Wild hour before sleep

[SachiLars]

My ds is 4 and diagnosed autistic. He is non-verbal.

Between going in the shower and going to bed he has a ‘wild hour’ where he goes totally over excited, bouncing dangerously in the bed, throwing things, climbing the furniture, biting, hair pulling. Yesterday he pulled a picture of the wall.

Does anyone else’s kids do this?
How do you handle it?

Yes - not quite as extreme but at the same age we had bouncing on the bed, climbing on furniture, climbing on us, throwing herself backwards (hard) onto the sofa etc. It seemed like when she got tired she got more hyper instead of calming naturally. We were recommended sensory circuits so instead of bouncing the bed she can bounce on a peanut ball, throw bean bags instead of toys, lots of "bear walking" which is meant to help for pressure. Can you get OT input, and try creating your own sensory circuit in the meantime? OT helped and now at 8 she does it far, far less often.

I second sensory OT. As well as looking at sensory needs after the shower look at them before and during the shower. For example, would a strong smelling soap/shower gel help meet the sensory needs or relaxing lavender aroma or deep pressure with the towel when getting out of the shower… If you have a bath some find that better than a shower.

Thank you. Will have a think and see what I can put in place.

Yes!! We call it the witching hour. We try to let him get it out of his system by doing some of the things suggested, it seems mad but I do think being over tired can lead to such heightened behaviour.