Autism In North Dakota

News Flash

For those families in North Dakota with Autistic children, Senator Dorgen has just approved funding for a new program which will provide families with children with Autism with hi-speed internet access and a digital camera which will enable them to communicate with the Anne Carleson Clinic in Jamestown and other specialised doctors for free.

This will enable specialised clinicians to come into your home via webcam and help you to set up treatment plans for your children with Autism.

It will give you access to care that you may not have been able to access before and lower the stress on you and your child given the extreme distances that we have to travel to visit clinicians.

Only seven families have signed up so far. If the program takes off like it should, then Senator Dorgen promises increased funding for next year.

It is definitely worth a try. If you know anyone that this could apply to, please bring it to their attention. More info can be obtained by looking at the ND news section of the Bismarck Tribune or call your case manager, they should be able to help you to apply for this program.

Any assistance in helping our children recover from Autism is appreciated and FREE help is rare so please, take the opportunity to check this out.
Later.

Kathleen and those three little words

I had to wait a day to post this, but, even thinking about it now, I still get tears in my eyes.

Yesterday the three girls and I were sitting at the table eating dinner. I was feeding Eric so he was next to me.
All of a sudden Katy gets off her chair and comes around the table to me, she climbs up on my lap and indicates that she wants me to put her on the table in front of me which I did.

She looked at me and smiled and I said, "Hi".
She replied "Hi".
Then she leaned forward and put her arms around my neck and hugged me and she said quite clearly "I ove you".
As if that wasn't enough, she squeezed harder and repeated a little louder this time " I ove you".

Wow, it still makes me cry, I have waited 5 yrs to hear those 3 little words from my beautiful, Autistic angel. Kathleen does not speak so this effort was phenomenal.

I hugged her and told her that I loved her and after a few minutes of hugging, she went back to her place at the table.

I got up and went to the kitchen where I promptly burst into tears.
All these years you tell yourself that you will find a way to get through to them and that they will recover from Autism but, there is nothing that prepares you for the stark reality of it.

5 years, I have waited for Kathleen to talk. 5 years to tell me that she loved me.
At least with Nathan, he had already talked before the Autism developed and he had told me many times that he loved me and for that matter, he does now.

I called my mum in Australia after a bit and told her then burst into tears again.
She said, "Aren't you happy?"
Happy?
I don't think there is a strong enough emotion to describe how I am feeling right now.
Later.

I Tried A Product Called Inner Sun On John

I was looking for a product that I could use on my Autistic son John.
He also has ADHD and although he is a very bright lad, he does tend to jump around a lot and flap like the dickens.

This not only tends to get annoying when you are trying to get and keep his attention, it also impairs his ability to learn at school.

I did have him on a multi Bcomplex along with Fish Oil for a week and although it was working to calm him down a little, I thought that we could do better so on Saturday, I added the Inner Sun which is put out by 4 Life.

All I can say about trying different products and treatments for Autism, is that you need to give them a decent trial period, then you need to weigh the pro's and the con's.

No two Autistic children are the same so it is quite possible that what works for one will not work for another.

On Saturday afternoon John burst into tears over a seemingly non-incident. It took him a while to calm down and he did the same on Sunday.
Also I noted on Sunday that although he was following two step commands with no further prompting and he did sit still and do his homework without giving me a hard time, the flapping was very much in place and he did bang his head on several occasions.

Monday, I found that he was much easier to put to bed. He is on Melatonin as it takes him hours before his brain finally shuts down at night time and this seems to give it a little push but even with that, it was sometimes 11pm before he would go off to sleep.

Tuesday he got up willingly and didn't give me a hard time about getting dressed to go to school which was a nice change but the special ed teacher reported that John's behaviour at school was not all I hoped that it would be.
Wednesday and Thursday continued the same and as a result, after discussing it with the distributor of 4 Life, I just don't think that it agrees with John so I have decided to stop it and continue with the Vit B complex and fish oil.

I may do that for a week and then add magnesium with calcium as my sister in law used this on her son with ADD and was able to drop his dose of Ritalin drastically.

It is not that I really have anything against psychotropics, I think that they definitely have their place as a treatment for different disorders but I would rather not use them if I can find something that works just as well for John without the horrific side effects.
Later.

Educating About Autism

One thing that you need when you suspect that your child has Autism is information.

You are not going to get far without it. You have many questions and you need answers fast.
There is a lot of information out there, some of it helpful, some of it misleading.

There are many reasons why your child could have developed Autism.

I have personally come to the conclusion with the eight years of research that I have done, that some children are genetically disposed to it and then their is an environmental trigger and this is why different children with Autism, react differently with different treatment modalities.

My two eldest sons were immunized and developed Autism but Kathleen who has Autism also, was never vacinated. So what caused her Autism?

At this stage, I don't know.

I am hoping to try her on the NAET and see if the removal of any allergens will help her.
I do know that having her father incarcerated certainly improved her social skills and reduced her frustrated screaming. I just wish that I had been able to do it sooner.

There is a book that I highly recommend for information on everything you might need to know about Autism, signs and symptoms, treatment modalities for the range of children on the Autism Spectrum. It is well worth a look and acts as a good reference guide for me.

It is by Rachel Evans and it is called The Essential Guide To Autism.
http://1annod.aut1sm.hop.clickbank.net

It helped me get started on the road to recovery of my children and I am pleased to report that they are doing just beautifully.

Each of them in their own way is starting to spend more time with us and less time in their own little world.
It is such a relief to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Later

There went spring break

Easter as such passed quickly.
The weather was warmer so the children spent a lot of time outside playing.
I broke down and brought their bikes out of storage, if the weather changes, I guess I will just have to pick them up and carry them in again.

I got some wonderful shots of all the kids except for Eric jumping up and down on an old door which they have hooked over the side of the concrete patio so it bounces.

Nathan and John, both Autistic, worked together on this venture until they had it the way that they wanted it.

At one stage there was all 5 of them out there bouncing on the board, all laughing and smiling, quite pleased with themselves.
I got some wonderful shots with the digital camera.

If I ever figure out how to do it, I will post photos on this site.

I have some great ones where you can see the light in Kathleen's and Nathan's eyes go on and off, as they move from the present into their own world.

John did marvellously, he played every game Rachel or Sarah suggested and except for a couple of incidents when he did not agree with what they were asking him to do, he looked just like he belonged.

It looked like a lot of fun and I even went out and joined in, until my old body reminded me that I was no longer a child.
Later

Tomorrow My Irish Twins Turn 4 And 5

Kathleen and Sarah were born on the same day a year apart.
Tomorrow they have their birthday.
It has been a year of enormous growth for Kathleen.
A number of her Autistic symptoms have indeed disappeared to be replaced by a greater socialization skill and more of an awareness of her surroundings and the people in it.
Not merely as useful tools for things that she cannot get herself but as people that she enjoys interacting with.

Kathleen was a normal child, can't say anything much grabbed my attention in her 1st year except that she was a decent sized child and when she crawled, she crawled like a frog.
I believe that her Autism developed when she was between 14 and 16 mths.
At that time she started screaming.
She screamed a lot. Incessant, ear splitting screams that just made you want to cry.
She wouldn't be held, she would fight you when you changed her.
She just curled up in a corner and screamed.

This went on for months.

By the time she was about 2.5 she lessened her screaming to outbursts. Usually late at night, or early in the morning. I waited for the sheriff to come by and tell us that the neighbours had reported the child screaming but he never came, to my great relief.
I had absolutely no control over it, it was a symptom of her Autism and just like Nathan screaming in the past when he entered a new building, it had to be borne.

Sure didn't make me feel any better about it. She would launch into these screaming sessions during the day when we tried to take her out.
Not many people understood Autism and I guess by the looks we got, that they thought we were incompetent parents with a very badly behaving child.
The amount of times that we left family restaurants like Denny's, MacDonalds or similar are too numerous to mention so finally, we stopped taking the kids out.

As her screaming reduced slightly so did her behaviour. She would spend most of her time downstairs in the basement, often climbing into the ashpit to retreive pieces of wood, glass or metal.
Kathleen has PICA which basically means that she eats all kinds of stuff. We blocked that ashpit off with cinderblocks, wood, boxes but she always found a way to get it moved and get in there.
We were vigilant with removing anything that she could possibly eat that could cause her harm. Just the thought of an Autistic child in the hospital with a lacerated oesophagus was enough incentive.

We tried desperately to reach her, touching her on the head or the shoulder as she walked by to attempt to desensitize her.
Finally she would come over sometimes and back up onto my lap and I thought we were making real progress. I learned later that this is an Autistic tendency to use people as a piece of furniture and she backed up with no more regard to me than if I was a chair.

At this time I would attempt to cuddle her. One evening I thought that I was making progress when she came running over to me as I sat on the couch and I welcomed her with open arms. She pulled my head towards her and as I felt her mouth on my cheek I was ecstatic. I thought that she was finally going to kiss me.
The pain exploded in my head as she sunk her teeth into my cheek, gouging out a piece of skin. I still have the indentation.
I burst into tears, not only did my cheek really hurt but I was so overwhelmed by hopelessness.
What if I never reached her.

I think the turning point for Katy came when we moved down to OK in the winter of 2006 for 6 mths.
There, she started to progress. Her screaming started to reduce once again.
I was able to be home more. I worked five twelve hour night shifts a week but I was home more as the two hospitals that I worked at weren't that far away.
And, even if I slept for a few hours during the day, the children always had access to me when they needed me.
They also spent a lot of time outside as the winter in OK is mild at it's worst.

When we came back in July of that same year, she was already developing more social skills and would look at people who came over rather than spending all her time downstairs.
Another major difference ocurred when we got back from Ok, I refused to go back to work, so Paul after a lot of carrying on, went out and got a job.

Kathleen continued to improve slowly with her social skills but she was still screaming a lot more than I would have liked.
When Paul wasn't working and was at home, Katy would come out to the kitchen in the morning and start screaming and wailing.
This went on for quite some time.

After Paul was incarcerated in I think August, within a couple of days, Katy stopped doing it.
She does scream occasionally now, when she is frustrated over a lack of communication or when something doesn't go her way but it is not nearly as often.

Today I heard her screaming out in the yard and went to see what the problem was.
We have a large lab/retriever. She is a good 85lbs with a wonderful nature.
Kathleen was trying to ride this dog. She would lead her over to a place where she could climb on her back and then as soon as she managed to get up there, the dog would sit down and it would start all over again. It was quite funny to watch, but, I don't believe Katy found it quite as amusing.

Over the last 3 months, she is throwing out a few more words, she is humming or using her own babble to sing, she kisses people, she loves to be hugged and carried, she can sit in the Dairy Queen and eat a meal without displaying any Autism signs, she loves to go to the park, her comprehension appears to be increasing and she has allowed us to put nailpolish on her 2 x this week, the second time actually soliciting it.

She is doing absolutely beautifully and I have great hopes for her future.

Happy Birthday to my little girls, you both make me so proud to be your mum.
Later

Autism-The Importance Of Facial Expressions To An Autistic Child

Part of the problem that Autistic children face in the area of communication is that they are unable to decipher facial expressions in others.
A child with Autism will watch you cry, sometimes even wipe your tears off, but for the most part, will have no idea that you are unhappy.
A large part of communication for most people is their body language and this includes facial expressions so the fact that the Autistic child can't understand this increases the difficulty in communication.

There are methods whereby you can actually enable some Autistic children to read facial expressions thereby increasing their own awareness of how people around them are feeling.

Repetition can help the child with Autism learn. By going over the same thing in different settings and at different times you are rooting it in their brain for them to pull out as necessary.

You can make a list of the different frequently used expressions and have it on a small card with the picture beside it for them to refer to in the beginning.
The most common being a smile, sad, angry, laughing, scared and thinking face.
This helps the child with Autism reference to something.

Another thing that you can do is discuss it with them in language that they can identify with e.g. "When you pat your puppy, you smile right, that means that you are happy".
The child identifies good things like patting the puppy, eating icecream and other things that he/she enjoys as being happy.

Then you can start to reference it to other people so the Autistic child will actually start to look to other people's faces to see what their expressions are saying e.g. "When you throw food on the floor, does that make your Mom smile?".
When you get a no answer, you could say, "Then your mom is not happy, what does your Mom's face look like?"
And then go on to discuss with the Autistic child the possible meanings of what their mother's face meant, angry, sad etc.

By doing this, you are reaffirming to the child with Autism that he/she can have more of an idea what a person is feeling by looking at the other person's face.
It actually works two-fold as it also increases eye contact while increasing the Autistic child's communication skills.

Sometimes the Autistic child will expand on this on their own by asking people if the expression on their face is actually what they are feeling which is great as it shows that they are learning and starting to read expressions for themselves.

Long term, it will lead to the Autistic child being able to understand and communicate more effectively.
This will lead to fewer miscommunications and more chances that the child with Autism has to explore not only their own feelings but, to be more sensitive to the feelings of others.

Autism-The Effects On Siblings Of Autistic Children

Another article published by www.ezinearticles.com


Oftentimes it is true that the child that makes the most noise, gets the most attention. This is true in a lot of families and moreso in families with children with Autism. Autistic children also require a lot more time and attention. In a family with more than one autistic child, it is doubly so. This could lead to a greater risk of sibling rivalry. Not for the challenges usually associated with these words but for attention. With the care that Autistic children need, it would be easy for the unaffected child in the family to get a little lost in the shuffle.

Over time, this could lead to the unaffected child feeling resentful of their Autistic siblings and to begin a little attention getting of their own or behaviors.

In time, the stress involved with this internal family conflict could lead to a rift that may take a lifetime to heal. There are several methods to deal with this potential problem before it gets out of hand.

Each Autistic child is different and each regular child is different and therefore the way that you would handle each child is going to depend on their age and personality.

Time needs to be set aside for the sibling of an Autistic child.

Their "alone" time with their parents.

You may need to hire a caregiver or find a friend or family member to watch over the Autistic child during this time.

The unaffected sibling needs assurance that although their brother or sister gets most of the attention, that they are going to get a share.

It important that you keep your appointment with the child.

The outing doesn't have to be anything spectacular, just something that the two of you can share. It can be done with one parent at a time or with both.

It is by doing this that you are demonstrating that no matter how busy or hectic things are at home, that he or she is just as important to you.

Another simple way of reassuring the child is to tell them that you love them. Three little words that mean a lot, but that children need to hear.

A special touch or hug that the two of you can share to let them know that you do think about them.

The occasional note under their pillow or in their lunchbox to assure them that even when they are not with you, they are in your thoughts.

These things take but a moment of your time but could mean the world to a child who already feels that they have so little of your time.

Another thing that you can do if your children are of school age is to ensure that the work that they bring home from school is not destroyed by their Autistic sibling.

Unfortunately, due to the behaviours that some children with Autism have, some artwork especially is attractive to them and it may get ruined.

Make sure that you do have a special place that it can be put where it is out of harms reach.

The other thing that you can do is obviously talk to them about Autism in an age appropriate manner. Explain as best you can why their brother or sister does the things that they do. Encourage them to be open about their feelings.

It is okay to dislike something that the Autistic child does, but that doesn't mean that they have to dislike the Autistic child.

Encourage participation in the fun things that the family can do as a unit. If the child with Autism is unable to handle outings, have a picnic complete with cloth and picnic basket on the lawn in the backyard.

Be creative.

By showing the sibling of a child with Autism that the family is important and by having them understand that their status in the family unit is by no means undermined by the fact that you need to spend more time with their siblings, the stronger and more secure the child will become. And the less resentful.

This is extremely important. The sibling of a child with Autism will quite possibly become the decision maker for that Autistic child at some stage in the future.

Donna Mason has been a Registered Nurse for the past 16 years. She is the mother of 6 children, 3 of whom have varying degrees of Autism. For more information on Autism signs and symptoms, and to learn more about this mother's battle in the fight against this misunderstood condition, visit

Autism-The Effects On A Family With An Autistic Child

Autism is on the rise.
This is an undisputed fact.
If 1 in 150 children are currently developing Autism annually, then that is 1 too many.
It is, quite frankly, a horrible debilitating condition. Not just for the Autistic child, but devastating for the entire family.
It requires adjustment from all members of the family as all aspects of everyone's lives will undergo a massive upheaval.

The cost of raising a child with Autism is astronomical.
ABA treatments average around 100,000 dollars per annum.
The major insurance companies baulk at paying to help recover the Autistic child so parents are looking at being out of pocket at about 50,000 dollars.
Even in a well paid two income family, this is still high.
And notice I said major insurance companies.
Some families with Autistic children are having to fight to obtain simple coverage for their impaired child, never mind attempting to get the insurance companies to pay for recognised treatments.

In a lot of families, it is impossible to have two parents working. One may have to give up their position to stay at home and look after the child.
Autistic children require a lot of time and attention.
Safety is a big issue and their homes may have to be reorganised to accomodate the different Autistic behaviours that the child may exhibit.

If the family chooses to go the Alternative Medicine route, all of this will have to be paid out of pocket as if it is not recognized by the Medical world, then it is not an accepted practice.
Currently, you would be hard pressed to find a physician to acknowledge that there are any treatments for Autism that don't involve medicating to control Autistic behaviours.

Other siblings may need to adjust to the amount of time required to care for the Autistic child and the fact that sometimes they are unable to do things or go on outings due to the fact that their Autistic brother or sister would not be able to handle it can lead to a bit of resentment.
Also, due to some Autistic behaviours, unfortunately despite parents best attempts to prevent it, some articles precious to the unaffected child may get destroyed or ruined.

It leads to little time off for the parent of an Autistic child. Their caregivers need to be specialized and a lot of times very familiar with the child to understand their non verbal cues. Approximately 40-50% of Autistic children will never speak.
This leads to a great deal of frustration in a child with Autism. A caregiver or parent who is tuned into the child is able to alleviate this by having more of an idea what it is the child is asking for when they indicate.
This means that in a two parent family, the parents often take turns in staying with the child thereby leaving little time for them as a couple.

In a home where there is only one parent it is both exhausting and socially isolating.
Sometimes it is next to impossible for the child with Autism to go out. They don't respond to a change in routine, loud noises or a lot of people can set off an Autistic behaviour such as screaming and/or flapping.
Also, although the public awareness of Autism has been increasing of late, there are still people who will look at you in the store and tell you to "control your child" when they are absolutely having a lay down on the floor, kicking, screaming and flailing meltdown because the lights in the store are too bright.
Good luck there.

A lot of changes do have to be made. Some actually for the better. It can make the family unit stronger. It can enable you to raise siblings of Autistic children to be compassionate, kinder, more well-rounded individuals. It can introduce you to the other side of the coin and you can become more patient and tolerant of people and families with disabilities.
It may also make you as a person more vocal to advocate for families with Autistic children so they do recieve some kind of financial aid and the medical world does start to recognize more Alternative forms of healing for the child with Autism thereby making insurance companies responsible, at least in part for payment.

A lot of changes are going to have to be made not just to the family with the Autistic child, but, to the community and the world at large. If the rate of Autism is at 1 in 150 children currently, who knows what it will have risen to next year.

Woohoo, Score One For Mom

I beat him to the alarm clock this morning.
Flew out of bed at 5am.
John was up and reading a book out loud in the loungeroom. Nathan got up soon after.
Hopefully I can keep it up for another couple of weeks until my internal clock kicks in.
He got dressed under duress this morning but he liked the idea that it was snowing this morning when I opened the door.
It came down pretty thick and fast too.
I think I need to pay a little more attention to the weather reports.
I am hoping that it will melt before I feel the need to go out there and shovel.
Later

My Alarm Clock

I don't think that Nathan is too keen on going to school.
Every morning since the time change he has got up before me, turned off my alarm clock, and quietly closed the bedroom door.
I am so used to waking up at the old 7am that my eyes open a couple of minutes before 8am. Just seconds before they are due to be picked up for school.

I have tried moving the alarm clock. But, he always manages to find it.

I can't shut my bedroom door at night in case I can't hear the ones that don't sleep in the room with me.

I am pretty much at a loss as to what to try next.
When I put the clock up high, he brings a chair into the room and climbs on it.
I don't like them being tardy, but until my internal clock changes, I am pretty much at a loss as to what to try next.

I bought another alarm clock today. I am going to leave the other out where Nathan can see it and hide the second one. Maybe if he is content to shut off the old one I will have a chance to hear the alarm clock.
Will give it a go.
Later

Well, Monday Came In And Left With A Roar

Can't remember much of today.
It just seemed to go so fast.
One thing I do remember is finding out this morning that Rachel was meant to be bringing juice to school for the St Patrick's day party so I rushed up the road, got them and delivered them to her class all in the blink of an eye.
When I asked her how her party went today, she said "We didn't have a party". So now I am at a loss.
Oh well, the juice is there, if they have a party, they have juice.

One absolutely wonderful thing happened today.
Kathleen has been wearing pullups. Guess it makes her feel like a big girl.
I put her on the toilet today and after a little bit of giggling.
She did it!!!
My little girl peed on the toilet.
She didn't do it again for the rest of the evening but, who knows, maybe that too is coming.

Last week I had started John on Vit Bcomplex and fish oil capsules in the morning and I am pleased to report that I think he is a lot clearer now.
He can be doing something and I will ask him a question and he will answer me while he continues to do what he is doing.
When I ask him to do something, I don't have to remind him. He gets it done.
I am so proud of him. I think he is doing great.
I was discussing with my friend today whether she thought he would be good enough to go to scouts and she thinks as I do that he would be able to handle it so I will give it a go this week.
That would be marvellous!
Later

I Waited Anxiously For The Weekend

I have to work on Niall's schedule as they are something like 14 hrs ahead of us. So for him the weekend is actually Friday and Saturday for us.
I really wanted to try Nathan with the webcam again and see if it made any more improvement with his speech.

It took a while for the internet to connect and I think he got bored waiting. He started typing letters on the keyboard while he waited.
When we finally connected with my brother, he was more interested in typing although he did say hello and pulled a few funny faces at him.

It was a bit of an anticlimax as Nathan had got up in the morning and connected the webcam to the computer himself having climbed up on the counter and got into my cupboard to obtain it, so I presumed that he was keen to talk to him too.

I will say however that Nathan does continue to spit out words on a regular basis and his following of directions has improved.
He will on occasion still practice words that he has heard us say.

This morning he put his rollerblades on and has been moving around the house with them on for the past 3-4 hrs.
His balance has improved significantly and he has only fallen once.

Kathleen is spending most of today out in the backyard. She spent some time chasing the dogs around and Honey is very tolerant of her as she climbs on the dog's back.

I put John on Vit B and fish oil in the mornings. I am hoping that it will help with his concentration and also help him to settle. I did notice that today he has not been flapping in front of the television.
I have also been limiting the amounts of cartoon time that they get, preferring to have the history channel or something similar on.
I think that will help too. It is mainly for background noise.
I did try the cooking channel for three days but it started to make me incredibly hungry!
Later

I've never seen an Angel

But I am pretty sure that I know what they look like.
I have met some pretty awesome people in my journey to get the better of Autism.
Common, ordinary folk who on a regular day wouldn't stand out too much from an everyday crowd.
It is what they say and do that makes them angels in my eyes.
Nathan has two special angels that are at the clinic where he gets his NAET treatments. I know it and Nathan knows it.
I can tell that he does by the way he responds to them and they to he.
After last weeks treatment and all the magnificent gains he has made this week, let me tell you, I was pretty excited about going today.
Shirl had got Nathan a chocolate chip cookie.
He was pretty impressed about that.
Kay asked her to keep an eye on Nathan while I updated her on what had been going on with him and he stayed quietly in the waiting room for the whole time.
He just kept himself amused.
I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished so far.
He likes Kay and responds well to her requests even when he is obviously having a difficult time with the allergen that we are trying to remove.
Today we did organs.
We are trying to clear up his tummy trouble.
He got a little antsy while we were doing the treatment but nothing unmanageable.
His face looks a little different.
His manner certainly is.
He should clear this tomorrow so I look forward to seeing what changes we will get this weekend.
And to my two angels at the clinic, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you are doing for my son.
I am sure that when he is able, Nathan will thank you too.
Later

Nathan Helps Himself

He is one heck of a guy, my Nathan.
In trying to get the right and left side of the brain to connect there are some exercises that can be done.
One is to throw a ball from your left hand to your right hand and obviously keep going as long as you are able.
It is basically any kind of exercise that calls for using both sides of your body.
So, today we tried doing the wax on, wax off that was done on The Karate Kid.
Boy, that isn't as easy as it looked and he had considerable trouble doing it. But, he kept trying.
We started off with me moving his arms but then he tried it on his own for a while.
Practise will make perfect and we will try it again tomorrow.
I love that Nathan keeps trying, even if the task is difficult.
He is doing the same with his speech. He is taking opportunities to ask you to name things and watching the way that your mouth forms the words, then he will go off and repeat them to himself until he is more sure that he is doing it right.
He is speaking with the intonation of someone who doesn't hear well but I have had his hearing checked twice and it has tested ok.
After a while he came to me and asked me for "help".
He had a pair of rollerblades in his hands and he wanted to try them on.
He has been trying to get into the girl's rollerskates since they got them but his feet are too big.
These are just the right size and he walked along the carpet with them pretty well. He was occasionally chortling to himself.
When he got to the kitchen which has lino, that was when his trouble started.
As he tried to cross it, his feet went out from underneath him and down he went, "ouch" he said. "I hurt"
Then he got back up and tried again and tried again and tried again.
Nathan made the round from the end of the loungeroom to the end of the dining room 4 times before finally calling it quits.
We laughed and I helped him up a couple of times but for the most part, he figured out how to do it himself.
Rollerblading is a great exercise for left and right brain as it deals with balance and concentrating on what you are doing especially for a beginner.
It was almost as if today, he was looking for things to help himself when he knew that I was trying to help him.
He even came out to the kitchen and danced with us voluntarily.
He repeated words in the songs.
He mimiced faces.
He was just absolutely brilliant and tomorrow is his NAET treatment so wonderful.
We will see what happens then.
Later

My First Article

I wrote this article and published it to www.ezinearticles.com




Classic Signs and Symptoms of Autism.


Symptoms of Autism usually present during the first year and a half of a child's life.
Early diagnosis of autism can make a dramatic difference with the outcome of the child’s success.
Although Autism does not typically show up until at least 14 months of age there are some earlier warning signs that can act as red flags to watch for.
All of these signs and symptoms may be indicative of several disorders so it is important to get your child properly evaluated by a healthcare professional if you have any concerns.
The head growth in children with Autism seems to increase exponentially in the first twelve months.
When you have your baby evaluated at their clinic appointments, if they do not do so, ask them to measure the circumference of the child’s head and have it plotted on the growth chart so that you can see exactly where your child is in proportion with other children’s expected growth.
If your baby is still having trouble sitting up at 10-12 months and has a tendency to tip or not put their hands out to catch themselves as they fall forward then you may want to mention that at your Doctors visit.
Autistic children generally develop otherwise just like other children, then somewhere between 14 months and 3 years they start to regress.
Autistic children usually have problems in the following areas:
Communication
A number of children with Autism lose any speech that they have already developed since birth. Others speech becomes repetitive and rather than have an actual conversation, as much as a child will, they will repeat things they have heard or repeat the same words over and over again. They may also develop echolalia which basically means that the last thing that you say is what they will answer. For example if you ask if they want a hamburger or a hotdog they will say hotdog and if it was the hamburger that they really wanted they will become upset that you misunderstood them.
They also have difficulty with non-verbal communication as in reading facial expressions and have difficulty understanding humor or sarcasm.
Social Interaction
Usually Autistic children withdraw. They have difficulty making or maintaining friendships. They lose eye contact. They are happier keeping to themselves and appear uncomfortable in large settings of people. They are unwilling to be touched or held and will pull away when you try.
Unusual Way Of Playing
The Autistic child sees play objects in a different way and will use them differently than another child. They may like cars but will spin the wheels over and over again for hours. They have a tendency to organize objects and will spend hours lining them up and placing them in an order known just to them. Sometimes it is obvious to the casual observer but oftentimes not.
The child with Autism plays solitarily unless they are needing another person to use as an object e.g. they will sit on your lap at the table if they know that they need to be higher up on the chair to reach it. At these times they will simply back up and climb as they would an object.
Autistic children may engage in repetitive movements such as flapping of their hands or wriggling their fingers in front of their eyes.
They like a routine and will get upset if something is moved or if there is a change in the way things are usually done.
Note well, however, that these are just warning signs and a proper evaluation by a physician or psychologist is important to determine if it is truly Autism or another disorder.
It is also well to note that Autism is a Spectrum Disorder meaning that there can be a very large scale difference between one Autistic child and another.
Early intervention is important when dealing with this spectrum, the success of the child depends on it.

Donna Mason has been a Registered Nurse for the past 16 yrs. She is the mother of 6 children, 3 of which have varying degrees of Autism. For more information on Autism signs and symptoms, and to learn more about this mother’s battle in the fight against this misunderstood condition, visit her on the web at: http://www.autisticadventures.blogspot.com

Kathleen's Party

I found Katy asleep sitting up in the armchair this evening.
She was sitting up as nice as could be and on first, second, third glance it would have appeared that she was watching television quietly.
Quietly, not our Katy.

When I brought the food out I knew something was not right and true enough. Her day at special ed daycare must have been too much for.
She was sleeping.

I try not to let her nap in the afternoon as I pay for it at night and sure as eggs is eggs, it is 1150pm and she is behind me in the kitchen holding her own little party.

She has different types of food out. Dry noodles is a staple, bologna, cheese and tomato sauce (which I count as a vegetable).
Makes me feel better about her eating it alone.
It is not that she doesn't get fed at regular intervals. It seems that food is always being provided in this household and due to the fact that Nathan, John and Katy I guess due to the Autism have a selfimposed food selection process it is varied to a point.

Katy is what I would call a grazer. She has to have food near her or know where a stash is at all times.
This morning she insisted on cooking and taking a corndog to daycare and I know that it is not because she is not being fed, it is just one of her little autistic idiosyncrasies.

She has a spot downstairs with her favourite toys and things that she has taken from the other kids. She always keeps a stash of dry noodles and sometimes candy down there.
Friday morning I had some spare time so I went down there and cleaned it up.
Friday afternoon after the children were dropped off I heard a scream of rage.
Katy had discovered that I had cleaned (usually it gets done on a Saturday morning under her strict supervision).
Ten minutes later I hear her boots on the stairs and up she comes, probably took her that long to rearrange her toys, straight into the pantry for a packet of noodles and then thump, thump, thump down the stairs again.

Still makes me smile. She doesn't stay mad long and was soon back, just as soon as she had everything laid to rights.

So now, Kathleen is having a party. But at least nowadays she is a lot quieter about it and sometimes she even gets out the broom and cleans up after herself.
Later.

Accelerated Head Growth Early Symptom of Autism

Well looky what I found.

Accelerated Head Growth Can Predict Autism Before Behavioral Symptoms Start, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2008) — Children with autism have normal-size heads at birth but develop accelerated head growth between six and nine months of age, a period that precedes the onset of many behaviors that enable physicians to diagnose the developmental disorder, according to new research from the University of Washington's Autism Center.

So for all those that thought I was crazy, measuring Eric's head on a weekly basis for the first twelve months there ya go.

I wasn't seeing things.
I knew that 3 of my children's heads were exponentially bigger than the other three.

Wish I could afford to get MRI's for them. It would be interesting for me to compare the insides of their heads to their other siblings.

Now the most interesting thing in all this is.

Approx 3 months ago, it was a Saturday, I got out of bed and came into the kitchen.
Kathleen was sitting on the counter smiling at me and giving me some pretty good eye contact.
But, there was definitely something different about her.
I looked at her and she smiled away at me and I looked at her from a different angle and she just kept smiling away.

Then it hit me!

Her head was smaller.
It was the most bizarre thing.
I have a medical background and I figured, how could this be?

But, the more I looked at her, the more I was convinced that yes indeed it was smaller.
I went and got her favourite hat. The one I always have to tug on her head so that I could be objective as well as subjective and it plopped straight on.

Wow!

This was about the time that she had gone through a period of improvement and has since just taken off.
I think I can honestly say that she is not the same girl this month as she was last month.
I think I can honestly say that she is not the same girl this week as she was last week.

Now I don't understand how this happened but it did.
Eric's head has not grown and I remain hopeful.
Rachel and Sarah's heads are of a normal size and now so is Katy's.
John and Nathan's head are on the rather large size and disproportionate for their bodies although Nathan's doesn't look so bad because he is bigger.
Later.

Kathleen and Bath Time

Kathleen has only started enjoying her baths in the last year or so.
Prior to that it was practically a hold down drag out fight just to get her in there.
Now, if she could, Katy would bathe several times a day and sometimes she does.
Still not too keen on the hair washing aspect of it all but, she will do it without too much fuss.

In 2006 I finally got Kathleen to stand in the bath tub while the others were having a bath.
They were all much smaller then and the bath was bigger.
She would stand in one spot and cry. This continued for a couple of weeks.
Finally she would stand in there and not cry.
This was so much more pleasant for the rest of us.
Kathleen had just come out of her curl up in a corner and scream constantly phase so this quietness was very welcome.
After a few weeks of this, Kathleen started walking around the edge of the bath, still no crying.

I let her advance at her own pace. It is so much better when they want to do something so I figured that she would get to sitting down eventually.

And, one day she did.
She got up a lot but then sat back down and discovered it really wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Now, if she could, she would bathe constantly.
Nothing like a tub full of water to put a smile on that little girls face.
I don't enforce the bathing thing unless they are exceptionally dirty or they have gone more than three days which very rarely happens anymore.

It makes for a much more pleasant environment when there is little disagreement and they are more willing to work with you if you work with them.
Later

Nathan's Speech

This morning I am happy to report that Nathan continued practising his speech all day yesterday.
He is throwing out new words and repeating words that not only I am saying but also his siblings.
As for other autism symptoms, I can't say that I have noticed a change as yesterday he undid the door for the patio a few times and continued to pull the innards from the broken mattress to toss over the railings.
This autism symptom has been halted many times by me doing a type of joining with him that I learned from The Option Institute http://www.optioninstitute.org
but it returns to rear it's ugly and downright messy head everytime that he seems to be evolving.
I use the word evolving loosely. Basically to me it means that when the children seem to be improving in one area, they use an autism symptom to regulate themselves.
Almost like a comfortable blanket that they keep returning to.
Kathleen's is that she will return to her spot downstairs where she keeps a supply of hard noodles and some of her favourite toys.
She will spend up to a few hours down there and then come back when she is ready to join us again.

The neat thing with Nathan's increase in speech is that his talking siblings are speaking more to him.
They hear him speak and just move in.
That part is great.
They were so used to him being non-verbal that they were used to taking his arm and leading him places or not asking him what he wanted to do, just assuming that he would go along with what they wanted to do, which for the most part he will.

I have a new computer program on dinosaurs and this is a favourite with John especially.
Well then, yesterday Nathan displayed an interest and he had suggestions for what he wanted to look at next.
It was rewarding to see that his brother would take his suggestions thereby reinforcing for Nathan the power of speech.

It will be interesting to see if Nathan talks at school tomorrow.
It is not one of his favourite places to be and I am aware that sometimes they do not see the things that I am seeing at home.
And lately, due in part to the mess regarding the para, all I am recieving in way of the daily report which should contain a brief summary of what the boys did on that day, is a comment that mainly that says, he had a fine day.
Well that is fine too.
Later.

Post Note

This speech thing with Nathan has continued off and on for the rest of the evening.
The most notable statements that he made came after 9pm when he was trying to watch the end of The Fox And The Hound and his sisters were in front of the television and making lots of noise.
He had walked around them plenty of times to be able to see the screen and at one point I guess he got tired of it.
Finally he raised his voice and even I could hear him from the kitchen and said, "Be Quiet" and a few seconds later just as clearly, "Go to bed".
That was pretty darned impressive.
I'll settle for that.
Later

My Thanks To My Brother Niall

Hats off to this guy today.
He was going to paint his house and took the time to chat with us on webcam.
Not enough, well wait till you hear what happened.

I bit the bullet and made the twenty dollar investment for a webcam on Thursday but had to wait until today to try it.
It has a built in microphone and so Niall can hear us when we talk.
The girls were having a blast.
They could see their relatives and talk to them at the same time.
Yay for modern technology!
John came by and said hello to his Uncle Niall and cousins and then went off.
The big achievement came when I called Nathan over to say hello.

I had been tossing around for a while the possibility of videotaping the children at play and then playing it back to them.
I got this idea because of their overwhelming positive response to a video that I had made of the boys pre-autism.
Even Kathleen had found it fascinating.

I wondered if it was possible that by staging different play settings like throwing a ball and running and different things that they would learn by watching themselves as they seem to be extremely visual children.

Anyway, back to the webcam.
Nathan came over and noticed that his picture showed up on the screen. He repeated "hello, uncle Niall" after I said it.
Then he positioned himself correctly so that he could see himself in the camera.
Niall waved at him and Nathan waved back.
Niall gave him the thumbs up and Nathan gave him the thumbs up back.
Niall gave him the okay sign and Nathan just about turned himself inside out because of the position he was in to place his ok sign in front of the camera.
Nathan then recited his alphabet.
Niall said that it was a lot clearer than he had heard him previously.

Then Niall and Nathan proceeded to spend the next five minutes poking tongues at each other and pulling faces.
At first, Nathan was copying Niall then he started to branch out on his own creating his own expressions, never once for a second taking his eyes off the computer screen and his Uncle Niall's face.
After a while he left, a smile on his face.

That was not the end of it.
Nathan returned to the loungeroom and proceeded to talk.
He was in there by himself throwing out 4 or 5 word sentences.
He repeated the same ones a bit. It almost seemed like he was trying to work on his pronunciation as he got clearer as he went on.
Then he also started throwing out one or two words.
He went into the bedroom and this continued.
He kept this up for over an hour.

Nathan has mutism in addition to autism. He has very little spontaneous speech but he seems to experiment with it at intervals.

Later he came out to the kitchen holding his ear and I was afraid that he had an ear infection. He is prone to them. It kept him out of the pool last summer as he was constantly on antibiotics trying to clear this up.
I asked him if I could look at it and he let me have a wee peek.
Then I noticed that he had a scratch on his ear and asked him what happened.
He replied, "cat".
Then he walked off and as he did so said, "ouch".

I intend to see if we can do more webcam sessions and see if indeed this does help his speech a little.
If this does indeed show improvement in his speech then I will go ahead with the video.
Maybe it can be used for social skills too.
It could have all kinds of possibilities.
Later

Found Him

I was talking to my friend last night when the brilliance struck.
I had checked the back patio last night and the room was freezing.
It was later that it struck me.
Why was that room so cold?
Because of Nathan's autism, he has a compulsion to have things just so.
I don't fully understand why he has to have some of the things the way he does but that is the way he insists on doing it.
We both give a little and can coexist quite happily.
At times, he has had to have all the lights on in the house and would go from room to room and turn them on.
This created huge problems when we first moved up here and the power would go out during wild and wooly storms.
The lights would go out and all hell would break loose.
I would end up going outside and driving my car up over the verge and onto the grass in front of the house and turning my lights on high beam, opening the curtains in the loungeroom thereby providing the required light.
No mean feat I can tell you.
Nowadays, we don't have so many outages so I haven't had to do that for a while.
We also worked through the compulsive symptom of autism by turning one light off.
And keep it off for a week or two.
Then another, then another and basically wean him off.
Now he is content just to leave the lights on that we need.
He also shuts my calendar at the moment.
I got it from the bank and it is full of bears.
The other one I have is a USA one and he leaves that one alone, but, the bear one has to be closed everytime he finds it open.
Getting back to the patio. Last summer he had to open all the windows in the patio which of course open onto the back yard.
So, I thought, maybe the cat had followed him out and then jumped out the window.
Sure as eggs as eggs.
I opened the back door and their was my popsicle or should I say catsicle.
Waiting patiently to be rescued.
I thought he would learn his lesson but, this morning when the kids went out the front door out he went again.
At least I know he is not locked up somewhere in the house now.
Later

I have lost my cat

Kathleen and the cat have had a disagreement.
She thinks that he should lay there and let her torment him with a piece of string or a stuffed toy.
He on the other hand does not agree with this philosophy and as a result, they have had a falling out.
This leads to a conundrum on my part as now, she has a tendency when she finds him resting in a room, to shut the door on him and lock him in.
Last Friday, he was in the girls bedroom all night and as that room is not used anymore, I did not realize this until the following morning when he initiated an agonized howling.
I arrived too late to find that the cat had already used one of the beds as a commode and consequently, as it is difficult at best to remove the odour of cat urine off a mattress, it is sitting outside awaiting removal.
The front of my house currently looks like one of those houses that you really don't want to live next to.
It would be nice if I could explain to her why I don't want her locking him in places, but because of her autism, she is just not getting it.
Now, of course, it is nearly midnight and I cannot find the darned cat.
He could be anywhere.
Every now and again I hear what sounds like a meow but when I move to that section of the house, the noise is gone.
All I can do I guess is hope he holds his water.
Later

NAET Treatments

Off we went this morning with a young man who was very grateful not to be going to school today.
He didn't run away when I got out his clothes so I believe that he understood it was Thursday and he was going to have the NAET treatments to help his autism.
We went off to the coffee shop as per normal routine and he ordered his usual cookie and milk please.
He was keen to get going and hurried us up by getting up and going to the door.
I discussed with Kay a medical problem that he has been having and we had worked on it previously.
She communicated with him for some time and said that he was telling her that it was related to an incident at school where John was being harassed and he had felt sad and a little frightened for him.
The only incident that I knew of was a while back when another child was antagonizing John in the playground.
I don't think it was related to that incident but this is a big kid and maybe something happened at a different time.
Anyway, she elected to work on this emotional issue.
It took three times of going through the treatment before she decided that it was done.
He was well behaved and did some talking while he was there which is normal.
We went to lunch and he got upset as he had dropped some food on the floor and I didn't want him to climb under the table and he did some yelling.
He was only calmed when the item was retrieved and discarded.
After that we went to Albertsons to do some bulk shopping.
He was a different kid.
Normally Nathan just follows me around, may stop to look at something that is interesting to him but, he is able to easily be moved.
HUH!
Forget that today.
Off he went, down the aisle and around the corner.
It was as if he was looking for something.
Same thing happened at Kmart.
He waited for me to pay but then he headed for the door and he was going and I couldn't get him to wait.
Finally I sent him out to the car and Blondie and watched him cross the road.
When he got there he was laughing.
It was almost as if, he was exerting his independence.
Well.
So much for the agreeable, even tempered little boy that I was used to.
Maybe now I will have to make some changes too.
If this is the road to recovery, I guess it is gonna get a bit bumpy but, we will get through it if it leads to no autism.
As Blondie said on the way home, he seems more interested in what is going around him.
He turned up the tv in Kmart so I guess he is not too far from the little boy I know and love.
Later.

Kathleen Kisses

Young Kathleen was in a marvelous mood today.
She laughed and played with people all day.
When it came to bathtime she washed people's hair and laughed at them as she poured water on their heads, she was just having a good old time.
In fact there were few signs of autism she exhibited.
Prior to going to Marlene's place, we turned on the CD player and danced to some NZ music.
Dancing basically means that I carry her and dance and she smiles and looks into my eyes.
I also sing along to the songs and today for one whole song, Kathleen kept up a tuneful babble.
It is almost like she is singing but doesn't know the words so she makes up her own.
It was fabulous!
Just before getting into the bath, she was having trouble getting her jeans undone and I asked if she wanted help and she replied "yeah" then she said "yes".
The speech was very clear.
She finished off her bath with her new routine of putting a little water on the bathroom floor and sliding up and down it.
Our bathroom is a good size and she can get a good momentum going.
I let her go at it for a couple of minutes then call her out.
As soon as her nappy is on, it is time for cuddles and she climbs up onto my lap and laughs and smiles at me.
Today as I was looking at her, I said kiss and kissed her on the lips.
She looked at me and then she puckered up her lips and we repeated this another 5 or 6 times.
Then Rachel came over and Katy hopped off my lap and Rachel gave her a hug and a kiss.
She had done this a couple of times before Sarah had to come over and try it.
Katy laughed and laughed and she was having a good old time.
We were so happy.
In the past, one of Katy's autism symptoms was that she was a biter.
She has a very good set of teeth and sometimes she would latch on and draw blood.
You would never know if she was going to bite until it happened and I had numerous bruises and teeth marks in the old days.
A couple of years back, we were watching tv one night and Katy was just coming out of her lay down in the same spot and scream uncontrollably days and was starting to interact a little with us.
She came over to the couch where I was sitting and climbed on my lap and put her arms around my neck.
I was excited as I thought that maybe she was starting to get more affectionate and returned her hug. When I felt her mouth on the side of my cheek, I thought she was going to kiss me.
Heck no!
Within a second those teeth had sunk into my cheek and she was hanging on for dear life.
I disengaged her and burst into tears.
Not only did it hurt physically, but also emotionally.
Now she is kissing us.
How cool is that!
She may have autism but, she knows we love her and towards the end of the night, instead of us initiating the kisses, they were coming from her.
Life is great.
Later

What is the future?

You know it occured to me that some of you reading this may have stumbled on this and may not even know much about Autism.
Autism currently affects 1 out of 150 children.
Wow, what an astounding figure huh!
Incredible to think that for some of you who have not known about autism previously you may come into contact with someone who has it within the next few years.
Currently the incidence of autism amongst our children is increasing at an alarming rate of 10-17% each year.
Autism in children is outranking childhood diabetes as the number one illness.
Too many.
If it keeps increasing like this, who is going to be around to look after them all.
And no one can say without question yet, what causes autism.
So when you have a child, is it going to be a bit like the lotto?
Hopefully you win it and your child is okay.
You know, I had read a lot of comments posted by people on autism.
My favourite stupid one would have to be the one that says "don't look on it as a tragedy, embrace the children, you don't have to fix them"
A number of times I have noted that these comments are posted by people with great ideals who have nothing to do with autism.
Just because my children have autism does not mean that I think of it as tragic.
My children are aware that they are loved by me.
But that sure does not mean that I am not going to do everything in my power to reduce their autism symptoms.
These people have to understand, maybe the child is quite content in their own world, knowing that their needs are being taken care of.
But, the big picture is, these children are going to outlive me.
Who is going to look after them when I am gone?
I need to try to recover them. I need to make them as self sufficient as possible.
Afterall, isn't that what you try to do to regular children?
You teach them life skills and you send them out into the world.
You are there for them to fall back on if they need you.
I can't depend that someone is going to want to take as good care of them as I do.
And think about it, in 20 or 30 years, unless this epidemic is brought to a halt, there will be too many of them.
I have been successful in reducing some of their autism symptoms.
They are all able to get something to eat or drink when they need it.
I am trying to teach the older ones how to go to the store to buy things.
The more repetition that they have, the easier this is becoming.
I am teaching them that some of their autism symptoms are not appropriate in public.
The autism society of america has a listing of autism symptoms.

Know the Signs: Early Identification Can Change Lives
Autism is treatable. Children do not "outgrow" autism, but studies show that early diagnosis and intervention lead to significantly improved outcomes.
Here are some signs to look for in the children in your life:
Lack of or delay in spoken language
Repetitive use of language and/or motor mannerisms (e.g., hand-flapping, twirling objects)
Little or no eye contact
Lack of interest in peer relationships
Lack of spontaneous or make-believe play
Persistent fixation on parts of objects

That came off their website at www.autismsocietyofamerica.com

They have some other helpful information and it is worthwhile checking it out.
I know it is easy to go into information overload, but, knowledge is power.
Later.

No School Today

Today is Monday and there was no school.
I had decided to take five of my six children to the park in Medora and enlisted my friend, Blondies help.
I called and asked if Peggy could take Eric as I couldn't see him being able to do too much at the park and I thought he might get bored.
Then I asked Blondie if she thought Serena and Jenny might like to go as we had extra room in the car and they were happy to come.
I suggested to the kids an outing and Rachel always quick to agree said "Come on John, let's go get dressed".
And with no further ado, bounded down to the laundry room to obtain clothes closely followed by Sarah.
They came up with clothes and were hurriedly putting them on when I told them that they would need to eat breakfast first so there really was no rush.
John and Nathan opted for pancakes, Sarah and Rachel for cereal and Katy had a little bit of everything.
Wow!
There was shock number one.
In the past if you had told them that we were going out there would have been all kinds of wailing and gnashing of teeth until we were finally on the road.
John laughed because he had brought Nathan's pants upstairs and they were way too big for him and fell down when he pulled them up.
No frustration. What the heck was going on here.
The reason I had wanted Blondie to come was twofold. I only have a Taurus and there is no way that I can transport all the kids at one time.
Bit inconvenient but, my old van gave up the ghost and went to the car graveyard.
And also, due to their Autistic natures, sometimes the kids wander off so I needed the extra adult in case of any problems. Better to be safe than sorry.
I told the kids that Blondie wouldn't be there till about 1015 and showed them the numbers on the clock.
After they finished breakfast it was getting closer to 10 so I started putting on their snowsuits.
As I was doing it I marvelled.
They came to me when it was there turn. If they didn't need help they did it themselves. Those that could aided the others.
There was no stress involved in getting 6 little children ready to go out.
No one was in tears.
I wasn't upset.
There was no one standing over me screaming and swearing at me.
There was a great difference.
In the past, if I had wanted us to take the kids anywhere. I would have had to go to Paul and ask humbly if he would help me take the kids out.
I might have had to grovel a little and basically demean myself to get him to agree.
He would have hemmed and hawwed and mostly said no.
Or he would have agreed at the time then when the time came, he would have bemoaned his status in life, then started in on me.
I would have had to get the kids ready under duress, the tension in the house so thick you could cut it with a knife.
I would have got all the kids ready by myself and they sensitive to the tension would have been acting up.
He would be yelling at me and belittling me in front of the kids telling me what a moron and a useless piece of shit I was.
Then he would have made himself ready, then waited impatiently for me to finish with the children.
A lot of times, I left the house in the middle of winter without a coat or sweater because there simply wasn't time to grab one.
Once the kids were dressed they wanted to leave immediately and would act up if made to wait.
Then he would start in on them, so to avoid that, as soon as they were dressed we basically left, if of course, Paul was ready.
Then he would be nasty all the way there and I would be upset and wish that I had never suggested it. Then before we arrived at the destination, he would slap my leg and say "Come on, why are you in such a bad mood, I'm happy".
Then he would get out of the van and play to the public.
I am so grateful those days are over.
It still makes me cry just writing this and thinking about it.
The kids were wonderful.
They were all ready to leave when Carol arrived to drop off Jenny and Serena and so she took Eric to daycare for me.
We split into two cars and heading off towards Medora.
We stopped at the coffee shop to pick up Blondie's sister.
The kids waited patiently while she ran into get her.
When we got to the park, it was everything a kid like me could want.
We ran and climbed and swung and explored.
We drove the train, we were princesses trapped in the tower waiting to be rescued by a knight in shining armour, we rode the stage coach attacked by indians.
It was a big WOW!
We played follow the leader and I was doing pretty good, hampered a little by the fact that Sarah was my shadow, but it wasn't too bad until I decided to go down one of those curly slides.
I am not that agile and I had to help Sarah get into it too which is where they caught us.
As I hit the bottom of the slide, I was hit from behind by four little bodies who not content to catch me, proceeded to climb over my injured body as I lay trapped beneath Sarah.
No small wonder now my back is aching.
Would I do it again?
Hell yeah!
Except, maybe I wouldn't have stopped at that particular slide.
John ran and played with everyone. He encouraged Nathan to join them on multiple occasions.
Katy took off into the street once but returned quickly when I yelled down to Blondie that we had an escapee.
I don't think she was doing a runner as watching her later, she was actually trying to catch leaves that were being blown along in the wind.
We had one injury, apart from me, and this led to a monumental achievement.
John came down the slide backwards and consequently landed on his head. It was the birchbark covering but he still donked it and cried.
So I stood there rubbing his head and hugging him.
Nathan watched for a second then he came over and stood close to his brother, after another half a minute he put his hand on his back and gently rubbed it, then he put his hand to his brother's cheek and looked at him sympathetically.
I looked at Blondie and we were both amazed.
According to studies Autistic children can't read expressions or body language as we do.
Nathan had done both and responded to them. He had come out of his world and joined ours long enough to understand that something was wrong with John and that he cared enough about him to want to help.
I could have screamed. I was so excited.
Later when we got home I was in the kitchen attending to the meal and Nathan came up behind me, put his arms around me and hugged me. Then he laid his head against my back.
If that is not testimony that we are winning the battle against Autism, I don't know what is.
Blondie said that her sister had asked her what was meant to be wrong with the kids while we were at the park and Blondie told her that they were labelled Autistic.
To which her sister replied "I don't see nothing wrong with them, they're playing like regular kids."
Katy got upset a couple of times when she had to wait for the swing but she could be led off to try something new and we at one stage had 6 kids go down the slide together.
We were at the bottom to untangle the limbs and they all were laughing so hard when they hit the bottom cause they got stuck in the curve and all 6 of them found it extremely amusing.
Jenny mastered walking across a latice kind of rope with beads on it by the end of our time there.
It was just brilliant and I was very proud of her.
She and Katy ran together and laughed, gosh they all laughed.
Blondie rustled up a meal of french fries, tomato sauce and buns and Rachel declared "It was the best meal I ever had".
That about sums up the whole day.
It was one of the best times I ever had.
Later.

The Power of Prayer and Autism

I believe in God.
I think that God has helped me get through some very trying times in my life.
He protected us and kept us safe through some very harrowing experiences.
And I know, each day he watches over my children and places tools that may aid their recovery from Autism in my way.
He also brings some interesting people into my life.
Some for a short time to teach me something or help me get through a difficult period and some friends that I have had for a long time no matter how far away from each other we travel.
I am grateful for each and every one of them.
I know that I have a lot of people who pray for us on a daily basis.
My uncle who has been battling leukemia since I was 13 prays daily for my children's deliverance from their Autism.
But one of the neatest things happened to me one day at the grocery store.
I had taken Nathan with me and he was standing at the counter holding onto a bottle of coke for dear life, waiting fairly patiently to pay for it.
There was a man I couldn't remember having seen before standing in front of us paying for his groceries.
He turned to Nathan and said "Is that for me?"
Nathan didn't say anything, just looked at him.
The man tried again, "did you get that for me? Is it mine?"
And again from Nathan, nothing.
I was a bit embarrassed and I didn't want the man to think Nathan was being rude so I said to him, "He has Autism, he doesn't speak"
The man replied " I know, I pray for him every night"
and with that he smiled and walked away.
It took a second to register what he had said and even as I type this, it stills brings tears to my eyes.
A complete stranger, knowing about the children's Autism and praying for them on a daily basis.
With that kind of support, and with God's grace, how can we lose.
Go with God.