Hi mummas,
Tonight I seem to be struggling!
A bit of background, my son is 7. At age 3 he was diagnosed with autism, as school age approached we realised there was much more to the story, he also was diagnosed with behavioural problems, learning difficulties and hyperactivity issues.
Like most other folks with little ones on the spectrum we have tried and tested quite a few different methods to ease symptoms- all except medication. This is because in our sons case the professionals who have worked with him have all thought that this wouldn't have the desired outcome.
For the most part diet, regular exercise, lots of inclusion, positive approach (we had, had a lot of issues after a year of negative and exclusive behaviour from his first schooling experience) regular therapies and plenty of love have meant I thought we were making progress in huge leaps and bounds.
Until tonight. Tonight my son asked to be medicated. In his words "i just want to be normal, I just want to stop all the sillys that go around in my head. I need medicine to make my brain quiet"
It was very hard to hear- but I know it would have been even harder to say.
I guess I'm just after some advice or words of wisdom from other mummas who are in or have been in a similar spot with their journey to help us get through this part of ours. Thank you xx
2 Replies
As an autism mumma I would definitely seek a paediatricians advice on medication. It's something we as parents don't want to do but I've seen kids on medication have a genuine easing in symptoms.
My son had the ASD/OCD combo so was medicated for OCD and it made a massive difference. I know friends kids who have fitted the ASD/ADHD profile and benefitted from Ritalin or similar.
Most of my friends kids have had applied behaviour analysis therapy (including mine) so they were hard core parents who worked hard to get there kids to where they were and medication was a big decision.
I can recommend the Sydney Developmental Clinic, booked in with Rory McCarthy - even if you have to travel to get there (we did). It's a full day, not just a 15min consult, and they do a lot of testing, including IQ, EEG, etc etc. Our results came back as ADHD/ODD and an IQ in the superior/gifted range. Started on meds (scary as all hell!!) and have seen a massive improvement. Master 7 new something was wrong, and begged for something to make his brain calm down too. He is now very happy and is loving being able to concentrate and focus on the things he loves. Good luck ?