My Life: Parenting an Autistic Child: the HULK!

It seems to me that I am in a constant in a state of observation. Most of my day is spent watching and analyzing every aspect of David's life. Trying to figure out if his medication is working, if he's hungry, or about to have a meltdown. Sometimes he completely surprises me, like the other day, he played with his cousin for five hours straight without any conflict! I was like, "Is it the medicine, a fluke, or just a great day?!" It's hard when he has the vocabulary and mental state of a three year old, yet a body of a five year old. He can't tell me if he likes his medicine or if he's having an "off" day.

The last time I wrote we were trying to decide if we should start a new ADHD medicine called Intuniv. Well, we are three medications past that now! Intuniv worked too well :) He slept 17 hours straight on it! As much as I enjoyed the break, it was obvious that he couldn't function on it. After we took him off that we tried Ritalin, a stimulant ADHD medicine. We received mixed results and after several consultations with his psychiatrists and teachers and four weeks on it, we decided that the stimulant medicine is the right way to go, but we were going to switch brands.

The stimulant gave him the control he needed over his body and movement but the side affects were really hard on him. He would turn into the Hulk! Think tiny angry person (not green, though)! Very aggressive in his tone and language, anti-social to a degree. So here we were back to the drawing board of what behavior do we want to deal with. Out of control behavior, yet happy; or calm and angry. After researching and talking with some other moms, we decided to try Focalin. Focalin is a stimulant ADHD medicine that is in the same family as Ritalin but without all the side effects. First week but we like it so far!

This doesn't mean that he is one hundred percent all the time, and I wouldn't necessarily want that from him! I love his challenges and personality but I do think he needs help with control. He has so much to offer everyone and when his body allows him, is really a sweet and gentle boy. He has had so many accomplishments and I really think we are slowly, yet surely, figuring it out.

He started this semester at school in a regular head-start pre-school class! Twenty-two students, two teachers, and David has his own Special-Ed parapro (facilitator) that works one-on-one with him in class! As nervous as I was, He has stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park! His teacher told me that he is adjusting smoothly and really trying hard to fit in! I couldn't be more proud of him! I'm hoping that he will model some of the behavior from the "neuro-normal" kids and learn how to interact better with kids his own age.

Its a long hard journey, but we are making progress one day at a time:)

here are some photos of him ACTUALLY sitting still (very rare) with some of his favorite people!