Praise the Lord, and Pass the Prozac!

Actually, while GL has been on Prozac in the past, it's Abilify I'm writing about today. As you know if you've read the last several posts, we have been working toward a full school day since he started public school for the first time in September. He had a major setback in November when his meds abruptly stopped working. It took nearly two months to find a med that worked. He started Abilify just before Christmas, and it has been a godsend. 

He was allowed to go on his first field trip last week. This is huge. Not only because they were reluctant to take him, for fear of a public meltdown, but because field trips are such a large part of what his class does. The school day is divided into four periods, with one period per day four days a week, and two periods on the fifth day devoted to field trips. These aren't just entertaining time-fillers;  on each trip, the students have an assignment designed to teach them how to use various resources in the community. If you've spent significant time with special-needs kids, you know how much work this can be, and how important it is to their future independence. My son is fifteen years old, and he can't count money or cross a busy street by himself.

Today, his teacher said he is welcome on any and all field trips. This will change his school schedule from roughly half-time to nearly full-time. Praise the Lord, and Pass the Prozac! er, Abilify!