If it ain't broke...

Saturday, April 29, 2006

On being official

Grr, Blogger ate my post. I had a lovely though-provoking post all typed up and it has disappeared. I'm not sure I'll be as elloquent the second time around, but here goes:

Reed had his appointment with the ASD neurology specialist this week, and he confirmed the school's findings. We are now the proud(ish) parents of an Asperger's child. This comes as no surprise, and I'm actually glad to have it over with. The neurologist declared that we were on top of things, and couldn't suggest anything that we weren't already doing. That felt nice. We will get an MRI done over the summer, but will wait until school is out before scheduling that. He also refered us to a research study on AS being done by the local university he's affiliated with. I am still torn as to wether to sign Reed up for it or not. While the $3,000 or so in free testing is extremely tempting, it would require taking him off all meds for 3 weeks prior in order to be elligible. 3 weeks is a long time, and I'm just not sure we're ready for that yet. I know medicating kids on the spectrum (or any kids for that matter) is contriversial, but it is what works for us right now. He functions so muchs better on his meds. He asks for his pill if I forget to offer it with breakfast. I asked him once why he wanted it when he reminded me. He answered simply, "It makes me not so much." So there you have it. He is too much even for himself. When he can't focus properly, he can't put a filter on the world, and it overwhelms him. I'm not convinced it's fair to anybody to deny him that. The answers the additional testing might provide, and the benefit to autism research are so hard to walk away from, though. At least I have some time to decide. We wouldn't do anything until school is out anyway, so I'm thinking and praying on it hard.

I'm open to suggestions and advice. What would you do? You, my wonderful friends in cyberspace, are so much wiser than I in matters like this. Should we give it a try without the meds? After all, we might discover he can do just fine without them once he gets used it it. Or should we alow him his comfort zone for now?

1 comment(s):

Great comment - "It makes me not so much." Bud asks for his medication if I'm late in giving it to him as well.

Sounds like you're facing a tough decision. What sort of testing would they be doing?

By Blogger Mary, at 8:15 PM  

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