Trouble with a capital "T"

Last week I received the equivalent of a phone call from the principal's office regarding Hollis. She has always behavior problems at school with screaming, tantrums, non-compliance and hitting, so we've had her on a "behavior plan" for a few years now. Her wild woman routine on Friday totally broke the mold, so I got a call from the director of the school asking that we have a team meeting ASAP to try to develop a strategy for dealing with her outbursts, energy, and aggression. A summary of her activities from Friday was that she got up on a therapy table, pulled something hanging from the ceiling and jumped off the table, all before anyone could get to her to stop it. She also had been poking kids in the eyes, and pushing them around, laughing hysterically the whole time. Not nice.

We decided we needed to get her on the behavior med (Risperdal) her Psychiatrist prescribed immediately after this, so we started it up on Sunday night. On Monday at school, she almost fainted (a common side effect of this drug). The doc told us to cut the dose in half and try again. Today she was better, though still sleepier than she has been, but her behavior at school was more manageable. We're hoping that over the next few weeks her body gets adjusted to the med, and we get the positive benefits without the side effects, which apparently is the unthinkable dream.