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Hi my name is Laurie. My husband and I are raising our 8 year old grandson and

have been since he was 2 years old. He was abused and neglected by his mother

and completely ignored by his father. His father is our son.

When he first came to us, it was suggested that he may have PDD. We brought him

to the top developmental specialist where we lived at the time and he ruled it

out. Dillon didn't walk or talk until he was well past his 2nd birthday. He

was developmentally delayed (due to severe neglect we believe), he was diagnosed

as having OCD at age 3. He was also diagnosed as having a high anxiety level

and has been on prozac since age 4. He as also diagnosed with RAD.

Dillon was prone to rages and temper tantrums that could last anywhere from 15

minutes to hours on end. Psychiatrist increased his prozac. He caught up

academically and was ahead of most of his classmates once he got into school and

he absorbed information like a sponge. Socially though he has never done well.

He's never fit in. He's always preferred to be with adults than children. He

would have crying jags, etc.

We moved from NY to TN and alot of his problems seemed to go away. He actually

seemed like a different child. Things were wonderful for 7 months. No

problems. He went to NY for his birthday and when he came back, all the old

stuff started. He's back to the rages and hours long temper tantrums, his

prozac has been tripled, etc. He has now even started to become violent. He's

kicked and hit me, thrown fist sized rocks at my husband, and hit me in the back

with a crystal.

In July we had a forensic psychistric do an evaluation of him. They told us

that he had Aspergers not RAD, not OCD like we believed all these years. They

also said he has ODD.

ASPERGERS??? PDD and AS were ruled out years ago! I've been reading up on AS.

I just feel lost. Two weeks ago my husband went to my grandson's counselor and

said that they need to help us because he's afraid someone in our house is going

to get hurt and someone is going to end up in jail.

We love this little boy so very much. But we don't know where to turn to for

help. We've had friends tell us to " dump him in a foster home, he's not your

child " . But he's our grandchild and we love him fiercely. He has already had

his parents who have given up on him. We don't want to give up on him too. But

we need to understand how to help him and how to help ourselves.

Any suggestions on where to start? His counselor really isn't much help. He

got us a case manager and she is zero help.

Thank you and I'm sorry this is so long.

Laurie