smallworld
Moderator
I need advice about my son J, who is 15 and in a self-contained ED program for socially and emotionally fragile high schoolers.
First a little background: A year ago J spent 6 weeks in day treatment getting his medications straightened out. When he was discharged, he was taking 400 mg Lamictal, 400 mg Zonegran and 800 mg Seroquel. His outside psychiatrist was uncomfortable with the high dose of Seroquel so weve been able to get that down to 600 mg (on lower doses J became irritable and oppositional). This fall J said he felt flat so weve successfully just weaned him off of Zonegran. His affect seems a little brighter with no appreciable difference in mood stability.
We havent seen a rage in a year. At home J is pleasant, conversational and mostly cooperative (he still doesnt like to take showers). He spends a fair amount of his home life on screen time the computer, the Wii and the TV but we can get him outside to rake leaves or take a bike ride or even go to a museum from time to time. Hes lost touch with his friends from his old schools, and he hasnt made any new friends in his program so his social life is nil. Up until recently, he was doing his homework in his Resource period and during lunch so he didnt need to do any at home.
Which brings me to school. Js program of 50-plus students is housed in a large public high school (2,200 students). He is in his program for Geometry, Government, PE and Resource. He is mainstreamed for English (he hated his programs English teacher), Biology (because of scheduling, he ended up being the only student in his programs Biology class and we wanted him to have more social opportunities) and Art. Hes failing Art at the moment because he refuses to do the projects during class. Hes getting a D in Biology because he doesnt do the homework. Hes recently begun sleeping through his first period Resource class, which is where he used to get his Geometry homework done. Now his Geometry grade is slipping because hes not doing that homework.
Were told that he wont say a word to any of the teachers in his program unless hes answering a classroom question directed at him. He refuses to talk to his programs social worker or school psychologist, and he wont participate in group therapy. He wont talk to the other kids in the program because he believes he has nothing in common with any of them (from everything weve been able to figure out the program has a lot of kids with AS/High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and J does not ). He refuses to get involved in any extracurricular activities with mainstream kids.
Were trying to figure out how to make things better. Any suggestions for what we might do medwise (his psychiatrist is considering Wellbutrin, but were worried about irritability as a side effect, and theres always the risk of upsetting mood stability)? Any suggestions on the school front (this seems to be the only program for kids like J in our county SD)? Or is this something were just going to have to wait out until J matures and decides to take responsibility for his education?
Thanks for any insight you might have.
First a little background: A year ago J spent 6 weeks in day treatment getting his medications straightened out. When he was discharged, he was taking 400 mg Lamictal, 400 mg Zonegran and 800 mg Seroquel. His outside psychiatrist was uncomfortable with the high dose of Seroquel so weve been able to get that down to 600 mg (on lower doses J became irritable and oppositional). This fall J said he felt flat so weve successfully just weaned him off of Zonegran. His affect seems a little brighter with no appreciable difference in mood stability.
We havent seen a rage in a year. At home J is pleasant, conversational and mostly cooperative (he still doesnt like to take showers). He spends a fair amount of his home life on screen time the computer, the Wii and the TV but we can get him outside to rake leaves or take a bike ride or even go to a museum from time to time. Hes lost touch with his friends from his old schools, and he hasnt made any new friends in his program so his social life is nil. Up until recently, he was doing his homework in his Resource period and during lunch so he didnt need to do any at home.
Which brings me to school. Js program of 50-plus students is housed in a large public high school (2,200 students). He is in his program for Geometry, Government, PE and Resource. He is mainstreamed for English (he hated his programs English teacher), Biology (because of scheduling, he ended up being the only student in his programs Biology class and we wanted him to have more social opportunities) and Art. Hes failing Art at the moment because he refuses to do the projects during class. Hes getting a D in Biology because he doesnt do the homework. Hes recently begun sleeping through his first period Resource class, which is where he used to get his Geometry homework done. Now his Geometry grade is slipping because hes not doing that homework.
Were told that he wont say a word to any of the teachers in his program unless hes answering a classroom question directed at him. He refuses to talk to his programs social worker or school psychologist, and he wont participate in group therapy. He wont talk to the other kids in the program because he believes he has nothing in common with any of them (from everything weve been able to figure out the program has a lot of kids with AS/High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and J does not ). He refuses to get involved in any extracurricular activities with mainstream kids.
Were trying to figure out how to make things better. Any suggestions for what we might do medwise (his psychiatrist is considering Wellbutrin, but were worried about irritability as a side effect, and theres always the risk of upsetting mood stability)? Any suggestions on the school front (this seems to be the only program for kids like J in our county SD)? Or is this something were just going to have to wait out until J matures and decides to take responsibility for his education?
Thanks for any insight you might have.