When Your Kids Have Autism....Life Happens

Educating About Autism

2008-07-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be meeting with a lady from KXGN news about Autism.
She is looking at doing a story on the services and treatments available in Eastern Montana.

I am more than happy to do the interviews. The more people can learn about Autism, the better off we are.

People need to know that it is not going away and that the far reaching effects of this disorder are going to get phenomenally huge as the Autistic person ages.

Kathleen's Speech

2008-07-02T02:11:00.000-07:00

Kathleen is 5 yrs old and she is more than moderately Autistic. She also has mutism.

Lately though we have noticed that she is trying to formulate words and if you listen closely, you will find that she almost has a language of her own.

She can say yeah on a regular basis and she uses nah for no also regularly.

She says mama, or mummy, depending on her stress level.

Occasionally she says juice but that is not really frequent enough to count.

She has what I call a patter.

It is her very own language that she uses on a regular basis and it doesn't seem to mean anything. It has no discernable words.

She has a kind of sing song melody along with her patter. We do a lot of music therapy with her at home and she will often wander around the house singing songs with different tunes that she makes up accompanied by her own words. It seems to please her and she appears happy at these times.

We have tried her with multiple musical instruments but her attention so far has not been great. She prefers to be held and have you dance and sing and will often initiate these contacts.

If the CD player gets turned on, she will make a beeline for the counter and sit and wait for you to be ready to pick her up no matter where in the house she is or what she is doing. And when she has had her fill, she will move away.

I am more likely to get tired than she is.

She actually has a very tuneful voice. She sings beautifully.

She also attends speech 2x a week during school sessions.

If we could get more speech from her, I think that a lot of her Autistic behaviours would reduce as most of them appear to be borne from an inability to communicate and the frustration that develops as a result of this.

An Ability To Show Concern Even When Autistic

2008-06-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Nathan is moderately Autistic. He also has mutism in addition.

He is currently 8 yrs old and will turn 9 in August.

Nathan is undergoing NAET treatments under the care of a chinese herbalist in Glendive. He has treatments approx once a week.

Since he started his treatments, he is more inclined to talk on a regular basis. He will answer questions, when he wants. He will also add his two cents to a conversation.

He is more inclined to stay out of his Autistic world and willingly participate in family games and general tomfoolery, at which time, he stays completely with us and doesn't retreat back to his world.

He is also noticing more what his brothers and sisters are doing at these times and attempting to emulate it. He is aware that they throw comments out at different intervals depending on what is going on and I have noticed that he is forcing himself to do the same.

For example, with the karate or wrestling games when someone makes contact, inevitably an oomph or an arrgh will be heard. Nathan is now doing the same.

Yesterday I had the mother of all toothaches. I was reduced to tears on multiple occasions, the pain was worse than labour. I would have liked to rip my jaw off as the pain was that severe.

Finally I ended up going to the ER in Glendive and they gave me pain relief and antibiotics.
It finally kicked in at 310 this morning and I can honestly say, since then, I have had no pain and all I am taking now are the antibiotics.

Nathan spent the evening visiting me at intervals after I returned from the hospital. Looking in my eyes and smiling at me and stroking my arm and hair.

He saw my coffee cup in front of the microwave that I had put coffee granules in while waiting for the water to boil and while I was elsewhere, he poured my water from the jug, added milk, and brought the coffee to me in the bedroom where I was supervising the girl's baths.

He had never done that before.

When I was laying on the floor getting jumped on by the girls and Eric, Nathan came and stood beside me and when it looked like someone was getting too rambunctious, he put his hand on their arm and held them, as if to tell them, to take it easy.

When I lay down on the bed to tell the girls a story at night, Nathan lay down beside me until I had finished and got up then he left too.

He stayed up until 4am. At which time we were both able to get some rest.

Nathan has always been close to me. My ex-husband used to joke, if there was a fire, you lead and Nathan will follow you, the other kids will just follow Nathan.

Even though Nathan doesn't speak much. It is almost like we have a special way of communicating. He will look in my eyes and it is like he is telepathically trying to communicate with me.

I believe it is entirely possible that my son, despite having Autism, sensed my level of distress and responded with empathy to help alleviate it as much as he could.

He is such a sweetheart. A teddy bear with a good heart. That's my boy.

What a Brilliant Day We Had Today

2008-06-18T01:15:00.000-07:00

First off, per report for Nathan's summer school, his para had written the days of the week on the board from Monday to Friday, and was going to get Nathan to read them.
Nathan proceeded to yell and took the whiteboard pen off her and wrote Sunday before Monday and then Saturday after Friday.
Then he proceeded to write the numbers from one to ten in letters on the board.

Last Thursday for Nathan's NAET treatment, we removed an allergen for Pertussis.

I have maintained that Nathan's Autistic symptoms appeared just after he'd had his routine vaccinations.

This week I am hoping that we will do the MMR or the DPT.

I have noticed that since last Friday, his spontaneous speech has increased and he appears to be making almost a forced effort to say words when playing with his siblings or doing things on his own.

Once again, I feel that his speech is gaining in clarity also.

On Saturday, I pulled the garbage bag out of the receptacle and had just tied it up to take out and Nathan came running up to me, took it out of my hand and headed up the backyard with it to throw it over the fence into the trash container.
Once I had picked my jaw up off the floor, I thanked him profusely, he had never done that before, nor shown any inclination to learn that skill.

We do a lot of musical therapy at home. I like to sing. It is a good stress release for me and what I lack in talent, I make up for in volume.
The children all take turns dancing with me and with each other.
We also improvise with instruments and I am currently teaching the girls to play the spoons.

I sing phrases and sometimes they repeat them.

Nathan has always been tolerant of our music sessions and sometimes he will willingly come in to the kitchen and he and I waltz with him standing on my feet but he has never hummed or attempted to sing.

This afternoon when I got home from Rachel's dentist appointment, he asked me for juice.
Kathleen was having a conniption and was yelling as she wanted a toy that John had so I sang a one liner that I often repeat.
It goes, I'm in the mood, for dancing, romancing and love...

Well, I got the romancing part done and then Nathan who was standing beside me, sang the last two words.
It was so heartwarming. He is watching, he is learning, and now that he is able, it is all coming out.

I couldn't be happier. He has never ever sung before. Not only did he have the two words in the right spot, he sung them!

Looks like we are having a party at my house tonight.

First Eric didn't want to go to sleep until midnight, then shortly after, Kathleen got up and shows no sign of going back to bed.

There is a gentleman who teaches weekend seminars on NAET in Montana.

I would really like to go and learn it so I could do it at home and get John and Kathleen started on them.
With the progress that I have seen with Nathan, I am confident that it would help them too.

ADHD and NAET Progress.

2008-06-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

Let's start with John and his herbal treatments for the ADHD.

He started summer school after being off for 3 weeks last Monday.

The aide that brought him home said she was shocked. She had mentally prepped herself for what she believed was going to be a trying day with John.
Until John started taking these herbs, transitioning was a very difficult thing for him. I was very interested to find that he did well at school and completed his assigned work without problems.

She not only sounded surprised but kind of relieved and I don't blame her. It is nice not having to put up with the tantrums anymore.

We have finally started to clear the immunizations with Nathan's NAET treatments and I have been waiting for this for a while as I wondered how much of a difference it would make.

Well, it has made a bit of a difference.

On Thursday we cleared Pertussis and on Friday he was wandering around the lounge room talking to himself. He was naming things and repeating words and phrases that he must have heard in the past and later in the evening while playing with his siblings, he was throwing out words to them at intervals, almost like he wanted to join them verbally as well as in play.

And today, I took the garbage bag out of the container and tied it up and this young man came jogging over and took it off me and headed up the back yard with it.

Nathan took the trash out for me. I didn't even ask him to!

Could have knocked me over with a feather.

I am so impressed with the changes in both of these boys over the past year. They are just not the same kids. They have come so far and God willing will go further.

Kathleen is Evolving Again

2008-06-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

My 5yr old nonverbal Autistic daughter Kathleen continues to be an enigma.

She is on the AIM program and apart from loving her and spending one on one time with her, she is currently not recieving any other treatments.

Kathleen goes through periods where she improves significantly for a week to 2 weeks then plateaus and seems to regroup.

Currently her focus seems to be asserting herself and she went at that with gusto.

Ordinarily Kathleen would take a back seat and go and amuse herself if the other kids didn't want her to play but now, she looks for opportunities to join in. And will.

I had a talk to Rachel and Sarah about Kathleen. I explained as best I could about the Autism and how Kathleen really wanted to play with them but sometimes didn't know how.

This is where I can honestly say that my 6yr old daughter Rachel is a one of a kind.
She asked me questions and volunteered to help teach Kathleen the right way to ask people to play which she is endeavouring to do.

Kathleen responds very well to Rachel and I have often seen her trying to mimic things that Rachel has done. Not always at the same time but later when she is by herself.

She is also babbling in a sing song kind of way and some of it sounds like words.

We do a lot of music therapy in my house. I love to sing and it acts as a great stress release for me. I encourage the children to sing and dance as much as possible and even Nathan will come out and dance with his mum.

I am hoping that with all the extra hugs and time that Kathleen is getting this week will see her improve more in social skills.

I know that if we could get more speech out of her, we would improve her behaviours as she gets frustrated that we don't seem to understand what she is trying to tell us and I know that must be difficult for her.

John's ADHD

2008-06-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

Time continues to go by and John's ADHD continues to improve with the herbal treatment on almost a daily basis.
Tantrums are a thing of the past for which I am exceedingly grateful.
Always a reader, he is able to sit and concentrate on a book without flapping.
It must be a heck of a relief to him!
And, I am proud to say. He continues to gain weight.

John's ADHD Herbal Treatment

2008-05-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

There are so many objective things that have demonstrated that this herbal treatment for John's ADHD is working.

In the last week alone he has started to gain weight and he is not constantly eating.

Anyone with children who have ADHD will tell you that their hyperactivity burns an awful lot of calories. It is difficult to get the child to maintain a decent weight without using supplements.

John has not only gained weight, he has also cut his intake.

Having Autism and ADHD is quite a combination. I have a son who flaps vigorously. Or should I say, I HAD a son that flapped vigorously.

His flapping has reduced significantly. It is now possible for him to watch his favourite movie without the hand movements and the jumping up and down. It certainly makes watching television more pleasant for everyone else.

Transitioning has always been a problem for John. If he was concentrating on something and you asked him to do something else, you would get him screaming, slapping the back of his head and a nasty meltdown.

Since he started week 6 on Friday. I can honestly say that I have not seen a major meltdown from John. Occasionally like when the power went out tonight while he was watching a DVD, he objected verbally but when I explained about the lightning storm and asked him just to turn it back on, he did. There was no screaming, nothing.

I asked him to help me take out the trash on Monday night. He asked if he could play on the swing on the way out and I asked him to wait until we had done the trash.
He did!

Not only that but when I asked him to come inside 10 minutes later, he hopped off the swing and followed me in without a murmur.

Subjectively, and this is probably the odd one and I will try and download the photos from my camera in the next two days and post one here, his smile changed.

Ordinarily when I have taken a photo of John, I have got the mouth full of teeth "Cheese" smile.

I took a photo of him on Saturday and it was a regular smile. It makes his whole face look different.

Even his respite worker thinks that he is improving so it is not just my view point.

As time goes by apparently with this herbal treatment, his behaviour will continue to improve and it also works on the symptoms for Autism, so the flapping will improve as will the social skills and the eye contact etc.

It all looks great so far and there have been no side effects.
Later.

Treatments For John's ADHD

2008-05-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we are currently just passed week 5 of John's herbal treatment for ADHD and I have to say without a doubt that it is working.

We had a swingset put in at the end of the week and unfortunately due to the rain, the kids have not been able to play on it.

I explained to John on Friday that it had been set in concrete and we had to wait for it to dry.

He asked me what concrete was and accepted my explanation and went off to find something else to do.

In the past this would have led to me getting screamed at and slapped and him smacking the back of his head and pulling on my clothes. It would also have meant that there would have been multiple assaults on the windows leading to the backyard and him trying to pick the keys out of my pocket for the rest of the evening.

His flapping has seriously decreased to the point where he watches his favourite program and is just sitting there with no movement.

He came and asked me today if I would help him bake a cake which we did together but the best part was when I pulled it out of the oven and asked him to wait until it cooled so we could ice it.

HE DID!!!!!

Woohoo.

A few minutes ago he asked his sister Rachel if she would play garbage trucks with him.

It is a role play game that he made up from watching a Backyardigans movie. He Made It Up.

Unheard of for an Autistic kid with the degree of Autism that he has.

He is doing absolutely bloody marvelous.!

He looked outside and saw it was raining this morning and said "Guess that means we can't play on the swing set today, oh well".

How sweet is that!

At last, a little light at the end of the tunnels.

It is not only dealing with his ADHD but also with the Autism symptoms.
Yahoo.

Good Days and Bad Days

2008-05-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Kathleen was fairly convivial this morning but she threw the most major tantrum at lunchtime.

She was at the table with her sisters eating then decided that she didn't like me to sit at the side of the table where I was feeding Eric, she wanted me to sit at the top.

So she pushed and climbed up on the chair behind me and shoved me with her feet and screamed some.

When I finished feeding Eric, I moved to the seat that she wanted me to sit in.

All was well for a few minutes then she noticed that there was a dining room chair in front of the computer so she got up to bring it to the table.

She couldn't get the chairs to go into the table together and started to get very frustrated and started screaming. Our attempts to help her to get the chairs to fit failed and she just went bright red and then she started biting her arm.

She did this a couple of times before finally giving up and running off.

It was one of the saddest moments of my life. Never had I felt such despair and I began to wonder if this was it.

If this was the best that we were ever going to have.

Even now as I type this I am crying again.

I just want so desperately to help her and she was doing so well and has come so far with her Autism over the past year and now to start biting herself. Where does it end?

I am more than a little despondent at this time.

No doubt tomorrow I will pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again. But for today, I think I will allow the tears.
Later.

Still Working With John and His ADHD

2008-05-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

It is now 4 weeks since John started on the herbs for his ADHD.
It apparently, because it is an herb, does not kick in until week 5.

Already I have noticed that on some occasions when he would flap in the past, he has not been.
I am getting more gibberish but then also, when I sit him down to do his homework, he is appearing to be more focussed which is nice.

Next week we will see whether it is really making a difference.

I bought a two month supply so I should be able to know by then whether it is worthwhile continuing on the herbs for the ADHD or if I will have to look elsewhere.

Looking for a Natural Cure for the Symptoms of ADHD

2008-05-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

In addition to his Autism, John has ADHD.

What a combination!

A hyperactive child who doesn't pay attention to what is going on in the real world around him.

I have tried meds for the ADHD without any success.

I tried coffee for the ADHD without any success.

That is not to say that either of these treatments won't work for ADHD. I have friends whose children's symptoms are controlled quite nicely using these modalities.

I think that each of these children respond to different treatments.

Currently I am using an herbal remedy that is meant to lessen the Autism symptoms and another to help with the ADHD.

Being herbal, it will take several weeks to kick in. We are currently on week three and he is having good days and bad days. I think that his flapping has decreased somewhat and he is doing some nice school work but it is still too early to tell if it is going to be effective or not.

This morning he decided that he was not getting in the car to go to school. We attempted to jolly him along knowing that if he was allowed to go back inside, the tantrums would increase in magnitude the next time he decided that he didn't want to go.

I can hardly wait to read today's report from his teacher.

I am thinking that I may drop in to the school this morning and see how he is doing.

They are using a lot of heavy sensory input at the school also.
Later.

Children with Autism Don't React Well to Change

2008-05-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Naturally enough that comment depends on the level of Autism that the child has.

Kathleen does not respond well to change.

The three nights that I spent in Bismarck were hard on her.

She went from a little girl who would jump in the bath tub and spend ages in there playing to a screaming mess each night when I would either start the water running or she saw the signs that I was getting ready to bathe them.

There is nothing that may set them off. It is simply the change in routine but if anyone has read the prior post on Kathleen and bathing, they will know that it took me probably close to 8 months of intensive, concentrated work to get her to the point where she would enjoy her bath and tolerate having her hair washed.

The night after I got back I realized that I would have to practically do it all over again.

It was a little sad to have my little girl back to screaming and wailing when the bath was turned on.

Fortunately she would agree to get in but was wailing the whole time and she would hang her head over the side of the tub.

It has taken her this long to figure out that I didn't want anything from her but to have her sit in the bath and wash herself or agree to let me do it for her.

Last night she jumped in the bath wailing but was prepared for flight at any time.

I leaned on the counter and asked Rachel to hand her the face cloth and indicated to Katy that I just wanted her to wash her face which she did.

All of a sudden she stopped the wailing. She would occasionally lean over the tub to reach for the towel to wipe the tears from her eyes but the incessant noise had stopped.

She looked over at me and gave me a quick smile and sat in the tub.

She had Rachel and Sarah in there with her and I instructed them to stop being mermaids for a wee bit which they agreed to do.

Kathleen just sat there for about 10 minutes. Occasionally she glanced my way and gave me more smiles and I got one giggle from her.

When she was ready she hopped out and we played the cuddle game which she loves.

Hopefully tonight she will be better again. It just takes a lot of time and patience and of course with children with the degree of Autism that Kathleen has it may take a little while so you just have to persevere.

I would rather have the children want to do a task than force them and have them hate every second of it. It can be done.

Later.

Summer is Coming

2008-05-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Less than 3 weeks till summer vacation.
I have to come up with some neat stuff to keep the inmates from getting bored.

It is hard to organize play dates for children with Autism. Not a lot of other parents think of inviting your children to their houses to play with their kids.
It is kind of a shame really as John would like to play with other children but being Autistic, he doesn't have the skills to initiate a freindship.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough of the other parents around here to develop a relationship with them that would foster reciprocal visits.

Yes it is true that my children being Autistic have a few idiosyncrasies but they are not leppers and they are not dangerous, they just sometimes do somethings differently.

They love to kick around a ball, they love to ride bikes and they love to play tag.
Just like any other kid.

They may not talk as well as some of the children around here, but they are not mean spirited and they will not say hurtful things. They are just children plain and simple who by an unlucky draw of nature have Autism.

I hope to get a swingset set up in the backyard before summer comes and I will call as many parents as I can think of to see if any of them want to send their children over here to play and hopefully that will break up the monotony of the long summer.

Sometimes it is hard to get things done around the house as I am only one woman and unfortunately I don't have any menfriends who can do things like fix bikes and the such. But I try to do what I can.

Hopefully my friend's husband will bring a mate to help set up the swing set or it is going to be a very interesting day I am sure.

And of course, there is always the play pools.
Later

Living with Autism can be Funny

2008-04-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

So much has happened this week that I almost don't know where to start.

John started on an alternative medicine for his ADHD. We have been having some good days and some not so good days. As it is herbal, they said not to expect it to kick in for approx 5 weeks so I am just waiting and hoping.

Nathan went to his NAET treatment and we had to retreat the same allergen as we did the week before. He was very calm and quiet during this treatment. A different child from the one that had attended with me the week before.

Kathleen currently has a thing for eggs. She will crack some into the frypan and lay the spatula on the counter next to the stove and then go and get me. I worked out in one day, I was cooking close to a dozen eggs and was a bit concerned about her eating so many but then I noticed one of our dogs sat continuously outside the kitchen window. Just sat there, didn't move and I thought that was a bit odd.

Well, I did until I noticed that Kathleen was taking her egg over to the window, eating a little of it and then the dog puts her paws up on the side of the house and she is so big that her head is at least up to the window and she takes the egg gently off Kathleen.

Katy is best friends with the dogs, she loves them and they tend to follow her around the yard. She feeds them on a regular basis. She attempts to ride the big one and she is so used to the kids that she lets her get on and then she sits down. At times Katy gets so frustrated with her but then they make up pretty quickly.

Nathan has a very infectious laugh, when he chuckles it just makes you want to laugh. Today while I was changing Eric in the dining room, I could hear Nathan in the kitchen and he was just chuckling up a storm. That usually means that he is up to something so I sent Rachel to see what he was laughing at. She came back and reported that he was laughing at the juice bottle.

Couldn't see much to laugh of about that but as I rounded the corner I realized, he had taken the opportunity while I was busy and not there to watch him, to drink out of the bottle and he was taking a drink and then just chuckling up a storm. I guess he figured he was putting one over me.

Kathleen took a nap this avo. She is amusing herself in the loungeroom. I put Blue's Clues slippers on her after her bath and she thinks they are the most wonderful things. She lay on her back on the floor, put her feet in the air and waggled the ears of those slippers for the longest time.

Sarah being a very independent young lady decides on what she is going to wear and won't let anyone tell her different. She comes up with some very unusual creations. She reminds us a bit of Molly Ringwold.

Our cat was outside surveying his kingdom this evening when he met a little dog that turned his evening stroll into a race up the nearest tree. A young boy collected the little dog but I couldn't entice the cat down. Nathan was very concerned and wanted to go get him.

He undid the window on the inside in the dining room but I put that back together. Then he undid the window winder from the kitchen and put it on the dining room window, I guess he intended to climb out it again to go get the cat.

Finally the cat did come down by itself and so I took it in to Nathan who was laying on the couch.

When he noticed the cat in my arms, he had a smile from ear to ear.

I think that Kathleen's comprehension must be pretty close to 100% now. We were all playing cats and dogs this afternoon and then John stopped and got himself some juice. He spilt some on the floor and I asked him to get a towel to cleanit up but before he had a chance to go, Kathleen was placing one on the floor and then patting it with her foot.

One of my friends gave us a spinning toy that has been so wonderful for all the kids. On Friday night, I took off the middle piece so Nathan could sit on it more comfortably and asked him to cross his legs which he did. Then I spun him and boy does that thing go fast. He would go round a few times and then fall off and lay on the ground giggling up a storm. It was a hoot. Everyone except me got a turn. Eric loves it too.

Eric got hold of the phone today and carried it around murmuring to the back end of it. He knows how to turn it on and gets upset when I push the off button. We took him to Glendive shopping on Friday and he went to the door and said "bye". It was terribly cute.

We did more grass seeding in the backyard today. Man that is a job and a half. I am having to chop up half the backyard with a shovel as the dogs and the kids have dug holes and some of the ground is so hard and grassless. It is my intention to get it as level as possible and grassed. I am not going to bring in more dirt so I am digging the holes bigger and leveling the area around them. So far it has worked pretty well. Nathan was really getting into it and I had him and Sarah helping me today. My back is killing me but, it will be worth it and I am glad that the kids are joining in. Tomorrow if I can walk we will do some more. I covered part of what we had done as I don't want the dogs redigging and tomorrow, I guess, I will try to rig up a fence.

The boys are doing really well. It is great that they are able to help me with things like moving stuff and fairly easy jobs. And I think it helps them learn too.

Later.

Noise Sensitivity for Children with Autism

2008-04-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to determine how much noise really affects children with Autism but, it certainly seems to have an adverse effect on a majority of them.

When Kathleen first started showing signs of Autism, at first, I thought that she had a hearing deficit as she wouldn't turn her head when I called her name and if I banged two spoons together behind her, she didn't get startled or look to see where the noise originated from.

When she started stacking blocks and lining up all the animals in the house however, I had my answer.

A number of children with Autism can't stand the noise of common things like vacuums and lawn mowers leading them to have massive size meltdowns when these activities are being performed. It is not so hard to adjust your schedule around the needs of your child but it is a little difficult to try to explain to the people two doors down that your child can't handle the sound of their lawnmower and could they please warn you in advance so that you can plan for the inevitable meltdown.

Sometimes desensitization can enable your child with Autism to cope a little better with the noise.

When they were smaller, I kept a radio running 24/7.

At first, it was only on very softly and of course it was on an easy listening channel not something that was designed to shock their ears. I kept this up for several months before turning the volume up just a wee bit higher. This continued in minute increments for some time and I am pleased to say that usually normal noises do not bother my children.

However, currently we live fairly close to a railway track and that took some getting used to as it is a busy line and trains travel through town frequently throughout the day and they blow their whistles. Really, really loudly!

To start, the children would get upset and scream when outside when the trains blew their whistles. I found that if I heard them coming and covered up the children's ears, that helped a wee bit but not really enough so it was back to desensitizing.

First off they were kept inside. We can still hear the trains from inside the house but it is somewhat muted.
Then I cracked the kitchen window open a bit. Once again, a little muted but louder than before.
This went on for a bit and the window kept getting opened wider and wider and then I advanced to the back door.

Now I am pleased to say that none of my children with Autism are bothered greatly by the train.
My 4 yr old is still a little shy of them but she doesn't run to me as often now to hold her ears.

Assembly time at school is a little trial for John. There is a lot of noise and the gym echoes. Some days he handles it better than others. Ear phones were trialed for a while.

The nice thing about John is that he can now tell you if it is too loud and request to leave. This avoids potential behaviour problems and is a lot more comfortable for him.

Last year I took him to the Halloween party at the elementary school and I will say that the music was too loud even for me. He walked in there, covered his ears and said "mum, I can't handle this, there's too much noise. Can I go home?"
So he was taken immediately home.

I don't know if it the volume of the noises so much as the fact that there is just so much going on and it is too busy when you add volume. I know for a fact that John can hear what people say when they are standing next to him, meanwhile he is also hearing what people are saying standing apart from him and also what others are saying a distance away, all the while hearing all the environmental noises. A regular person can block out all the other noises and just listen to the one conversation while still being aware that there is other things going on.
An Autistic person seems to hear everything at the same time and to try and process that all at once must be really mind blowing.

Desensitizing takes a bit of time and energy but for the Autistic child's comfort, I think that it is well worth it.
Later.

Conference on Autism

2008-04-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

On Monday and Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending an Autism conference run by the Anne Carlsen Center in Bismarck.

It was presented by Dr Stacey Goresko who has an Autistic son.

The focus of this conference was to present a treatment for Autism that was developed by Dr Steve Gutsein, a psychologist, who himself apparently has ADHD.

His theory is that the children with Autism deserve a "do over".
Their social development comes to a halt when they become Autistic and if they are taken back to the same time, this is a little hard to express, but basically they need to learn the social skills of babies or toddlers.
They need to go through a stage where they discover for themselves that they can learn from their mentors or guides. (parents or caregivers)

From what I could determine, it is a social basis for the child to draw on.
ABA teaches children to remember things by rote e.g. if I do this then this happens.
That is nice, but the world is not in black and white. If you throw something out of the ordinary at these children, they can't cope with it as they may not have a learned behaviour for it.

I can see what Dr Gutstein means. His consultants teach the parents/teachers who teach the child with positive dynamic interaction to think about why things are happening rather than giving them the answer and expecting them to learn it.
This way, the child has something to fall back on and also, this can be built on so the child has more episodic memories to draw on.

It teaches them to think for themselves.

I think that some of this can be used with my three children and will probably attempt it several times a day to see how it works.

The consultants, once they have done their initial face to face assessment conduct the rest of their coaching via videos posted by the parents on a website.

To contact them www.RDIconnect.com

I really missed my kids while I was gone. I had a couple of good friends who stepped in for me. I think that the kids were happy to have me back too. Thanks so much to those who helped me attend this and to West River Special Ed for providing the opportunity.
Later

Nathan

2008-04-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Nathan is 8 yrs old now. I would think that he is moderately Autistic with little speech.
I will add that since he started the NAET treatments, we have seen greater clarity in his speech and today I think that there was a little bit more intonation to his speech.

Usually he speaks in a kind of monotone. It sounds almost like a deaf person. But it has improved significantly.

He is also starting to become a little more active. He is running more now and it seems that he is becoming more inclined to walk off.

I am unable to determine where it is exactly that he wants to go but, he just meanders off. He is not upset or angry when he is brought back so who knows, maybe he is just enjoying the sunshine.
After we get back from his NAET treatment tomorrow, I think that I will take him for a walk and see if that does well for him.

The more progress that I am seeing with his NAET treatments, the more excited I am about going to them. The last 3 weeks, it seems that everytime I go, I have something new and exciting to tell his practitioner.

I believe that we only have about 15 more treatments left so I remain very hopeful that we will see a significant difference in regards to his Autism by the end.

Postnasal drip in Children with Autism

2008-04-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

A lot of parents of Autistic children report that their child suffers from an almost constant postnasal drip, which basically means that there is always fluid dripping down the backs of the child's nasal passages.

Nathan suffered from this malady and I noticed the other day that it does not seem to be bothering him as much.

In the past before we started the NAET treatments, this seemed to be a constant thing. He would almost constantly be clearing his throat and snorting through his nose as if there was liquid in there.

Since he started the NAET treatments, this has decreased to the point that I almost never hear him clearing his throat anymore.

This would lead me to believe that the postnasal drip is allergy related and if that is the case, how many more symptoms of Autism are caused by allergies.

If you have a child with Autism, I would highly recommend that you at least get your child tested for allergies.

Over time, a postnasal drip can only corrode the canals that it travels down and it must be annoying as all heck for the child who has to almost constantly be clearing their throat.
Later

Nathan's NAET treatments

2008-04-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the interesting thing about NAET is that it doesn't fully clear the allergen until the following day, so it you are going to see the results of the treatment then it will be on the day after.

Nathan's teacher reported today that Nathan walked quickly down the halls today and that he jiggled his feet under the desk, something that he has apparently never done.

I have noticed that in the last couple of weeks that my usually sedentary Autistic son has been a lot more active. Indeed he is moving around much more than he has ever done.

That is a good sign.

I was kinda hoping that the speech would kick in more than it has but, I guess that I really have to be patient.
Later

Just when things are going well

2008-04-10T13:29:00.001-07:00

Something always jumps up and bites you on the arse.

My kids are doing marvellously, their recovery from Autism, I think, is going phenomenally.
It doesn't appear that Eric will become Autistic.
I even got a small tax return so I was feeling quite flush to have a little money in the bank.

I had decided that I was going to use it to start NAET treatments on John and I was going to get the kids a swing set for the backyard.

Today I went to the mail and got a letter from a collection agency in Fargo. This account was from 6 yrs ago.

Whamm, there goes the amount that I was putting away for the treatments and the swingset.

It really sucks to be broke!

So tomorrow it will be winging it's way to Fargo, hopefully all the work that I have been putting into these articles will start to pay off so it can be replaced.
Later.

The Likelihood of Eric Getting Autism

2008-04-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today is the 9th of April.

It is a great day for us.

My baby Eric has not converted to Autism.

That puts my stats at 50%.

I have 3 children with Autism and 3 children without Autism.

I am particularly pleased that Eric did not make the conversion as it will be nice to have one son who is not Autistic.

As he gets older, unless one of his older sisters take it up, he will be the child who will probably make the decisions regarding his older siblings care when I am no longer able to look after them.

I would like to thank all of those who stood by me during the last six months regarding Eric and dried my tears and tried to soothe my worries about Eric becoming Autistic.

It has been an extremely stressful six months for me and I am glad it is over.

And for all of those who joined my family and I in prayer a special thank you for your faith and courage helped me through.
Blessings.

Nathan's New Personality

2008-04-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

Along with the good parts of Nathan doing better with his Autism, I guess I will have to learn to take the bad.

After yesterdays little stunt, I figured that he would give my heart a little time to recover, but, this morning he was up early to turn off the alarm and quietly shut my door.

Mighty thoughtful of him one might say, but, I woke up at 8am which is the pick up time for the children and had to go out and explain myself again and then run around like a chicken without it's head on trying to get them all ready to go by 830.

Of course, the boys were not in a real co operative mood. John got dressed for me as I asked him but Nathan had to be chased around the house and cornered. Not a pleasant task.

John did a fair bit of yelling when he learned that he was getting ready for school but at least I didn't have to carry him to the car. God forbid that ever happens, Nathan is getting to be a chunky wee fellow like his mum.

When Nathan got home from school, he took himself a well deserved nap and even with giving him the Melatonin, he is still wandering around and it is currently after 1130pm.

Hopefully when he actually gets to sleep, it will mean that he will sleep all night and not wake up early to turn off the alarm.

I am thinking about putting a hook in the ceiling above my bed and suspending the alarm clock from it so that in the event he makes a play for it, I should be able to feel him place the chair or object that he intends to climb on to obtain the clock on the bed.

Well it's worth a crack.
Later

Escape Artists

2008-04-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

One of the less pleasant caps that I wear is that of security officer.
Those of you that are reading this that actually have children with Autism know exactly what I am talking about.

Safety is a HUGE issue when you have Autistic children.

They have a tendency to wander off. God forbid that someone picks them up or they wander into the path of oncoming traffic.

I live near a railway line so I am particularly diligent when it comes to child supervision. I am scared that one day, one of them will wander onto the tracks and we have quite a number of trains coming through.

They don't know that the trains aren't going to stop for them.

Consequently, apart from the fact that I have a psychotic ex-husband who will be released soon, I have deadlocks on just about every door in the house. I have to carry keys on me all the time as they are the key variety so that is what is dragging my pocket down when you see me in the street.

I also have tall fences in the yard.

Well, this afternoon while I was mediating a dispute between Rachel and John about who was going to ride the only bike that doesn't require repair at the moment, Nathan took the opportunity to climb through the only open window in the front of the house and walk up the road.

Fortunately he decided to walk past the backyard where we were so we saw him.

I had to run through the house, unlock the front door, lock it behind me and hoof it up the road after him to bring him back. I walked after him so he didn't start running, and he turned every now and again to smile encouragingly at me.

I have no idea where he was going as there wasn't much up that way.

He only made it to the property line of the neighbours but that was enough to scare the living bejeebers out of me and by the time we reached our garage, I was crying.

I still can't believe that my extremely chunky, non athletic little boy would even attempt such a feat but he did.

I am so glad that he decided to walk in the direction that he did, I hate to think what could have happened if he hadn't.

I called his DD case manager to ask about the wrist bands that they place on wanderers and after discussion, we decided that he would probably remove it and so I elected to seal my windows leading to the front of the house and remove the handles so they can't be opened.

My house is even more like Fort Knox. All that is left is for me to place barbed wire on the tops of the fences.

It is really hard trying to keep them safe. It is more stressful than anything knowing that you are solely responsible.

Well, all I can say is, we were lucky this time. May we continue to always be lucky.
Later

Eric

2008-04-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

My baby Eric turns 16 months on the 9th of this month.

Doesn't sound like a milestone?

Well, it is to a mother whose only other 2 sons developed moderately severe Autism between the ages of 14 to 16 months.

I maintain that if Eric has not developed Autism by the 9th of this month, he will not develop it.

So far apart from the one staring episode he had months back and the one incidence of rocking that could have been explained away by the fact that he had a slight ear infection, Eric had not exhibited any signs or symptoms of Autism.

His head size stayed within normal limits for a child of his age (see earlier post on head size), and his crawling remained symetrical although now he walks more than he crawls.

He also looks at the items that he desires, he doesn't just hold his hand out to try to retrieve them.

His balance remains good and he puts his hands out to catch himself when he trips.

Those were all early signs of Autism and they have appeared in my children who later became Autistic.

We are going to be having one heck of a party in 4 days, so I had better go and bake a cake.
Later

Nathan's NAET

2008-04-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well this morning we headed off to Glendive to do Nathan's NAET treatment for his Autism. It was his 17th or 18th treatment and I was pretty excited as the DVD's I watched on the NAET casestudies showed the five children started to talk after their 15th treatment.

While we were waiting for Kay to see us, Nathan and I were discussing stuff and I was tickling his tummy.
The day before we had gone through all the christmas words I could think of e.g. christmas eve, christmas tree, christmas presents etc.

Since October something had been bothering me and I was about to have a revelation. I just didn't know it at the time.
Nathan would stand at the windows and look out and say something that sounded like "critisize".
It bothered me that he would keep repeating this negative sounding word over and over.
It came out a lot when it snowed and I just couldn't see how or where he would have picked it up and why he would have retained it.

While I was sitting there tickling his stomach, he turned to me and said as clearly as I talk, "Christmas time".
Then he added "Christmas Day".

There was my revelation!

He associated snow with christmas time, he wasn't saying critisize, that is what it sounded like when he said christmas time.

It brought tears to my eyes. The NAET seems to be taking forever to complete but if I ever needed confirmation that it was working, well there it was.

When Kay and Shirl came out, I told them and I was just so happy and grateful that my little boy is showing signs of getting his speech back.

The NAET had started improving the clarity of his speech but I was just so impressed with Christmas time. You could not have been able to tell that he was impaired if you just heard him say it.

Awesome, I fully recommend this treatment to anyone whose child has Autism.
Later.

Nathan's NAET

2008-04-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, Nathan turned my alarm clock off this morning but luckily I seem to be getting used to the change in times again so I woke up anyway.
Blondie came over and looked after the children while I took Nathan to his NAET treatment in Glendive.
Since Nathan started his NAET treatments, I believe we have seen more spontaneous speech and much greater clarity. It is just really slow going. One treatment per week for what seems like forever.

We did a combination spice and caffeine removal today and it turns out that Nathan is extremely allergic to caffeine so he was quite entertaining when the caffeine vial was placed anywhere near him. By entertaining I mean that this normally quiet and sedentary young man somehow came up with the energy to climb up on the table and do a little dance, then he expected me to give him the fireman lift. He was also extremely vocal.

I told Kay about his change in behaviours at the grocery store and we both agreed that maybe going shopping for groceries after his treatments was just not a good idea.

Turns out that I have to bring him back tomorrow to do another treatment to clear the caffeine so Blondie is going to come and she can take the 3 kids to the park while I do the grocery shopping.

In looking around the web, I did come across a website where they said that they had gone through the treatments with their Autistic child and made pretty close to a full recovery.

It would be nice to have Nathan's Autism reduced to the point where only a really discerning eye could pick it up.
Then I wouldn't have to spend the next 10 yrs teaching him to say, "Welcome to MacDonalds, can I take your order please?"
Later

Communication

2008-04-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

Kathleen continues to throw out words.
This morning she told me that she wanted juice. Coulda knocked me down with a feather.
Then this evening while we were playing our after bath game, I hugged her and told her that I loved her and she repeated it.
Wow!!!

If Kathleen's communication improves, it will make a heck of a difference in her recovery from Autism.
A lot of her Autism signs and symptoms appear to be fading as she gets older.

It has been a long time since I have seen her line up any of her toys. Occasionally she will stack video cases, but that has been a while also.

Her screaming has been reduced to when she can't get you to understand what she wants or you tell her no and she really wanted to do it. But even that is short lived and most of the time, you can distract her by going off to do something else.

I feel that if Kathleen gained speech, very little would be left of her Autistic tendencies and what little was left, could be worked with.

She is currently not only throwing out words sporadically, but also 3 to 4 word sentences.
Unfortunately, these are not coming on a regular basis yet.
I am hoping that this is starting to change.

Wow, is our life going to be different.
Later

Autism In North Dakota

2008-03-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-07T22:19:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-03-04T23:53:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-03T22:22:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

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.

Getting Through The Autism

2008-02-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

Today is Thursday and normally Nathan would go to his NAET treatments, but, the weather was kinda grotty when it was time to start out.
We had already dropped Sarah and Eric off at the daycare and had headed up to the coffee shop.
Every Thursday morning it is the same routine and that is very important to a child with Autism.
One Thursday we were running late and had to bypass the coffee shop to hurry to our appointment and the grim look of disbelief and dismay and the howl of anguish was enough to make me ensure that it didn't happen again.
The ladies at the coffee shop have known Nathan since shortly after we came up to ND.
They have watched him grow and seen his progression and aided in it.
Everytime that Nathan goes in there, he understands that he is to greet them, by name, and place his order.
They in turn, wait patiently for his stumbling speech and return his greeting and get him what he asks for.
They understand that he may not answer their questions right away and that it may take a few seconds for his mind to process what they have said and come up with the appropriate answer.
I am very grateful for that. Not so many people would be so kind.
There are also a couple of regulars who are sometimes in there drinking their coffee and they willingly move their chairs around so he has a place at the table for his milk and cookie and they also greet him by name and make him feel accepted.
As part of his Autistic nature, Nathan checks out the shelves and on the odd occasion has rearranged the different articles to make them more pleasing to his eye.
There are certain things that need to be placed together as far as he is concerned and he is allowed to do this to a certain degree.
I have noticed, that as time goes by and he frequents the place, this has become a lot less noticeable.
He used to have to do this every single time that he went in there and now, it may be once in a blue moon if they have new articles and it is not so much rearranging as just looking at the new things so he seems to be desensitizing himself of this Autistic trait.
Anytime that I would bring a new piece of furniture into the house, no matter where I would put it, he would have to move it around.
So, I got into the habit of bringing it inside, leaving it just inside the door and John and he would put it where Nathan wanted it to go.
This has it's good sides and it's downsides.
A little bit of a routine has made him more confident in his view of his world.
I think that is helping to break through the Autism and that by providing positive social contacts like this it will help draw him towards our world.
Later

Little Things

2008-02-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

Well, to finish my last post.
John laid his head down to sleep at 530am.
At approximately 535am, Kathleen stumbled out of the bedroom and jumped on the boys bed waking up Nathan.
So that was the end of that.
I kept John home as there was no point sending him to school when he had been up most of the night.
It happens.

I was talking to my friends this morning at the coffee shop.
My one friend who spends a lot of time over at my house had come over yesterday morning to watch over the children while I went to bed.
She was extolling the virtues of John and saying how much improved he was socially and what a pleasure he was to look after.
She was so impressed with his behaviour and interaction that when she couldn't sleep this morning at 2am, she emailed me about it.
So, I guess she was impressed.
I myself have seen significant improvements in John over the last several months.
He is more social. His flapping continues but he tries to control it in public.
I took him to a birthday party for two of the boys in his class a couple of weeks ago.
He was phenomenal!
He played the games with the other children and when the noise got too much for him, he took himself off to a corner of the room and looked at something for a few minutes and when he felt more in control, he came back and joined the group.
We left 15 mins early because of the weather, otherwise he would have been there for two hours like the rest of the children.
I was so proud of him.
His reading has just taken off in leaps and bounds and he loves to read books. He will sit himself down in his favourite chair and surround himself with books and just sit and read for ages.
This weekend I was telling my friends, I just saw so many amazing things.
Nathan was sitting at the computer doing a Clifford program that the speech teacher had given us, knowing that John absolutely adores Clifford.
(John has already completed the program several times).
Nathan was doing his favourite portion where Clifford gets dunked when you click on a balloon that has the word that they ask for.
He was clicking on words such as next, light, farm, want, sister. Proving without a doubt that he could read or identify words which is as far as I am concerned pretty much the same thing as he had to choose from three or four balloons in the same cluster.
When he didn't know the word, he would click all the balloons but those times were few and far between.
His speech is clearer. It is so much easier to understand him when he chooses to speak or is prompted.
Kathleen surprised us this weekend.
On Saturday, Rachel and I were sitting down together doing some school homework and Katy came over, touched my arm and said "outside".
Well, knock me down with a feather.
It was even more impressive because Rachel turned to me and said "she said outside, yay, Katy can talk".
So of course, Katy went outside after receiving lots of hugs and kisses for her speech.
We were very happy. And last night, Rachel took Kathleen's hand when they were playing racing across the dining room and loungeroom and told everyone that Kathleen was on her team.
I am real proud of Rachel.
As my friend commented, she is a real big sister. She is concerned about every one of her brothers and sisters.
She mediates, she helps, she supervises them at times.
She helps mop up their tears and hugs them when they need it.
She is also one of their biggest fans and will cheer them exuberantly when she sees that they are doing great things.
She is a neat kid.
It is the little things that add up to momentous occasions.
A word here, a look there. It is all adding up.
They have all advanced so far so fast.
It is truly a magical journey and one heck of an adventure.
It has taught me a lot about tolerance and sometimes just sitting back and enjoying the moment.
Small things like examining leaves and not worrying about doing the dishes right away so you can cuddle with the kids and read them a book or turn the dining room table into a cave for a dragon or a castle for a princess by draping it with as many duvets as you can find in the house.
It all has it's moment in time.
Later.

Three O'Clock In The Morning

2008-02-25T01:50:00.000-08:00

Sounds like a country song doesn't it.
John is currently singing the national anthem.
Luckily it is not loud.
While he is making himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
He sat bolt upright at 1am and asked me if it was morning yet. When I replied no, he needed to go back to sleep it was still the middle of the night, he found himself unwilling or unable to go back to sleep.
After 3 stories and many back rubs, he is still up and judging by the occasional laugh coming from the loungeroom, it will be that way for a while.
Wouldn't be so bad but young Kathleen didn't go to sleep until 1230am and I was just enjoying the little bit of peace and tranquility when he did.
Then, resigned that I am not going to get to bed this night, I went to make my 6th cup of coffee only to discover that I have only enough left to make one more cup so I decided to leave that until closer to morning and go with the decaf.
Then, luckily I was in the loungeroom with him when he turned on cartoon network to see a man being impaled multiple times with flying scalpels, so, I changed the channel quickly and told him that it was over and put it on a documentary.
I set him up with books and apart from the fact that he is reading them out loud, I hope that he will remain content for a while.
I doubt that he will be going to school in the morning as by then he will probably be tired so there is no point sending him.
Hopefully if he nods off by morning, I will be able to let him sleep till 12 then put him to bed at 10 tomorrow night and we should pretty much be back on schedule by Wednesday.
Since I put the boys on the Melatonin, nights like this have been few and far between thank goodness.
When they were smaller, the boys used to take turns staying up. It was almost planned, infrequently was the times when they would both be asleep so we would have to take turns staying up too.
Got into the habit of making do with one or two hours here and there but these past two weeks between the kids being sick and such, it is starting to rear it's ugly head.
Pity, I was getting kinda used to my bed.
Oh well.
Later

AIM Program

2008-02-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

This I highly recommend when you learn that your child or you think that your child has Autism.
It is free for Autistic people. They will do a free screening for the frequency of Autism and then will give you free treatment.
There is nothing to join, they don't want your second born, nothing. And, it doesn't do your child any harm so apart from filling out a bit of paperwork, there is nothing much else to do.
The only thing that they do ask for and it only takes a couple of minutes every 3-4 mths is to write a brief summary on how your child is doing, the good and the bad, anything that you might have noticed that is different.
They will ask you to read a book called: Sanctuary, the path to consciousness by Stephen Lewis and Evan Slawson first.
This explains what the program is about, gives you a few case studies etc, and they will invite you to listen to a call where they will answer questions and will have guest speakers on, patients or the parents of patients to talk about how the experience was/is for them.
Well here is the interesting part.
When I applied for the scholarship, I was told to send in pictures for all of the children and they would test them all.
So I did.
They told me that Nathan, Kathleen and Sarah tested positive for the frequency of Autism and had been granted scholarships and placed on the machine.
I was more than a little surprised and asked them to recheck.
They already had because they knew the history of the children but did it again and got the same answer.
Wow.
I asked how could this be.
The facilitator told me that it may have meant that Sarah would have had problems when she was older.
Thinking about it, the symptoms of Alzheimers and Autism are not that dissimilar so maybe, Autism is the child's equivalent of Alzheimers.
Which makes me wonder if some of the meds they are using on the elderly would work on children in smaller doses.
When I have more time, I will look into that.
The facilitator I went through is named Kate Gustke.
Kate GustkeIndependent
EMC2 Facilitator209-768-2235
888-835-5585 toll free
www.emc2kate.info

I think that it is well worth a try, It is not going to cost you anything but a few moments of your time and it may help.
By the way, they do this world wide so it doesn't matter which country you are in.
Later

All Kinds Of Stuff

2008-02-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

Well first off.
To report on the coffee trial.
It didn't work for us. I had given him two cups. One in the am and one at 4pm. He din't want to go to sleep that night. Not that he was jumping or flappy or anything. He just lay in his bed and talked. Fairly relevant stuff for him or he read a book out loud.
He finally went to sleep an hour and a half after his usual sleep time so I don't think I will be doing that again as I feel it is important that he gets his sleep.
Sarah and Eric are feeling better. They still have an occasional cough but not to the degree that it was.
I really appreciated the comment from Rosalyn. I have known her since I was about wow, I think 6 or 7.
That is a long time to keep a friend and although we haven't seen each other for years, we keep in contact.
Kathleen has started a new habit, she insists on pulling down the curtains in the bedroom at night then coming out to get me to put her to sleep.
She waits until everyone else has gone to sleep then initiates this little pattern.
I have to get under the covers with her and she covers up our heads, good thing I am not claustrophobic.
She has a little chat to me in her own language and I tell her several times that I love her and how wonderful she is and go over all the highlights of her day, all the great accomplishments she has done and I repeat all the words that she has said that day that I know of and tell her how proud of her I am that she is trying to talk then she arranges my arms and legs in the position that she wants me, sometimes I can rub her back, sometimes I can stroke her hair, then she smiles at me and rolls over and peacefully goes off to sleep.
This little ritual can take up to or over an hour depending on how tired she is but, that is okay, it is her time.
Every day, I try to make a little time that is solely for one child.
I think it is important for each of them to know they are loved for themselves and even when things are hectic, it helps them know that even if I can't look at a picture or read a book at that time, when I say that I will come and find them when I have finished doing what I am doing that I do.
This way when they see that I am busy, they know they are still important to me and they accept the fact that they may have to wait a little bit.
It has helped a lot with the "NOW" attitude attached to Nathan,Kathleen and John's condition.
So often they have wanted the instant gratification and would throw the biggest tantrum you could imagine if they couldn't have what they wanted straight away.
Now even John who was the biggest offender is content to wait a bit although he may come back and remind me every once in a while, I don't have him hitting his head or throwing things anymore which is a great relief and John trusts that if I can't help him right away, that I will.
I think it also helps to make them a little more self reliant, apart from Eric, there is not one of my children who is unable to get themselves a drink or something to eat independently in the event they needed to.
The boys are able to use the toaster but they are all aware that they are not to touch the stove.
And apart from one incident when I think the stove was accidently turned on by John and a fire was started in the kitchen, there have been no other incidents.
That was when he was only 4-5 and it looked like he had turned on the element trying to get into a cupboard above the stove then he knocked a box onto the element and it caught fire.
Luckily we missed him after a couple of minutes and went looking for him to discover this and we had a fire extinguisher in the home so it was quickly put out.
Really recommend having an extinguisher, no matter what the mental state of your children is.
Well there you are a little bit of everything.
Later

Failure of my marriage wasn't due to Autism

2008-02-21T21:49:00.000-08:00

I pondered long and hard about posting about this one but, I think it is important.
There is quite a strain on a marriage and family when you have children with Autism.
They do take up a lot of time. There is a big financial strain.
And it is tiring at times, very tiring.
A lot of couples with Autistic children end in divorce.
My divorce wasn't due to my children's Autism.
My husband wasn' t a nice man and by the time I found this out, it was too late for me.
Last year in June/July, I had him removed from the home and charged with terrorising.
It was a traumatic time for me and it was a hard decision to make.
I had been coming to it for a long time but had to wait until the time was right.
I was very fortunate that the Sheriff that we have in our small town is a decent, level headed guy who had all his ducks in a row before the initial charges were laid.
It was a well prepared take down and no one was hurt, that I am aware of, during his arrest.
I have to really give thanks to our sheriff and also to his deputies.
Terrorising and terrorism are two different things.
He had made my life a heinous hell for 9 yrs and although I did what I could to protect my children I could see that if he wasn't removed, he would do irreparable harm to them emotionally.
I don't think they were too sad to see him gone.
In fact their behaviour actually improved after he was taken away.
He is still incarcerated at this time although, I hear that he may be released soon.
The Center for Domestic Violence were very attentive to our needs although actually going to a shelter would have been the last option for me as 3 of my children would not have taken the change in stride.
They did understand this but, still went out of their way to accomodate us just in case it was needed.
I don't know if I will be safe after he is released as multiple threats were made repeatedly and I know his evil nature but, I don't want to live the rest of my life in fear.
I just spent the last 9 years living like that, worrying about what I said, where I stood, what I did, even breathing at times seemed to upset him.
Now to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, waiting for the crack of the rifle or the news that one of my children is missing, I don't know if I will be strong enough to handle it.
I can say that I am during the day time, but, at night when the dogs bark or I hear a creak on the stairs.... I honestly can't say.
I would like to think that if I made it through the last 9 yrs of hell, I can do anything and I have the children to think of.
If anything, I can be strong for them.
Later

Thursday

2008-02-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

Today is usually NAET day however, Sarah and Eric were sick and I had to take them to the clinic instead so I had to cancel.
Last night I had given Sarah Motrin prior to her going to sleep but, at 1230 she was awake again, wanting water but feeling feverish.
I motrined her again and gave her water and she nodded off again but awoke at 330am complaining and asking for more water.
This time she was so hot that I could hold my hand half a foot away from her and feel the heat.
She was very angry too which is a clear indication that her fever has bypassed the 105 section.
I gave her tylenol and more water and applied an icepack to her back and her stomach. She wasn't tolerating much else.
She lay down again and a few minutes later Rachel sat up and said that Sarah had punched her in the eye.
I asked Sarah why she would have done that and she replied that Rachel's hair was tickling her face.
Knowing how irritated Sarah gets when she is ill, I moved and pacified Rachel.
For a while there, I considered calling round to see who could come in and stay with the children while I took Sarah to the ER but, I was unsure who I would be able to wake up at that time of night.
She also had expiratory wheezes and this made me a little uneasy too.
After about half an hour I noticed that she wasn't so hot and after an hour she was sleeping peacefully and her breathing had pretty much returned to normal so I could relax.
Finally it was time to sleep.
They both have an infection and have been started on antibiotics so hopefully, this too shall pass.
Today she has only had one temp and motrin and an icepack put that down within half an hour. I called Blondie as a precaution and she came straight over which is a nice safety blanket and she has offered to come and stay with the kids at night should I need her.
Eric, apart from a runny nose and a cough has been pretty asymptomatic.
So he should get through this without any problems.
Hopefully no one else comes down with it.
Later

So Much For Spring

2008-02-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

Just when I thought that the weather was going to get warmer, today was one of the coldest days I can remember in a long time.
And as luck would have it, the household is starting to come down sick again.
Started with a nasty cough and now I have a couple with runny noses. Of course, that doesn't improve their disposition as some of them really object to having their noses wiped and it has to be done at frequent intervals. Eric's was like a faucet today and if there is one thing I can't stand it is that.
I should have taken a photo today to post on the site.
I think Eric is going to be an interior designer.
He raced around my kitchen today and went through all the lower cupboards, opening, pulling out, going through everything he could reach.
It looked like a war zone by the time he had finished with the plastic bags cupboard and then he just sat there in the middle of this surveying all he had done, looking mighty pleased with himself too I might add.
When he got to the garbage bin though, he turned around, looked me in the eye and shook his finger at me and said"no, no, no".
I was pretty impressed. He finally understands that he can't play in the garbage I thought, but, my joy was short lived, for, he promptly turned around and plunged his hand in.
That is when I figured out what the no, no, no was about, he was telling me not to take him away from the garbage bin.
Smart little fella.
Luckily as it is Wednesday, Rachel was at home and we were quickly able to restore the place to rights.
Apparently the weather here is going to be 32 degrees tomorrow.
I will believe that when I see it.
Where I don't have snow isn't worth having it and after the freeze, melt, freeze, melt weather we have been having, the driveway is packed with ice.
I give it a go when time allows as I am very conscientous about removing the ice where the kids are walking. Last thing I need is for one of them to slip and crack their heads.
I was very fortunate or should I say they were fortunate that none of them have the seizure disorder sometimes found in people with Autism and I sure don't want a crack on the skull to bring on any additional health problems.
I tried salt last year but it seemed to start leaving little pockmarks in the driveway and it proved too much of a temptation for Kathleen.
Thought about going out there with a hair dryer and seeing if I could melt it off that way.
But, I thought passersby may think me a little odd and I figure sure as eggs are eggs, the day I do that, it will snow that night.
Oh well
Spring will be here soon, I hope.
Later

Trying Coffee For ADHD

2008-02-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

I have heard it mentioned several times that coffee although a stimulant for some people actually has a paroxysmal effect on people with ADD/ADHD.
Kinda like giving them stimulant drugs like Ritalin and such.
It has a reverse effect on them and actually serves to calm them down for a period of time.
I looked after a man in Bismarck, I think it was, who said that he spent some time in a rehab unit in Chicago and from the window in his room he could see a school.
In the mornings he noticed that all the children getting off a particular bus were all carrying thermos flasks and he commented on it to one of the nurses looking after him.
She told him that they were children with ADD/ADHD and they were running a trial. The children were carrying coffee in their flasks and at certain times during the day, the teacher would instruct them to drink some.
Well at that time I thought it was worth a crack so offered some up to John to see what would happen.
I served it black with no sweetener as I thought that would detract from the effects of the coffee.
Naturally enough, he wouldn't take it.
Haven't thought much else about it but one of my friends brought it up to me last night. She says that she gives it to her son and it works pretty well.
We discussed it a bit and I discovered that she not only uses creamer but a small amount of sweetener.
So, this morning, I brewed some up for John.
He drank it without a problem which was nice. Then off he went to school.
Nothing was written in his folder about his mood or behaviour today so I asked the lady who dropped him off and mentioned the coffee.
She said that he was fairly calm in the morning but was a little wound in the afternoon.
I suggested sending a little with him so they could give it to him with his lunch to see if it made a difference in his ability to concentrate.
A short while ago he was starting to get a little flappy and he was bouncing around the bedroom so I gave him a small amount.
It has been half an hour and he is still somewhat loud but he has ceased jumping on the beds so we will see.
Later on I will research and see if I can find some more info on it as to amounts and times etc.
If anyone else has tried it on their children and wants to leave a comment, that would be real helpful.
Later.

My Time At The Option Institute

2008-02-18T01:42:00.000-08:00

Two years ago I had one of the most unbelievably wonderful experiences of my life.
I can even go as far as to say that it changed my life for the better and introduced me to a wonderful group of people who not a day goes by when I don't think of them.
A lot of wonderful people banded together to make this possible for me and I will always be eternally grateful to them.
I went to The Option Institute in Massachusetts.
It was a week long course teaching people how to enhance the lives of people with Autism.
It was a week long course in discovering myself.
I learnt many things that week.
One of the greatest things that I learnt and I think this helped to change my way of thinking and how I dealt with my children with Autism was that I wasn't alone.
Of course, I knew that there were other families out there with children who had Autism but, it wasn't the same.
Now I knew 69 other families who were going through the same things I was.
Who were feeling the same things I was.
The helplessness, the despair and the hope.
Each night as I pray for each of these families I know that there are at least 69 other families praying for us.
At least 69 other families who are sharing in our triumphs and crying over our disappointments.
The week changed me immeasurably and I came back from it renewed.
There were others out there going through everything I was.
It made me look at my children differently.
I was able to let a lot of stuff go and move on.
I was no longer looking for cause or blame. I was looking for a solution.
Little things that would bother me in the past like their stimming and flapping. All had reason for them and therefore for me.
The lessons that they taught us were nothing compared to the new way that they helped me to feel.
They built me up.
They made me feel worthwhile again.
As a result, I think my children were able to progress better.
Little things that would have upset me in the past, I was able to laugh about.
I have had 9 fairly large, children caused floods and now I just go get the mop and get on with cleanup.
oh well.
My curtains don't match.
I should have known better than to leave a thread hanging and I am getting pretty handy with a needle and a thread.
Nathan ripping up paper or tearing open a mattress to get at fill and throwing it over the bannister into the stairwell.
I clean it up once a week. It is just something that he needs to do to regulate himself.
If visitors don't like it's appearance, I can show them where the garbage bags are and they can pick it up. I am not going to get upset about it anymore.
He doesn't do it all the time, only when he needs to calm himself and it only shows up when he is improving in some other area so it is actually a good sign.
The Option Institute is full of people who care about what they are doing.
They are a wealth of information and are not hesitant to share it.
They can be contacted at www.optioninstitute.org
I will be eternally grateful to them.

A day of rest

2008-02-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning my friend picks up Rachel to take her to church.
On the odd occasion, Sarah goes with them.
During the time that they are gone, the house undergoes a quiet metamorphosis.
The girls are incessant talkers and where ever they are, there is noise.
They like John to join them in their games and encourage him to join in, and sometimes Kathleen, so there is invariably always noise as long as they are awake.
When they are gone, the boys seem to take a bit of a breather and there is quiet for a while, then, within an hour, an odd thing happens.
The boys, including Nathan start to talk.
It is almost as if they don't get the opportunity to do it while the girls are around and so they make the most of this time.
My sister just sent me a picture of my mum so I called Nathan over to have a look and as I explained to him who she was and where she was, he repeated it and smiled as he watched.
John has visited several times to tell me something different about what he is up to in the house.
I can hear Nathan in the loungeroom vocalising and occasionally repeating a word that he is either hearing from John or the television.
And Eric is at my feet playing with his toys and chatting away.
Last night I was trying to rock him to sleep and Rachel walked past so he started pointing at her and yelling what sounded like Rachel.
He has a good set of lungs on him and wasn't satisfied till she came and kissed him goodnight again.
Now Nathan is yelling "yay"
All is right with his world so it is right with mine.
Donna

Today I heard a giggle

2008-02-16T13:26:00.000-08:00

Any time in my house you hear a giggle and you can't see a child, it is usually a good idea to check it out.
The rest of the kids were in the bedroom playing school and I could hear their games without problems but this one lonely little giggle came out of nowhere.
So, off I went to find it.
Didn't have far to go.
Nathan was by himself as usual and was in the loungeroom.
He had found Rachel's barbie rollerskates which are at least 2 sizes too small for him and was attempting to put them on.
He had one foot partly in and was attempting to get the other one on while standing there off balance.
He kept losing his balance and almost falling and at those times he would giggle but, he kept trying as I stood there watching him and he was unaware that he was being observed.
He just kept trying and he didn't get mad or frustrated, he giggled at himself.

We can stand to learn a lot from a kid like that.
Donna

Thursday is NAET day

2008-02-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

So today we headed off on our trek to Montana to do our NAET treatment.
For those that don't know what this is, last week I posted about it and you will find a link in that post if you would like additional info.
Prior to that, I rushed up to the Elementary School to sort out the complaint that should have been in Jessie's file.
Wegner explained to me all about how Jessie had contacted Community Options and they had told her that there had been no breach of confidentiality on their part.
So, a note to that effect was put in there and that was that.
He said that he did not want me to think that it had been ignored.
He started to take notes.
His first paragraph went something like this:
The day I went out of town and Blondie and Jessie were at my house looking after the children, Jessie told Blondie about an incident that happened at the school that I had not been notified of.

Now read that last paragraph back and look for the obvious.

As I pointed out to him, the key word there is school.

Why were they even calling Community Options?
It was an incident that happened at school. Should never have been brought up.
Clear case of breach of confidentiality.

Wegner said that he needed to call Becky and speak to Helvik so I told him that I wanted it filed in her file as it was a school breach not a community option breach and left him to it.
I will say, he was not quite so cocky as he had been the last time we visited.

Nath and I rushed off to our appt with Kay,
He giggled on the way there and when we were waiting in the waiting room he kept it up.
He just really seems to enjoy his time there.

Today was the completion of the first 15 basic and according to the DVD I watched with the case studies, from here on in, we should start to see more changes.
Won't that be absolutely magnificent.
I can hardly wait.
He went through his treatment with no problems and said byebye as he left.
Then he and I went to the grocery store and he was perfectly behaved.

I erased the rest of this post.
I initially attempted to keep Rachel safe as I had concerns for her safety.
If anybody took it as anything else then that is your mind at work.
My intent was pure hearted.
The fact that it did actually turn out to be amusing to me was just a bonus.
But, it is gone now and I will try and find another way for Rachel to understand stranger danger.
Later

How is this for intelligence.

2008-02-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

This post too was deleted.
I at times have a lot of trouble getting what I believe is a fair deal for my disabled children.
I already have disabled children, why does it have to be made so hard.
I just want someone in the school system to understand that their job is important.
It is important to the welfare of my children.
It is important that they move forward if they are to survive in this world as they get older.
I am grateful to the people that take their job seriously and know that for every 2 minutes that they keep the boys focussed and on track, could mean a heck of a difference in the way they cope with things to come.
I understand the urge to go out and discuss the boys idiosyncrasies with other people. Some of their behaviours are a littl unusual.
But, remember as you are doing this,
these are children, they are someone's children.
And just like you would like your children to be treated with respect and taught and cared for by people who are employed to look after them, I expect the same for mine.
And, I will not settle for less.
I will fight for my children.
I am all they have and if I am unprepared to do it, who will.
When I was in nursing training in NZ a very wise nurse said to me. "I treat every patient as if they were a member of my family, and I think to myself, would I like to see my child or my grandmother treated like that".
Mighty fine words and I tried to work by them.
It should be the same for teaching.
You are molding young minds.
I am sorry that every now and again I have to be unpleasant, it really is not in my nature to be nasty but, no one is going to mess with my children.
Thank you for every two minutes that you give them.
Donna

I Know I have A Lot To Be Grateful For

2008-02-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

Tonight Eric and Sarah played for a while. Both laughing loudly and merrily.
After she left him to go and do something else, he pointed in the direction she had gone and called, what sounded like, Sarah for quite some time and then looked at me to see if maybe I could produce her.
I got her to come back for an encore performance and he reacted gleefully and encouraged that calling her name seemed to work, repeated it over and over to her in varying decibels.
Nathan and John sat down together in the yellow room and played video games together. John didn't even get upset having to wait for Nathan to finish playing Mario Go Kart as that is not Nathan's forte, then John was quite content to sit next to Nathan and cheer him on while he played Mario Brothers.
Rachel read a book to me yesterday evening. I only had to say a few words for her and after she had sounded them out herself could say them when she saw them again.
As the page numbers grew where she didn't have to ask for help, you could see her confidence visibly grow as she took greater possession of the book and her head came up higher and her voice became louder and less tremulous.
I was so proud of her when she finished and she was so proud of herself. I just couldn't say enough nice things to her, she was positively glowing.
Sarah and I went out for coffee this morning. She was polite and respectful to everyone she met.
One of the things I have tried to teach my children is, that it costs you nothing to smile at people and to say hello.
Who knows, they may be having a lousy day and your smile may be enough to pick them up and set them on their feet again.
Kathleen had a little friend over today to play.
She is disabled too. They are the same age and they met at the pool last summer and ended up going to the same daycare and surprisingly have been friends ever since.
When I go to pick up Kathleen on Thursdays, this little girl is ready to come with us.
Apparently when her grandmother picks up Jenny on the other days, Katy is putting her coat on to go with her.
It is really nice to see.
They ran and played outside together and laugh, man it could just light up a room. It is truly magical.
Yes, I really have a lot to be thankful for.

Night Time

2008-02-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

Night time at my house is always kinda interesting and no matter how much of an emphasis you put on keeping to a routine, when you are dealing with people, something always blows it out of the water.
Tonight for example.
We started bathing at 730 which is the girl's bedtime as they had all requested a snack just prior to our usual bathing time. That got a little elongated as they wanted waffles, then Eric, thinking he was getting left out decided that he would make a little fuss so Rachel played with him for a while.
Then, the girls normally jump in first as I can get them done reasonably quickly then the boys can have their turn but, while I was getting a replacement nappy for Kathleen, Nathan decided that he wanted to go first and jumped in with Kathleen.
John decided that this would be the right time to plunge the toilet while Sarah turned the sink on in the bathroom which is currently filled with bathtoys.
More water on the floor.
I was actually saved by the fact that Rachel was content to get out after she had washed her hair and got clean and Kathleen followed her out as tonight she was pretty much doing whatever Rachel was doing.
This left room for John so I got the plunger off him and put him in.
At which time Nath decided he had had enough and jumped out, so the usual hour long routine took less than 15 minutes.
What a blessing.
Sarah chose not to bathe as she has a owie on her foot and she says the water hurts it.
Eric bathes in the am when there is more time for him to swim around a bit so she will probably jump in with him.
I have Nathan and John on Melatonin. It works beautifully and they for the most part, stay asleep the whole night and usually knock off within an hour of taking it.
Kathleen doesn't use it as it has a paroxysmal effect on her and the one night I gave it to her, she was up all night neighing and galloping up and down the loungeroom.
I had with the help of friends painted the bedrooms downstairs and took great pains to decorate one of them for Rachel and Sarah.
It looked pretty damn good even if I say so myself. And decorated so girly it would pretty close to make you dizzy.
Well, they slept in it for the 6 weeks that my sister was over here last year and have refused to sleep in it since.
At night, the girls and I play musical beds upstairs in the master bedroom which is currently equipped with two doubles.
As they go to sleep first, I sleep in whichever bed there is room.
Kathleen has taken to sleeping in their too and it is nice to see.
Tonight, the three girls just would not go to sleep.
1030 came and went and I escorted Rachel and Sarah downstairs to their room and put them into bed.
Kathleen went too and jumped in as well.
Only took a couple of minutes and wham, they were all asleep.
But, no doubt, by morning they will have meandered back upstairs and will be safely ensconced around me on whatever bed I choose to sleep on.
John has slept in the master bedroom for so long now we refer to it as John's room.
Nathan would only sleep on a couch in the loungeroom.
I took to sleeping on a foldup couch in the dining room.
After their dad was taken away, that night, John came to me and asked if he could sleep in my bed.
Nathan jumped in their too.
Kathleen who had been sleeping in a loungechair in the loungeroom slowly started weaning herself off that and started sleeping in the yellow room.
He was taken away June I think or July.
It has been that way since then. All the boys in the dining room and the girls in the yellow room.
Funny how that worked out.
Good Night.

The Long Awaited Day Has Come

2008-02-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

Eric, my baby boy, turned 14 months today.
For those in the know, it is a kind of magical number, after which for the next two months, there is a high probability that my son will become Autistic.
It is something that I have been dreading from before his birth.
It was like a cloud sitting on my shoulder for the longest time and now finally, it is here.
I have watched him carefully.
I have had him screened by early childhood development.
His results for that were normal. As I expected them to be.
For the most part, the children are absolutely perfectly normal until the day that they make "the change".
They speak, walk, talk, interact just as any other child then one day, wham, it is gone and in it's place is the shell of your child.
When I was at the Option Institute in Massachusetts in 2006 I was given a piece of paper, some one a long time back had done a study on early infants then monitored them to see if they developed Autism.
One of the things noticed that the head growth changed exponentially during the first year, so I monitored Eric's head and it seemed to have grown within the limits of the growth chart with no large growth change.
The other thing noted was that the babies tended to drag one leg when they crawled and crawled sort of as a frog does.
He did not do that either.
They also tend to walk on tippy toes.
Which he only does to look out the window to see the dogs in the backyard.
I know that Nathan and John both have very large heads but, I didn't monitor them in the first year as I did Eric.
I can also remember Kathleen crawling like a frog and walking on tiptoes.
But, I don't know that I remember the boys doing either of those things.
I can only continue to pray that he will be spared.
I watch him and I hope.
I spend a lot of time holding and cuddling him and telling him that I love him and hope that in the event he makes the changeover, he will remember this and know wherever he is, that his mummy loves him very much and can't wait for him to come back to her.
A week or so ago, he sat in the playpen next to me while I was on the computer and he put his hands to the side of his head and started rocking backwards and forwards.
The day before that, he lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes and wouldn't respond as I called his name.
I can't help but wonder if this is the beginning and I am afraid,
I am afraid that I will lose my little baby to a place where I can't go and I can only try my hardest to reach and it hurts.
People offer bandaids and say "it won't happen, he'll be alright".
How can they offer me that guarantee?
I have already lost the lotto 3 times out of six.
I would much rather they acknowledge that it is a possibility but, tell me to be optimistic, I can handle that so much better than someone telling me not to worry, it's not gonna happen.
Cause unfortunately, it may.
These two months will possibly be the longest two months of my life.
Pray for my baby. He needs it more than ever at this time.
Thanks.

Today I Fell Over In The Snow

2008-02-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

I volunteered today with the help of a good friend to take care of another lady's 2 disabled children.
I did this a little hesitantly because there was no school today so I had my little brood of 6.
I was not sure how they would all get on together and whether or not tempers would flare and as one of them is 19 and has a bit of a history, I had concerns.
But, seriously, the woman really needed a break.
Her daughter had just delivered and she had been at the hospital with her and had had little sleep for the past couple of days. So, knowing how that goes, I volunteered.
There were a little frayed tempers here and there but, once I showed the older girl the bedroom with the video games and closed the door so that the little ones wouldn't walk in front of the tv and annoy her. She was sweet as. Found out that she also likes jigsaw puzzles so we did a couple of those too.
Will have to stock up on those and chocolate chip cookies for next time.
The younger one is sweet.
She is the same age as Kathleen and has the face of an angel.
She tried valiantly to keep up with Rachel and Sarah and made a pretty good attempt at trying to master rollerskates.
I think the coup de grace was when I bundled up the four girls and took them outside to my snow laden back yard and we had a wonderful snow ball fight.
Of course, in my infinite wisdom, not knowing that I was going to be attacked in such a fashion, I was still wearing a t-shirt and no gloves.
Good thing I had my sheepskin slippers from NZ or I would really have been cold.
Incidently, it is possible to skate while wearing those slippers although, the girls thought my pirouette looked a little suspect.
Kathleen took off her gloves as soon as she got around the corner of the house and ran like the wind up and down the backyard, sporting her new hairdo that makes her look a little like Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap.
I don't know about them but, I sure had a lot of fun. But if their giggles were anything to go by, I am very sure they enjoyed themselves.
And the best way to tell if a child enjoyed themselves at your house, when her grandmother came to pick her up, she didn't want to go home.
I have no doubt that there will be a next time.
Respite workers, good ones, are awfully hard to come by in small town America so we may end up getting the company who provides the workers to hire us.

NAET Treatments

2008-02-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

Through a friend of a friend, I came into contact with a wonderful lady in Montana, who is a chinese herbalist and accupuncturist.
She has been doing NAET treatments on patients for 3 yrs but, had not tried them on a child with Autism, so when I contacted her and told her I had 3, she volunteered to do the NAET treatments for free as a trial and so that I could act as a reference which I gladly agreed to do.
I chose to do Nathan first as he is the oldest.
He just loves it there. He never gives me a hard time about entering the building.
And today, he could hardly wait for Shirl to make up his bed before jumping on and stripping off to lay there quite comfortably covered in his blanket.
He often throws out words for Kay and Shirley also and answers their questions. Obviously, he feels very loved and welcomed there. It is a peaceful environment.
He goes once a week or as close to it as we can manage.
NAET or Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques was developed by Dr Nambudripad in 1983 and she has been using it quite successfully since then on children with Autism with startling results.
Basically it is a desensitization of allergies which leads to a decrease in Autistic symptoms.
I think it is definitely working on Nathan.
I have seen more clarity with his speech.
Another big change for him was when we were doing the egg allergen removal, he stopped drinking milk which for him was a big thing.
He could down a gallon a day easily and he had a very rotund, firm abdomen.
The next allergen to be removed was milk, but, how could he have known that and weaned himself independently.
Well, since he had the milk allergen removed, his abdomen is no longer firm and distended. In fact, he dropped a pants size in one weekend just because his abdomen shrunk.
He can drink milk now without a problem but, he limits himself and may only have one cup a day.
Dr Nambudripad has written many books on the corelation between allergies and illness.
NAET practitioners can be found at www.naet.com
You know, it wouldn't hurt to approach your local chinese herbalist or accupuncturist and if they do NAET offering your child up and offering to write references once the child's treatment is done. Talk nice, you may be able to get your treatments heavily discounted or free which would be better.
There are many treatments out there that work to varying degrees and I definitely think this is one to consider and try.
There are no side effects.
Check out the book from the library: Say Goodbye To Allergy-Related Autism by Dr Devi Nambudripad.

The Community of Autism

2008-02-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was sent an email telling me to check out a website by a family that has 6 children on the Autism Spectrum.
Yes, 6. That gives you pause for thought.
Doesn't make what you have seem quite so bad, does it.
Website is www.AutismBites.org
I posted a comment and noticed that another person had posted a comment regarding the possibility of a connection between Autism and prenatal ultrasounds.
I emailed her and that started a passing of some very interesting emails.
She is quick to point out that her theories are just that theories but, she certainly gives you food for thought with her reasoning.
Here is the link to the article she had published in a midwifery magazine www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundrodgers.asp

It really was very interesting and worth a read.
It would be interesting to hear from any mother that went through her prenatal term and did not have any ultrasounds.
If you would care to post a comment, I can pass it on to Caroline.
Many thanks.

Diagnosis Of Autism

2008-02-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

Wow.
That is quite a step. Actually agreeing that there may be something wrong with your child and wanting a definitive diagnosis.
I knew that Nathan had Autism.
I had seen it since he was approx 14mths old.
John, I wasn't too sure about. His could have been because he was just copying his elder brother. I think I might have been in a little bit of denial there for a while.
No, maybe not denial exactly, maybe I just hoped against hope that I was wrong.
I called many neurologists, some that I had worked with, some that my friends and sister had worked with.
The answers were pretty much all the same, there is no cure for Autism.
The boys weren't diagnosed formally until 2006.
Kathleen, in 2007.
I took to the internet and the library.
If I wasn't at home, then I was at the library or work. Another necessary evil.
I looked at book after book after book.
I found many to interest me and point me in many different directions.
At first, I thought it was the vaccines that had caused my children's Autism but, then what caused Kathleen's. She was never immunised.
And, why did I have Rachel, a regular girl, in between John and Kathleen.
Now I have Sarah and Eric. So far neither of them showing signs although Eric at 13mths is still too young to tell.
Ahhh, Maybe a genetic link with multiple triggers.
Therefore, judging by all these different books, a different cure for a different trigger.
Or, maybe not a cure but, a lessening of symptoms to the degree where the person could live a normal life.
A book to try is The Essential Guide To Autism It gives a lot of information on what to look for and where to start.
There is a lot of information out there and quite frankly, it is easy to become overwhelmed.
You need to know that you are not the only out there going through the same thing.
It is easy to bury your head in the sand and not want to deal with it.
It is okay to grieve, for a short while, but, the only chance that your child has of making any kind of recovery is YOU.
No one and I mean no one will care as much as you do if your child succeeds.
For some teachers, your child is job security.
Having an Autistic child is draining emotionally, physically and financially.
You will possibly spend a lot of time fighting to try and get your child the help he/she deserves, but you know what,
The first time they look into your eyes and smile at you again....
The first time that they return your hug, and it may be just a little squeeze...
The first time that you come to pick them up from daycare or school and they notice you and run to you and wrap their arms around your legs....
It is gonna make it all worthwhile.
Longer than the 8 second buzzer, but, it is definitely one hell of a ride.

Take Your Humour Where You Can

2008-02-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

This weekend something interesting happened.
Kathleen, my 4 yr old discovered scissors. When I say discovered, I mean reeaaly discovered them.
Oh, she had used them here and there to diligently cut around pieces of paper when asked to, but this weekend, she really discovered what they could be used for.
All kinds of wonderful things!
Scissors cut curtains.
Scissors are real good at cutting clothes.
And, perhaps the best one......... scissors cut hair!
And, not just your own.
I would hear footsteps running at certain intervals across the loungeroom, through the dining room and into the bathroom.
Then I would hear the toilet lid bang down and the toilet flush and lastly, a gleeful little laugh that clearly said 'everything was right in her world"

Well, Kathleen has Autism. She is still in diapers and I knew that she was not using the toilet for the purpose for which it had been designed so, surreptitiously, the next time this little routine was begun, I set myself up next to the bathroom door and peeked in just as the lid was being shut.
A small handful of hair had been tossed in prior to the lid being shut.
But, she just looked full of joy. A great deed had been done!
She raced past me and looked up at me, right into my eyes and gave me the most brilliant smile.
I had to smile back, she was just so happy and proud of herself.
And as she ran past and I looked at the jagged, bitsy edges where her blonde, shoulder length curls used to be, I thought, yes all is good.
Anyway, they say, it is only 10 days from a bad haircut to a good one.
And I guess, I will just try harder to hide the scissors.

Step Forward In Time

2008-02-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

It is now 8 years later.
Wow, does time fly. So much has happened. Good and not so good.
I smile. Would I really have changed my life?
Isn't it better to have lived life, really lived it, than to stand on the sidelines and say at the end, was that it?
I am now blessed with six children and I no longer have my husband.
It was a good trade.
But then, with all the ugliness fear and hate he brought into my life, if he hadn't come into it, I wouldn't have my children.
Nathan is 8yrs old, John is 7, Rachel is 6, Kathleen is 4, Kathleen also has Autism with mutism, Sarah is 3 and Eric is 13mths.
Time flies.
Next week they will be grown up and going off to college.
Someone who I once considered a friend once made the statement " She is in denial about her children having Autism"
How can you deny something that jumps up and slaps you in the face each time you look at it.
No, I am not in denial, I am just hopeful, real hopeful.

In The Beginning

2008-01-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

In The Beginning there was a perfect baby.
His parents were pleased and proud of this living image of themselves that they had created.
They watched over him, nurtured, loved him to the best of their abilities.
Months passed and their fine young infant grew changing daily, acquiring new skills, crawling, then walking, smiling, talking, exploring his new world and his parents were happy.
Then one day it all stopped.
This bright wee lad with the face of a Greek God and angelic gold locks disappeared.
In his place was the same figure without the life force.
It was as if it had just switched off.
Content was he to spin items. Tires on matchbox cars literally for hours.
His parents were confused. Afraid. Denying.
His speech was gone. In it's place, monotone humming, screaming.
Gone was the little boy who would rub my nose with the palm of his hand as I rocked him to sleep at night. And return "I Love You" when I would whisper it into his neck as I breathed in his little boy scent and nestled him in my arms.
No more hugs and kisses.
Who was this new child and what had happened to our baby.
Multiple visits to the pediatrician did not bring answers.
"his speech will come" she would say.
To which I would reply "he had speech but now it has gone"
And she would dismiss us and tell us not to worry.
And we would return home and try to tell ourselves that our little boy was perfect and would be okay. Everything would be okay.
But, a little niggly voice at the back of my head kept whispering. Each day getting louder and more persistent "Autism, your baby has Autism"
The bottom dropped out of my world but, still I didn't want to believe it so we managed the symptoms the best we could and tried to ignore it. Who knows, maybe it would go away.
But it didn't.
Doctors appointments were kept and his vaccinations were kept up and it was around that time that the newspapers in Miami reported that 7 children had become Autistic after having vaccinations.
There was that word again.
When Nathan was taken to the doctors I asked what the corelation was between the vacinations and Autism and she replied that they were linking it to the Mercury in the vaccines.
Obviously I didn't want to have it done but she said it was impossible that the vaccines could be causing the Autism but to be on the safe side they had thrown out the batches that were linked.
So Nathan was immunised.
More and more each day, our little boy became more distant.
Our pediatrician put it down to the fact that one year and two days after Nathan was born, his brother John joined us.
John was born with the cord around his neck and I had to stop labour in order for the physician to remove it prior to delivery.
A large child at 9lbs 10oz John required a lot of care.
He suffered from reflux but ate an awful lot and for a while there he was breastfed on the hour.
He didn't lose the 6oz after birth, he just kept gaining.
It wasn't many months before we could see that he was almost as big as his brother.
Fourteen months later we had to accept the fact that the same affliction that Nathan had acquired, had happened to his brother.
The symptoms were similar but John's had a more erratic, destructive quality to it.
I am a Registered Nurse and my husband decided that he didn't want to work anymore so he stayed home with the children.
He said that he didn't trust his mother to do the job but, as I found out later, every day after I left for work she would arrive and just before I was due home at night she would leave.
Basically, he just didn't want to work.