The Journey of the Pill Progression

Since our triplets were diagnosed with autism

12 years ago, we've been on a pill-dispensing

journey. Being diagnosed at four

years old and starting on medication, our

first stage was to open all capsules and grind

all pills in a coffee grinder and stir the powder

into baby food peaches. This was a great

system and worked for several years until

I decided that it would be more cost effective

to buy canned peaches and puree them myself.

So, for many years now we have been buying the 7 lb

cans of peaches at Sam's Club and running them through

the blender and keeping a container of them in the

refrigerator. The next stage was to stop opening capsules

and grinding pills and hide them in the spoonfuls of

peach puree. This was met with some resistance at

first with gagging or coming back minutes later with

a pill they still had under their tongues, but for the most

part was an effective way to give medicine and vitamins.

After the boys became aware that pills were lurking in

those peaches, we moved on to letting them see the pills

and even having them sit on top of the spoonfuls.

This is how we've done the twice daily dosings for several years. That is until the can opener broke over Christmas and I began thinking that buying six 7 lb cans of peaches each month was an expense we could do without. Not to mention the constant pureeing, etc that had to be done. So, with a fresh new year and ambitious mood, I declared we weren't going to buy peaches anymore! It was time to start taking pills with a glass of water like the rest of us do! And it was the easiest transition yet! So, I want to encourage any other parents with autistic kids that are in the middle of their pill journey to take heart... your kiddos will finally arrive and pop a handful in their mouths and rinse them down with a glassful of water..I promise! Yay! :)