AUTISM CHILD BEHAVIOR

Most parents of kids with autism will tell you that changes in the weather can have a huge impact on their child's behavior. When my boys have a bad day I look back at whether they were sick, if there was a change in our routine and if there was a big change in weather or climate.

 (There is a seperate condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder, which I won't spend time speaking about here but many parents find there is a strong connection to this disorder and autism... sometimes resulting in a diagnosis of both conditions simutaneously.)

One of the few studies on this topic explores the connection between rainy climates and autism prevalence. According to the study, “Children in California, Oregon and Washington are more likely to develop autism if they lived in counties with higher levels of annual rainfall when they were 3 or younger, suggesting that something about wet weather may trigger the disorder.” This could be because of the lack of sunshine, the increased exposure to television because of the inability to play outside, longer exposure to cleaning chemicals or other toxic substances, or the pressure changes inherent with weather systems which produce precipitation.
This can describe exactly what we go through here in the north when  we have the sun setting at 4pm and bitterly cold climates that result in more time indoors. How interesting!

It seems, however, that it is not just people on the autism spectrum that can react to this change. How many of us know how bouncy kids get after being cooped up indoors for too long or those of us that feel energized by simply stepping outdoors?

In 1898, Edwin Dexter, a Denver school teacher, became curious about how barometric pressure affected thebehavior of his students (neurotypical we can assume, since it's unlikely that autistic children were permitted in standard classrooms at this time) and studied 606 cases of corporal punishment over a 4 year period. He found that days with abnormal barometric pressure did in fact have a higher rate of behavior issues.

A 1990 article in Nation's Business discussed how the changes in weather affect us biologically. According to the article, which quotes scientists from The National Institute of Mental Health and Johns Hopkins, temperature affects our hypothalamus (the body's thermostat), sunlight alters the balance of hormones, and changes in humidity and barometric pressure affect our blood flow and therefore the amount of oxygen reaching the brain. The article stresses the fact that the amount of oxygen in the blood is majorly affected by the barometric pressure which affects memory, as well as the ability to deal with frustrations and minor annoyances. They note that when animals feel these effects of weather changes they tend to hide out in their den until they feel better, but when we feel these effects social needs demand that we try to continue to function.

Another study looked at in a 2004 issue of “Crime Times”  found a connection between psychiatric symptoms and barometric pressure. The researchers documented both violent crimes, suicides, emergency psychiatric visits, and psychiatric admissions in Louisville in 1999, and weather conditions such as humidity, wind speed, and barometric pressure. They found a link between acts of violence and emergency psychiatric visits with the barometric pressure (none between suicide or inpatient admissions). Schory and his team noted that barometric pressure was associated with changes in cerebral blood flow, premature labor, and changes in certain endorphins related to depression. Their ultimate finding was that “"barometric pressure may alter the propensity toward impulsive behavior through changes in brain monoamines or cerebral blood flow."

Although the majority of these studies did not directly connect autistic behaviors and weather changes, they do all show that mood and behavior are affected by barometric pressure.
 If even neurotypical people have a difficult time pinpointing what is making them feel upset or easily frustrated, and children have a harder time with it than adults, how much MORE difficult is it for our children on the spectrum?! In addition, since we don't know exactly what makes our children autistic to begin with, and scientists are still exploring the biological and physiological differences that cause or are caused by autism, we have no idea to what extent changes in weather really affect our children and their behavior.

Communication issues prevent our children from telling us what is hurting them or how they feel, making it that much more frustrating for them when they feel poor due to the weather. What if it gives them a headache, or drops their serotonin levels so they can't focus or are easily upset? I couldn't  accurately describe how I was feeling with the sudden changes and I consider myself to be quite high-functioning and pretty verbal. (tongue in cheek)

Perhaps we are just creating a self-fulfilling prophecy when we xpect negative behaviors on days when the weather changes, however, Considering that it's been -30 with the windchill lately and there haven't been any other major changes, in our house, these last few days...

 I can only sumize that we have to hold onto our toques in more ways then one.


(most of the information in this post was copied from an older , very well written , post in aidensautismadventures.blogspot.ca . I then researched the studies mentioned to make sure they were still backed up and shared the information here since many parents have been asking questions about this phenomenon)