Last week was Spring Break for my son. I’ve been contemplating weaning him off of the Risperdal because he’s been doing really well with aggression (the dentist’s office meltdown doesn’t count) and has learned some good coping techniques. Although I understand the need for medication, I’d really prefer not to use them if I don’t have to. Well that kind of flew out the window today. Here is our after school conversation.
Me: Did you have a green day?
Alex: Yes
Me: Really?
Alex: Yes
Long pause.
Alex: There is a note in my backpack for you.
Me: What does it say?
Alex: I don’t want to tell you, it is from Mr. Lawson, the PE teacher.
Me: Alex, tell me what it says, I’m driving.
Alex: I punched Brooke in the eye.
Long pause.
Me: Why?
Alex: The note says “no reason.”
Me: Okay, but do you know why you did it?
Alex: The note says “no reason.”
Me: *sigh*
Alex: Am I going to have a consequence at home?
Me: *sigh*
Brooke used to be his best friend. A few weeks ago he came home and said that she called him the “j-word”. Perplexed, I asked him what the “j-word” was and he whispered “jerk”. I asked him why she said that and he said it was because he didn’t want to play with her at recess that day. I haven’t heard anything about Brooke since then.
At home he still couldn’t tell me why he did it. He did say that she didn’t say anything to him, look at him, touch him, etc just that he felt like punching her in the eye. When my husband got home we had a conversation with Alexander and discussed the fact that hitting is not appropriate, etc. A while later he told me he wanted to write an apology note. Woah! I told him that I thought that would be a nice idea.
A few minutes later he brings me a note in his first grade scrawl that said “I’m really sorry for punching you in the eye. Can you be my friend again?” I told him to put it in an envelope and give it to his teacher so she could give it to Brooke. I also followed up with an email to his teacher to let her know of the note.
Alexander has been on the receiving end of bullying before. He’s had his glasses knocked off, been kicked in the groin, had send repeatedly thrown on him etc. All of these incidences were from different kids and these weren’t just this year. Overall there is very little bullying at the school, I know any bullying is too much bullying but I’m also a realist. I am sad that he acted out in that way and called the pharmacy for a refill.
Perhaps this summer we’ll try to wean him off of the Risperdal again and see how it goes.
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I am so glad to see this post today. We started Risperdol this morning. He is taking 1/2 a pill in the morning because he also takes Clonidine at night for sleep but I would love to hear how he does on a daily basis with it.
I hope you see good results with it. My son started with 1/2 of a .25mg pill at night but it gave him nightmares so we tried it in the morning on a weekend. It didn’t have a sedating effect so we permanently switched to mornings.
After a month or so we bumped it up to a whole .25mg pill where it has been since then. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, not that I’m an expert or anything but we’re a few months ahead of you on this particular journey.
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