Results!

Well Christmas is over and the Bug had a great time! He was so excited for Christmas morning that he woke up early and opened some presents before anyone else was awake. Fortunately, none of them were his so Daddy kept everyone upstairs so I could re-wrap. The meds seem to be helping when we would go for the family get togethers, which was great. Except he seemed too tired. And in the morning before we would leave on those days he was a little scary. I was feeling frustrated at this point wanting something in the middle of the road. He was either too calm or too crazy. But then school started up again and he seemed to even out! He is verbalizing more and a lot less aggressive. His teacher is seeing a big difference.

One thing we started at home and at school for the new year was a new behavior modification. It is something that I never wanted to try but his teacher has felt that he doesn't understand that when he hits, it hurts. We have tried different ways to teach him that, but nothing seemed to click. So we are trying taste aversion therapy. It is usually used with biters, but we use it when he is completely out of control. We just spray some mouth wash spray in his mouth and he stops and kind of snaps out of it. The reason I never wanted to try this is it made me feel like I was treating him like a dog. But his teacher and school psychologist felt it might work because we were able to do something similar when he was wiping poop. We would have to give him a bath after each incident, and to him it was like a reward because he loves baths! So my wise husband said why don't we give him a cold shower to clean him off? And it worked! He is potty trained and I am happy to say no longer wipes poop. I know it seems mean, but we did it with love.

So far the taste aversion seems to be working. I really haven't had to use it at home. He is being so good and so happy. There are still moments, but right now he is in a good spot.

I just want to end with a couple of examples!

First, when we take the tree down every year it is like we broke his little heart. So this year I started taking down decorations one room per day. He didn't seem to react at all. I took the tree down while he was at school, and was nervous. My husband found some old toys we had put away in the storage room, so we had those out waiting for him. When he came home he looked where the tree was and said, "tree." Then he saw the toys and played and played. He hasn't mentioned the tree again! Hooray for progress!

The second cute story was told to me by my friend who happens to work as a para educator in his classroom. The bug doesn't normally like to participate in A.P.E. (It is a specialized P.E.) This particular day they were playing a game where one of the kids would pick something that they would pretend to be and everyone would run away. Once the Bug new they were playing that game, my friend said he was trying to raise his hand and say something to get the teacher's attention. He then blurted out, "Thank you, thank you!" The teacher turned and said his name to let him pick. He then said,"Dinosaur!" So they played that and had fun. My friend said it was so neat to watch because he was connected with his surroundings! It may not sound like much, but to us it is huge!

P.S. The picture at the top doesn't really have anything to do with this post. It was actually taken almost 4 years ago and I found it looking through some pictures the other day. I chose it because it illustrates what a precious, happy boy the bug is!