Sleep Issues and ADHD

I am having so much trouble getting Israel to go to bed nicely, and it is causing such a scene at bedtime that I am suprised we have not been reported for waking up the neighbors.  It starts with him whining when I tell him it's time for bed.  That is not unusual.  Then the "naughty voice" usually makes an appearance.  This is the voice that usually indicates the need for stimulous, or they like to call it "motor".  He is very smart, and I am not totally convinced that he isn't simply trying to delay bedtime.  Zach can hit his pillow and be asleep mere minutes later.  Israel has been taking a solid hour lately, complete with wicked, unpredictable melt-downs.  I don't know if it is stimulous-related or attention-related, as he rarely tells me what is wrong, why he can't settle down, and by the time he starts wailing, I can't get a peep out of him.  I am at my wits end.  My parenting skills have suffered from the extreme stress of the situation, and my thoughts keep going back to medication.  He most definitely has difficulty controlling his emotions, this is common for kids on the spectrum, and for ADHD, both show understimulation of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is the part that regulates emotions.  But, ADHD meds are stimulants, so I am worried if I put him on that, he may have an even harder time getting to bed.  There doesn't seem to be an easy answer, so the battle continues.  I will try to get more information from him so we can hopefully head it off before it starts. 
I am worried that Zach is on the ADHD scale too, but with him it is in the form of impulsivity.  He will just be playing with something and then stop and throw it across the room.  And when he is bored, his body gets out of control, he jumps up and down with no reguard to what is nearby, often knocking things off shelves in stores, or completely falling over.  I'm afraid he is going to hurt himself one day.  And he does hurt others, sometimes with no apparent reason, just standing next to someone and decides to kick them or push them, or in the case of his brother, jump on him and wrestle him to the ground.  When asked, Zach is pretty good at telling me when he needs pressure or to jump on the bed, but sometimes the unpredictable things he does are unexplainable.  That is what leads me to believe he also has an underactive prefrontal cortex that he is trying to stimulate. 
It is frightening to see that some of these symptoms get worse in adolescence, as we are barrelling toward it in a hurry.  I don't want them to feel miserable and have to resort to such drastic ways of having their needs met, but medicating them scares me.  More research is needed on my part, and finding a family doctor I can trust. 
In my Human Development class we talk about yelling and spanking alot and it makes me think about my parenting skills, and how I am simply following my own mother's parenting style most of the time.  That is not good, considering the struggles my mother faced.  Her situation was much different than mine, so why should my parenting style follow hers?  I was reminded that yelling and spanking only addresses what not to do, and doesn't teach them what to do.  I am constantly preaching that hurting others is not ok, and then when they do something bad enough, or when I am at the end of my rope stresswise, I spank them.  So I see a lot of areas where I need some work.  Right now, I am looking forward to this semseter of college being done next week, so I can give them a lot more attention, and I'm looking forward to their summer break so we can go off and have fun when and where ever we want.

A Chapter is not Enough

In this, my first semester back in college, I have finally reached the Autism chapter of my Abnormal Child Psychology class.  I was really disappointed in how the text book started the chapter with an insinuation that autistic children are subhuman, by saying many of the traits that make us human are the ones that are deficient in people on the spectrum.  Yes, there are deficiencies in social skills and even in communication, but is that all that really makes us human?  And what are we measuring this by?  Many non-verbals can communicate, just not in the way society is demanding of them.  If you don't think so, research Carly Fleischmann's story.  And what are we saying about deaf people then?  I understand the point that was being made, but I think in this day and age, with so many being diagnosed worldwide, we have a responsibility to be more careful about how we address people on the spectrum.  They are not deaf and they are not mentally retarded.  They  are fully able to  comprehend things that are said and have extraordinary recall.  They just cannot use expressive language as freely as others, and even may take a little longer to express themselves when/if they do.  It doesn't mean they don't understand what is being said about them. 
In my class last night, as we were breezing straight through the topic, there were so many times I wanted to comment, to add to the lecture my own personal experiences and argue some things being taught, but the professor is against us sharing anything too personal and I could tell she wanted to get through it quickly so we could leave early.  We are watching the movie Temple Grandin, which I think is a phenomenal thing to show and I applaud her wisdom in that decision. 
But when the chapter is done, that is all we have for Autism.  In this great University of Wisconsin system, which has been reguarded so highly for it's academic excellence, I feel like there is a huge lack of classes in autism.  With 1 in 88 folks on the spectrum already, courses should be available at every college in the country, we shouldn't have to rearrange our whole lives to find a college that offers courses in it.  I know that it takes time to implement such programs, and that it will happen in time.  We certainly want someone teaching the course that has worked extensively with autistic children, and not just occassionally encountered an autistic child in the course of treating the masses of depressed people.  Not that I'm knocking anyone, every kind of therapy is vital, but for me, I want to see more courses offered in autism, and eventually, I'd like to see a degree in autism treatment being offered.  Yes it is a branch of psychology, yes it is a branch of human development, and even social work, occupational therapy and speech therapy if we want to get technical.  But within those broad courses, there is very little that applies to autism, and to those who want to chose a career in helping spectrum people.  So there is one area I hope comes along in my lifetime.  In the meantime, I will take my overgeneralized psychology courses on marriage issues, drugs, aging, etc that have very little to do with a problem that is quickly outgrowing many others combined, and not just in our country, but worldwide.  That 1 in 88 is the American statistic, but it is 1 in 150 worldwide.  And knowing that it's going to be a fair while before we get answers as to the how and why's, we had better have a competent fleet of people equipped to help these people, as they become a part of the meshwork that makes up our global demographic.  I may rant, but I also have hope.  I started this to be part of the change of things that I can see lacking, and I'm far from done.