To medicate or not

After Arav's diagnosis, he went on to achieve stellar grades supported by the accommodations provided to him by IGCSE (use of a laptop and extra time).

We were buoyed enough by his results to even consider and apply for engineering entrance coaching - some of the most competitive exams in India. We were overjoyed when he gained 100% scholarships to some of the most prestigious coaching institutes and frankly felt our work was done. Nothing could have been further from the truth! Arav was simply unable to handle the twin workload of regular school followed by extra coaching. We were okay with that and encouraged him to focus on school. I remember his class teacher calling to check mid-term if we wanted to add on PE as a safety net subject. Not at all . Arav will do fine, I had stated confidently.

To cut a long story short, Term 1 did not go to plan. Till date, I cannot say if it was due to overconfidence, lack of effort or something else. We ended up on a round table at his school with his teachers questioning our choice of subjects (he had taken Physics, Chemistry and Maths) and possible need for medication. We scheduled another appointment with his doctor and were recommended a small test dose of a certain medicine a few days before his mid term reviews. We went in with fingers crossed i.e. hoping for miracles. The grades barely budged. I remember torturing myself one exam when he had missed his full dose, blaming myself for the result that could have been. It was not an easy time. Arav does not agree but I felt he became more argumentative and difficult - a possible side effect of that medication.

Come January and we had a trial of the second formula and if grades are any indicator then this one worked better. We have stuck with it but I honestly do not know. I know that there is no magic turnaround in his attention span or performance but there does seem to be some improvement. He appears calmer, surer and better adjusted and yes, the grades are looking up too. Also, coming from a family of doctors, I am partial to the use of science to alleviate inconvenience if the trade offs are not too harsh.

We are lucky to have a doctor and counsellor who we trust implicitly. Arav has been able to share with her parts of his experience that he felt he could not tell us about. So while this may change once Arav learns to manage his constraints better, for now we are happy to be relying on all possible support to make his life a little bit easier.