Autism Blogger

Well, hello again, here is my second post about Ian's IPOD. He has been using this device with the PROLO2Go software for about 12 days, 7 of which were also school days were he took the IPOD with him.

 At school Ian is working with his IPOD in structured settings, and they are also focusing on isolated finger use as well as "touch" strength. Ian has a tendency to poke at the IPOD like he is trying to stab through it. The comments from school today, the first report back is that "Ian seems to be doing great with his device in structured settings."

 At home we decided that we would always make Ian as for a drink, and getting the drink would be his rein forcer. By and large this is working very well with very little (none for the most part) frustration on his part. Sometimes I will use a little hand over hand guidance to make sure that he does not over poke the IPOD, but he is driving the direction and choice.

Currently we have 6 items on the main page, Hello, Goodbye (all individual icons) and Home, School, and More Icons are all categories. Under home, the subcategories are Drinks, Food, and Things to do. These three categories have icons under them for the category that they list. There are also icons for bathroom, shower and stop (he seems to have figured out stop pretty quickly, which was sort of a surprise for me, a happy one at that.  read more »

reprinted from www.childsturn.com A special needs child does not exist in a vacuum.  Rather, that child affects virtually everybody in their universe, immediate family, extended family, neighbors, friends, school districts and many others who come into contact with the child on a daily basis.  That is true whether or not the child is diagnosed.

My daughter is the mother of a beautiful four-year-old boy.  Unfortunately, while that child has a sweet disposition, an angelic face and charm for days, there is clearly something that is wrong with him.  He spends long hours staring at his own reflection, he exhibits many of the repetitive behaviors associated with an autistic child and he can seemingly go into his own world at the of a hat.  His speech skills are clearly delayed and he does not show the standard social responses when dealing with children of his own age.  I guess the obvious answer to these things is to find him a specialist who can treat his disability and possibly improve the symptoms.  Who knows, maybe even cure him!!!

However, the problem is not the boy, it is his mother, who refuses to acknowledge that there is anything amiss.  When we discuss symptoms, she claims it's merely a phase.  When we point out similarities with other disabled children, she'll make a comment such as "well, he drinks milk like the normal kids so he must be normal, too."  She becomes stressed and agitated if we are too insistent and, at the end of the day, regardless of the pleading from her family members, if she doesn't want to take him to a specialist, short of kidnapping, I'm not sure what we can do.  read more »

So Zare is on his 3rd sports camp, he quit the last one after two days. I was sick as a dog with no alternate mode of transportation, so I did not argue. This one is baseball, which is waaay out of his comfort zone, and after one day he does not want to go back. What to do? The last one had a 7$ refund fee which I paid, and I got a full refund. This camp does not have such protection, plus I think he should last longer than one day yes? I have one more sports camp coming up and I don't want him to get the idea that he can pull the plug at will. On the other hand..... So yeah, I will see how he does.

my lil brother AGE 16 about to be 17 in OCT has been getting really bad melt downs lately and has also been howling and moaning and groaning and my dad says loosing coherency... i was wondering what might cause this? idk whats been going on, but everytime and i mean EVERYTIME he hears the word "NO" he starts melting till he gets what he wants.... we dont give it to him because we kno not to give in to his bad behavior... he's on several meds and he's been diagnosed with many disorders, i will say he's been diagnosed with ~ MR, Schitzophrenia, ADD~ and a lil bit more tht idk at this time... some of the meds he's on is ~Serequel, Ativan, Fluvoxomine, Intuniv, Invega, Vyvance~ and a lil more tht i dont know.... if you have any info for me that would be really greatfull

THANKS,    Mike

Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a while. We've been busy here at home; normal life stuff+Evans therapy+trying to find that elusive next step can be, as I'm sure you all know, quite taxing to say the least.

 The elusive next step is the subject of this post. All of our kids have a uniqueness to their disability, and the things I've found may not help your child, but they may, they're natural and safe, and it may be that thing you have been searching for also.

 My kid seems to have a problem processing minerals; metals "short" him out, and leave him unresponsive, uncommunicative, and banging his head against the wall. Our first success with removing the bad metals, and helping his system process the good ones, was chelating his system with cilantro, and garlic juice (use a juicer) mixed in cranberry juice, and given 10ml 2-3 times a day. In two weeks this yielded eye contact, and we could put more than one thing on his tray. Further investigation revealed Chlorella algae (great for aluminum and absorbing toxins, super great source of enzymes) mixed in apple juice given 10ml once a day, Magnesium Malate and Zinc (helps the body produce ATP, good for heart, joints, muscles, and aids in the Chelation process) suspended in pudding and given at about 1tbl spoon full a day, finally L-Lysine and L-Trytophan amino acids (good for heavy metals and calming for focus) also suspended in pudding, and given at about 1tbl spoon full a day. This sounds like a lot, and you may have read simular posts I have made about this, just wanted to get folks on the same page as me so you can understand the next step We have taken.  read more »

Pobody's Nerfect, said a shirt my brother used to wear.  I guess today's version would be Nobody's Normal.  With new mental illnesses like "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" (usually used against toddlers and teenagers to drug them into submission) and "psychosis risk syndrome", used to sell anti-depressants to teenagers (what teenager isn't depressed?), the DSM V is turning out to be downright dangerous.

Here's an article on the topic where even mental health professionals in Canada are asking the same thing, about advance copies of the rough draft of the DSM V:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/100728/science/science_us_mental

 And what does this mean for autism?  The same researchers talk about the DSM-IV; and the "false epidemic" over the last 12 years of autism, ADHD, and childhood bipolar disorders.

 Maybe the neurodiversity folks are right after all. 

Friday, 30 July 2010

The summer scheme my son attended this year had to end 2 days early. Out of the 20 parents who originally agreed to send their children to the scheme two weeks ago, only eight weighed in with their children. The scheme was excellent, the staff were motivated, fun and excited to work with a full compliment of children who had a range of abilities. The premises were safe, the activities were well structured and varied and the scheme was run in a high density area of population. It was assumed it would be fully subscribed and it was. Problem is 12 parents who signed up didn't bother to show up with their children.

The news was awash with stories of summer schemes for 'special' kid losing their funding. This was not the case where I live. The summer scheme that parents were complaining about most vociferously was in the Down area and was actually a finite program that was going to end anyway. Where I live there were numerous summer schemes available for my child that were inclusive. Due to lack of attendance, I doubt many of them will be there next year.  read more »

very enlightening. A 'must hear'...

http://savageonautism.com/

I'm returning to San Diego, CA (Del Mar) again and am wondering if there are therapeutic riding programs that do not have a waiting list and how long of a wait is the average? Also wondering if there are any programs specifically for autism?

Just familiarity with a guesstimates are good, plus any and all related feedback would be welcome.

 Tracy