Dan and Autism

Full Moon Week Sucks

I worked Monday and did the overnight. I took the upstairs bedroom so I could get some sleep and avoid a repeat of the last time I slept downstairs. But instead of the guy with the bone problem waking me up in the middle of the night, another resident did by just yelling while in bed. I'd go into his room, and he'd give me the "quiet" sign and roll over and go back to bed. So why'd he make the noise in the first place?

When we drop the guys off to work in the morning, I usually give the bone disorder guy a break and just carry him inside because he hates wearing shoes and usually kicks them a half dozen times during a walk that would normally take 30 seconds. But when I was helping him out of his seat, he clawed at my face and threw my glasses around the van, so I told him that he's walking. I guess I sounded mad, because he listened and didn't kick off his shoes until he was in his seat inside.

On Wednesday, nothing of note happened.

On Thursday, we had to put the aggressive guy in restraints, but we didn't have to put him in the wedge, and he didn't fight anyone back, which was a huge relief.

Friday he was pretty tense, so I told him to sit next to me and I talked him down until he relaxed.

All week, everyone was acting really strange. They were shouting random things, or using incorrect sign language (One of them would give the sign for "I need the bathroom" and then go sit on the porch). And this week was a full moon. I don't know if there's a scientific explanation for it, but it really seems like they act up during full moons.

posted by Daniel @ 10:01 PM