I would like to share with you story about my son and a wonderful young man named Rush.
My son, Rush, was diagnosed with autism when he was 5 at the Shelby County school system in Shelbyville, Kentucky-our hometown. I, as a mother, always knew there was something different about him .He would scream when he was a baby-I don’t mean cry. I mean scream for hours at a time. He was more hyper and more destructive than the kids his age. He did not talk. He didn’t catch on to some of the skills the others were achieving. I received calls from the school almost every day, calls from daycare everyday. Calls saying he’s wild out of control-please come pick him up from school he’ off the charts, we can’t handle him, he won’t quit screaming, he’s destructive he can tear up a classroom in seconds.
Various meds have been tried. Some work, some don’t. Various doctors.One doctor put him on Adderall. I watched my son crying my nonverbal son saying “I want to die”. When I told the dr. he said this-he said I imagined it. He said Rush didn’t really say that. He told us he would have to be on a stimulant. My husband attended this appointment with me and we both told him “No, we are the parents. We don’t have to him on anything we don’t want him on. “ The dr. said nothing.
A year later, we were able to get him in a place known as the Weiskopf Center. Bringing a video with us, we were told Rush had a mood disorder. The doctor at Weiskopf told us he needed to be on Risperdal. Rush was 4 years old at the time. Once I told his regular dr. this, his reply was I have NEVER put anyone his age on this med. Well, I called the dr. at Weiskopf that and apparently, she got it straightened out. His regular dr did call in Risperdal and it saved his and ours life. No more screaming, no more being ashamed to go out anymore.
I would like to say things get better but somewhere along the way puberty hit-and it hit hard.Along with puberty came the hormones. Puberty is a hard enough time for a teenager but can you imagine a nonverbal young man with autism. It drove him crazy!
He started lashing out by damaging our furniture, the walls of our house, our computer anything that was out for him to see. But the main thing he did was hit and attack us. He would hit me on the head when I was changing him (he’s not potty trained) but the main thing he did was pull my hair HARD by the roots. Everytime I bent over to change him. He would sit in the back seat (which is where I have him seat for safety’s sake) and put his leg over the gear shift, almost causing me to wreck. He would stay up all night long and I mean, all night long. He would run around the house, LOUD unstoppable. Breaking everything in sight.
Around the year 2021, the constant attacks and lack of sleep had finally gotten to us. We were told by his behavior therapist to put him in a home right then.
Around this time, we also contacted Seven Counties Services(since I have michelle p waiver and Rush’s caretaker).
The young woman we talked at Seven Counties Services literally saved our lives by doing the best thing we have ever done. She got us in with the Lee Specialty Clinic.
They saved our lives. Without them, there was no option except for him to be put in an institution or a private home.
The psychiatrist, the dr. the dentists-they have all worked wonders for him and saved our lives-all of us.
Never have I ever had a psychiatrist go out the way to have a tailored plan for him. She took the time to look up meds for him. She gave us advice that we so desperately needed. The dr. did this as well.
As far as the dentist, they have worked with Rush tremendously. Before Lee Clinic, the dentist he saw had to have me and my husband hold him down for dental work. You can imagine my shock when they took him back to the dentist’s office and I didn’t have to go back there with them.
Please, I beg you, do not take the Lee Clinic away from us. It has been the most wonderful thing that has happened to all of us.
Lisa Jackson