Well we are headed to the beach. I am so excited!!! As some of you already know, we have decided to home school Will next year. After the trouble he's had in public school for the past three years, especially this past year, it seems like the only reasonable option. If nothing else it will give us time to get his medications right. OK don't hang me out to dry! We tried modifying his diet, counseling, etc. Everything we tried made no difference. I was totally against the medication at first. His doctor explained it to us that the ADHD was like a short circuit in his brain and the meds would help his brain make a connection. I still wasn't buying it. Then she asked me if I took any medication. Of course we all know I am a walking drug store. So then she asked me if he had diabetes would I give him insulin. I said of course. She said that it was the same difference. Asperger's is not "what he has" it's just part of who he is, however, the ADHD makes it hard for him to control who he is. Or at least who he wants to be. There's nothing like holding your child when he cries and tells you he promises that he really is trying to be good, he just can't. It will make your reevaluate everything you always said that you believed just to make it right. I was always a gun ho no medication person until it came down to where I would try anything to make my child smile again.

He's doing a lot better now though. He sees a psychiatrist in Statesville once every 4-6 weeks for medication and he sees a therapist every 2 weeks in Elkin at the Dr's office. I think the combination of things has made a big difference in him. I was shocked but it has really made a difference in him as far as helping him focus a little better on what you're saying and completing tasks you give him and it has calmed him down some. It didn't change his personality like a lot of people told me it would. He's still him, just more in control. We don't have as much whining and as many outbursts, but he still doesn't understand social graces, and probably won't ever. He's just Will. It's just part of who he is. He's matter of fact and sometimes blunt to a fault, but he's honest and kind to others. In the end, I just want him happy. I think all good parents want to raise their children to be happy, healthy and kind people. I know that we may not be the best parent always, but I also know that no one could try harder or love their children more than their father and I do. At the end of the day we have to know that we did the best we could! I may not be very good at much in my life, but I will toot my own horn and say I AM GOOD AT LOVING MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shannon