Re: Back-to-school night

[Guest guest]

How lovely!  I am very happy for you.  When things go well like that

you do feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Best wishes for

the school year.

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 9:40 PM, smacalli <smacalli@...> wrote:

 

We just had back-to-school night for my son (13, 8th grade, Aspergers) and it went so well! I couldn't believe it. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did. For the other 2 back-to-school nights for Dylan in middle school (6th and 7th grades) Dylan would be gliding through the hallways, almost flapping his arms, making a lot of " nervous " noises when the teachers were talking, and generally embarrassing me and embarrassing himself. It was painful to be a part of and to watch.

8th grade back-to-school night...I swear he's a different kid. He's grown up SO MUCH over the summer. He was so quiet and thoughtful about things as we sat in the classrooms and listened to the teachers. I was just stunned! He took his Daytrana patch off about 1.5 hours beforehand so the medication was already wearing off so he was probably unmedicated or close to unmedicated by the end of the evening. I gave him many complements through the evening but I will take zero credit for this. It was all him. And his little sister was even there! I thought between the sibling rivalry and D's anxiety I would firmly hate myself for even attempting to do this but I had noone to watch my daughter and I really wanted to meet his teachers so I took a chance.

I hope, hope, hope the kids give him a chance this year. If he is more calm and thoughtful about what he chooses to say and how he interacts with others, I hope it makes a difference. He wants very much to have friends. Several kids said " hi " to him this evening so I know there are some possibilities out there. This just gives me so much hope for the future. I'm sure we'll still struggle with the usual: organization of papers/notebooks/homework, remembering to turn things in, not waiting until the last minute, etc... but I think it's all doable. I just had to share this amazing experience with you guys. It really can get better!

[Guest guest]

Yay! I'm so glad it started off great!

 Roxanna

" The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do

nothing. " E. Burke

( ) Back-to-school night

We just had back-to-school night for my son (13, 8th grade, Aspergers)

and it went so well! I couldn't believe it. I kept waiting for

something to happen and it never did.

For the other 2 back-to-school nights for Dylan in middle school (6th

and 7th grades) Dylan would be gliding through the hallways, almost

flapping his arms, making a lot of " nervous " noises when the teachers

were talking, and generally embarrassing me and embarrassing himself.

It was painful to be a part of and to watch.

8th grade back-to-school night...I swear he's a different kid. He's

grown up SO MUCH over the summer. He was so quiet and thoughtful about

things as we sat in the classrooms and listened to the teachers. I was

just stunned! He took his Daytrana patch off about 1.5 hours

beforehand so the medication was already wearing off so he was probably

unmedicated or close to unmedicated by the end of the evening. I gave

him many complements through the evening but I will take zero credit

for this. It was all him. And his little sister20was even there! I

thought between the sibling rivalry and D's anxiety I would firmly hate

myself for even attempting to do this but I had noone to watch my

daughter and I really wanted to meet his teachers so I took a chance.

I hope, hope, hope the kids give him a chance this year. If he is more

calm and thoughtful about what he chooses to say and how he interacts

with others, I hope it makes a difference. He wants very much to have

friends. Several kids said " hi " to him this evening so I know there

are some possibilities out there. This just gives me so much hope for

the future. I'm sure we'll still struggle with the usual: organization

of papers/notebooks/homework, remembering to turn things in, not

waiting until the last minute, etc... but I think it's all doable. I

just had to share this amazing experience with you guys. It really can

get better!

[Guest guest]

He was feeling so confident last week that he decided not to wear his Daytrana patch on Thursday or Friday. He told me "I don't feel like me when I wear the patch and I want to be myself." Great. How can I argue with that? So we talked about the pros and cons of wearing it or not wearing it on Friday and he decided not to wear it. I'm not sure Friday turned out quite as great as he had hoped though. But he ate lunch both days (something he can't do when wearing the patch b/c he has no appetite) and he was really happy about that. We're going to chat about this again tomorrow and see if he's still thinking it's something he wants to try next week too. I'm hoping he'll wear it for at least another month and then let's see how things are going, but given what I saw on Tuesday night, he might have enough maturity/coping strategies under his belt now to pull this

off unmedicated. I just don't want to set him up for failure. I might gently point out that the different responses he might be getting from kids this year he primarily received when he was on the patch. But I don't want to sabotage his efforts either. Thoughts?

"Over-optimism is waiting for you ship to come in when you haven't sent one out."

From: Roxanna <MadIdeas@...> Sent: Sunday, September 6, 2009 10:53:34 AMSubject: Re: ( ) Back-to-school night

Yay! I'm so glad it started off great! Roxanna"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." E. Burke ( ) Back-to-school nightWe just had back-to-school night for my son (13, 8th grade, Aspergers) and it went so well! I couldn't believe it. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did.For the other 2 back-to-school nights for Dylan in middle school (6th and 7th grades) Dylan would be gliding through the hallways, almost flapping

his arms, making a lot of "nervous" noises when the teachers were talking, and generally embarrassing me and embarrassing himself. It was painful to be a part of and to watch.8th grade back-to-school night...I swear he's a different kid. He's grown up SO MUCH over the summer. He was so quiet and thoughtful about things as we sat in the classrooms and listened to the teachers. I was just stunned! He took his Daytrana patch off about 1.5 hours beforehand so the medication was already wearing off so he was probably unmedicated or close to unmedicated by the end of the evening. I gave him many complements through the evening but I will take zero credit for this. It was all him. And his little sister20was even there! I thought between the sibling rivalry and D's anxiety I would firmly hate myself for even attempting to do this but I had noone to watch my daughter and I really wanted to meet his teachers

so I took a chance.I hope, hope, hope the kids give him a chance this year. If he is more calm and thoughtful about what he chooses to say and how he interacts with others, I hope it makes a difference. He wants very much to have friends. Several kids said "hi" to him this evening so I know there are some possibilities out there. This just gives me so much hope for the future. I'm sure we'll still struggle with the usual: organization of papers/notebooks/ homework, remembering to turn things in, not waiting until the last minute, etc... but I think it's all doable. I just had to share this amazing experience with you guys. It really can get better!

[Guest guest]

>

> He was feeling so confident last week that he decided not to wear his Daytrana

patch on Thursday or Friday.  He told me " I don't feel like me when I wear the

patch and I want to be myself. "   Great.  How can I argue with that?  So we

talked about the pros and cons of wearing it or not wearing it on Friday and he

decided not to wear it. 

Dear ,

I just wanted to reply that I am impressed by how in-tune with your son you are!

I think that as long as you are discussing all the pros and cons with him, as

you are, and you are both weighing all the benefits of being on or off the

medication, then that is wonderful. Maybe it will work to be off of the ADHD

medication---it's kind of a " by trial " issue. I just think that your open

communication with him on the issue is wonderful and helpful to him.