We have moved house... But...

[Noskcaj86]

Hi, we moved house, quite stressful but settling in more now, its day 11 since move. Jack was fine for the first few nights, but then after about 5 nights he started not being able to sleep, totally hyper active and awake until 1 am keeping the rest of the family awake too so were all exhausted. Went to the doctor but they couldnt/wouldnt help. Tonight hes asleep u 10.30. Earliest in ages, but he is down stairs on the sofa as wouldnt settle upstairs and was worried he would wake up his brother. I hope this doesnt last much longer, were so tired!!!!

[sesley]

poor soul is probably feeling lost,have you dressed his room,with his things from previous address?have taken him around the new house

 

showing him where every thing is?ask him how he would like his room arranged.I am proberly asking all the questions you have already done.I suppose

 

you can only be as patient and wait for him to settle in.

[Mannify]

It can be hard to see light at the end of the tunnel when you get a period of particularly trying behaviour, and it's so much more stressful when you have so much else going on at the same time. I mean, moving is just so stressful anyway, at the best of times. We personally find that big changes in life (moving house, moving schools, etc) do tend to bring big shifts in behaviour. When our son started his new school last year his behaviour improved vastly at school because it was so much better suited to him, but he wouldn't sleep until after 12 some nights and he was very violent towards me, either just charging towards me or biting me quite incessantly. The behaviour did improve, though, as the new routine (he had to use school transport, for example) became his typical routine. It can take a while, but it's very unlikely that this current behaviour is your son's permanent behaviour. I'm sure you probably realise that, but it can be good to hear other people say it.

 

Hope things improve.

[LancsLad]

A lot of evidence says it takes on average 27 days to formulate a new habit in our lives. Accepting a new environment is in a way a new habit, and a child with AS might need a little bit longer because this is after all an average. Be patient and give the little guy a bit of time.

 

In a way none of you might be fine yet, but I suspect you know the social rules which say you are not to express your real emotions. The adults might have stamped those rules all over the process and reinforced that the move is a 'good' thing, when in fact it is really a 'good' and 'bad' thing. Part of me says one of you might simply be a bit more honest than the others. Sit down as a family and talk about it openly and honestly and you might all end up listing things you 'miss' about the old home for example and things you 'like' about the new one.

 

And at the end of the day it should be a 'home' and homes are not just bricks and mortar they are emotions and events so these things do take time, at first we leve a home and get a house and that might not feel like a fair exchange at first.

 

Put a poster up on the fridge with the lists on and as such recognise you are all going through an adaption process. There is in my opinion no wrong and right way in all of this rather 'your' way of dealing with it, having that out in the open can only be healthy in my experience.

 

Just a thought.

Edited October 18, 2012 by LancsLad