NEW BEHAVIORS
Yeah, it is a strange new world here at the Autism Cafe. Henry has begun a new behavior that we call "raging" for lack of a better word. There is no trigger: just sudden ballistic rage. From what little information we are able to glean, it is possible that this is caused by pubescent hormonal surges. So, where a regular boy this age might suddenly jump on his bike or start kicking a soccer ball around, Henry has no outlet but baffled, frustrated, rage. He is still not aggressive, in that he will not come at you, but...he hurts himself to the point of drawing blood. And when you move in to intervene (the blood thing is pretty scary bad) then you are the next target. So we are walking on eggshells around here for the moment.

This morning I had a lot of trouble waking him up. In keeping with this foretaste of teenhood, Hen wants to stay up into the wee hours and sleep all morning. Doesn't work with his school schedule. So there I was trying to animate this big lump of boy who wanted none of it. Suddenly, through sleepy lids, he spotted a band aid I had just stuck on my finger. He reached out and pulled it off. It was one of those thick foam band aids, so held its tube shape well as he squeezed and sniffed at it. Somehow, this seemed to charm him and he got up, all smiles instead of roars. I wonder what chemical is in that foam that did the trick? Anyway, I'm going to stock up!