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Behaviour change

Submitted by Proud-Mum on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 3:05pm.

We have a preschool aged son with Autism and we have been pretty lucky that, although he is quite affected and has very limited communication skills, his behaviour is generally quite good. The last 4 weeks has been a huge turnaround though. There has been no change to his diet or circumstances that I can pinpoint but his sensitivities have become really pronounced with clothes especially an issue and he blows up at the slightest thing - huge meltdowns - and is inconsolable. He is generally not violent towards us but will aggressively kick anything in range.

I wondered if anyone else saw a similar inexplicable downturn in behaviour at around 5 years old and whether this was a long term change or just a blip on the radar?

‹ Discipline

Similar behavioural situation

Submitted by Lexi D on Thu, 23/10/2008 - 3:38pm.

We have had a very similar situation recently (which has still not entirely calmed down) & the behavioural change has been difficult to put down to any one thing. I think it may have been sparked by an underlying medical issue in our case as we did notice a rash (which we managed to control on the surface anyway) at around the time we started into the downward spiral.

We have had similar spikes and dips in behaviour previously but it certainly is a lot more difficult to cope with once they get a whole lot stronger & heavier!

Behaviour changes with age

Submitted by leigh on Wed, 29/10/2008 - 1:04am.
We have recently reached the age of 10 and although it is a milestone in a childs life it already looks like it's going to be one of those years.  I use to laugh at all my friends when all the children in our babies group were going through the so called terrible two's, you see my child was so contend to just sit and play with a certain toy for hours while they were chasing their children all over the place, of course I always had the particular toy that was the flavour on hand ( and I thought I was just a good parent ).  But then we hit three and life as I knew it fell apart more than Humpty Dumpty could ever imagine. Around the age of 5 produced another upscale as did the 7-8. There have of course been times of dramtic change between all this but there always seems to have been a cause that eventually was found, not so for the growth changes.  Anyway each time I have had to go back to the drawing board sort out a whole new set of statergies strengthen my arm muscles and carry on with it as best I can. things do settle down but they never seem to go back to how they were before.  Oh I wish for that two year old back again, but Life goes on and we have to too.

Appreciating all that is "normal"

Submitted by MichelleT on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 6:21pm.

Just wanted to share ...

Some years are absolutely abominable, and it seems that by the time you "learn" to cope and manage, etc. it all settles down again. (Then the other child starts).

I have learnt that in those years (or months, or even days) that things are running smoothly (just as it would in a "normal" family), I am so grateful. I cherish these times, and make sure I tell everyone how wonderful my children are. I feel so blessed.

In a recent discussion with other parents of ASD children, I made the comment that I wish someone had have warned me before I had my children. After discussing this, we all realised that even if we had have known our children had ASD whilst we were pregnant, we still would have had them. That was quite a consolation, putting it in that perspective.

As we all do, I love my boys, and I love how different they are to everybody else (quirky, I like to say). Because of their differences and difficulties, it does make us appreciate "normal".

Man, some people just don't know how good they've got it!!!

Yours in Ongoing Chaos, Michelle T "Everything that is normal... only to the extreme" (Tony Attwood).

Thanks for the feedback

Submitted by Proud-Mum on Sat, 08/11/2008 - 11:30am.
Just wanted to say thanks to all the Mums who have posted replies to my initial post. It helps me SO much to know that there are others out there willing to listen and share. This forum is a great idea. I'm so glad there are others using it too. Thanks Mums!

Things are looking up

Submitted by Proud-Mum on Thu, 15/01/2009 - 11:25pm.
Quick note to say that our behaviour issues seem to be settling somewhat for whatever reason. We had a grand total of about 10 weeks of mania but we seem to be getting back to normal (whatever that is!) again now. Thanks again for the support.