Phases of the Moon

Things have gotten a little bumpy at school the last few weeks. After weeks staying "green", we've seen a huge increase in "orange" days -- not just a warning, but actual timeouts. I'm not entirely sure what brought about the change. I know he was moved to a different spot for carpet time. The teacher also rearranged everyone's seats. There were also a few days in there where there were substitute teachers.

Anyway, he won't tell me why -- he says he forgets -- and I wasn't receiving any communication from the school. I sent a note to his teacher requesting a note in return on the days when he reaches that level of consequence, but still wasn't hearing anything. Finally, I emailed her expressing concern. She wrote back promptly saying that she and the resource room gal had decided the day before to implement a behavior plan. She explained that he had been exhibiting a lot of physical behavior/aggression -- though not necessary in anger, just a lack of control when it came to hitting -- which had resulted in the timeouts. He's very remorseful, she says, but only when she talks with him following the timeout.

Let me stop a moment to say here that hitting has been a huge problem with him from the moment he could move. Before he could talk, he would greet children and adults alike with a nice smack to the chest. More bizarre, he would reach out an swat strangers as he walked by when we were out in public. Obviously, we were not pleased and tried everything we could think of to teach him to stop. We still do. And we certainly don't condone it. This behavior -- and its perseverance despite so many interventions -- was a significant factor in our pursuit of a diagnosis. We are baffled as to the true motivation behind it -- though we know it stems from his lack of social skills/communication. There may be a little bit of sensory stimulation involved as well. The most bizarre thing about his hitting is that it comes and goes in phases. He will go weeks at a time without a single incident, then, without warning, he'll go into a week-long hitting frenzy. In recent months we have also seen a corresponding increase in classic autistic hand-flapping behavior. This too disappears for a significant length of time, only to show up unexpectedly.

Perhaps there is something to the theory of the phases of the moon having an affect on someone's behavior. Not being the superstitious type, I would dismiss such an idea if I hadn't seen it in action so many times. (My mom and I both have worked in the junior high discipline arena and can readily attest that there is a significant increase in naughtiness when there is a full moon. She has also noted that many kids will offend cyclically, for example, on the 8th or 9th of each month. And I have never met an ER nurse or OB/GYN who would say there wasn't an increase in visits during a full moon.) I haven't really kept track of the moon, or much of anything else outside general circumstances, when it comes to the cycles of my son's behavior...but maybe I should start??