To medicate, or not to medicate? That is the question........

Today marks a significant step in our understanding and processing for my son. We have a developmental pediatric appointment for William and the topic of discussion, medication. We've been against even discussing medication for a while, but now that we've come close to the end of his 1st grade school year, we've noticed that the demands placed upon him for school are becoming overwhelming for William and we figured, we better start having the discussion now, before we hit 2nd grade. Just to you a bit of history.........

William walked into school and tried his best everyday. We saw that he was having trouble paying attention and lacked focus so we enlisted the help of his Behavior Specialist and were approved for TSS services 15 hours a week (3 hours a day) in the morning to help with his behaviors and focus. We also bought a weighted vest, bumpy seat for sitting, and a lap pad to keep him snug and somewhat comfortable while trying to stay focused and seated in the classroom. He gets a few movement breaks and gets 2 recess periods to burn off some steam, but for the most part, this still didn't help him when trying to concentrate or be able to focus when distractions are always occurring even in a class of 18 kids. Then we tried the diet method. We eliminated gluten, and introduced a gluten free vegan breakfast, lunch and snack option which helped somewhat to decrease his hyperactivity, but still didn't really address his focus and attention.

Today, I would categorize his strengths in reading and he has LOADS of focus for computer time (which he excels in and has become teachers helper for his fellow classmates). His weaknesses would be attention, copying things off the board, taking tests (when there's so much on the paper, he really gets overwhelmed), being able to listen to a story enough to retell it or get the summary from it (we have to show him little movies of people reading and acting out the story for him to be able to recall it) and following academic directions (pencils down, fidgeting, getting out of his seat when things happen outside the window).

Today, we will embark on this conversation with the doctor, to see if there is any more that we can do or if there is a low dose medicine he can use throughout the week that would help him academically and since he is diagnosed with both Autism and ADHD, I am hoping that we can take good suggestions from the doctor to help William feel more confident and better prepare him for next academic year.

I have to admit, William really puts forth so much effort, and he works so hard. He is an inspiration to me for his patience and tenacity. I just hope I am doing what's best for him to take some of the burden of trying to control his impulsive nature so that he can concentrate on his work and focus without having to worry about these things.

If you have gone through a similar situation, I welcome your feedback.

Wish us luck and have a great day!