Weekend News

The football game Friday night was better than I expected.  Joseph did not want to go and fought me until we got there.  He instantly started looking for his escape route, if needed.  He made sure over and over that if he didn't like it and it was too loud we could leave.  But once inside he saw that it was a small group and not as loud as he feared.  He watched part of the game with me but was very bored.  And then he saw all the other little boys playing football down on a grassy area.  That was it.  He did not sit with me in the stands again.  He asked on the way to the car after the game who won!  I think I will leave him next time but he did do great for his first game.  (by the way, WE WON!  Go Cavaliers!!!  And I am not sure WHAT is wrong with Jerome's mouth in the photo above!!!)

Learning to cast.  He already had this down!

Saturday we went to a fishing clinic sponsored by the Walleye Association for special needs children and their siblings.  This was a huge hit!  Not only do my children love to fish but they learned a lot of things they did not know before and got free fishing poles!  It was a day full of fishing with our little Camo Angel catching the big fish of the day!  He was so proud!!!

Not real happy with water safety class.

With his big bass!

He was all smiles after that!

Things changed drastically by Sunday evening.  We took them fishing again on Sunday afternoon.  But all day he was extremely unpredictable, hyper, aggressive, and whiny.  I have seen this behavior before and know it is a warning of things to come.  I gave him his sleep medication that evening around 8 and by 10 he was still wide awake.  I sent him to bed and he seemed to doze off for a little while although he was restless and would not stop moving and jumping in his sleep. 

I woke at 2:30 a.m. and he was awake watching Sponge Bob in the living room.  I stayed on the couch the rest of the night with him.  He did not go back to sleep.  Morning found him more wound up than the day before.  He was standing on his head in a chair, talking and hollering, blurting out, flitting from one place to another, and stimming by rocking, flicking his fingers, and smelling his hands.  I knew it was going to be an eventful day.

His teacher called me that afternoon to report he was asleep and they could not wake him.  She said he was turning in circles and full of movement all morning.  And then, it was like pushing a button and he went to sleep.  He slept the rest of the afternoon.  They did some sensory therapy to try to keep him awake on the bus ride home.  He was very quiet last night.  And he went to sleep on time.  Although he woke several times during the night I was able to get him back to sleep.  He actually slept all morning as I was getting the other kids ready for school.  He told me he did not have a headache so I am not sure what it was all about.  However, as a note to his teacher, bad weather WAS moving in so the barometric pressure had to be changing.

Why are there so many autistic children with sleep problems?  No one knows for sure.  This explanation is from WebMD:

 

Researchers don't know for sure why autistic children have problems with sleep, but they have several theories. The first has to do with social cues. People know when it's time to go to sleep at night thanks to the normal cycles of light and dark and the body's circadian rhythms. But they also use social cues. For example, children may see their siblings getting ready for bed. Children with autism, who often have difficulty communicating, may misinterpret or fail to understand these cues.

Another theory has to do with the hormone melatonin, which normally helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. To make melatonin, the body needs an amino acid called tryptophan, which research has found to be either higher or lower than normal in children with autism. Typically, melatonin levels rise in response to darkness (at night) and dip during the daylight hours. Studies have shown that some children with autism don't release melatonin at the correct times of day. Instead, they have high levels of melatonin during the daytime and lower levels at night.

Another reason children with autism may have trouble falling asleep or awaken in the middle of the night could be an increased sensitivity to outside stimuli, such as touch or sound. While most kids continue to sleep soundly while their mother opens the bedroom door or tucks in the covers, a child with autism might wake up abruptly.

Anxiety is another possible condition that could adversely affect sleep. Children with autism tend to test higher than other children for anxiety.



I have also been asked to talk to the TORCH group at Bishop Neumann about autism and the upcoming walk.  They will be joining us for the walk!  And I am hoping to talk to and get the St. John Bosco youth group to join us as well.  Go Team Camo Angel!!!!!