Drugging into Submission

At the end of March, we had an appointment with my son's pediatrician. Here in Canada, children do not see pediatricians for regular care, that is handled by family physicians. Pediatricians are for specialized things that the GP cannot handle.

So off we went to see Mak's beloved Dr. B. She is a curious woman, extremely intelligent and observant, who works with most of our region's autistic children.

I had, up to this point, believed as many parents do, that it is 'weak' to put your child on medication, that you just aren't disciplining effectively, and that drugging one's child into submission isn't the answer. I was firm in my opinion that I would never be one of those parents.

However, shortly before this appointment, Mak had a cold. Simple, everyday virus that ran it's course in a few days. As he was coming out of it, we noticed that during the period where he was almost-better-but-still-fuzzy that he was extremely well behaved. He listened to what we were telling him, he used the toilet on his own with no prompting, he would control his actions instead of doing whatever went through his head. It was amazing. He seemed to have his mental processing slowed down enough that he was able to control himself, and he was so happy at not being in time outs most of the day, as well as having dry pants.

That is when I realized that medicating him would not be drugging him into submission, I would be drugging him out of the storm of sensory input that he lives in.

So that day, we talked to his pediatrician about putting him on a medication to replicate that recovery period, to slow down his processing just enough that he could be reached. She prescribed Risperdal.

Within the week, I would have crawled over flaming glass shards to get that medication for my son.

He is controlling himself! I would see him go to hit someone or something, buy he would stay his hand without me saying anything. He would stay in time outs without throwing things or spitting on me! No more two hour screaming fits that damaged the walls. He stopped trying to kill his baby sister.

Within two weeks, he was potty trained. Two and a half years of trying to potty train him and we used every single tactic we could find, but nothing got through to him. He was still wearing pull ups every day and wouldn't use the toilet on his own - at four years old. Two weeks on this medication, and he was using the toilet consistently. He still has accidents occasionally and needs pull ups at night, but he is mostly potty trained at four and a half!

This medication gave him himself. He has the ability to control himself, and isn't as sensory driven. He can still be an absolute stinker at times, and knows how to push my buttons quite thoroughly. He is four, after all. But his misbehaviors are *typical* of four year olds, with few exceptions.

I will never again paint people who make such parenting choices with such a broad brush. I have my son, my wonderful son who is showing me just how wonderful he can be because he is able to control himself. Thank you, Dr. B for talking to me about it and leaving the decision up to us.