Alex's behaviors the past several months have just been worsening. A couple years ago, we'd go through a rough patch, sometimes months long, but we'd get over them eventually and have our happy boy back for several more months. The way things are now, and have been for some time, are his terrible days are the norm and we are able to count on one hand the number of good days he has had. We have found ourselves at a crossroads...either his aggressive and self injurious behaviors need to be significantly reduced (preferably eliminated), or we'll have to place him in a home. There's just no way we can continue on with the way things have been going. I know all of you reading can imagine how heart wrenching the idea of putting your child permanently into the care of some strangers, so I don't think I need to go into our feelings about that. It is truly our last resort, but one we seem to be racing towards. At 8 years old, Alex is strong. Stronger than a typical 8 year old due to the lack of social inhibitions and all that adrenaline running through his body as it's in "flight or fight" mode. The damage he can do to himself is astonishing.
Since the group home is the end of the line for us, and we're desperate to not get there quite yet,
we've decided to try Alex on medical marijuana. So far it is working better than any other behavior meds we've tried. We're still fiddling with the dose, trying to find the right balance between not enough to keep him from hitting, and too much so all he wants to do is sleep. We've gotten to that sweet spot a few times, with yesterday being absolutely fantastic...the best yet! Our spirits are buoyed by the fact that he's responding to this, however we aren't out of the woods yet. Just when we think we've got the dose figured out, he goes and has a rough few days. We're hopeful the longer he has this in his system, the better our days will be. It certainly hasn't been an overnight miracle for him (like we were naively hoping for), but there have been many positives.
Here are some links to the news stories that piqued our interest in trying this:
http://www.examiner.com/x-27692-LA-County-Libertarian-Examiner~y2009m11d17-10-year-old-uses-marijuana-for-autism-with-positive-results
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/health&id=6989085
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/05/48hours/main503022.shtml
Yesterday was nothing short of amazing. Alex had the most wonderful day, full of smiles and giggles and vocalizations. He didn't need his helmet on, and wasn't wrapped up either. But the absolute best thing? We rolled the ball back and forth to each other for the first time in his life! He did this about 5 times, and I couldn't stop beaming. Rolling a ball back and forth is a huge milestone, and it only took 8 1/2 years for us to get there. :) I'm sure he could physically have done this a long time ago, but there was just no motivation for him to do so. Yesterday, finally, there was. He was fully connected with me....fully there, not off in his own world,busy battling who knows what. He did it just because he wanted to play with me! So cool.
Here are some shots of my happy boy. We're hoping for many more days like yesterday....
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