As Nemo would say, “just keep swimming”

Four and a half months ago I was sitting in my truck in the parking lot at my office, hyperventilating, and sobbing in to my cell phone. Justis was on the verge of failing several more classes and I didn’t know what to do. He has never really been a big fan of school and his grades were just getting worse and worse. Over the years we tried everything. We tried positive reinforcement; paying for grades, taking him to dinner for good grades, giving him more computer time when assignments were turned in. We tried punishment; grounding him from electronics (computer, video games, TV), not letting him hang out with his friends, and taking away his cell phone. And nothing worked.

By November of last year I was seriously beginning to worry that he wouldn’t graduate from high school. I was starting to feel like a failure for not getting through to him. I was starting to feel like a bad parent for not being able to help him. He had given up. And I was on the edge. I was on the verge of giving up. Of letting him fail and suffering his own consequences. And that just broke my heart.

But, at my dad’s suggestion, I made another doctor’s appointment with our family doctor. Justis and I told our doctor that the Strattera was doing absolutely no good. I begged him to find another solution. I asked to have him tested for a possible learning disability. And requested we try a new medicine. Our doctor agreed we should try something else and switched Justis to Vyvanse.

And a miracle happened. Things got better. Much, much better.

It wasn’t just the new drug. It was a combination of the new medicine, meeting with a counselor, us easing up on Justis a little, and Justis making the effort to make school a priority.

Last week I checked his grades online. He is PASSING EVERY SINGLE CLASS! And not only is he passing, but he’s getting a B in 3 of his 6 classes. I almost cried when I saw all those Bs. I still get a little teary-eyed just telling people about it.

Then Monday night I was on Facebook when he updated his status:

And last night his status was:

Not only is he doing MUCH, MUCH better in school. But he likes school. No wait. LOVES school. If you had told me four months ago when I was sobbing in my truck to give it a few months and Justis would say he LOVES school, I would have called you a smot poker. But here we are.

In four months we have gone from being this close to having a high school dropout to having a kid who’s smiling again, spending time with friends again, joining not one, but two rock bands, chilling with a girlfriend (who is now officially a girlfriend), doing homework, and liking school. Now that’s a helluva change. And I couldn’t be happier. I’m so proud of him.

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