by Marcia Hinds
Just getting Ryan to take the medications at the beginning of his medical treatment was a major accomplishment. Back then, he was still too young to swallow pills. And some of the medications only came in adult sizes. I tried what seemed like a hundred different ways to solve this problem. Mary Poppins finally provided the solution to my dilemma. She was absolutely right when she said, ” A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
In time we figured out that we could solve the problem in three easy steps:
- Break or crush the pills into small pieces. (Your pharmacy has devices to help with this.)
- Next put this concoction on a spoon, surrounded with a non-dairy frozen dessert, like sorbet.
- After your child swallows the sorbet, quickly follow that spoonful with a water chaser.
When medications are given with a cold substance, it helps cover up the bad tastes. As Ryan got older, I reduced the amount of dessert camouflage. Eventually, he learned how to swallow pills without the sorbet. That was a big day in our house and we celebrated accordingly.
Back then, Ryan was on a low sugar diet. I simultaneously helped him with medication and hurt him by using sugar to do it. This created yeast guilt for me. But I shouldn’t have worried so much about everything back then. In reality, the amount of sugar he got was not enough to make a difference. The benefits of the medication far outweighed any adverse effects from the sugar. And like Mary Poppins said “Just a spoonful of sugar helped the medicine go down, in the most delightful way!”
There is always more than one way to do things. Here is a video from Norma who found a very innovative way to make the medicine go down. https://www.facebook.com/147110465887286/videos/697769147271826/?t=2
NOTE FROM MARCIA HINDS – Ryan and Megan’s mom:
Ryan began to learn and act more typical only after he received proper medical treatment combined with behavioral and educational interventions. To preview “I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE – Winning Our War Against Autism” go to Amazon or www.autismandtreatment.com.
ALONE there is little we can do about autism…
TOGETHER we will be unstoppable