Medicating. Or not.

Hearing a trained therapist say they cannot work with your child is the worst. An hour session went to 30 minutes, then 15 minutes and even one session was only 10 minutes long. How could a therapists not work with my child for such a short period of time when I was able to do it every day all day long with no naps involved to get a break and even more- I had an infant on my hip!
His therapist which yes we do still work with her now, told me that unless he got on some sort of behavioral meds or started ABA therapy she didn't think she would be able to handle him. Am I making you mad yet that a trained and licensed therapist said this?
My child is part of the autism spectrum, has ADHD and a bunch of behavioral issues. Now does that mean he is strung up on drugs? No! Don't get me wrong, we debated it and even went as far as reaching out to our social worker to make it happen but thankfully so far we have decided against it.
We were having a hard time getting ABA started due to our medical insurance because instead of using the company they were trying to give us a referral to I wanted to use the company that I met at an autism walk because I felt like they cared about us (which they clearly do).
Thankfully our social worker was able to talk us out of starting a bunch of "mind relaxing" medicines and we concentrated on getting ABA started and that was the best thing ever. Am I to say that I will never put my child on medicine? Definitely not.
I am not against medicating, I just know that in this particular time in Conners life he has something that is better than medicine and that is the three ladies that come to our home four times a week that work on everyday life with him.
Thankfully the therapist that said she didn't think she could work with him reminds me every time we see her that Conner is so different that its amazing how much more attentive he is. I love going into the office and explaining everything he had learned in the past week and seeing that look of shock on her face. We started ABA the beginning if September and Conner has blossomed into the little boy that we all know is in there- we still have a long way to go but the progress we have already seen is totally worth the rough path we have and will continue to go through.
If you have ever been faced with the reality that you might have to put your child on behavior meds, I invite you to take a step back and look at all the options. Sadly these medicines don't always work and can very much make the situation you are in worse. In Conner's case, if I put him on a pill how would I know if he had any side affects like a headache or a tummy ache or if he just didn't feel like him. My child is non verbal and that clearly isn't an option for us, right now at least.
As for the therapist who said she couldn't work with him- I almost gave up on her but I'm glad I didn't. If I did she never would have seen how great Conner is and can be. Maybe he's teaching her a thing or two!