[~Karla~]

My 6yo has Aspergers and Anxiety. He's a hugely anxious kid. He's always had fears about certain things and "baddies" have been a recurring theme. For the last few months, his fear of "baddies" has been almost crippling. For some reason, a family member decided to tell him about the recent school shooting (I have NFI why ) and when he freaked out, told him that "only people in America have lots and lots of guns". He's now terrified of Americans, terrified that a "baddie" American will come to Australia and shoot him or that we will go to America one day (no plans for that!). It has also made his anxiety about getting lost etc and a "baddie" finding him a hundred times worse. He's no longer confident in the protective behaviours I have already taught him (listen to your body etc), so I need something more.

I've promised him we can do some "action plans" tomorrow. We do lots of social stories etc so it's a format he knows and I know he responds well to. What are the best websites for teaching protective behaviours etc for young kids? He responds well to computers, so looking it up on the computer will work well for him.

Any ideas?

[baddmammajamma]

Karla --

Not a direct answer to your question, but have you considered cognitive behavioral therapy for him? J has just completed several months of it (weekly sessions) based on Macquarie University's very highly regarded "Cool Kids" program:

http://centreforemotionalhealth.com.au/pag...ds-program.aspx

Her psychologist is trained to offer it one on one, and it has really, really, really helped with the ASD-related anxiety.

They have an outreach program, too:
https://accessmq.com.au/node/135

[baddmammajamma]

PS: Who is the jerk in the family who freaked him out like that?!!!!!!!!!!

You might want to show him some really friendly Americans in the meantime (I'm sure you could find a lot of stuff on youtube). Or I could fly up.

Hope you are able to help him through this latest challenge. xoxo

[~Karla~]

We have been doing CBT all year but his psych is on holidays right now. I know being a "problem solver" and writing out action plans helps him (we've been doing it all year), and have promised him we will do it tomorrow.

[~Karla~]

That's a great idea K - you could fly up and he could see not all Americans are baddies! How soon can you get here?

[baddmammajamma]

Karla:

If J had the same fear, I'd first assure her that America has very few baddies...but

The best way to fight those few baddies is to make sure you have a really great group of Goodies!

Perhaps you could pre-identify some "inspirational" pictures or stories to share with him & ask him who he wants to tap for his Goodies Team.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/moments-tha...humanity-this-y

You could also ask him to identify X number of people he knows in real life who are Goodies (friends, teachers, etc.) who could be part of his team.

[~Karla~]

Aww, I liked that link!

That's very much my plan for tomorrow, but I am also concerned that he seems to lost faith in the protective behaviours he knows, so I want to clarify them again too. He's been watching Ninjago and is scared that someone he knows as a goodie will be turned evil and he might not realise in time - and now he has this fear that the newly converted "baddie" will have a gun and shoot everyone. So I want to remind him to listen to his body and trust his instincts.

*sigh* Sometimes I wish people had to screen their words with me before they could talk to my kids.

[baddmammajamma]

*sigh* Sometimes I wish people had to screen their words with me before they could talk to my kids.

I would let THAT person serve as the target while your son practices his best ninja moves.

Honestly, WTF were they thinking???!

[~Karla~]

I honestly do not know. She wasn't trying to freak him out and when she realized she had, she tried to backpedal which made it worse. But why an adult would decide to tell a 6yo that someone walked into a school and shot 26 kids and teachers is beyond me.

[bubba boo]

Along the lines the goodies team how about giving your local police station a call. A tour of the police station, seeing all the people who help stop the baddies might help. More of a long term thing but martial arts classes are great to boost confidence and would help with anxiety like this if he could cope with the class.

This post has been edited by bubba boo: 20/12/2012, 07:27 AM