SPD Support Forum

We have just moved to a new house. Closer to my job and my sons school. We thought it would be better for him as we had been driving an hour each way. On top of this he has changed to the next classroom up at the montessori school he has been attending. He went from a class with 11 kids to one double that.

The first couple weeks of school were pretty good for such a big transition. Then we moved....the first week after the move was surprisingly good. A couple behaviors here and there. This last week has been down right horrible! Spitting, hitting, kicking, shoving, you name it, it's happening.

He has been asking to go home,(our old house) and we keep telling him this is our new home. Today they have moved him back down to the younger and smaller classroom to help him feel more safe. So far today he has done well. As you all know though one day is no way to establish a pattern

So what other strategies have you done or seen employed for this huge transition in our life? I am trying everything I can. These days seem harder than four months ago when he was first diagnosed with spd. We are meeting with a behavioral specialist on Tuesday to hopefully figure out how to modify these behaviors.

Btw his sensory is pretty under control. He self regulates pretty well plus of course he gets his routine sensory diet through the day....

Time is key. He's going to have a harder time for a while no matter what you do.

Even if you think his sensory stuff is under control - look back at that. Drastic changes make these things more severe which means that they're less under control. Increase the sensory diet stuff if you can.

Increase the amount of other routine has helped for me. But I don't know how much that's because of my autism. It's worth trying though. Without the increase in routine I've been not being able to take care of myself as much, which means I'm having an even harder time with everything else. So more routine is better.

Of course there's transitioning him up to the older class rather than making it a sudden change - start with a partial day, then a full day, then part of the week, before it being all of the time there.

You can implement the simple reward system at home and see if they can at school, and see if that helps. Some of the students at the school I'm at (I'm a tutor) have that. For one of the students its if he can go say 30 minutes without kicking or hitting or screaming they get either some pretzels of 5 minutes of a board game or something else pre-determined by the teacher and the student. A timer goes on, if they do the behaviors they're trying to change, the timer restarts. After they are reliable at 30 minutes (5 times in a row without any restarts), it gets bumped to 45 minutes and slightly nicer rewards to choose from. Then 1 hour and nicer rewards again, and so on.

My older son often progresses 2 steps forward and then 1 step back. Just when things are going well, we hit a bump and he backtracks. Transitions and change are still something he struggles with almost 6 years after his diagnosis.

Try to set up a routine as much as you can. Our kids really need that structure. My son does best when he knows what to expect and I give him plenty of warnings about what will happen next. If i have to change it, that's when the meltdowns happen. He also does better when he knows what is expected of him, what behaviors are acceptable. He often needs a "script" to know how to act in certain situations.

I agree with increasing his sensory diet until he gets used to the new house and any other changes. The reward system might work too.

Good luck!

I agree with both ladies. Preparing them plenty in advance has helped my son transition. We moved after Christmas and it caused our son to have to change schools. We prepared him for almost two weeks. Another thing that has seemed to help is let him help choose when you get new things for the house. It helps my son adjust being able to be a part of making house choices. Even as simple as deciding what to have for a meal. Also maybe do something special to his room. For our son we let him pick out what colors we painted it. Then once painted and his things were in there it really helped him. As far as school, gradually is best far as I have found. It helped also letting him be able to have an "out" (his teacher and aid have a quiet place he can go to if he starts to get overwhelmed). I hope it helps some