Anyway, there are actually some things that can help with hyperactivity. Alot of kids with autism have a bunch of excess energy to burn off. One thing I try to do is make sure that my son has a chance during the day to get his energy out. He has a mini trampoline inside and a swing set outside. My son LOVES to swing. I think the swing set is the best investment we have made so far! Actually its not even that expensive. You can get one starting at about $100 at Toys r Us. Just make sure that you cement it in or it could go flying!

Anyway, I believe one of the main things that can cause hyperactivity is yeast overgrowth. From having my son tested, I know his yeast was off the chart. I do think that I have gotten it somewhat under control now with the use of probiotics. You can also read more about controlling yeast in one of my previous articles. http://livingwithautism-jen78fl.blogspot.com/2008/12/yeast-overgrowth-and-bacteria.html  read more »

Basic matching is one of the first lessons taught in an ABA program with kids with Autism. Generally a therapist will start with “nesting items” such as bowls or cups. You put one bowl on the table and hand the other bowl to the child. Then you teach the child to “match” the two items.

Integrating Your Child into the Classroom

When you first begin your one-on-one intensive teaching program with a child with Autism or Developmental Delay, the environment is very structured. Often one child will sit alone at a table with one teacher or therapist. The teacher and student are just a few feet away from each other, to minimize the outside distraction.

As a child progresses, the teaching sessions will gradually become more natural. Perhaps the teacher will stand up and walk around the room. Instructions which were once short, concrete sentences may become longer, multi-part directions. This new structure is intended to simulate a classroom environment, where children must attend to a teacher who is at a distance, working with the entire classroom.

A good way to move toward this integration process is to use items which are familiar to the child from their one-on-one, structured environment, in new and different ways. Accordingly, while the instructions and style of the lessons may be different, the materials used will not pose an added distraction.  read more »

I got a paper home in Michael's book bag today telling me there is going to be the creation of a support group for parents of children diagnosed with Austism Spectrum Disorders. The first meeting to sort of set everything up will be the end of January. 

Michael has an appointment for his updated evaluation with the Child Specialty Clinic on Friday (weather permitting I am sure) and I am going to wait until after it. It took me bringing up PDD for her to admit that Michael could fall under than category. So hopefully she elaborated on it with the evals the school and I have sent in. It has been a 15 months of appointments, evaluations, and therapy and I wonder if I am any closer to a diagnosis.

I am going to email the woman in charge of the support group after Michael's appointment and ask if there has to be an official diagnosis to participate. But I am going to keep my fingers crossed that maybe they will finally pick a label to slap on him and just keep us going on as we have. Without that diagnosis I have been told there is not much more I can get set up for Michael.

I wanted to open up a blog in response to the misinformation surrounding mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy (pressures below 1.5 ATA) and deep hyperbaric oxygen therapy (pressures at or above 1.5 ATA).

 First, I would like to start with a little background... I run a Wellness Center in Royal Oak Michigan where we offer mild hyperbaric therapy in addition to far infrared sauna therapy, nutritional counseling, massage & bodywork, & personal training.  In our center we currently utilize the Performance Hyperbarics double bag, and we rent out the OxyHealth Respiro and Vitaeris models to those interested in home-therapy.  I initially became interested in hyperbaric therapy about eight years ago when I noticed my chiropractors unit hidden in an adjacent room.  He wasn't offering the therapy, he simply used it for rest and recuperation as he was an avid marathon runner.  Anyways... I asked if I could try it, and he said to come on in an hour early before my next appointment.  Well, the rest is history; I immediately Knew I wanted one!  And about two years later, I had my first OxyHealth mild portable hyperbaric chamber.  I began integrating it into my personal training/massage therapy practice.  In addition, this is when I also began integrating the far infrared sauna therapy and other natural non-invasive technologies.  Anyways, that was then...  Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with clients from so many walks of life, seeking out hyperbaric therapy for so many different reasons, and everyone of them has been a blessing to work with.  I would never claim that I specialize in working with children on the spectrum, but I will say I have had my fair share of children to work with first hand, and an even larger pool who have rented our chambers.    read more »

My name is Ryan Segovich, I’m a member of the publicity team at Sourcebooks, Inc., the largest independent publisher in Chicago.  We are promoting a heartwarming book, A Friend Like Henry by Nuala Gardner.  I’d like to share the news of this wonderful story.
   read more »

This story is about a young boy with autism who experienced
significant results taking aloe vera and sea vegetables.
There are millions of kids and parents dealing with this
issue. And while there is no concrete, scientific proof on
the relationship between these ingredients and autism,
hearing these actual results, as told by his mom, could
be a big source of hope and encouragement for others
dealing with this problem.

If nothing else, it shows that improvements with autistic
kids are possible. We also know that adding super foods
like aloe vera and sea vegetables will certainly do no harm,
and based on this story, it appears to have done significant
good! When the body gets the nutrition it needs it is able to address health challenges.

All you need to do to hear it is click here:

http://www.teamcrown.net/ag/ (posted only through 8/13/08)

My son on mild side of autistic spectrum has had wonderful results on this product for years now along with a high grade fish oil. Please feel free to email me if you would like more information or a brochure or to talk to families who have experienced results.

mtmenger333@yahoo.com

Boulder, CO

I found this today, seems like such a cool idea. It is a blog that is maintined by a six year old autistic child. He gets some help from his mother, here's what it says at the top of the blog:

"This is my own blog. I am a six year old autistic boy who struggles to talk (at this time). My mom has set this blog up for me. [My mom will write or ask questions in square brackets] so you know who is talking until I can tell her to stop interfering." 

Really interesting stuff and a great idea. Get your kids blogging.

Adam's Blog