Good

Today was a good busy day, Carlitos did well at church. Was able to sit on his spot without interrupting other people. He sat with one of his favorite friends. When he went to class he was in a good mood and did very well. He use to have problems since is the same setting as school, he would react the same. Now he does much better.

On the way home he decided to finish a drawing he was doing of New York, somehow in the process he made a mistake and "blew up"!!, scrunched up the paper and threw it out of the window, he was furious. Did not speak the whole way to the house. As soon as we got home he jumped on the computer for a while and then he was happy again. He still gets frustrated but controls himself much better.

In the afternoon I had a meeting and took him with me. There were other boys in the house and they played together Legos and such. Got impatient for a little while but did ok. Once we came home he got ready for dinner and then for bed. No problems falling sleep (of course his mini radio is a must!!) plus we put a mini Christmas tree with lights on his nigh stand...he loves it!!!

Appointment

Today he did well, specially with his sisters. This morning I came out of my room and found all my kids at the table doing Christmas crafts together, it was a very nice surprise. He was interacting very good and calmed down.

Later in the day he started getting bored, clearly when he gets like that decides to go about it the wrong way, and uses annoyance as a way of entertainment. Drives his sisters crazy!!!.

Today we had his counseling appointment. This is the first one after starting with medicine. The comment was that he seemed in a better place and we discussed how content he has been. Got the counselor updated on his progress at school and such. Carlitos did very well in the office being creative with some cups he found in there. At first in the car he was very concerned about not having anything to do at the office, but did not get frustrated about it.

Tonight we went to a Birthday party at a friend house. There was a bunch of boys his age. They started playing basketball in the backyard. He has a hard time playing that sport, everyone else was playing very well and he started feeling frustrated that they were winning all the time and being rough. He did ok and then finally decided to come in the house and not participate, which is not bad comparing it to the other possibility of him started yelling mad and getting into a fight with someone. He had time to think about his decision before reacting to his feelings, and he chose right. Good for him!!!

He was very tired by the time we came back home. Got in his room, turned his mini radio on and grabbed his favorite book.

I'm proud of my olderst daughter, she is making great efforts to help him and play with him. Very nice!.

Suddenly lonely?

He is doing so much better than a month ago!! we are very excited of his changes and improvements with the medicine. Today it was very clear that he is seeking out his sisters really bad, much more than before. He wants their friendship, relationship and company. The conflict is that the girls do not trust him much based on previous history, and they automatically ignore him. The fits lately have been because of the rejection of his older sister. Today he had another battle with her.

He was able to express very well how he was feeling and how what she did hurt him. She was receptive to the information and made an effort to spend time with him, he did very well with her. It will be work but I think they are going in the right direction.

I have been asking questions in online boards about Abilify and something a lot of them have in common is that makes the kids gain weight. So far he is very skinny and has plenty of room to grow. However he is eating much more than usual. So we'll see how this side effect does with him. On the other hand most of the posts were very positive about the medicine. It does make me feel better.

Tomorrow we will be decorating for Christmas. He is very excited and ready to start. It should be a good way to keep him busy and interacting with the rest of the family.

I don't think he truly feels lonely but this last week he has been very clingy to the family and not wanting to be alone, wants to be playing with someone no matter what. He never did that before, must be his level of awareness??....not sure.

Thanksgiving Day

I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends. We had a very peaceful day, there was a plan for the morning to go somewhere but at the end there was a change of plans, with that we stayed home in pajamas taking it very slow. We cooked the turkey and side dishes and had a traditional dinner.

The kids did very well, but Carlitos had a harder time. Some of it was not going out of the house at all and the other thing I noticed today is that he is seeking a lot of attention from us and his sisters. Positive first and if that does not work then he goes for the negative kind that unfortunately always works with the girls. At one time he was hitting a paper they were looking at, I explained to him that bugging them like that makes them less willing to be with him, and his answers was that he wanted their attention.

I had a talk with older sister gong over some concepts and ground rules to better this situations. She is a preteen and having a hard time. The youngest one seems to be ok but sometimes gets frustrated with him too. They had an argument tonight and he immediately went to the front door and left. Is cold and wet outside, I knew he would stay right there cooling himself down, 2 minutes later he was back in more flexible for discussion.

Lately he does not want to be alone or play alone, but has a hard time figuring out how to do it appropriately. We'll work on it. Without a doubt more now than before. Seems like his awareness is better and he realizes more that people does not want to be with him because of his behavior. I guess is good and bad, depends how you see it.

Level 3

This morning he had a good attitude just like the last weeks. Did everything on time without much redirection or issues. Went to school and I did not get a phone call like I used to.

However, when I picked him up and checked his "report" from his teacher I learned that he was very frustrated and escalating today at school. More defiant and not listening. It has been over 2 weeks since he has done that, and yesterday he showed the same irritation....I'm not sure.
I talked to him since he was very calm and asked a few questions about how he was feeling and if anything was changing in him, his brain, thoughts, etc. H said no but agreed that he was not as relax than before.

This afternoon he had a few confrontations with his sisters because he would bug them and not stop, then when they yell at him he would be very angry with them. I was able to help him see why they were upset with him and apologize. Comparing his behavior now with the way he was a month ago is not the same at all. He is pushing but still in controls and more aware. From 0-5 measuring frustration last weeks he has been a 1, today he was getting to a 3.

We are keeping eye on things, maybe he is feeling the "Holiday pressure" or getting sick, a lot of times he acts very different before getting sick. I hope not!! At the end he went to bed very nicely and happy with everyone. Tomorrow we are keeping the day simple, so he does not have to deal with too much going on. We are prepared and ready.

I wish everyone a great Holiday, full of surprises and good times!!.

Incident 1

This morning he did his routine like usual. Took some time waking up and then he started getting ready. Again the radio helped a lot. At school he was on task and doing everything without a problem.
Back from school he did his usual and was able to do homework. Today is our busy day because he has karate and church after that. When the time came for us to leave, went to the car and all got in. he started messing with his older sister and looked like he was hitting her, so I reached and smack his leg to get his attention and stop. He immediately got angry and opened the door and jumped out of the car. Tried to open the front door but it was locked so he kicked it hard. I told him to stop and breathe. he walked away (looking very angry and inflexible) and tried to climb the wall to get into the backyard. At this point he looses it if I keep chasing and insisting. We were in a tight time frame so I convinced him to get in the car and we left.
Took him a while to get rid of the attitude. As soon as we got to Karate I had a talk with him and clear whatever he had leftover.

This is the way he was behaving before everyday. I was a little surprised but I have to say, over 2 weeks of perfection are hardly an issue. He still seems to be better connected and controlling himself good. This happened at the end of the afternoon 5:30pm. He was already tired.

Thanksgiving is almost here and you can feel it in the air, sometimes I think he reacts to this kind of atmosphere. We'll see.....

Radio

He had a good day today. He presented a group project at school and sounds like he did very well. Also this morning he was able to do all his tasks good too. But now a new items has been added to the mix...a mini radio!!. We went to goodwill to look around and he found a tiny boom box where he can listen to Christmas music, he loves it!!!.

Makes everyone listen to it, showers with it, eats with it, plays listening to it and now he has to go to bed also with the radio. The good part of it is that he can accomplish anything as long as the radio is there but he makes the rest of the kids listen to it even if they don't want to. We are working on that issue. I think is cute.

A friend of mine was telling me today that she put her son on Risperal, I guess is a medicine that has been approved for the FDA to help with Autism Spectrum behaviors of irritability, frustration and such. The side effects are not as bad as Abilify. However Abilify is working very well on Carlitos for now and he is in a very low dose....I'll wait and see how he progresses in this one before I even think on changing anything.

Something to keep in mind....

Challenge

My poor little guy had to go today to 2 major events. The first one was a family event at a church where no one knows us. He was able to sit and fidget quietly, actually he did very good!!. That lasted an hour or so.

After that I had a work Thanksgiving celebration with about 200 people in a very small place. It was loud, tight with people and very overwhelming. He did very good, got a little frustrated because we waited a very long time to eat and he was hungry. But did not loose it or got mad. We stayed for a while and then we left.

Something that I have noticed lately is that he does not want to be alone at all, always asking for me or others to be with him and play something...that is not something he did before..mmmm.

He went to bed without any problems. So far the medicine has helped a lot, and I don't see any signs of changing or diminishing the effects in him. We are very grateful for all this. Specially because the Holidays are right here and he will be able to enjoy the parties and everything much more.

Nice

He was soooo cute this morning!, woke me up and told me there was something for me in the kitchen. I went and found breakfast set up at the table for both of us (everyone else was out of the house) all by himself, very sweet.

Today I noticed he was kind of frustrated a lot, specially with his sister. Obsessing with a little radio he got and inflexible in his thinking. Not sure why he was like that today. He end up going to his room frustrated a couple of times and was pushy about what he wanted...very impatient.

Tomorrow we are going to an event and hope he is feeling a little more centered and balanced. I mentioned before some people saying that the medicine wears out after a while, I don't think that is the case at all at this point because even when he gets frustrated he is in full control of his decisions and bounces back right away. He was not able to do that at all.

He went to bed good, we gave him his meds a little later than normal, I don't think it will affect him.

All good...

2 weeks and 1 day

Wow....time is gong by very quickly. Now we have crossed the 2 week mark and have a better idea of how this medicine affects Carlitos. So far he is doing very well. This morning did what he needed to do and went to school. The report from school today said that he stayed on task and did all his work. That is huge improvement for him.

In the afternoon he got frustrated because he did not want to play alone and nobody else wanted to go with him to play Legos. Everyone else was watching a movie. He walked out and went to his room, did not slam the door just closed it quietly. Every single time before this weeks he would scream and slam the door. Now he does not do that anymore. He was over that pretty quickly.

Later he worked on a tree outside doing good exercise. Today is Friday and we have a very relaxed afternoon and movie night. I rented the latest Star Wars, Clone War. He was all cuddly enjoying pop corn and family time. He finished his day good and tired.

Good day...

He is doing really well so far. Getting dressed by himself (after a few reminders) and doing what he needs to do to get ready. At school he is staying on task, still having difficulties with writing but everything else is doing better.
At home he is able to do homework and not get too frustrated. He is smiling more and seems to be content.
All together he is getting along with everyone much better. I need to make the next app for follow up with the Dr. I am going to keep him at half a pill for now, is working good so there is nor reason to increase.
Yesterday he had a headache but today he is ok, the only thing I have notice a lot is that he gets sleepy in the afternoon. Not enough to be spacey but much more than normal. Not a big deal at this point!.

So far so good....

Headache..

This morning he had a hard time waking up, actually little by little is getting harder and harder, but still not compared to the way it was before. He is smiling more and seems more relaxed. Still has his episodes but very controlled.

He did his work at school and was able to do his homework without a problem. Did some writing and had some problems with reading time (practicing reading the clock). Surprising since he is very good with numbers. We got most of it done.

Late afternoon, around 5:00pm he looked tired and told me he had a headache in the back of his head. he made himself a Ziploc bag with ice and lay down on it. He DOES not get headaches ever, so my mind immediately thinks is a side effect. However the other possibility is the fact that he needs glasses, he has an appointment soon. The headache lasted about an hour and he was done and went back to normal.

He did good at dinner and then went to bed to read his book and hang out with his dog. After a little while he was sleeping. he has never had a problem sleeping (thank goodness)!!
We are still very happy with his changes in his behavior. And we are careful to take one step at a time!

Interesting

Today was a very busy day. He was a little more challenging in some ways. Harder for him to follow direction and less flexible. Still very manageable and putting the effort instead of losing it.
We just finished a project he had for school, is due tomorrow. H typed a small paragraph and took him one and a half hours...I had to be super patient with him because you could see how much effort he was putting in this. At the end he was very proud of his master piece.

We went to his OT with his friend Elijah. They are very similar in character and the same age. He was very obedient and followed direction very well. I'm glad he gets to go with a friend of his to therapy, makes it fun!. His medicine is working good so far, no major changes or second effects, at least ones I could notice.

I was talking to a mom and she has been jumping meds for her son a lot, some work, some don't, and some other ones are great for a while and then go useless. I'm really hoping I can stay with 1 medicine and not have to mix or change too much, that seems dangerous and the poor kids bouncing all over the place in the transition. It does not seem fair.

Ups...

I totally forgot to update the blog last night, I just realized it!!.
Yesterday he did pretty good. He still struggles with writing at school but his behavior has improved tons and is not getting so frustrated and loosing it. He played with the other kids fine at home after school and sat him down to do some homework.

Homework is such a struggle for him, I try to keep it simple for him but he gets stressed out right away. He did very good and finished the page he had to do without any help.

At night he looked very tired and sleepy. Much more than before the medicine, it does make him sleepy, however, it has not changed his personality and playfulness. I am keeping an eye for that. The Holidays are almost here and he loves this season so I think this year he'll be able to enjoy it that much more.

I am very proud of him!!

So..

Here we are on Sunday. It is also a slow kind of day with the difference that we have church on Sundays and he has a whole set of things going on there. But today we did not have it in the morning but just the women at night. So he did not go through that.

All day he did ok, including going coupon shopping with me and a friend of mine. I would normally quit the idea of taking him because he would struggle, run around and be very distracting. But this time I decided to bring him along and see how he did. The experiment was very successful!, he stayed with me all the time, asked me questions, looked for items and begged a couple of times for things he wanted...that's it!. Very happy and content. I was very pleased with the situation, I am glad he can go places and feel better.

After that took him home to stay with daddy and the girls while I finished shopping at another store. He did good. The only incident he had today was a strong argument with his older sister. Did not escalate, no slammed doors or running away kind of deal. He finally understood why she was so upset and left it alone. By the time I came back from church at night he was already in bed ready to go. Read his book for a little while and I reminded him he has basketball practice tomorrow and he immediately got in bed. Turned the light off and done!. I don't think he had any issues with his belly today.

He seems much more content and focused. Stubborn as usual (he wants what he wants) and I'm glad he is still like that!!

Weekend...

This morning I was very surprised when my kids cooked breakfast in bed for me. Carlitos was able to cook with his sisters together, and not just cereal kind of thing. They made eggs and bacon, toast, orange, coffee and cake (cake was already done!)..they actually cooked all by themselves. He did very well following direction from his older sister and keeping a very good attitude the whole time.

Saturdays are very slow for him, stays in pajamas forever and has a lot of freedom to do what he wants to do. In the afternoon we went to a few stores and he did pretty good listening and staying on task (staying with us). Came back home and he interacted with his sisters very well, no arguments or fights. They did disagree a few times but did not escalate to nothing.

One thing that I notice is that a couple of days after he started with his pills he had diarrhea, just for a couple of days and then went away. Today he got constipated for the very first time ever!! he got a little freaked out over it. His diet has not changed at all so I can only assume could be the medicine. We'll keep an eye on it.

Tonight all the kids spent a good time reading books together in their rooms. Poems, jokes, stories, comics...they looked very cute together. He did have a hard time gong to bed and actually get to sleep. Very distracted and kind of stubborn, but after a little while he finally went down and by now he is snoring!!.

So far everything seems to be going good. The girls are much more relaxed and not always on the defensive waiting for him to do something to them. Their relationship has improved a lot.
I was telling a friend of mine how surreal the whole medicine/behavior thing is. Hard to understand how a little blue pill would do so much change on something we cannot touch, only observe. The brain is an ocean of connections and electricity and this blue pill is able to put him in a much better balance. I totally get there is tons of research and bla, bla, bla behind all this. Is just that from our simple point of view it almost looks like magic. Let's not forget it is a drug and it does have second effects of different kinds and have to be very careful with it....still....wow!!

Wow

This morning he did well. Got ready without a problem or discussion and finished everything he had to do. Even brushed his sister's hair!!! very cute!. He rode his bike to school and went to class. His teacher report says that his one on one assistant did not go today and he stayed on task and finished everything. They re negotiated his reward system and he did good with that. It is interesting that he performed well without the assistant because he needs a lot of re direction for class work. They changed his reward system today because it was very ineffective since he is on task at this point. He is OK with the change.

If he stays like this he could stop having a one on one assistant to help him out. He has had one since he was in Kindergarten!!! I can't even imagine him without one. We'll see. He is spending more time doing projects. But today he did get frustrated with a Lego car he build, the car kept falling apart and he had a very hard time controlling his frustration, got agitated BUT did not blow up like usual, he was able to work on it and finally fix it, that is a big one for him.

I am so proud of him and all the effort he is making, looks happier and his performance on anything he does is right on track. Almost if a cloud has been moved from his mind. He did have a fight with his little sister but did not touch her at all, yelled very quickly and then he was done with it.

On Fridays we have movie night and he looks forward to it so he is watching television right now with his sisters. Very calmed and happy.

It has been a very good week and looking forward working with him and catching up at school since he got totally behind academically with his past behavior.

One week

One week!! I am very excited with how Carlitos is doing. This morning he did not have a hard time getting ready, around the bushes like all the other kids.....tired!. But got ready, had breakfast and was ready to go to school. Again today he did most of his work at school, my understanding is that he got upset one time over spelling but he was done with it right away and was able to move on. I think we need to rethink his reward system because we did not expect such an improvement so quick and he is doing everything right away. We'll discuss that tomorrow.

At home he had snack, looked very calmed and went to his room to play with Legos, he was able to build a truck very quickly, a lot of focus. Finished that and ran around with the other kids without getting loud or frustrated. Played in the computer and then I sat him down for homework.
It was amazing, he did not make any stressful noises or refuse right away, he worked on his math sheet, did some of it, the changed and started working on another page. He was very calmed and focused. Did not finished for other reasons but the difference is like day and night. Warms my heart to see him peaceful and content.

But as soon as he is able to grow in his coping skills I'll get him off of the meds. Too many side effects and stuff, it works great so far but it is what it is.

Right before bed time he got hungry all over again and had 2 poptarts and warm milk. They did say the medicine could make him hungry. I don't mind at this point...he has plenty of room!!

Mmmm

This morning he had a hard time waking up, took him forever to get ready, but once he started he did pretty good. Had breakfast and finished all his Hygiene chores. At school he finished 6 assignments, that is really good!! his teacher made a comment about him being on task lately. My guess on that is that his anxiety level has dropped and feels more comfortable at school. We still need to wait and see how it goes.
He play with daycare kids very focused and well. I do notice some slowness to him, when he thinks and acts, I hope it does not get worse. He played in the backyard creating spy games with the other kids for hours. Never got upset or frustrated. Very surprising. Something else I have noticed is that he basically listens the first time, we don't have to repeat over and over...he hears it the first time and gets it.
At dinner he did good and after that they watched a movie until bed time. When it was over I asked him to put his pajamas on and he did right away! If he continuous to respond this way half of dose is all he needs for now.
He is reading poems in bed ready to be sleeping in 10 minutes. Great day!! so far no surprises or issues.

Much better

Today is a Holiday so we got to stay in slow motion for the day..nice!. By the time I got out of bed Carlitos was already with daddy at the computer playing his favorite game, by the way in a very good mood. I actually woke up with a phone call I was waiting for, the med line from the place his Dr works. I discussed my request to keep him on half dose (2.5mg) of Abilify to begin with. Now I want to clarify that my intention is not to run the show as a Dr or make my wishes be done!!. I had a legitimate reason to ask, and if at the end of the request there was a better reason to jump to a full pill I would have been ok with that. Now, my thinking on keeping him in such a low dose is that he has never been on meds before and really we don't know how his body will take it. His mood swings are not severe and maybe this dose is enough for now, but there is no way to know until I keep him on 2.5mg long enough to know for sure, otherwise we put him on a full pill and we would never know at all.

Going back to the phone call!!, the person asked me a few questions, I explained my dilemma and she said the Dr would be notified and get back with me. And she did, the same lady called back maybe 30 minutes later and said that the Dr was ok staying on half dose and see how he reacts with it and follow up at the next appointment. I appreciate a lot the Dr supporting me on this!, I have heard many cases where the Dr's are not very flexible. So finally all this has been decided until further notice.

Carlitos this morning has been very willing to listen and happy. I'm glad. After a while we decided to go out to the store, I asked him to take a shower, asked again and again but when he decided to do it he went in took his shower without messing around, got out, went to his room and got dressed all by himself!! I was very impressed by that.

At the store he followed us without a problem and did get in a confrontation with his older sister but handled it very well. Again...very impressed. He seems to be sleepy, not num but much slower. I am hoping he gets use to it and regain some energy. After that we went to another store and he sis very good.

Today he had OT (Occupational Therapy) with another boy, he normally has difficulty with following direction and getting frustrated, but not today. He did great. After that took him to Karate and started to look tired. Did good (normally he does in this class) and then to church, at that time was clear he was done with the day, getting grouchy and impatient. Came back home and went to bed right away.

Today is # 5 on the pill and I can see clear difference on his behavior. We'll see how he does at school tomorrow.

First dat at school after starting his meds

Just imagine how curious and anxious I was this morning wondering how he was going to do today at school. This last weekend everything was fine but that is not hard since he has a lot of freedom here to do whatever he wants to do with his toys and time, it is a relaxing time. So this morning he had to be at school by 7:10am for a Basketball training club. As soon as we reminded him about it he got dressed right away and followed directions without a problem. I left to work and did not hear from school.

I picked him up and checked the journal I have with the teacher to see what happened today at school. He did great, actually the teacher mentioned that he had a mellow day and completed 4 assignments. That is actually good news but I can't give credit to the medicine because this week we also started a new reward system.

I have been trying to get a hold to his Dr to negotiate the possibility of keeping him on a low dose 2.5mg but so far no luck. By tomorrow night he suppose to go up to a a full pill. We'll see how that goes by tomorrow.

This afternoon he did have an episode. He got very angry because I mentioned I was not going to let the kids be in my office anymore. He ran screaming and shut my room door and locked himself, I went to the door and told him I was thinking about it and not that I was going to do it right away. Immediately his voice changed and came out of the room. His fit lasted maybe 2 minutes, usually he would stay mad much longer!!!..mmmmm.

We went shopping and he did great, came back, played with his sisters and went to bed late. Went to his bed with some negotiation but good. We'll see if I can figure out the meds tomorrow.

Questioning dose...

Today Carlitos had a pretty uneventful day. Got up super early to play computer for a little bit and then have breakfast. We had to get ready for Church by 9:15. I told him we had to go pick up his older sister at some friends house before going to church. He was distracted getting dressed but not too bad, he took redirection pretty well. Finally we left and he looked pretty good so far.

Church started and he normally has a hard time sitting without making noises or moving a lot, we give him wiggle room to move around, but today he was very mellow (I don't think the meds suppose to be kicking yet). Then he got up and went to another room, and this was his usual deal, to go play somewhere else. later he went to his class and did very well. After coming home we had a birthday party at hour house with a lot of people, he did well and entertain himself just fine. As far as I can tell he did not fight with his sisters at all today. But again...he does have good days, more than bad days.

Tomorrow he goes back to school and then we'll know for sure if there are any changes yet, the pressure at school is very hard for him and we see a lot of meltdowns there. I'll be checking on him closely.

Now...I had a tough today about the medicine. The dose says that the first 4 days he gets a half of pill, then after that is a full one. I was wondering if we can keep him on a half pill dose a couple of weeks and see if that would be enough to help him with his mood swings. My thinking is why up the dose without knowing if a lower dose actually works. I don't like the side effects it may cause and if he gets off the meds later then it would be easier this way. I am calling the Dr tomorrow and negotiate....wish me luck!!

He is peacefully sleeping right now and I'm very tired after a very busy day.

A new day

Today Carlitos had a semi normal day. Saturdays are rest day and doing whatever around the house. He seemed sleepy all morning but then he was playing fine with his little sister when they started arguing over the rules of a game. When I heard it I started walking towards them to decide the rule so they would not argue anymore, by the time I got there (1 min) it was too late, he exploded and grabbed his sister's hand and twisted it, I stopped him and he stormed to his room yelling and then slammed the door. I made sure she was ok and then waited until he came out of his room. He lost computer playing and being with his sister for about 3 hours, at least that was the plan as consequence, but at the end she could not stay away and not play with him so that didn't work too well.

The rest of the afternoon he was fine, I had to run some errands and he helped dad and did the things he likes. His next dose of medicine is in 15 minutes. I was very surprised yesterday that he swallowed the pill, he has never taken any pills. He did good.

So here we are in full anticipation of the unknown and hoping all works out for the best!

Since April-May his behavior has been changing a lot. More aggressive, disobedient and frustrated, very frustrated. Seems like he lost all respect for authority including teachers and such. Is getting very hard to discipline him. He has been caring less and less about consequences or grounding. Even tough he is very high functioning the way he thinks is very different and makes him frustrated all the time. We have tried everything!! he has a counselor, behavioral coach, Occupational therapy, speech therapy at school, a personal assistant and now a Psychiatrist added to the mix.
We have been able to provide tools and options for him successfully until now, the things we do are not working, he is regressing, loosing social interaction and getting highly frustrated ALL the time.

I had to do it....consider meds, I am not big on meds at all. I do not believe they are the magic solution plus I don't trust the side effects at all. I decided to make the appointment with the Psyq Dr and discuss this. I am looking for something to take the edge off and give him more reaction time before flying off the handle!!. So our appointment was today. They recommended Abilify 5 mg. looked it up and it does look scary, this is medicine used for Schizophrenia!!. I got some second opinions from people I trust and they supported the trial to see if works. So I decided to write this blog so we can follow together his experiences in the world of medicine and see how it really affects him. So I started today, gave him his first pill. I'll let you know day by day how it goes.

Well...here we go

I am a mom keeping track of lots of information and trying to figure out life with a high functioning Autistic boy. He is 9 and changing by the day. But let's start from the beginning!!....
He was born just fine, no issues or weird situations. He was walking at 1 and doing the things kids normally do.
By the time he was 15 months he started loosing his words and having speech issues. At that time we had no clue he had anything major, just a speech delay, big deal!, but then as the week went by we started noticing very strange behaviors, like lining up all kinds of things (brushes, shoes, coins, etc) we had no idea what that was!. He was very inflexible about any routines, hated change and was a little obsessive over things. At that point is when the word Autism came in the picture. He started a state program until age 3, after that he started special ed preschool and by the time he was five he went into Kinder garden. At this point he is very verbal and has tactile sensory issues. First and second grade were very normal, a few issues here and there but performing academically and socially. At the very end of his second year he started having problems with defiance and rebelliousness, not wanting to do his work at school and hating writing!!.
Summer came up and we figured he was done for the school year, probably reset for the next one and be ok. Well....not so much, and here we are, at this very point!!