I really appreciate you sharing this, thank you. My son is almost 6 and your description of Tommy with the lashing out, causing damage and hurting you and the running from room to room is spot on for how my son is when he is in a meltdown. It’s so tough! We are in the process of investigating what else could be going on besides autism and wether to medicate so your article is perfect timing! Thanks again 🥰🙏🏻
It is such a challenging decision to decide to try medication or to not try medication. It's a decision that comes with so much judgement from all sides- even from ourselves, teachers who work with our children, our partners, and other family members. My autistic son is now 29. I knew he was unique and different from the other children I'd known as students in my primary classrooms, different from the kids I'd babysat and different even from all the kids in the neighborhood and in his classrooms. In 2001 there wasn't as much knowledge about the autistic spectrum as there was in 2014 or as much knowledge and research as there is today in 2024.
We did begin medication when our son was 7. He was also self harming and using words about wishing he weren't alive. The meltdowns could last for hours. We had another child at home. We were desperate. We ended up sitting down with our son and explaining that we were beginning to understand that his brain worked differently than ours. We told him we believed that it was probably very noisy and confusing in his brain and we wanted to learn more and provide him some help. We were able to tell him that we hoped that medication could help quiet his noisy brain and allow us all to work together to find some other solutions.
It took us a year or so and many, many, psychiatrists to find the right medication, the right dosage and the right interventions but eventually we did find help that fit our family. For our family, for our son, for our situation, medical pharmaceutical intervention was helpful and allowed our son to be receptive to other interventions. It gave him greater access to the world around him.
Thanks for this honest sharing of your journey. I look forward to reading more.
I really appreciate you sharing this, thank you. My son is almost 6 and your description of Tommy with the lashing out, causing damage and hurting you and the running from room to room is spot on for how my son is when he is in a meltdown. It’s so tough! We are in the process of investigating what else could be going on besides autism and wether to medicate so your article is perfect timing! Thanks again 🥰🙏🏻
I’m sorry to hear you’re having a tough time. Hang in there. Glad you saw this when you needed it ❤️
Thank you for sharing this Jamie ❤️
It is such a challenging decision to decide to try medication or to not try medication. It's a decision that comes with so much judgement from all sides- even from ourselves, teachers who work with our children, our partners, and other family members. My autistic son is now 29. I knew he was unique and different from the other children I'd known as students in my primary classrooms, different from the kids I'd babysat and different even from all the kids in the neighborhood and in his classrooms. In 2001 there wasn't as much knowledge about the autistic spectrum as there was in 2014 or as much knowledge and research as there is today in 2024.
We did begin medication when our son was 7. He was also self harming and using words about wishing he weren't alive. The meltdowns could last for hours. We had another child at home. We were desperate. We ended up sitting down with our son and explaining that we were beginning to understand that his brain worked differently than ours. We told him we believed that it was probably very noisy and confusing in his brain and we wanted to learn more and provide him some help. We were able to tell him that we hoped that medication could help quiet his noisy brain and allow us all to work together to find some other solutions.
It took us a year or so and many, many, psychiatrists to find the right medication, the right dosage and the right interventions but eventually we did find help that fit our family. For our family, for our son, for our situation, medical pharmaceutical intervention was helpful and allowed our son to be receptive to other interventions. It gave him greater access to the world around him.
Thanks for this honest sharing of your journey. I look forward to reading more.
This is so useful
I had to insist before I got a copy of the study that the MD was basing her assessment on. Unbelievably, it had a sample size of around 200. Tiny.
I enjoyed this post. I recently wrote about cannabis and autism, and I thought you might be interested.
https://drpetergrinspoon.substack.com/p/can-cannabis-help-with-autism
Thank you,
PG