Three steps forward, two steps back..... ??

 Well, that's what it felt like at the time ..... let me explain....

Ashton's behavior started spiraling out of control in November and culminated with us having to put him back on an anti-psychotic medication to somewhat control his mood swings, odd behaviors and aggressiveness. Unfortunately, what caused the initial downward spiral was ANOTHER medication that we had started in November to help with some OCD tendencies.

There were some massive all-out tantrums (from a kid who is nearly as big as I am, that's not so fun) in some very public places. He was also basically attacking me at every turn for the smallest things. Aside from the chunks of hair he pulled out of my head, and the bruises he and I both incurred from his "fighting with mommy", things seem to be evening out, behaviorally for him.

What culminated all of this into us weaning him from the problematic medication that I thought was causing the initial issue, was Ashton decided it was a great idea to try and jump out of the car while I was driving down the road. He had been trying to escape the house at that point and one day, I was going to my husband's grandparents house to finish up some laundry and Ashton climbed into the front seat (while I was driving) and then on a side street in a neighborhood, climbed over top of me and tried to climb out the window. At this point, I stopped the car and scrambled to figure out what I should do. In any case, the situation got resolved, we made it back home safely and all was well. This lead me to calling our DAN doctor and he made an "emergency" appointment for us with a psychiatrist at our local children's hospital. That appointment isn't for another week, and it was made back at the beginning of January!

Desperate to help Ashton, we started weaning him off of it and I found out about three weeks into the weaning process that Ashton had been hiding the pills under our napkin holder. Since then (it's been about one and a half weeks now) his behavior has gotten a LOT better and his mood is much improved. I'm glad he seems to be getting back to his normal, happy self.

He's happier, he's more social, he's completely his school work in a much better fashion and as evidenced by all of this, his report card was AWESOME! He had all Ss (satisfactory) in behavior areas and his academic grades stayed at Cs (pretty normal for an ASD kiddo with an IEP and modified curriculum) except one, which he *raised* to a B! Even better ......... he is FINALLY, after being in the educational system since he was two and a half years old, reading **ON GRADE LEVEL**! YAY!!

Anyways, here's a recent pic of the booger. He has a really big adversion to brightness (outside mostly) so he's squinting. Still a cute picture though ...... :)

The only other "bad" thing that has been happening is his sleeping is really out of whack and he's got some really erratic sleep patterns. He'll sleep completely through the night from 8pmish to around 6amish for a few nights in a row. Then, he'll mix it up with waking up at 2, 3, or 4am and staying awake the rest of the night, yikes! *sighs* The biggest worry with this a few weeks ago was that he was trying to escape from the house in the middle of the night, but now it's more of the fact that he just doesn't want to go back to sleep.

The GOOD thing that's happening is .... he's realizing that if he ASKS to go outside and tells me why he wants to go outside, that I'm more likely to let him go. Last night, he asked to go outside to "play in the backyard" and I told him to get his shoes, coat, hat & gloves on (it is.. afterall maxing out in the 30s this week). He did and he and his brother played outside for forty-five minutes, came inside to eat dinner and then they went back outside for another thirty minutes until it was too dark outside to play anymore. I wanted to take pictures but I felt like I would spoil their moment and fun so I'll try to get pictures the next time.

Well, I guess I should do another post on Holden (who is doing really well) so that he gets his own glory :) Keep Ashton in your thoughts as we hope that we're past the regressive phase that he was in and that things can continue to improve and his behavior gets more under control.

Enjoy the day!

Sleep: WHY is it such an issue?!

OK - so my question to all of you is.... WHY do so MANY children (and adults too, for that matter) with autism spectrum disorders have SUCH a difficult time falling and staying asleep???

Over and/or under stimulation? This is probably the biggest problem right there. Too much outside noise or not enough. Too much outside light or not enough. Being overfull from dinner, or maybe even HUNGRY. Too much "screen time" before bed. Not enough time for relaxation before sleep. Not enough deep pressure/stimulation or maybe even too much.

--I've yet to actually figure out if anything I do with regards to this helps Ashton sleep or not sleep. It seems like whenever I get him figured out, that he changes it up on me, just to spite me! Ok, so I know it's not really to spite me, but sometimes it feels like it! I don't think our children are inherently trying to cause us strife; I don't think they master the tools of manipulation, but hey, maybe I'm wrong! :) I am tired after all! Insomnia? If insomnia is already a problem, then not sleeping is already putting you/them at a disadvantage. It perpetuates the entire cycle and makes things worse, and worse.... and even worse.

--This definitely happens in my house. It seems like the more tired he is, that the more he fights going to sleep. The evidence of this is when he's wide-awake and bushy-tailed at 2 o'clock in the freaking morning sitting in the bathroom flapping and clapping and filling up the bathtub with water. He doesn't even look REMOTELY tired at all, and you have to wonder WHY is he trying to take a bath in the middle of the night? (we asked ... we didn't get a reply, just a blank stare). I post this example because it happened last night. Luckily my husband woke up and heard it before the tub overflowed (I don't think Ashton would have known what to do at that point and I can't say that he would have come to wake us up).

Medications? I know there are some medications that make it very hard for some to fall asleep. Stimulants such as Ritalin, Adderall, Focalin, etc are all stimulants that are often used in the treatment of ADHD, which many children/adults with autism have symptoms of. Unfortunately, those medications can cause problems with sleep; both falling to sleep and staying asleep. ---- Now of course, there ARE medications that are traditionally used to help one go to (or stay) sleep. Melatonin is an over the counter herbal supplement that our body produces anyways, but many people just do not make enough. People that often have erratic sleep schedules due to work, school or travel, will take melatonin to help regulate sleep. There are many other medications that are used "off-label" for sleep issues.

--Some of the ones that *we've* tried are: Trazodone, Clonidine, Imipramine, Seroquel and even the good ol' standby, Benadryl. We've tried multiple combinations of all of the above medications (in conjunction with and without melatonin too!) and while we always find something that works, it's usually very temporary. Sometimes we'll get lucky and it'll work for a few months but most combinations only work for a few short WEEKS!

I strongly believe that if my son can fall asleep at 8:15pm and have to be WOKEN UP BY ME at 6:40am, than he really NEEDS that much sleep. I can even handle him not falling asleep until 9-9:30pm and getting up at 6:40am. It's the fighting sleep and not going to sleep ALL FREAKING NIGHT (twice now he's literally stayed up for nearly 24hours straight ... once he went to sleep around 6am; last night/early this morning he FINALLY fell asleep around 4:20am....). Even when he doesn't pull that number he will fight sleep and not go to sleep until 11pm or midnight. He has to be up at the latest by 6:40am to get ready for school and be on the bus by 7:05am.

So ... any suggestions, or words of wisdom? Commiseration? Want to laugh at my misfortune? (go ahead, it's good for the soul sometimes! ;))

I went and bought a BABY MONITOR today .... for a TEN YEAR OLD! I didn't tell Ashton what it was, nor did I tell him what it was for. I made sure he had his "cocktail" of sleep medicines tonight and then let him soak in a warm bath with some lavender scented epsom salts. I turned the light off in the bathroom and made him whisper and told him *NO CLAPPING*. He was very calm and very relaxed. Got him cleaned up and then dressed for bed and put the radio on and let him lay down on the couch. He went upstairs to bed at 8:30pm (same time I took Holden upstairs for a shower) and I haven't heard a peep from him yet. This technically means we're in the clear as far as him GOING to sleep. We'll see if he stays asleep ALL night like he's supposed to. Anyways .... I KNOW someone, somewhere out there, can completely commiserate and is just as desperate for sleep as we are. So ... here's some sand from the sandman and wishing you all a good night's sleep!