Now isn’t this something?
I remember your post from a month or two ago. When is his appointment at Children's? I would like to know what they have to say, what the dx is. I agree that a lot of the behavior you have been describing does not sound like ADHD/ODD. Very interesting. I just had to reply to this as I have a friend who's son sleeps in her closet. He is 11 and has been doing it for years. She has given up and walpapered the closet in a star wars theme and goten a small mattress that fits the bottom. She has made it into a "room" as she just doesn't see that he is getting "out of the closet" any time soon.
He was just diagnosed with Central Processing disorder. Not sure if that has anything to do with his closet dwelling but I thought I would let you know.
Did you ask him? Did he tell you he hears or see things that aren't really there? What is scaring him? He's 10 so he should be able to articulate it well. I'd sit down and gently talk to him so I had more to bring to the table when you see the pdoc than "He's sleeping in my closet" which could be due to many things. Certain drugs and disorders can cause visual and auditory hallucinations and, while it doesn't HAVE to be that, it's good to check it out. I always try to ask. What meds does he take? Good luck :)
Sounds like a classic GAD symptom or SPD to me. My son loves to ride in the rear seat of the truck b/c he says he feels safe(it's very small and tight back there)...unlike in the van where it is wide open. Even sitting on the couch, he needs to sit in the corner.
Sorry, I was wrong about the Central Processing disorder thing I referred to in my earlier post - it was Sensory Processing disorder (spd).
Sorry
Some spd kids do well with special blankets which give deep pressure.I'm sorry, that's funny.... I'm so glad that my son is not the only one who does weird stuff. Now he never slept in the closet, but he sleeps in the hallway, living room. Plus he has all the blankets over his head, even now when it's almost 100 out, it doesn't bother him at all, he doesn't even sweat.. You know what?? It may just be a simple separation issue. My DD (11) JUST started sleeping in her own room. When she was younger, I too tried EVERYTHING to get her to stop sleeping in our room. Finally we decided it just wasn't worth the battle & we put a mattress on our floor for her. Sometimes I would move her to the sofa when we went to bed. We recently moved & shes happy as a clam now to sleep in her own room. In our old place her room was upstairs & ours was on the main floor so I've concluded that it must've been a separation issue. My Adhd/SPD son used to do the same thing. His OT reccomended we re-create that cozy space in his bed. We had bunk beds at the time and I made curtains out of polar fleece and hung them around the bed to enclose it. I bought long body pillows and put his bed in the corner so two sides were up against the wall. I lined the bed with the softest body pillows I could find. The enclose space that I created with my sons input was perfect. He has slept in his bed by himself every night since then. It might be worth a try because it is an inexpensive thing to create. Your son may be sensory seeking, wanting that enclose space to calm him. Good-luck to you!!I've been thinking also that maybe he DOES have lots of anxiety and it's never been addressed. I long for the days when life wasn't so complicated and every bit of it didn't have to be analyzed.......there actually used to be days like that in my life....I miss it.Hi,Interesting!
I was reading this post, and by page two I
remembered that I've always tended to make my
sleeping arrangements kind of weird. I currently
sleep in a loft bed, because I can't stand for the floor
to be taken up with something as uni-purpose as a
BED! My desk is underneath it.
When I was in high school, I finally got rid of my bed
entirely, and opted for several blankets piled on top
of each other, which I would roll up in the day (stuff
was always getting lost under my bed when I had
one, so there was no more of that AND there was a 6
by 4 foot area of my floor which was necessarily
clean, finally)
I recently spent 5 months on sailing ships, and i love
sleeping in a bunk, which is like being in my loft bed,
but more enclosed.
Though, it would drive me nuts to have pillows all
around me! Just the feeling of being enclosed, and
specifically my head and upper torso should be
enclosed - hence my bed when I had a "normal" one
for 2 years had the head right up agains the closet
and the bedroll thing, I had a wall on one side and a
shelf on the other...
I also know a kid with SPD who loves the feeling of
being in a "cave" and has this huge desk which
towers over him and is dark wood, although he
hates heights so he's got a regular bed.
(I'm dx ADHD, btw, but never investigated SPD, and
my parents just let me sleep on whatever I wanted,
growing up).
LOL! My son has had sleep issues/anxieties since day one. He would often fall asleep in the hallway, fearing falling asleep on his own. I have always had to help him off to sleep. That whole Ferber method so many moms swear by.....forget about it! My son would have nothing to do with that and would throw up crying so hard. I just gave in after so long. He's nine now and keeps his mattress on his brother's floor beside the bed. I have to be there until he falls completely asleep, and if he wakes for some reason, and I'm not there, he can't fall back asleep until I'm back beside him. Usually, he sleeps all night, though.
Oh, the issues we moms deal with on a day to day basis.
my dd doesn't do the hall thing but had her sleeping my bed for a long time. now for the last 4 years in her own beed with the covers pulled over her head. Even her sister knows that when scher is asleep the blankets are over head if she is awak they are off.
Our son Cam, slept on our floor for about a year...then we got him moved to his older brothers floor. Every night, the same routine...move his mattress onto his brother's floor......but at least he slept. After about a year of that....we tried redecorating his own room...with very calming colors and minimizing the clutter...organinzing things much better.....it worked! He has been in his own room now for about a year.....once in a while he still will still sleep on his brother's floor.....but it's only "once in a while" and not every night.Enter Your Email below to claim your Free Book