Our Aspergers Teenage Boy

Thanks for asking arcite!

Tommy has been on every medication in the book and some that aren’t on the books anymore (an obvious exaggeration; point being we’ve seen him on a lot).

He is currently taking 60 mg of Prozac (all in the morning) and 80 mg of Geodon (40mg in the morning; 40mg in the evening)[mood stablization not schizophrenia] NAMI reference, FDA reference, and Pfizer reference.

We switched to Geodon after crashing so badly on Stratterra.

We are very pleased as Tommy has never been so stable (which could be attributed to many factors aside from the medicine). This is also the least amount of medicine Tommy has been on. At one point, he was taking 9 pills. We have even discussed using this as an opportunity to further reduce his need for the medicine but will wait until the Summer break for any experimentation.

Tommy came home in a jolly mood. His teacher asked only that he clean out his backpack. I have to agree that it was packed solid with useless junk he has been collecting from the school trashcans. He has been in a good mood all afternoon. Now he is off for his hour-long, flood the bathroom floor bath.

Dad reports this morning:
Tommy got his medicine at 6:30am. I prefer to give it to him at 6:20 but my mind wandered today. At 6:40 he was told to get up and soon was lounging on the living room floor eating multiple bowls of cereal. 7:04 rolled around and Tommy was still in his pajamas. I warned Tommy that his bus would be here in 5 minutes and his response was “and you’ll be back in what, 10 minutes?” As we were waiting in the driveway of the carpool friend Tommy’s bus drove by. So I went back to the house to make sure he was at least making an effort to get on the bus. He was in his room panically putting on clothes say “I know. I know. It’s here.” So I left him to his on accord and last saw him walking barefoot to the bus carrying his shoes and socks. At least I’m certain he didn’t have time to sneak stuff.

Dad reports last night:
The evening went pretty smooth. Tommy actually took a relatively quick bath. He kept himself awake in his room which usually means he wants to sneak into the kitchen after we go downstairs. I didn’t have the energy to fight it.

Dad reports:
Tommy and I took the Goodwill pile (which was huge) to Goodwill then went to group. He and I spoke very little despite his promptings for conversation. I just didn’t feel like conversing with Tommy.

The doc said that his participation in group was the best it has ever been!

Dad reports:
Tommy cleared the yard of toys and has rolled the hose back up on the spool. He will now take a try to Goodwill with me then we will go to his group therapy.

Tommy is now out using trimmers to clear the back hillside which has been a constant battle with Mother Nature. It’s rewarding to see the work getting done and seeing Tommy have a real life consequence for his actions.

He asked “Why am I having to do this?” to which I calmly replied “Because you disrupted the class during TCAPs and you disrupted my day and your mother’s day. Because you didn’t do what you were supposed to do.” No further discussion from Tommy.

Dad reports:
I am working to make sure that Tommy does not see today as pleasant. I anticipate this will curb his desire to repeat the behavior. He has twice told me he “wishes he were back in school.”

Tommy’s teacher just called and asked us to pick him up. These phone calls maake me tense and ruin my day. Apparently Tommy is wandering the building acting silly and refusing to listen. This translates to ‘Tommy doesn’t want to sit down and work so he’s going to manipulate us’. Tommy wins because they want us to come get him. This makes me really angry because now he’ll repeat this behavior to get the reward of going home. The school is supposed to keep him there and teach him, not flap their hands and give up when he doesn’t conform to their schedule. Time to demand an IEP and start fighting again.

Dad reports:
Coming back from carpool I stopped for gas and when I was pulling out of the gas station I saw Tommy’s bus driving by much later than usual. I wonder if Tommy waited until the bus showed up to get dressed. I suspect he took his D&D books to school despite us saying “no.” I had multiple reasons for those books not going today. I suppose Tommy needs a coinsequence. My initial thought are irrational and extreme. I suspect just taking the books away for a couple of days is most appropriate.

Tommy finally decided to get out of bed screaming “my knee! my knee!” and when I put Neosporin on it the same that yesterday he said “oh, that doesn’t hurt” he screamed in pain then asked “is that the same as the one we used yesterday” to which I replied “yes” and he said “oh” and quit screaming.