Onward and upward on the medication train we go...

Yesterday me and William ventured off to our Developmental Pediatrician with data from his teacher and Behavior Specialist in hand to discuss medication. Please understand that this was a very difficult decision for me as we have tried everything to steer clear of this road, but found it inevitable since William tries so hard, but sometimes cannot control his impulsivity. Here is the list of things we tried to avoid the drug road. They include, but are not limited to:

• Weighted Vest
• Non Weighted Compression Vest
• Bumpy Seat for school
• Lap Pad for school and home
• Thicker Kindergarten pencils that do not roll (the rolling kind was causing a distraction)
• Vegan gluten free diet (helped slightly but not overall and will still continue)
• No television during the week
• No video games during the week
• No overstimulation activites such as wrestling with Daddy
• Lotion massages
• Social Stories for behaviors in class
• TSS 3 hours a day (in the morning time when academics are being taught)
• Behavior Specialist (for treatment plan)
• Private Occupational and Speech therapy in the evenings

According to our Development Pediatrician, we have exhausted all the avenues we could are a left just one, which is medication for his ADHD.

Since talking we decided that this weekend we would try him in the lowest dosage of a drug called Focalin http://www.focalinxr.com/info/resources.jsp.

It seemed like the best option for William for the following reasons:

• It doesn't last all day and will only last maybe 8 hours just for school
• We could control when he takes it so that it wears off at night
• After a while, we would only give it to him during the weekdays and not on weekends to give him a break
• Out of all the choices, it seemed like the least when it comes to side effects.

I will administer the lowest dosage this Saturday and Sunday to monitor his behavior and make sure he has little to no adverse affects.

If you have been down this road, or have any insight on the drug, please reply and let me know your thoughts. Also, If you are just totally against medicine all together, I want to reiterate that I understand and I have researched and done as much as I could to not have to do this, but If this is helpful to my son, then I must atleast try this option, before turning my nose up and continue to stand by while he struggles to work 20x harder than his peers.