My son got an "Emergency Removal" from his Intervention Specialist's room 3 times between March 10 and 17th. All due to physical aggression towards at least one staff member. I honestly believe that the increase was "helped" by the increase in Elavil. He went from 20mg up to 40 mg, and immediately went downhill, much to my (and I'm sure the school's) absolute frustration. By the sounds of it, from an email the IS sent to the County's service coordinator, they've already got another Behavior Plan in the works.
On top of that, Jack's disgust for school was well known to anyone who would listen. He also quit his job turning on the computers in the media center before school. (The principal told me that she convinced him to at least put in a 2-week notice first, and he was gracious enough (HA!) to follow through). I did ask him why he quit, and he said it was because most of the computers were already on when he got there anyway. That makes sense.. why bother if somebody's already done your job for you?
He has his good weeks and his bad weeks, and when he has his bad weeks, I can't tell you how much I just want to rip every single hair out of my head. One by one.. Seriously.
He started a new drug with the Elavil on the 11th- Risperdal. He's on the lowest dose, but we gave him half of a pill for the first 6 days. That half of a pill did nothing.. partly because (I think) the 40mg dose of Elavil. His first whole pill was given on the 17th, and wouldn't you know it- the rest of the week was darn near perfect. I heard of a few comments towards peers in gym class on the 19th, but otherwise, I guess he worked really hard. He did sometimes choose to work in the IS's room all day, instead of spending time with his peers (and working on a fun science experiment). It will be interesting to see how he does this week on Spring Break. Is this just a fluke? Is this just his "good week"? Or is the Risperdal really helping?
I'm not exactly thrilled that my son is now on both an antidepressant AND an antipsychotic, but I guess the point is that if this is what helps him, that's what we need to focus on. Until it doesn't, and we do something else.
I took Jack in for more blood work yesterday morning, to check his "Elavil levels" and I guess Risperdal as well. I hope the dr. doesn't up his dose of Elavil. Why mess with a good thing? We don't go back to see her until mid-April, so hopefully we can get by til then with more or less decent weeks. Preferably ones violence-free.
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