Today’s bit of my old autism ebook is VERY short, and happy, which the autism media world needs right now. And doing drugs, too. So read on!
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The Chronicles of Ben
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2013 by David Royko
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/361251
ISBN 9780615879109
Chapter 7a
MIRACLES
December 27, 2006
If one miracle occurred during these holidays–in our house, its Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukah to all–it came when I handed Ben a pill, watched him put it into his mouth, then take a gulp of water from a glass, and swallow. He’s been doing this for a little while now, but it is still new enough that it gives me chills. After 6 months at the ODTC, nothing personifies Ben’s growth more than that: He can take a pill with water.
Since he started school, and since his education is geared toward teaching life skills, I’ve implored at the IEPs that Ben learn how to do this seemingly simple task. To me, this was an essential life skill, considering the various medications that Ben had to take. As it stood when he started at the ODTC, he got Depakote, twice a day, along with Previcid, capsule after capsule emptied into a bowl with plain yogurt, which was then spoon-fed, with some cajoling. There was Prozac, in liquid form, delivered in a series of diluted apple juice bottles. Abilify, crushed, was added to several of the Prozac bottles, and we spent every evening monitoring if Ben had finished all of his watery medication. If he got ill, and stopped eating and drinking, the meds stopped, and the nasty behaviors started, exacerbated by the illness. If he needed Tylenol, it had to be delivered by suppository–I’ll bet you didn’t know it came that way.
Ben is what might be termed orally defensive. He is extremely picky about what he puts in his mouth, and he has clammed up tightly whenever a pill was attempted. He loves to eat dirt, sand, mud, and other inedibles, but a pill–forget it.
That was then, and as I sat with him at the kitchen table, watching him ingest his Abilify–chewing it–yech!–followed by water–from a glass instead of a bottle, another new triumph–I actually became teary. It was one of the many gains he’s made in just a few months, but the one that, for me, represents so much more than it would for most people. Ben took a pill. It was the best Christmas present I could have gotten.
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https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/361251
