Another Cycle?

Just a quick observation for whatever it's worth. Almost a year ago, I blogged about my theory of Culley's sensory/autism/who-knows-what symptoms cycling. Looking back to about the time Culley's hearing loss became noticeable, he's had periods of total clarity where he acts just like an engaged, easy-going and polite little boy. Between those periods, which usually last for several months, he's had periods for the same length of time where his behavior changes to that of a child with autism or sensory processing disorder. This pattern is evident in my previous blogs.  In the beginning, the down cycles were downright scary. He'd become distant and withdrawn. He barely made eye contact and he'd lose the language he'd developed in the previous month or two. He would "sensory seek" by standing on his head and grinding his teeth. He'd also become irritable and contrary...just not himself. His last "down cycle" as I'll call it was last Spring, see the blog about neurofeedback.  Even though I'd noticed the cycle by then, I was too afraid to ride it out and just wait for the "up cycle". As was my usual response, I ran to his occupational therapist asking for the next new treatment we hadn't tried yet. The good news is that each consecutive down cycle is less severe than the one before. For example, he appears to be going into another one. For the past two weeks or so, he's been sensory seeking by putting things in his mouth, and playing with his head on the floor. He's a little grumpy, very nidgy, and easily distracted. He doesn't lose language like he used to, but his thoughts don't flow into words as easily as they did just a month ago. This time, however, I'm not going to throw him back into OT, looking for a fix. His team at school is seeing increased sensory seeking so they've been helping by giving him something appropriate to chew on and having a teacher sit near him at circle to encourage him to keep his hands to himself. With some similar small interventions at home (including getting stricter about limiting his dairy intake), I'm hoping that I'll have the faith to wait it out and see if Culley can turn this cycle around by himself. We'll see how it goes!