America Wake-Up! We are Failing Mental Health Diagnoses and Treatment of Autistic Children

I am disgusted with the State of Texas Adolescent Psychiatry’s lack of care. My grandson has a legitimate need for inpatients with a follow-up outpatient care program and was denied that help because of his diagnosis of Autism level two.

The main point I am trying to get across is that Texas adolescent psychiatric medical is failing our autistic children who grow to be adults without medical treatments for their psychiatric conditions. I believe that citizens with autism may become homeless if they do not have a strong family support structure willing to be there to help them adjust to their mental illnesses and develop a positive quality of life.

My grandson would be great one moment then it was like a switch had been flipped on and he would have heightened rages and succeeded in hurting people he loved. He was hearing voices that told him to do bad things, like hurt people, to run away, to kill himself, to go to jail and be murdered, and evil thoughts about himself.

My grandson’s regular psychiatrist did not want to see or speak to him until after he was in these programs. Needless to say, that left our family in a helpless bind. My daughter researched the dosages of his current medications and determined the maximum on how much her son could take of each medicine. She tweaked the dosages with the final approval of her son’s psychiatrist. We are all hoping that the changes will work and control the rages and stop the inner voices that my grandson is enduring.

He needed emergency help and no one would provide it. We went to emergency rooms and sat for hours only to be turned down after their assessments that told us he was Autistic and they did not have a place for him with that diagnosis. We told him straight off that he was Autistic level 2 when we went into the assessment. My daughter spent the week taking him to find help every day to no avail. At the last hospital, we went to and they said no; I told the intake nurse that we were desperate to find help for him and my daughter told me “They don’t care; they just don’t care.” it made the nurse mad but my daughter was correct, they didn’t care or they would have helped him.

Part of the reason we think that the medicine dosage needs to be changed is that my grandson had grown 6 inches in one year, to 6 feet tall and 155 pounds. He is still a young teenager. Also with his type of autism and other medical issues, he is extremely hyper and in constant motion burning a lot of calories each day.   

Many families turn to law enforcement when their child becomes so violent that they are being hurt by their child. Our greatest concern was that he is a foot taller than me and has an advantage over me if he tries to injure me he can do some real damage; he has choked me twice already, and injured his grandpa in the head and waist. We do not want to go the police route. We will hire a behavior aide if necessary to help us between the afterschool hours till Mommy gets home from work, whereas she can block and defend herself and us when raging behavior occurs. 

When a child goes the law enforcement route they are treated like criminals and put in the population of other normal inmates who will retaliate against raging behavior. The child will get hurt or killed in the county/city jail for something they have no control over. Medication will help control the rages behavior but the child has to have it done in a hospital or clinical setting where they are monitored 24/7 for four days of initial treatment. The outpatient day clinics are essential in monitoring behavioral changes and dealing with the emotions attached to their behavior and giving them tools to help to prevent hurting someone when they are angry. 

Medication will help control the rages behavior but the child has to have it done in a hospital or clinical setting where they are monitored 24/7 for four days of initial treatment. Medication will help control the rages behavior but the child has to have it done in a hospital or clinical setting where they are monitored 24/7 for four days of initial treatment.

These children are not bad people. As a matter of fact, my grandson is the most loving and considerate person when he is not having rages. He cares deeply about his family telling us he loves us and snuggles with us although is literal age is 14 years old however he is 6-7 years of social age; we have a teenager with all the hormones that go with it but the mental ability of understanding as a 1st-2nd grader. We love him and his brother who is Autistic with social anxiety issues wholeheartedly, they are our grandchildren- our precious babies, and we will do everything in our power to help them achieve all the success and love that God has appointed for them. 

As citizens of the United States of America, I appeal to you to contact your Representatives to advocate for these children and adults. I am sure many of our homeless citizens are there because they fell through the cracks of mental health treatment.

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