Another piece!

Since the Strattera did nothing (or rather, did nothing to help - it did, in fact, have a pretty bad side effect), our doctor decided to try a different medication for JT's ADD (he's not the hyperactive subtype of ADHD, so I'll leave the H out :) ).

This time we are on the mildest stimulant there is.

Since The Hubs and I agreed we wanted to see the effects with our own eyes before sending him to school on it, we gave him a dose on Sunday.

We headed to the Discovery Place, where we played for 3 hours, including a 45 minute IMAX movie (Sea Rex).

JT did amazing. He was calm the entire time. He sat through the whole movie (this is a HUGE deal, he has never quietly sat through a movie - added bonus, he could recall all the movie info later, so he was really paying attention!). There was no squeaking out of anger, no fussiness, nothing. He was very compliant, following our directions and staying with our group the whole time. We saw the opposite of the possible side effect of aggressiveness (stimulants + autism can sometimes lead to that) - he was snuggly and happy.

We did note a huge spike in energy levels that evening - our boy was back to lapping the living room, orbiting our furniture. I know I'll have to do homework with him before dinner to get the most out of his focus.

I was so excited to get JT's school bag and read his notes today. His teacher was watching for changes, and I knew she would see some big ones.

I opened his folder to see this:
"He was awesome today."

The beauty of stimulants is he won't be taking them weekends, the summer or any day he doesn't have school. It's nice that it's out of his system before 12 hours is up.

So, it appears we have found another piece of the puzzle of JT :)

Image found here.