a little while back. It sounds to me like what you're experiencing is very similar and could well be caused by nerves (through excitement or fear) or having something different happening at school. I was given some really helpful suggestions on the thread I posted so it would be worth having a read through it.
One thing I have found since then is that explaining to my son that the pain may be his body's was of expressing that he's nervous or coping with a change to his normal routine, seems to have made it easier for him to deal with, that's not to say it hurts any less but he says it helps to understand why it's happening. So if you find this happening a lot I'd recommend talking it through with your son.
Good luck

Thanks, Belinda, that's helpful - as are all the other posts.  Thanks, guys!

I checked out your thread and have added to it re. possible migraine/aspie link.

They've wrecked some town pools by putting swimming lanes all the way across. After nearly drowning during a school swimming lesson at 12, I have been very fearful of deep water and only go in very rarely.