How many have tried meds for child?

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Registered: 09-15-2003
How many have tried meds for child?
6
Thu, 03-08-2007 - 6:38am

Hello,

My son has Aspergers. He is 5 and headed for kindergarten next year. I am completely stressed about the transition. I am trying to advocate for him to stay in regular ed with support rather than go in the special ed room. I am gathering evidence from professionals (dev. ped, psych)to support this. I know the district will fight it as aides are so expensive. I went back to work full time this year and work in the district as a teacher, which further complicates things.

This year, we got kicked out of one preschool. We are now in a preschool/daycare and are paying for extra support. We have many good days. However, there are still days with agressive behavior that we can't figure out. (Example - walking by another child and wacking him for no apparent reason) My son is also highly impulsive and rather wild. I do have consistent discipline in place, but it does not affect him in the same way it does his sister. Even at home, there are times he will be playing perfectly appropriately and then suddenly get into a wild mood. He just loves wild, aggressive play.

He also does not conform well to teachers' agendas. Many times he does. However, at other times he doesn't give a hoot.

We are wondering if we should try some medication to help the aggressive/impulsive/wild behavior. In general I prefer to teach coping skills rather than medicate, but I am feeling DESPERATE and WORN OUT. I know you can all relate.

Have you guys tried medication for various sumptoms? Was it successful? Moderately so or considerably so? I think I am at least going to schedule a consult. His psych. doesn't think we should medicate in preparation for kdg. She thinks we should wait and only medicate if it becomes necessary. However, I dislike the put the child in, let him fail, and then give support model. Any advice?
Chrissy

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-05-1998
Thu, 03-08-2007 - 8:39am

We started medication with my AS child when he was 6 (he's 14 now). I, too, was hesitant about medicating him for his impulsive, agressive behavior, but once we started, we discovered a different, much more delightful child, who was so grateful to have some help controlling the agression and impulsivity that he couldn't handle by himself. Also, once he was so agressive/impulsive, he was calm enough that we could teach him the coping skills he needed to learn--messages that wouldn't have gotten in and sunken in before because they couldn't.

We started with Risperdal and something else (can't remember what). We dropped that second one after about a year. At one time, he was on Risperdal and Zoloft (more for Seasonal Affective Disorder--SAD--winter depression than his AS). We've since dropped the Zoloft, and switched from Risperdal to Abilify, and once school gets out in June, we're going to try taking him off that as well.

I would NOT have him start kindergarten and have him fall apart before you start medicating--how awful for him to experience that kind of failure! Much better to try and get things under control before school starts so he has a better chance of success from the start.

Elizabeth
mom of Chris, 14, AS

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Registered: 10-03-2004
Thu, 03-08-2007 - 9:05am

I understand your hesitiation, though, and not all AS children respond well to medication. Some absolutely cannot tolerate any. Our ds does not typically have wild, aggressive behavior --- although if he is in too stressful, unsupported situation, this can happen! We have discovered that correct placement is crucial. We also have had great success with teaching. Discipline needs to be different for our kids, yes, consistent, but ALL about teaching skills each and every time, as punitive measures only add to frustration and inability to control self.

We know several ASD kids whose med trials turned into nightmares, and it was eventually discovered that they were too sensitive for med therapy. And yet the only way you will know that is by trial and error, sadly.

Our ds has now been on Zoloft for almost a year. He has been learning more about self-control and we do feel Zoloft has helped his thought processes be more accessible for learning, but it was not a magic pill when it came to his impulsivity, when he was stressed. But ds is being homeschooled now, as so we are not dealing with a school system!!!

This is a big decision. If your ds has had lots of trouble already in school settings, I sure would look into it, but working with a good psychiatrist about drug therapy should be a long-term process.

BTW, the law is on your side about the school district springing for the aide. They cannot turn you down for budgetary concerns. Way illegal. Don't let them bully you into him not having one, medicated or not!!! Least Restrictive Environment means he should have one. If I were you and he is doing well with an aide now, I would consider postponing the meds and working to get that aide first...

Let us know how things go. And (((((HUGS)))))

Sara

Avatar for littleroses
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Registered: 03-28-2003
Thu, 03-08-2007 - 10:09am




Edited 2/22/2008 12:24 pm ET by littleroses
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 03-08-2007 - 10:33am

You've gotten lots of good advice so far.

I will just tell you that we were in your exact shoes 2 times and both times had different outcomes. Both my kids upon entering kindie, we were in this position where the choice was between trying medication or going to an Special day class. In both cases we did try the medication mostly because I was just so scared and worn out like you.

In one case it worked and in one case it did not. My daugther did very well. We had to go to mediation to get her mainstreamed but she has been mainstreamed since. We only did the first med for a couple years and then she was 2 years off meds completely. In the beginning the med just helped to take the edge off and make her more available for learning. When it stopped being helpful we d/c'd it. A couple years later we started meds for seizures and anxiety adn that again helped for a couple years. Now she is just on the seizure med (which like LR said, works for mood, etc as well) She has been in mainstream or fully included with supports since and doing well overall.

My son was different. He is definitely the more explosive aggressive one. (Cait is not, hers was more an attending/withdrawal/socialization issue) We tried a number of meds over the first few years of school. Some seemed to help a little temporarily, many were more harm than good. We were able to keep him in mainstream a bit longer I think just because it seemed like we were doing something so we kept trying it but he eventually ended up in a special day class anyway.

He is no longer on meds becuase they do him more harm than good and the specialized classroom and supports are much more beneficial for him. Honest, hindsight 20/20, I should have taken him off meds and had him placed in a more supportive environment sooner.

Definitely look into the sensory piece with your son as well. We find that many of the issues that keep Mike from succeeding better in mainstream revolve around sensory issues and auditory processing issues. It is so hard for him to filter out the sensory overload and auditory information that he gets overwhelmed and frustrated. I really don't think there is a med to address that.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Thu, 03-08-2007 - 4:15pm

It's a very personal decision and a lot depends on the child, and how he/she presents. I agree with Renee that the child's sensory needs probably play a large part in the equation. Both my kids were VERY 'sensory', but in different ways.


I didn't try meds for either kid, BTW.


For Peter it was obvious from very early on, that he did much better in a smaller, quieter environment.

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
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Registered: 12-22-2003
Thu, 03-08-2007 - 6:02pm

Both of our spectrum kiddos are currently on medication, and both are mainstreamed. Our youngest is 6 (Autism), in 1st grade with a full-time 1:1 aide, and she takes Zoloft to help with anxiety issues. Our oldest is 9 (Aspergers), in 3rd grade with pull-out support services, and he takes Concerta for impulsivity/ADD tendencies.

I think a major part of this equation is the school district. Where we live, there are no "high functioning" classrooms. So for our children it was best to mainstream them, rather than have them pick up even more inappropriate behaviors from lowering function classmates. This is what happened with our youngest. She was in a self-contained Spec. Ed. preschool classroom for 1.5 years. There were only 5 kids in the class, and they had a teacher and two full-time aids in the room. Since none of the kids were verbal, she had no appropriate peers to model, and therefore only made very small verbal gains. Even though she was getting group speech 2x/week and 1:1 speech 2x/week. Fast forward to Kindergarten - I kicked and screamed and threw the LRE issue in the district's face, they grudgingly agreed to mainstream her with a 1:1, and low and behold she made exceptional gains. We will continue to mainstream her until such time that it becomes evident that academically she can no longer do the work.

In both instances, it was an extremely difficult decision to make. I was never going to "drug" my kids just to make them fall into the "manageable" category. But as it turns out, it was the right decision for our family. No the medication is not a cure all, but our kids are happier, they're doing much better in school, and I'm not constantly walking on eggshells waiting for the next catastrophic outburst to occur. Our 9 year old is now very capable of telling us the difference between how he feels with and without his medicine and he hates the way he feels without it.

In terms of when to try medication, should you ultimately decide to try it, I strongly agree with you. Why not give him the best possible start to his formal school career? I really don't understand the wait and see logic, because if the child is struggling in the current environment, there's little doubt that transitioning to K is going to be extremely difficult.

Good Luck...this is a very hard, very personal decision. But the good new is that whatever you decide, you've found a group of BTDT moms who will support you regardless. :-)

Amy

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