Around the Spectrum in 80 days....

Both of these pictures were taken just after telling my son to, "SMILE!"
The one on the top, he was still on all his medications....the bottom picture is drug free....
What a difference!
I showed him the top picture and asked him what he was doing in the picture. He said, "I don't know!" I asked if he was joking around or if he was trying to smile nicely. He replied,
"I was drugged man!"
Thank God he has a sense of humor about the whole thing....no idea where he gets that from....
It has been just over 80 days since he took his last medication. He has gone through such a transformation in that time. He seems to have a twinkle in his eye again.  We went for a hike the other day, and while he did complain about being tired, he did not complain of the arthritic type pain that has always plagued him. He, in fact continued to play once we got home and the next day he did not limp around like an 75 year old.... He just went outside to play again.
     On the 80th day exactly that he was drug free we happened to have a play date scheduled. I didn't plan it, he did. He was so excited to have a friend over. I was a nervous wreck. It is so hard for me to step back and let him be a kid. He has so little practice at this! He has never made friends that have lasted...there is a reason...
In the Autism world there is something known as "the little professor". These are kids who are more like grown ups, who want to teach and explain things until you wish you could kill yourself with a paper clip. We know one boy who could tell a paleontologist a thing or two about dinosaurs, my son has been an "expert" on many topics, like WWII and Osama Bin Laden....He would tell us things about aircraft carriers and bombers that flew during the war. He tried (in vain) to educate the other second graders about the plight of Iraq, and the insurgents....darling isn't it?
Other adults would tell us how smart he was, other children would run.
Poor kid.
This all seems to be a thing from the past now. He does still have intense interest in things most people would see as a one time thing, or passing hobby. He is still really, really awkward around other kids. He makes rookie mistakes, like being too clingy, or getting too excited about things. When I think his peers have been working on this since Kindergarten, and he is just now starting, it all makes sense.
Once he started the process of living without all the medication in his system we saw many changes, some were hard to watch. He suffered headaches, felt sick and was impatient. Come to think of it these were the same things he suffered from while on the medication! Interesting....
He came out from class the other day and reported to us that he had finished all his work for the day four days in a row!
While we are still waiting for the school district to produce the one on one aide they promised, my son is just plugging along. He is actually getting better. Things are coming more easily to him, and he is most importantly happy! You can tell just by looking at his picture!
Rock on my little man, rock on!