Saturday, August 27, 2011

There is something disturbingly cute about kids falling asleep in Mom and Dad's bed.

Yeah, I dropped the ball

It's been over a year since my last post and I have no excuses. Other than Korbin being in and out of the behavior hospital, changing schools more times than I care to remember, our first run in with the juvenile detention center after 2 cops didn't understand autism, new therapists, old docs, and cooking dinner a few times in there.

At the moment Aidan is attending an alternative school for the high school kids who can't attend with the general population. It's not the best placement, but it's all we have. He's fairly stable at the moment and coping well with sharing classes with the districts biggest bullies. Dispite Aidan's autism and schizoaffective disorder, he has a firm grasp on what is right and wrong. His behavior at school has been perfect. Now we're working on acting 15, not 3, when it's time to get out of bed.

Korbin has had a rough year. The last time I posted he and Aidan were fresh out of 4 month trips to the behavior hospital. I registered them to attend the day treatment school where they could get an education along with daily behavior therapy. Aidan went. Korbin refused. Well, he went for a couple of months on and off, but was so misunderstood (thanks autism) that he feared being at day treatment. He missed so many days of school due to his aggressive refusal that we were turned in for truancy. Yep, we get to go to court. Now refusing school and trying to hurt people means Korbin has to take a trip back to the behavior hospital. While waiting for an open bed Korbin became so psychotic that he attacked me... like big time... and said that the voice he was hearing told him to kill me. Yep, we're outta here!

He spent another 4 months inpatient and was released this May. Over the summer he deteriorated quickly. We made several changes to his medication and started with a new therapist, but it wasn't enough. By the time school started I was hoping the schedule change would be enough to help him avoid another breakdown. When the first day came he put on his little uniform and had a great day in his new class. That night he was tired, but still wanted to go to dinner with my parents. While in the restraunt he got upset because the macaroni had been moved on the buffet. I was trying to calm him, but he grabbed a fork and tried to stab the poor woman behind us. I grabbed his hand and got between them. While I was apologizing to the woman, Korbin took off running through the crowd. Why do I leave the house?!? He finally chilled out and ate, but decided to attack me once we got home. At this point I don't have any choice but to take him back to the hospital.

He spent 5 days in acute care and was able to come back home, but still refused to go back to school. Now at this point he's back to teetering the fine line of medication. He's on several medications, but we've found that with 3 doses a day he is psychotically over the edge. With 4 doses a day he's calm and can be home, but is to tired to keep up with a public school schedule. So do we lower the meds so he's not as sedated, but violent OR keep the meds one dose higher and give up on trying to get him in a classroom? First of all I hate giving my children medicine, but have come to accept this part of our lives. Secondly, I know that if he's not medicated and calm he'll end up back inpatient. Third, when he's calm he's happy. Problem solved... Korbin is now registered as a homeschooler. I just filed the paperwork this Friday. Monday, when he wakes up from his nightly medication coma, we'll begin our first day of learning on Korbin's schedule.

It's been a harsh year, but we're surviving. In fact we're doing fairly well. The boys are happy and healthy (pysically), Jason is almost finished with the diesel mechanic's program, we have a safe home with food in the cabinets, and people who we love and love us. There's not much more any of us can ask for.