How long before I give up on a stimulant?

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0_equals_true, I agree completely -- there is a time limit on these meds, which is something I've learned by all the research I've been doing on the net for the past couple of days. It would seem that this sort of thing happens to EVERYBODY.

I completely agree that we need to find an alternative to meds, and I'm working on that. But in the meantime, I need to keep trying the different meds for my son so that he doesn't completely flunk out of school. It basically just buys us some time until we figure something better out.

I've often thought about the caffeine possibility. In fact, we tried it a couple of times last year. I'm prepared to try it again, although we would have to go the "Red Bull" route (or something like it) because my son doesn't drink coffee. I'm not thrilled about this alternative either, as it means drinking something that is truly high in sugar content, but at this point, beggars can't be choosers, and it would seem to be the lesser evil than the meds.

I'm very happy to hear that some people have found the squeeze ball to be helpful.

I'm also very happy to have the suggestions about the AlphaSmart or an eMate, two things I've never heard of before, but they would be infinitely better than a netbook for the reasons that you stated. Thanks SO MUCH for that info!

I'm not entirely sure how a squeeze ball would work other then as a way to stim. For example, I know that I think better when I pace around or rock back and forth. As far as I can tell this is fairly common amongst people like me. I am not exactly sure what it is, but somehow the motion allows me to clear my head and think more effectively. When I was at work, I had a swivel chair and I would just swing left and right while working. It seemed to give the same results. Likewise there is some parent here who said that their child received a 'wiggle seat' or something like that which allowed them to move around in their chair. And that also had the same affect of helping the child concentrate. I assume a stress ball would operate on the same principle in that it allows for a repetitive motion which may help your son think clearly. To be honest I doubt a squeeze ball would work for me, I just can't see that helping. However it may help your son. In either case it is only a dollar at the store, so it may be worth a try.



Do you mean using the net book to take notes? To be honest, I have never taken notes. I did once in 3rd grade because it was required by the teacher for a significant part of the grade, but my notes were horrible and of no use. I haven't taken notes since then. The problem is that I have difficulty doing more then one thing at a time, combined with very poor/slow handwriting. So, the teacher would say something. I would then get out my pencil, and write it down. The problem is that writing out a single sentence would take me 2 minutes, and during those 2 minutes I would be focused solely on writing the notes. As such, when I got done writing my sentence I would look back up and realize that I missed 2 minutes worth of lecture. So at the end of an hour long lecture my notes would only consist of maybe 20 sentences that were taken out of context, and I would have no idea what the lecture was even about.

I found that the far better thing to do was to do a small bit of reading about what would be covered the next day. I dont mean studying the material, I mean just skimming over the section to see what would be covered, so I would have an idea of what is being taught. I would then just attend class, listen to the lecture, and learn directly. If I needed review later, I would simply read the section in the book which gave examples.

So, perhaps if your concern is getting your son good notes, you might want to go about it in different ways. For example, in mathematics, there are plenty of study guides out there which show you how to do things step by step which are great replacements for taking notes. Most subjects will have small review books which go over things and show you how to do them. Also, the teacher probably can photo copy her notes and provide them for your son.

If you are thinking more so about your son typing out his assignments rather then writing them, then I am all for that. I can tell you that in the professional world you never hand in hand written work, it is all typed. But, you can probably let your son use your home computer for that, you dont need to buy a net book. Although you will need to buy a printer, but they sell for 30$ at walmart.



Well, there is nothing saying that your son is forced to stop socializing if he attends home school. Having your friends come over after school and play games is still socializing. Furthermore it allows you to be more selective about who you invite over, thus reducing the amount of bullying. I dont have alot of information in this area, but there are quite a few posts about this topic on the forum.



O, your right. I had lots of problems keeping track of assignments and paying attention. But there is a few things I found that helped. You see, when I was younger, in elementary school, I would space out and think about building things out of k'nex. I would assemble the parts together, and plan out the structures, supports, and all that in my head. So, while the teacher was talking all about the book I supposedly read, I was ignoring her and thinking about k'nex and the like. This fascination carried over into mathematics and physics. I guess I am the stereotypical aspie nerd in that I found math to be interesting and enjoyed theoretical physics. In the same respect, I was interested in my engineering classes, so I had no troubles paying attention there.

The difficulty was in the English and literature classes. I had absolutely no interest in those classes whatsoever, and I rarely paid attention. Its not as though I was trying to fail, it was just impossible to listen while the teacher while professor was talking all about ancient roman poetry. What I found to work in those classes was to read the cliff notes instead of the book. You can get them online at sparknotes.com. I never actually read the books I was supposed to (And I really mean never). When it came time to actually write the paper for the grade, I would just ask a classmate what the topic was about, then make up some junk that I thought would work based on the cliff notes. In the end I wound up getting Cs in my literature classes, while I got mostly As and A- in my engineering, math, physics, and chemistry classes. Since I took my required English classes my freshmen year, I got a 3.0 for that year, yet managed a 3.7 total because my last 3 years were all engineering classes. So, I guess my advice would be to have your son get a major in a subject that interests him. That way he can get decent grades, and also enjoy his work.

Also, I wish I would have done this myself, take your required classes in a community college your freshman year, and then transfer the credits over. Community colleges have a much larger teacher base, so you can sign up for classes with teachers who actually make the material worth listening to. And if you do fail and need to retake the class with a different teacher, it is much cheaper at the local community college.

But that just covers the paying attention part. As for the staying organized, I had a system based on each individual subject. For each class I had, I would get a 1 inch, 3 ring binder with pockets. I would then get a bunch of dividers with the pockets in them (make sure the dividers are large enough to hold 8.5 x 11 paper, some of them arent.) I then divided up the binder and used it for each class.

As you open up the binder, on the back of the front cover is a 8.5 x 11 sheet with a grid of 7 x 6 boxes on it (7 days, 6 weeks). And each month you would write the name of the month on top, and then fill in the dates. I.E. The first Thursday was the 1st, then friday was the 2nd, etc. And of course you would fill in the next month at the bottom. I would then have a divider. The front side of the divider had a pocket for unfinished assignments. Behind that was a section for completed work that was ready to turn in. Behind that was a section for handouts. Behind that was a section for returned work. Behind that was paper, to be used for doing the homework, or whatever else. If necessary I would have more divisions for additional subjects. Perhaps a section for notes if the teacher handed some out, etc.

When I received an assignment, I would write it in on the calender on its due date with a brief note what it was. For example:

Section 8 test
Section 8.1 homework
Paper about Columbus
Project due

I would then take the assignment (if it was a handout) and place it in the To-Do section. If it wasn't a handout, I would take a piece of paper, and write down all the useful information. I.E. Section 8.1, problems 1-16. Due Thursday 7/1. See pages 175-182. Etc. That way, whenever I opened up the binder, I would see a calender with all the due dates to the left, and the assignments to the right. I would then pick out the assignments to do, and get started. After the work was done, I would mark it off my calender, and put it in the ready to turn in section.

Then, when that class was over I would put away that binder, and get out the binder for the next class. When It came time to do my homework, I would open the binders and see if I had anything that needed to be done. If I had an assignment due soon, I would then do it. And I would go through all the binders until I was sure there was no work that needed to be done at that time. It also helped to have scheduled time to do homework. Generally this was study hall, or between classes at college. But just setting aside a period each day when I could do work was much easier then trying to schedule things on the fly. As I grew older and more mature I was able to transfer this system to my head and keep track of things internally. So I didn't need to keep referring to my binders to know what was due when.

Anyways, that is the sort of thing that I am talking about. The system you use is up to you, but having something organized in advanced generally makes it easier to keep track of what is going on when.


Dang it, this was supposed to be a short post.

Let me know if you ever need advice or assistance with either the AlphaSmart or the eMate, as I'm quite familiar with these products.

Thank you Tracker, that was really helpful.

Um, your welcome, again.

You dont have to thank me after each post. You can just send me a box full of cookies and we can call it even.

That would be the least I could do. What kind of cookies do you like?

Don't worry about the cookies, I was just joking. What I really meant was a box full of 100 dollar bills.

Also, after rereading my post, I thought I should add an addendum.

When I say that it was nearly impossible for me to pay attention, I dont mean to say that I can't learn about the subject. For example, I found classes like history, literature, and social studies to be incredibly boring. And I hardly ever payed attention. This is actually odd because I greatly enjoy those topics.

I am a huge history fan. I love watching the history channel, military channel, and national geographic when they do documentaries about historical events. I have watched countless hours about world wars and military technology, tactics, strategy, etc. I have had long debates with friends about historical events and how things might have turned out differently had Germany used a different strategy or something like that. When you watch these shows you really get to understand what was going on, how things happened, and why they happened this way.

Likewise for literature. I really dont enjoy reading fiction novels, but I do like to read things, consider them, and then discuss them and write about them. After all, that is what I do on this forum. I am all for thinking, contemplating, and considering new things which I read, which should be the point of any literature class.

And topics like economics, politics, and other social studies also interest me. I enjoy reading about those things in the news, discussing them with others, and having an in depth conversation. As the saying goes, an unexamined life is not worth living. I do enjoy spending time studying how the world works, and why it works the way that it does. I am a bit of an anthropologist in this way.

So, why is it that I enjoy these topics yet found the classes to be so mind numbingly boring and a waste of my time? It is due to the way they were taught. You see, in history class you are not taught the lesson of history, how things happened, or why they happened that what. You are just told what happened, and you have to memorize a bunch of names, dates, and places for a test.

Likewise, literature classes dont encourage you to read new things and then think about them. They just require you to read a book about something you dont care about, and then write a summary of what was in the book. And social studies classes are pretty much the same thing as history classes except instead of memorizing names and dates, you memorize terms and definitions. These classes don't teach you to think, they just teach you to memorize information, and I saw no point in that. I got good grades in the subjects merely because I have a good memory and could memorize the review sheet the night before the test, not because I actually cared or payed attention.

So, all that to say, don't think that your son can't learn a topic just because he doesn't find the school's method of teaching interesting. If he found the school's method interesting and worth paying attention to then that is when you should be worried.

Tracker, I REALLY enjoyed reading your posts, but especially the one talking about your organizing skills preparing for classes. Note-taking is absolutely impossible for my son. I have another son who just constantly paid attention in class and never took notes, and he was like you -- he could do very well. My younger son isn't so good at that sort of thing yet. But I particularly like your tip of skimming the subject matter BEFORE class is held, so that you can pay attention to the pertinent facts in class. GREAT idea.

Some day we will have to try your binder/organization concept. That sounds great to me. I'm just a little afraid that my son would lose the various binders somehow. But maybe not. And the makeup of the inside of the binder -- that's pure genius. Did you come up with that calendar/dividers idea on your own?

Oh, and I'm baking cookies for you . . . .they're virtual cookies . . .

Yep, and I'm sending a stack of virtual 100 dollar bills

Virtual 100 dollar bills, hmm?

Perhaps I should have taken the cookies. I could at least eat those, as opposed to buying virtual goods. Plus, all this talk of cookies has given me a hunger for those chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies (best cookies ever).

-- UPDATE --

I got a very nice email from my son's English teacher -- she and her student teacher have noticed a big change in my son's ability to pay attention and do the work in class. He's been on his higher dosage of his meds for one week now.

Even so, I have a new appt. in a couple of months at a psychiatrist's office, rather than a general practitioner, to check on my son's meds. I feel like this psychiatrist has more experience with kids with asperger's, and she comes highly recommended. My GP's always seemed like they were just flying in the dark as far as meds for a kid on the spectrum. I'm very aware that the sudden improvement in my son's ability to pay attention at school may be shortlived, and I'm ready to work on alternatives, meds or otherwise, to help him do well at school. He's so much happier right now, because he KNOWS he's doing better. It takes the stress off of him.

schleppenheimer, thanks for the update (I still think that's one of the funniest nicknames out there).

To the original point/question of this thread, the pediatrician told me we should know within one week whether the medication is working or not, assuming I can get appropriate feedback from my son and his teachers.

This topic leads me to another question, please advise if you think I should start a new thread: Strategies for using meds in school. I understand that people build up resistance to the meds, and their long-term effectiveness past 3-5 yrs is questionable/unlikely. So it seems to me, the best strategy for using these meds, assuming they are effective to begin with, is to improve focus and possibly (hopefully) executive functioning in the short term, teach/learn coping strategies for school, then back off the meds and hope the new coping strategies will work long term. Does this make sense?

DenvrDave, I think that this idea of starting a new thread on the topic of "Strategies for using meds in school" is a great idea. I am wondering about the same thing. And yes, I agree with your comment:

This is my plan -- to use the meds currently, while we teach my son coping strategies, and hope that maturity kicks in and helps him to handle his lack of attention skills in the future.