“In many respects, parenting is getting easier. There is a loss of tension in her face. She is more relaxed and that’s a nice thing to see. She is so much better in the social world.”

“I do not think this is the Concerta. Concerta helps you attend to cues but I don’t think it has much impact on emotional volatility. The other day a friend of hers was practicing karate kicks and aimed a karate kick at her tummy and she connected. In months past, Allyson would have gotten up screaming, arms across the chest and screamed, ‘You did that on purpose!’ This time she got up. The girl said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ The girl took her to the teacher and told the teacher what happened about her tummy hurting. Six months ago she would have had a tantrum and not been able to function in a learning environment for the rest of the day. She is much better at letting go of the little insults that happen every day. We had gone to the pool. A boy was swimming and she swam over to him trying to engage him in swimming with her. He wasn’t interested. In the past she would have been obnoxious to get his attention. Instead some other girls came over and they ended up doing the swimming in circles thing. She is much more attentive and responsive to the social universe.”