Does anyone else find......?

[teamtwilight]

that your dc behaviour changes every few months in a kind of pattern?

I have only just realised that over the past year ds has gone from helish behaviour and meltdowns to a few months later managable behaviour then back to helish etc etc

Is this common with ASD/ADHD?

Not sure if the hell we are having now is linked to the dark nights or just coincidence.

I personally thought i was making great progress but now we are back to the same old problems we had back in May!

Someone else thought it was seasonal, and their child was far worse in winter.

Search the archives, you might find a thread we had on it.....

oh yes.

dd1 used to be hell in winter.

massive regressions in behaviour, language, sleep - just about everythign really.

last year she wasn't so bad - still regressed (her school noticed the drop in compliance too), but it was at least bearable for us all. this year, she is a bit put out currently, but we will see how she fares.

it might be worth looking at lightboxes or similar? dh and I have often discussed havign a natural daylight light for dd1, and I may well get her a natural wakening alarm for her room (she can have dh's actually, as he never uses it!) - she is sleeping in quite late at the moment, and then having to wake in a rush etc - a dawn simulator might help her there.

Now I have read you post, yes! I hadn't connected the two but ds's behaviour is definatly worse lately, both of them! ds1 adhd is a night mare at the moment, attitude is horrid, ds2 asd is also really hard work at the moment, refusing alot, meltdowns for no apparent reason. Interesting, I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

I don't know about your Dc's but my Dd3 is always hard work through September due to moving classes at school, she is sometimes settled by half term, only to be unsettled again in the run up to xmas.

She sleeps more in winter and is harder to motivate but I have always related it to the school year.

It's summat I'm wondering about - all the worst behavioral incidents have happened in february for some reason. I keep notes of our worst times - back in the day I thought the professionals would be interested. Promise not to laugh at me but this year I'm adding a vit D supplement to DS's diet.

With my dd over the years it's so easy to see how the seasons affect her. But it's not just due to the changes in the weather it's down to changes in school. This is her pattern.

September - really positive and happy, new teacher new friends.
October - reality starts to set in as well as the darker nights. Desperate for half term.
November - darkness means no outdoor play - weather is windy and rainy so sometimes no time outside at all. School start to kick with their expectations and she become tired.
December - worst month with its lack of structure - but worst of all one thing which will strike a chord in the hears of many special needs parents - School Christmas Production.
January - Just a write off, tired pale uncommunicative.
Feb - see above
March - ahh she springs back into life. Actually starts learning and remembering.
April - happiness returns along with her ability to talk.
May - Colour has returned to her cheeks as the bugs and flowers come out.
June - Joyful and happy.
July - Summer term becomes relentlessly long and we normally have a dip at some point.
August - lack of structure causes moods and inability of the brain to work.
September - First week in a state of anxiety and then it all starts again.

DS2 is worse in bad weather, but I think the rain is a sensory issue. Snow certainly is, I've noticed.

This thread rings a massive bell with me. Daisysue2 what you put could pretty much apply to my ds. He's really difficult to handle at the moment "no" to everything & particularly demanding. During the summer he was great, though we did have a bit of a dip toward the end of the holidays which was expected. He was an absolute delight through September when he started school for the first time but it's all been downhill since early October.

I think some of it is to do with the weather. He hates the wind & became obsessed with picking up every single leaf he sees. He also runs round loads at school, knackers himself out & crashes out every few weeks. Think I'm going to copy the idea of keeping a diary of how he behaves, might be good preparation for next year!

boch, the gp here advises everyone to take vit d supplements through the winter months.

don't talk to me about wind though. dd2 got blown over on the way to the bus this morning, so went off for photo day tearstained with two bloody knees and ripped trousers. i asked her if she wanted to come home and get mopped up but she sais she was ok.

i'm having some luck reinstating epsom salts in the bath at the mo now though with ds1. do often toy with light box...

light box well worth investigating, imo.

dh has a serious sleep issue (as in, he never bloody stops work and goes to bed ) - he absolutely could not be in bed before midnight if his life depended on it. and even then, that usually means going up at midnight, faffing around for another hour or so before even contemplating getting into bed, and then reading some more emails for good measure. it's almost pathological avoidance of sleep tbh.

anyway - this obv leaves him sleep deprived, and come the morning, he is unable ot wake up. I got him a natural dawn alarm, and it really helps (whenever he bothers to use it - naturally he doesn't like doing so, as it wakes him up and leaves him tired in the evening before his acceptable (to him) bedtime...). likewise, I can see that having a natural daylight lightbox would really help in the dark, sombre evenings.

vit d a great idea - it is so hard to get proper amounts of vit d in winter months, and that can afford calcium absorption too.

Could it be related to leaps in development?