Dormant or Desperate?

[Catclow]

I have a full moon aureum Japanese Maple that I purchased about a year ago as pre-bonsai. It flourished until I moved to a patio apartment with a southwest patio exposure (albeit a covered patio). I’ve assumed the slow defoliation was due to the extreme exposure before I realized it was struggling and moved it further back under cover. Slowly the leaves turned brown late this summer and fell off...but the tree budded back robustly. However, the buds appeared right around the first cold snap here in North Alabama. My question:
Did it go into early dormancy, meaning it should leaf out in spring with proper winter care? Or, because it defoliated in late summer, not due to frost, should I attempt to bring it out of dormancy now?

 

[penumbra]

It will probably leaf out come spring but it is pretty dependent upon the overall health of the plant.

 

[Shibui]

My climate is much milder but I have also had maples under stress drop leaves early and stay dormant for an extra long winter. They have all come into leaf the following spring so I would advise just letting the tree do what it wants

 

[Catclow]

It will probably leaf out come spring but it is pretty dependent upon the overall health of the plant.

Thank you, I am hopeful it’s healthy, but time will tell!

 

[Catclow]

My climate is much milder but I have also had maples under stress drop leaves early and stay dormant for an extra long winter. They have all come into leaf the following spring so I would advise just letting the tree do what it wants

This is what I was hoping to hear, thank you!