Bestselling Author and Superstar, Jenny McCarthy, Shares her Journey in Healing her Son's Autism in a seminar in San Diego Monday, January 14, 2008 from 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM at the Learning Annex.

Jenny McCarthy will discuss her experience with healing Evan's autism through biomedical intervention, teaching children on the spectrum how to play and other challenges she has overcome as the mother of a child with autism.

Learn how to:

• Let truth be your guide and learn to persevere.
• Find your true purpose.
• Take on amazing challenges in order to uncover and use your gifts and talents.
• Maintain a positive attitude through anything.
• Choose your battles and transform adversity into opportunity.
• Change directions and set new goals.
• Be resilient.
• Have faith and courage in yourself.

The cost of the seminar is $49.99. You can get more details here: http://www.learningannex.com/default.taf?sctn=A&_function=detail&cnum=35...

Study: Autism in Children On the Rise - AMES, Iowa - The prevalence of autism has apparently risen, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. [Autism News from Topix]

Our daughter Maddie is nine and was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder when she was 4. She is what you would consider “high functioning Autistic” She can learn but not the typical way people learn in school. Her weakest areas are in her speech and social interactions with peers. She is in 3rd grade in a mainstream classroom being pulled out about 30% of her day into a special education room where she gets a lot of support and help with math, reading, speech, language, and adaptive physical education.  read more »

Day two of MEA weekend was not as exciting. Play dough, painting at the kitchen table and Wallace and Gromit’s The Curse of The Were Rabbit. (I got a short nap in the movie theater so the day went good for me.) It was so so for Maddie. Our play date fell through with the other family.  read more »

An additional diagnosis typically added to the ASD diagnosis is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We learned a great game to check our “engine speed” or level of intensity.

First you need to explain to your child each level.

Red is the color for high engine levels the feelings associated would be:

:: anger
:: screaming at a football game
:: excited about winning something
:: running away from something scary

Yellow is the color for low engine levels the feelings associated would be:

:: tired
:: being quiet  read more »

Wow did we ever have a great day today, because it was MEA and school was out I have scheduled events with organizations that work with kids with Autism for Maddie to keep busy for the next two days. Today was a theatrical workshop put on by adaptive park and recreation. She got to learn about the theatre and acting as well as production. 6 kids with all different skill levels worked together to put on a performance for the parents later in the day. They used props and costumes to perform a variety of musicals.  read more »

We recently tried the GF CF Diet last month exclusively, the whole family for two weeks recommended by an allergy specialist. We have been loosely following the diet with our 9 year old autistic daughter for the past two years. It’s a tough regime to stick with around holidays and birthdays. The following is a list of experiences our family had on this diet.

1. Nuts became our snack food and sometimes lunch for our son (he was picky) so when you eat a lot of nuts you can’t “go”. Constipation beyond belief, can you say hemorrhoids!  read more »

Our daughter is 9 and getting more and more difficult to buy for but up until now there have been some great things for her. Each kid has their special interests but for the most part these gifts will be great for any ASD kid.

Twister Moves Game- It’s Twister to music. The narrator on the CD tells the players which arm or foot to move where all to really up beat music. Maddie loves to play this with typical friends too.  read more »

Here is an example of a letter you can send to your insurance company to appeal, if you get denied:

Dear Claims Examiner:  read more »

We have relaxed and are following it here and there, I know that they say “a little bit hurts” but I can’t put my kids through this lifestyle sometimes being normal is all you want and that means normal food. Here are some more fascinating things that happened to us on the Gluten Free Casin Free Diet.

Our son mentioned his eyes were blurry at school another day and he felt dizzy, gee I wonder what kind of behavior he had that day?  read more »

I just have to document and share some of the great lines from our 9 year old ASD daughter, Maddie.

“Mom why are you driving on the elbow!” (She meant shoulder)

“Was it cursive or manuscript?” When I drew an M on her back she had already guessed correctly.

“My Mom forgot it” When her teacher asks her where her homework is.

“I’m dreaming about candy I can’t talk.” When I asked her what she wanted to get her brother for his birthday.

“That rocks OUT LOUD!” When we told her we were going to Camp Snoopy.  read more »

We are considering a dog just because my husband is a dog person he grew up with dogs and likes to hunt. So I have been doing some research on what are the best pets for families with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The most common pet of course is a dog. There are trained service dogs for families with ASD but the time and cost seem huge, $12,000 and you must qualify with your disability. The benefit to having a service dog is being able to have the dog go with your child everywhere (a normal pet can’t go into public places). The security and added protection would be nice.  read more »

Last weekend at the adaptive dance class one of the mothers of an ASD kid mentioned she wanted to have a birthday party and would any of us come? She said she looked into bowling because her son will engage in that activity. She said “it only costs $150.00.” I couldn’t believe she was going to spend that much on a birthday party. I gave her the following tips for a more budget conscience party.

For a Boy (Basketball Theme)
Set a date and time. I usually do Saturdays over lunch 11:30-1:30. Don’t go over two hours. It gets overwhelming for special needs kids and you!  read more »

Good bedtime routines are so helpful with children with autism. The earlier you start the easier it is to get down, but having a good solid step by step approach every single night is best.

We started our routine when Maddie was about 8 months old, she was not diagnosed with autism yet but I knew bedtime routines were important for everyone in the house. So I researched several strategies and found the book called Solve Your Childs Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber to be the best.

The following bedtime routine has been what we have done for the past 8 years:  read more »

Families of children with disabilities have greater parental stress due to problems involving the care for the child, pessimism about what may lie in the child’s future, and concerns about physical and behavioral aspects of the child. (Dyson, 1993)

Mothers of adolescents with autism reported a greater level of family stress than did mothers of adolescents with mental retardation. (Donovan, 1988)  read more »