Does it get worse before it gets better?

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My son is almost five. Will be entering kindergarten - making decision about that right now (in different thread).

He never had any difficulties with his behavior in the past. He is actually pretty adaptable, sort of and has had mild temper tantrums until just recently. Lately, he will get really upset when something doesn't go his way. He goes to an in home daycare two days a week and the person who runs the daycare has a child the same age who literally gets out of control mad. He gets so upset at times, he rages by throwing items. His mother sometimes needs to hold him down.
I called today and heard him in the background yelling. Now my child has similar tantrums, although the tantrums still aren't as out of control as this child.

The reasons why my son starts crying, though is understandable when you evaluation the situation. For example, when we left the daycare he just flipped out. After evaluating the situation it all made sense.The in home daycare is moving to the next street over. There is a significant change going on. There are boxes all over the house and stuff is off the walls. We have moved a lot in his little life (stable now) so he probably has those memories. To him boxes and the word "move may make him think of his previous moves where he left people and the things that he knew. When I explained that they were only moving down the street, his behavior improved.
Then later, he flipped out again saying he wanted to play in the boxes. He couldn't let it go at all. Finally my husband carried him to his room and he calmed down in there. I gave him a snug hug and talked with him more. After that, he seemed fine.

It's hard to tease out if he would have this behavior if we weren't sending him to the in home daycare place. A part of me believes that he wouldn't. I don't know. He will be going to a different daycare center next school year. I have the summer off.


Apart from the tantrums, he is repeating people more often. A LOT more often! He used to not do that as much. He will also get stuck in an OCD-like behavior and sometimes has difficulty pulling himself out of it without intervention. His hyperactivity is a little more pronounced. He has been stammering more as well. Also, just recently he has been going up more to strangers and really getting into their personal space more than he usually does.

The last week or so, he seems more severe than usual. Does it get worse before it gets better?

The only way someone could measure the progression of AS would be to separate it from an ever changing environment. Nt children also go into good bad cycles of behavior from environmental(external) and cognitive(internal) changes. I don't believe there is a time line type of progression of AS, like in a disease like diabetes. I do think that adolescents can be the most difficult time for NT or AS kids. Social skills become even more subtle and it is a major change from seeing yourself as an extension of you parents and developing your own beliefs,etc.

I don't know of the scientific validity of this, but as far as him learning the behavior from another child....supposedly one of the differnces of people with AS is that they have fewer mirror neurons (monkey see, money do), so they are less likely to pick up these behaviors. It seems likely that the noise and chaos of being around the kid could trigger some sensory issues...I hated being around most kids cause they were so loud and unpredictable=scary. Yeah, I hated moving and changes in general. Seems like you just figure out how to function in one environment and you have to get used to a new one...but that is life.

Thanks for responding. I think you have a valid point regarding sensory overload. That makes sense. I can barely stand to pick the kids up some days due to sensory overload.

They will only be going there for a few more weeks.

sounds like he's reacting to the changes at the daycare. you can help him by working on relaxation techniques & working on learning how to decompress after an episode

When my son was five, he had reactions to things that we couldn't predict. A changing environment was often a problem. I think that, yes, sometimes it seems as if things get worse before they get better. When they are so young, it's really hard trying to "read" what it is that triggers them. Then, as they get older, they can give you clues as to what bothers them. It's much easier. Not EASY, but easier.

Kris

It's difficult to determine how much of disruptive behavior is learned behavior from other kid's example or just something your child is doing. I know that my son picked up some aggressive behavior from other boys at school, but the majority of his behavior problems I attribute to ASD.

To answer your question, it gets better, gets worse, gets better, gets worse. Sometimes, with my son, it gets so bad that I can't imagine the behavior getting any worse and then he'll have a streak of amazing progress. His biggest breakthroughs are always preceded by excessive behavior problems and that was especially true when he was younger. As he gets older, I think the roller coaster ride has gotten better...but, it's still an up and down thing.

I just wanted to mention that even at 44 I find making change very difficult. It's not like I can just "add" the change to my life, I have to destroy the old "script" and rewrite the whole thing to fit the new thing in and I fight change...even positive ones..because this can seem so over whelming a task. My first reaction is one of anger, so I imagine that is the fear of having to rewrite "reality", it's a lot of work.