Just proving it again.

Sometimes, I just feel the need to say. I love it when I'm right. I've posted before about how Eden's mood and behavior is effected by the moon phases. I don't know if it's just coincidence or an actual "event" that makes her do these things but I'm pretty much convinced that in my house things just get more interesting during full moons and new moon phases.

I guess if you take the fact that Eden is effected by sound, light, temperature, low/high pressure systems (in the weather), textures, season changes and everything else that constantly changes; we can add another thing to that list the moon phases. And this full moon (on Monday Jan 9, 2012) in no different. Let me add that most of this stuff happened before I knew there was a full moon coming up. Even though I am usually aware of this, things have been a little crazy here with getting back to school it just slipped my mind.

Anyways, between Wednesday and Friday Eden's teachers have been reporting to me that Eden has been a little "off" this week. She hasn't been aggressive or "non-compliant" but she's been in her own world more. Needing a ton more sensory breaks and not talking as much. I've noticed these things as well, I've been using her weighted compression vest at home when she needs to sit for periods of time that I think are difficult. She's been asking for her "old" movies again like "Cats" and "Peter Pan".

She's had more difficulty than usual transitioning from one thing/place to another. Getting her jacket on is tough, shoes and socks, in and out of the car all have had their challenges this weekend. She's also been more caught up in her own world, not answering when we call her, singing songs over and over again (she was doing this a little while ago also but is now replacing it instead of words). Instead of just buzzing with energy from place to place and is quick to fall asleep at night because she is so tired. It's been a little different, she's not ready for bed. She hasn't been sleeping well and getting up early or not even sleeping at night.

As I am writing this now, she is singing a song from the "Smurf" movie over and over again. She basically ate until she burst (some may call it binge eating) 6 waffles for dinner with 2 cups of milk. We actually stopped her after she hit me for trying to help her with her food (I don't know if she was trying to keep me from taking it, which I wasn't going to do or she was afraid I was going to mess it up).

All I can say is that I hope this does not last. Things are a little different around here, it's Eden's time for changing again. I'm not sure where she is going from here. Most of the time when this stuff happens, all of her "sensory needs" change. Her likes and dislikes of activities, movies, food, sensory input, and even some of the things she has anxiety with. We will once again change with her, our reactions to appropriately counter her unwanted behaviors, with more reinforcement for the tasks we want her to perform. Not giving attention to the behaviors she is having that we don't want her to continue and even some more schedules and sensory activities until we get the rest figured out.

Until we figure it out, and it usually takes us only a few days to keep up now. Because this happens every couple of weeks, so we have been much more flexible with our routines to change what are her reinforcers now and what she does as her new behavior.




















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