What a Fabulous Friday!

Dr. Robert Sears a.k.a Dr. Bob (left), yours truly (center), and James (right)

Fridays do not get better than this! James and I spent an evening listening to Dr. Bob Sears speak on autism and treating its effects with a biomedical approach. As part of his book tour for The Autism Book, Dr. Bob spoke at the Indiana University School of Law. We were fortunate enough to get to go and listen to his expertise on everything autism.

Over the years, I have been in the presence of celebrities on a few occasions but none of them ever had the same effect on me as Dr. Bob did this evening. Regarding other celebrities, I always just figured "Well, they're people just like me." But with Dr. Bob, I was downright giddy and was not shy about having a photo taken of him with James and me.

It was such a fabulous evening! Definitely one I will never forget....

A Monster Of A Party!

Last week, our first-born monkey turned five years old!

I always have to laugh when other parents make the observation of their children growing up so quickly or empty-nesters whose grown children reached adulthood "in the wink of an eye." They all seem to say the same thing: "Where in the world does the time go?" Well, I will tell you where it goes or at least, where it went for me. For the first three-and-a-half years of being a parent, it ticked by so incredibly slowly all while I wondered if my "baby" - who was definitely no longer a baby - would ever stop waking every hour through the night, sometimes two or three times per hour, and if I would ever get any sleep again in this lifetime.

Alas, after starting our special diet and being convinced of its effectiveness on the very first night (the first night Reiss ever slept through the night in his whole entire short life!), we were finally getting some sleep and everyone thankfully survived. And now we are at five years old! FIVE! Who knew I would make it this long and live to tell about it? But I am definitely here and, unlike back then, time does not tick by nearly as slowly now that I am asleep for at least part of it in any given twenty-four hour period.

Enough of my woes....Can you tell I am so thankful for sleep?

Last Saturday we had a party for Reiss and rented a bounce house in the shape of a monster truck. Yes, I know how much bounce houses cost and I am also aware that our rental cost almost as much as buying one. And furthermore, I have chosen to say "enough is enough" regarding toys and clothes and stuff and things that require space for storage and I made the wise decision to go with the option of having someone else worry about where to store such a large item as a bounce house.

Yes, renting a bounce house is not an investment with endless returns but not having to store it makes up for all those "lost" returns.

Reiss wanted to keep the bounce house, as trucks are one of his favorite things but, as we explained to him, by having people who come to get the bounce house (instead of keeping it), we get to choose a different one every time we rent one. Milla has already called "dibs" on the princess castle bounce house for her birthday in October. Little do they know that renting a bounce house is not something that will happen with a whole lot of frequency.

We took some really adorable photos, however, due to privacy issues with other parents' children, only photos of Reiss and Milla are posted.






All of the above photos were taken before Reiss's party began and while Reiss and Milla were the only children playing in the bounce house. Just prior to the start of the party, I changed Milla into a perfectly-party-appropriate dress with a cupcake on it.

Reiss painting a car bank. It was one of the prizes leftover in the prize bin after the party.

From left: Crystal (Reiss's BCBA for his ABA therapy), Reiss, Milla, Heather (one of Reiss's ABA therapists)

Reiss getting ready to open his first gift. In this photo, we also have Anne, who is not one of Reiss's therapists but works for Crystal and was here with one of the children present at the party.

Reiss had $23 from his birthday to spend at Toys R Us. So what'd he get? A princess dress for Milla! We tried to persuade him otherwise but that is what he wanted to buy. He also bought himself one of those hippity-hop balls. I have no idea what the real name is for them. They are those things a child sits on, holds onto the handle, and jumps around on.

My little five-year-old prince and princess....

Kicking Myself

While we are enjoying the results and benefits of the last three weeks of Reiss receiving ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy, at the same time, I am kicking myself every day for having not fought more intensely for him to receive such therapy since learning about it more than a year ago.

When I first discovered ABA therapy, I did what I now look back on and think of as a very casual, half-hearted effort to seek ABA therapy as part of our treatment plan for Reiss' autism. After coming up with basically no resources for ABA in our area, I gave up. A few months later, once again, something apparently sparked my interest in seeking out ABA services for Reiss but the only results I came up with at that time were Lovaas and ABA centers that are a one-hour one-way trip from our home.

I didn't want the hassle of being responsible for submitting our own insurance claims that came with Lovaas services and driving a one-hour drive to a center and sitting for four to eight hours while Reiss received therapy was simply out of the question. Laziness has nothing to do with my reluctance to file our own insurance claims. No, my hesitancy stems more from past experiences with insurance companies and how they frequently try to pass the financial responsibility on to the consumer rather than own up to their entire purpose for providing insurance - paying the claims.

Making a one-hour drive to a center was not even something I would have considered doing. It's not that I would not do just about anything to improve Reiss's autism symptoms, but rather, many factors combined to make considering such a trek on a daily basis totally unfeasible. First, I also have Milla to think about. Making such a trek daily when she was barely a year old would have been like packing up our lives every single day so that we could go and sit all day in the parents' area of the center waiting for Reiss to come out. How would that even be fair to a one-year-old? And that's not even considering the factor of inconvenience. Second, Indiana is not the greatest place to be during the winter months. It's not unusual for what is usually a five- or ten-minute drive during warmer months to transform into an hour-long expedition out into the tundra during the winter months. So imagine what an hour-long drive under normal driving conditions translates to in blizzard-like conditions. Not fun. Not to mention, stressful, and somewhat dangerous.

During all this, there was also the question of "How in the world are we going to pay for this?" When your child receives an autism diagnosis, no one hands you a nice little manual on how to proceed after you leave the doctor's office. Most of this stuff you learn by trial and error, talking to other parents of autistic children that you meet along this journey, and by spending countless hours doing your own homework - and God knows that's necessary since no doctor out there is losing sleep over my child or spending his time advocating for him.

Anyway, so it's no surprise that I learned about ABA and then went for months wondering how all the families in these success stories I was reading about could afford ABA for their child(ren). No one ever bothered to mention anything to me about autism mandates or the fact that - regardless of my loathing Indiana winters - my family lives in quite possibly one of the best states in the United States when it comes to having a child with autism and the mandate that entitles my child to insurance coverage for autism treatments.

Depending on the source one consults, a full-time ABA program for a child can cost upwards to $100,000 per year. Yes, that's per year - approximately two times the total median individual (as opposed to a family) income for a resident of the United States and approximately three times the annual cap of $36,000 that many states provide for in their own autism mandates. Luckily, as I later found out, Indiana is not only lucky enough to have an autism mandate, but we also currently do not have any dollar amount caps on the benefits a child can receive annually. At $100K per year (and that's quite a lot more than the average I am finding), or even $36,000 per year for autism treatments alone, it begs the question of why the insurance companies themselves are not calling on politicians to demand funding for further research into autism and its causes....but that's a whole 'nother rant.

It wasn't until early this year when I declared myself to be on a renewed mission of seeking out the best possible routes of treatment for Reiss that I really began paying attention to what the autism mandate meant for us. When I researched it further and learned that basically the mandate states our insurance plan cannot deny ABA services to Reiss, it was like we had won a small victory that I had never really fought very hard to achieve. It was a victory, nonetheless, and when the former director of one of the centers I had previously contacted gave me a call to tell me she and her husband were opening a center on our side of town, I was ecstatic. Little did she know that in the following days the introductions she made possible between myself and another former employee of the same center where she was employed would result in our family getting started with ABA by means of an in-home program, much sooner than her own center was opened.

Do I feel guilty for facilitating Reiss's in-home ABA program with a different individual than the person who was trying to get us onboard as clients in their own facility? No, not really because we may still end up sending Reiss to the center once it opens so that he can continue having social interactions on a regular basis.

Long story long, that is how we arrived where we are today. Reiss is doing an in-home ABA program for around 22 hours per week and we are in Week 4. After school is out for the summer, Reiss will bump up to forty hours per week. If you are not familiar with ABA, this probably sounds like a grueling schedule to keep, especially for a child who isn't even five years old. However, ABA therapy is very play-oriented in its teaching techniques. Reiss generally runs three to five "programs" and then gets a free period in which he can choose the activity he wishes to do for the duration of his break until the next set of programs.

The results we have seen so far are amazing.

We are experiencing many less tantrums.

Now, unlike before ABA, Reiss sometimes gets water or something on his shirt and there is no meltdown. Sometimes, in these instances, my husband and I find ourselves looking at one another while both of us are thinking, "Okay, where is the tantrum? Is it coming and is just delayed?" But it never comes and we are shocked and amazed.

Car rides are actually enjoyable - something I have never - post children -been able to say prior to now. Reiss and Milla sit. And they are often quiet. No screaming. No stressing me out to a point where a three minute car ride is like enduring a non-medicated root canal. And at the risk of jinxing myself, I will even go so far to say they often watch DVD's while in the car, as in, they actually pay attention to them.

And discipline....oh, where do I begin? Prior to ABA, nothing and I really mean nothing has ever proven effective with Reiss for any given amount of time. Timeouts were the worst. Sending him to his room was like a reward. Reward systems meant nothing to him. Positive reinforcement was like a permission slip to follow his good deeds with an undesirable behavior. If parents of typical children thinks it's difficult trying to discipline a child, they have no clue what it's like for many parents of autistic children. These children simply think and process things differently - and that's not my opinion, it's a fact.

Reiss is writing and drawing and - I don't even know how to word this to give it the magnitude it deserves - recognizing written words. I would venture to say he is reading. Reading by rote memory recognition of words used repeatedly in visuals with his ABA programs, but reading, all the same.

The most amazing thing though, is that Reiss is actually initiating conversations - no, wait, I mean meaningful conversations with people. He is asking people their names, their middle names, last names, birth dates. Before ABA, Reiss barely noticed the existence of other people around him, much less engage in conversational speech with them.

With ABA, I feel like we have our sanity back. Literally.

Finally arriving where we have has been quite a lesson in researching our options and digging for that information that no one is going to spoon-feed us. The whole process has left me wondering why we didn't get ABA for Reiss much sooner - at any cost or inconvenience or whatever. But I know the answer to that - I just didn't put up enough of a fight.

And while the ABA is costing us an arm and a leg, even with insurance coverage, that sanity isn't something one can put a pricetag on.

I can just see the commercial for ABA....

Autism: Your child's ability to develop "normally" out the window.
Effects autism has on a family: Feelings of isolation and lack of others who understand and can relate.
Treatments for autism: More money than any average person makes in a year.
ABA: Too darn much.
Getting one's sanity back after ABA: Priceless.

She Always Says Exactly What I'm Thinking...

And I like how she comes right out and says she is not telling people what to do with their own children and vaccines because that is the same thing I tell others.

Vaccinate or don't vaccinate - it is each parent's choice. All I ask is that people do not make the same mistake I did and blindly trust their pediatricians. Educate yourselves, people!

Do not count on your doctor being informed about vaccines. Ask your doctor how much time was spent in medical school learning about vaccines. You will be surprised. My child's doctor actually told me vaccines do not contain any of the toxins that I now know very well are contained in them.

Just last week, I informed the wife of a pharmaceutical company employee about toxins in vaccines that she said she was told were not in them. If a doctor and a pharmaceutical employee - one who works for a company that does manufacture vaccines - don't even know aluminum, thimerosal, and formaldehyde are in vaccines, then I suspect the average person doesn't know it either or simply chooses not to believe it. And in that case, I invite you to visit the CDC's website and see for yourself what kinds of ingredients are indeed in vaccines.

Part 1.....



Part 2.....

And The World Stopped......

Lin (Linda) Wessels is a friend of mine on facebook. Her son, Sam, has autism and, just like I am, Lin is an "autism mom." Her family's story is about to be told to the world in the form of a documentary being made by the United States of Autism.

You can read a small tidbit about her family in THIS article with KPTH Fox News. I love the phrase mentioned in the article that Lin used to describe the world from where she was sitting when she received Sam's diagnosis: "...we have your diagnosis and it is autism. And the world stopped..."

Because that is exactly what happens when your child receives an autism diagnosis. The world stops spinning and your whole life becomes a marathon of what-can-I-do-to-help-my-child? Autism doesn't sleep (literally and figuratively, with a lot of children!) and it doesn't take a break or a vacation. It creeps into every single aspect of life in not only the child with autism, but into the lives of his or her family. I wish I could explain this to people so they understand because it is not something anyone can even fathom until they walk down that road.

Enough of my blathering.....go VOTE. And if you are wondering what I mean when I tell you to go vote, first go read the article....then VOTE!!!!

IEP's, Dinner For Dummies, and Other Ramblings

This evening my husband and I have a meeting to go to regarding the ABA center we are helping another couple get started. Actually, that makes it sound like we are playing some major role in the opening of a fabulous ABA facility but in reality, all we are doing is providing word of mouth to others in the autism community and a place for the couple to hold their presentations to get families interested in their center.

I'm very excited about it all but I'm also very tired. We have been going and going and going for around two weeks now and I just want a nap.

This morning was Reiss's case conference for his IEP and I gotta say, it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the nightmare stories I hear from friends who go in with a "team" of people ready to do battle. Of course, I don't have the same problems many of them have. We do have problems with Reiss running out of the classroom on occasion but luckily, it has not been out the door leading to the parking lot, but rather, the door leading out of his classroom and into the hall. We don't have problems - that I am aware of - with his teacher or aides giving him food that is not on his diet. And since we provide a box of snacks for him from home, they would have no reason to do so. We don't have problems with unfair punishments or have to deal with forms of discipline that some consider torture like so many parents of children with autism have to read about. Yes, it really happens...just look HERE if you don't believe me. By the way, that particular school system is notorious for incidents with their students in special services classrooms. Not long ago they also had one little girl with autism who was bitten in the classroom and force fed. I am, however, too lazy to go dig up a link for that as well though. So have at it, go Google yourself silly if you so desire.

Anyway, the only changes we made were to have Reiss's IEP written to include his dietary guidelines and his Diastat injector - just in case of another seizure - under the Health guidelines section. Because they have been having some behavioral problems in the classroom recently, there were also some behavioral modification plans made to accommodate for when Reiss fully rejects their current form of discipline, which is a combination of popsicle stick pocket pulls, 1-2-3 Magic, and timeouts. It sounds like a lot but it's basically 1-2-3 Magic adapted to a classroom setting. His teacher feels it is only effective for him a small part of the time and we will soon need to move on. It's amazing how this is exactly what she told me usually happens around mid-way through the year with the majority of the children, and although this is a little past midway, she was exactly right.

Moving on...

Today I made muffins. THIS is the recipe I used, as I often do. This recipe should have been more aptly name No-Fail Muffins or Muffins for Morons because it is so darn adaptable. These muffins simply cannot go wrong. They call for applesauce but I have also substituted the applesauce with bananas, zucchini, squash, and pumpkin, all with spectacular results. Today's applesauce sub was zucchini. They're so well-packed with good fats, proteins, and fiber that I don't even have an inkling of remorse serving these for a meal with a little fruit or something on the side. Because we have to get dinner on the table and out the door in a hurry this evening, we are having these muffins, some bacon, and whatever fruit we have on hand. I think there are some pears and apples that need to get gone, as well as some kiwis that Reiss will probably hoard all to himself.

Today we had carpet installed in our bedroom. I know, I know - don't tell me about all the harmful crap they put in that stuff. We purchased this carpet around a year ago when we had just begun making dietary changes, getting chemicals out of the house (we're still working on that one!), and frankly, we were just plain ignorant. If I knew then what I know now, we would have gone with running the wood laminate floors on into the bedroom or gone with a "green" carpet free of chemicals. What's the saying? Hindsight is 20/20 and considering the expense, it's not something we were going to just cut our losses and chalk up to experience.

After nearly a year straight of off and on (a lot of "on") people working on this or that in our house, I am ready to take a break. I am ready to close our doors and not have anyone work for us anytime soon. Ironically, we are getting ready to start our in-home ABA program and there will be people in and out of here every single day and for even more hours than all the remodeling projects put together but at least these are people working on a totally different aspect of our lives and not on our house and leaving messes in their wake when they leave for the day.

Thankfully, you can barely tell anymore that this is a 1974-built house. Other than the main bathroom, every room on this floor has been totally updated or had major modifications made to it to bring it into this decade from a decorative standpoint.

These monkeys are waking up from a nap. Reiss conked out on the chair in here during a phone call I was on earlier and Milla is on the couch. If you have read this far and are not bored to tears, I'm not sure whether to applaud your ability to focus or feel sorrow that you must have a really boring life that you could find my ramblings and my own mundane life ventures entertaining. At any rate, thank you for reading and leave a comment if you feel so inclined - I do read them and very much appreciate them, even if I don't acknowledge them as often as I would like.

And On A More Positive Note....

It felt good to vent a bit on Tuesday but lest anyone think all I do is complain about autism, I figure anyone spending any amount of their time reading my blog deserves to hear some good news as well. You know, to equal things out. Here are some of the breakthroughs we have witnessed with Reiss over the last (nearly) year and a half since we began dietary restrictions and supplements:

Regarding speech......
Although Reiss has been quite verbal since beginning communication with speech as a toddler, his speech wasn't always functional. His speech seemed a tad delayed, then it took off, and then he started losing some of it. At around eighteen months of age, he used to do the cutest thing. He would say, "Awesome!" and do a little fist pump into the air. Soon after, he stopped doing it. As the months passed, this wasn't the only thing he lost, it was simply the most memorable.

Reiss wouldn't talk a whole lot except to repeat things. Engaging in a conversation with him was non-existent. He had a lot of repetitive speech (echolalia). He had pronomial confusion - he confused I, you, me, and the possessive forms as well. For example, he might have said, "You want the waffle." but what he really meant was that he wanted the waffle. He could not answer a simple "yes" or "no" question, nor any type of who, what, when, why, or where questions. And he definitely couldn't ask any questions. At all. We never went through the "Why? Why? Why?" phase with Reiss that most parents complain about with their children during the toddler years.

The way it was explained to us by the special services school officials who evaluated Reiss for entrance into developmental preschool, many of these kids don't even understand that a question is being asked and that a response is expected. It doesn't matter that a typical person changes the inflection when asking a question, children with autism many times just don't understand. And that explains why I used to have to tell Reiss "I need a yes or a no, please." when asking him that type of question. Still, often times, he would reply with whatever pleased him and not necessarily the correct answer. I think he knew I was getting frustrated and he was just as frustrated and figured any answer would shut me up.

If something hurt, Reiss could not tell us it hurt. He could not tell us what happened if something got hurt when we had our heads turned and didn't see him fall or bump his head or stub his toe. One can only imagine how frustrating and heartbreaking it was when Reiss, at 28 months old and on the day before I was scheduled to have a c-section for Milla, hurt his leg going down a slide and couldn't walk. We knew something was wrong with his leg but he couldn't tell us exactly where it hurt. Pointing to things to try to find the source of pain was, well, pointless. We would point to his ankle and ask if it hurt and he would nod his head. We would point to his knee and ask if it hurt and he would nod his head. We would then point to say, his nose and ask if it hurt and once again, he would nod his head. That entire incident was about $3000 worth of medical bills and a leg cast for several weeks, only to be told by the doctors that they were certain his leg was not broken but otherwise, had no clue why he would/could not walk on it. (And people wonder why I have so little faith in the majority of medical professionals. This is only one example of why, but I promise, I'll save that tangent for another day.) Within a few days of getting the cast, Reiss was walking again but still couldn't tell us what hurt.

After only a few weeks of being on a gluten-free, casein-free diet, Reiss's language in terms of functionality grew by leaps and bounds. He was answering questions more and more as the days passed. He seemed to better understand the dynamics of speech and how it could get him what he wanted. There are times when Reiss still has some issues with holding a conversation but he can certainly answer just about any type of question now. "Why" questions seem to be the most difficult for him but he will sometimes make up an answer - even if an illogical one. If it means I get an answer when I ask a question, rather than a blank stare, I'll take it!

Regarding sensory hyper-sensitivity.....
My most vivid memories of Reiss having hyper-sensitive senses are of the many, many months where he would just bawl his little eyes out if the phone rang. The vacuum cleaner seemed to be torturous to him. If a door was closed, not even slammed, the poor little guy was ready to jump out of his skin. He would stare at lights and giggle. Car rides were painful...for everyone involved. A simple ten minute ride from Point A to Point B almost always ended in an hour of trying to console our poor baby. We didn't know then that all of these were exactly what they seemed to be for him: way too much sensory overload for him to handle. I remember a particular family member chastising me for keeping the phone off the hook during naptimes and also for not wanting to go anywhere that required a long (in which, "long" consisted of anything more than fifteen minutes) drive. I was told, "Well, he needs to get used to it!" as if forcing him into these situations of enduring the phone ringing or riding around in the car or whatever else would somehow eventually ease the real pain going on in his little body.

Reiss did begin to very, very slowly outgrow most of these things but still, until we began dietary changes, rides in the car were not fun for anyone and the pain of hearing the vacuum cleaner was just simply too much for him. These days, Reiss loves to run the vacuum cleaner himself. Car rides are much easier, although I cannot say they are much quieter. However, the difference now is that it's a more joyful noise on most occasions.

Regarding sleep.....
Most people don't believe me when I tell them about Reiss's sleeping habits as a baby and on into toddler-hood. Occasionally, even other parents of children with autism don't believe me because sleep was not an issue with their child with ASD. But here it is and it is the honest to God's truth and it takes another parent who has been through it to fully comprehend that it really can be this bad.

Having been in the military and gone through Basic Training, I thought I knew sleep deprivation. Until Reiss came along though, I was clueless. Reiss never slept through the night until he was three-and-a-half years old. No, really, I'm serious - not ever, not even one time. And yes, I'm aware that the so-called experts consider six hours of straight sleep for an infant is considered "sleeping through the night." As a baby and up until he was around nine months old, Reiss would wake every fifteen to forty-five minutes, all through the night. I remember telling people this and they would think I was exaggerating. I always got the ol' "It will get better in a few months." answer. But it didn't get better. And of course they thought I was exaggerating - that simply is not a typical sleep pattern for an infant. But I didn't know that then. Well, I did know that but everyone told me I must be exaggerating so naturally, I just thought that it must be that bad with all infants and I was just being a wimpy new mommy. I also remember thinking that I didn't know why anyone would ever want more than one child. How would they ever get any sleep again?

Around the time Reiss was eight or nine months old and I was nearing the end of my rope due to total and complete sleep deprivation, I decided to let Reiss co-sleep with us. Co-sleeping improved his sleep habits but they were still very poor for a child of nine months. By then, he was still waking just about every hour. There were times when he didn't wake but he would laugh hysterically in his sleep. (You parents of children with autism, you know what I'm talking about and you also know that it probably seemed cute and adorable at one time but is now a nightmare come true if your child still does it.) If I was able to drop-off into a deep sleep for only two hours before he woke, I considered myself extremely lucky.

Reiss's constant waking continued for months and months. And years. He had begun sleeping in a toddler bed but was still waking quite often and many times in a state of ear-piercing screams and was unable to be consoled. Sometimes the "waking" when he was screaming those horrible screams was not him waking, but most likely night terrors, in which he was still technically asleep.

If you don't believe what I told you about Reiss's sleep habits before we began a GFCF (gluten-free, casein-free) diet, you almost certainly won't believe what happened after we began eating this way. The very first night after eating this way for an entire day, Reiss slept through the night, all night, without a single wakeup. I knew this diet was going to be a real pain for us and it created even more challenges of its own (as if we didn't already have enough things working against us), but it was that one thing - Reiss sleeping through the night after three and a half years of life and never having done so even one time - that convinced me that we had to keep on with this diet and at least make an attempt at improving the other troublesome symptoms Reiss exhibited.

Regarding stimming (self-stimulatory behaviors).......
Reiss exhibited many of the stereotypical stimming behaviors in autistic children. He toe-walked. At the time, I didn't know this was one of the signs of autism. Although not to the extent of many children with more severe autism, he flapped his arms. I didn't know that was one of the signs of autism either. He would spin in circles, sometimes with his hands at his sides and at other times, with them held out at shoulder level. I didn't know that was a sign of autism. He would lie on the floor, literally for hours on end rolling a truck back and forth, back and forth (to a point where he would throw a tantrum if we needed to leave the house or transition to doing something besides rolling that darn truck). I didn't know he was stimulating his visual sense by watching the wheels spin. I also didn't know that was another sign of autism. He had to have his shoes on all the time. And I mean all the time - even to bed at night. He would throw a fit if even one drop of water got on his shirt. He would get bent out of shape if his fork and plate sitting in front of him were accidentally bumped and moved just millimeters. All of these quirks, stims - whatever you want to call them - are signs of autism, yet every single one of these behaviors was dismissed as being normal toddler behavior when we brought them to the attention of our family doctor. We would tell our friends and family about our concerns and not once did anyone ever tell us that these are all signs of autism. We were always encouraged to believe these were all normal behaviors for a toddler. But we knew...we just knew something wasn't right.

We began treating Reiss with diet and supplements before he was diagnosed with autism (but WE had known for a long time!). His stimming behaviors began dissipating immediately. Occasionally - but not very often - we will see Reiss spinning in circles but it's a different kind of spinning. I know that sounds strange and I don't know how to explain it, but it's true. We do not see any of the other behaviors on a regular basis anymore. Sometimes Reiss wants to get water on his shirt. Other times he doesn't even want one drop of it near him. But having said that, it's not like it used to be where he was consistent with throwing a tantrum every single time his shirt inadvertantly came into contact with a drop of water.

As you can see from my post on Tuesday, we still have many of the tantrums and undesirable behaviors but we are learning and working and researching and tweaking this way of life of dietary restrictions and supplements, with the help of Reiss's DAN! doctor, to find what works to solve his problems and what does not work for him, as an individual. Overall, I think Reiss has come a long, LONG way in only a little over a year. I know of a few parents who would consider the improvements he has shown as nothing but miraculous. My husband and I accredit all of it to dietary restrictions, supplementation, and DAN! protocol. I hate to think of where we would be and the greater number of frustrations we would have if we had not at least given a try with this method of treatment.

Regarding ATEC Scores.......
I saved this part for last because I can go on and on and on all day long about how well I think Reiss has progressed and how much my husband and I attribute all of that progress to diet and supplements but it means nothing to most people if it's not coming from the mouth of a professional working in the field of autism.

ATEC stands for "Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist." An ATEC score determines a child's autism severity level. The higher the score, the more severe the autism is in the child. The lower the score, the more mild the autism is in the child. An ATEC score of 180 is the maximum, with the higher scores indicating severe autism in the child. It is only at a score of less than 50 that it is determined the child may have some success of leading a semi-independent life as an adult. At a score of around 30, the chances that the child may grow up to lead an independent become better. Many times when the score drops below 20, the child loses his autism diagnosis and behaves like any typical child.

When we first began seeing a special doctor for Reiss's autism, which was around three months into using dietary intervention and beginning supplements, Reiss's ATEC score was in the mid-eighties - simply put, his autism was moderately severe. I have to wonder how much higher it was before we even began dietary restrictions because I know by three months in, he had already improved quite drastically. Now, close to one year after our first ATEC scoring and almost a year and a half into changing his diet and adding in many supplements, Reiss received an ATEC score of 37 just two weeks ago. If that's not testimony enough as to the success of dietary invention and vitamin supplementation in children with autism, I don't know what is!

I can't wait to get started with ABA therapy as well, as it is one of the only therapies known to have a proven success rate in helping children with autism. It is also the only therapy that is recommended and supported by the Surgeon General (not that that means anything to me, but I'm sure it may mean something to others who are more trusting of those who are in charge of medical policy in this country) in developing abilities in children with ASD.

Do I think our way is the only way? Of course not. All of these children with autism are so different. After all, what may work for one child with autism, may not work for another. But I will say this, every single book and recovery success story I have read in regards to healing children of autism has always involved dietary intervention and ABA therapy. I think we are close to recovery with dietary intervention. I want to be even closer....

Next step, ABA. And it starts next week.

Because ONE Day Would Just Be Too Much To Ask....

I admit it. I envy parents of typical children. I envy how seemingly easy it is for most of them to just pack up the kids, pack up the car, and go out for a day of fun. I envy how they can think nothing of going to a movie their child has wanted to see or a restaurant for a special family dinner or heck, even just to the post office to mail a package.

I feel like my family's life is all about just wanting ONE day of knowing what it's like to have typical children. One day where we don't have to deal with autism. One day where I can look back at the end of the day and think "Wow, this must be what it's like to be a regular family." But apparently, one day like that is just too much to ask because I'm still waiting for it.

Packing up the kids and packing up the car for a day of fun (and I use the term "fun" very loosely because most of these outings for us consist mainly of chaos control and tantrum prevention) does not happen very often for us. Doing so means packing up food that fits our specialized diet, making sure we have enough clothes changes should we have any "accidents" with a child who would probably be potty-trained by this age, if he was a neurotypical. Don't get me wrong...I know it's not his fault he has autism and I do know we are lucky that he is "mostly" potty-trained, considering I have friends whose children with autism are seven, eight, nine years old and older who still wear diapers.

My kids do not watch tv so going to a movie is out of the question. It's not that we do not allow tv viewing in our home, they simply have no interest and no attention span to sit still for watching tv. Ask a typical child who their favorite cartoon character is and immediately they will spout off some silly Disney or Nickelodeon character. Ask my children who their favorite cartoon characters are and they will stare blankly, not even knowing what you're talking about.

Going to a restaurant? Ha! First of all, my children can't eat most of what is served in restaurants and again, there's the won't-sit-still factor. We could take our own food but then we have to talk to the manager of the restaurant. Then there's dealing with Reiss who has that wonderful aspect of autism that involves rigidity to sameness (although he uses this selectively, as you'll read later about fits involving me and giving him what I think he wants at the time) gets bent out of shape if his plate looks any different than Daddy's plate, so James can't really eat the food offered in the restaurant either unless we sit there with the whole restaurant patronage looking at us while our child throws a fit.

Going to the post office isn't impossible but it's no walk in the park. Typically, I try to do this, when needed, when Reiss is in preschool. Until about two months ago, Reiss hadn't even been in a post office for almost two years. I simply didn't want to deal with it.

Am I complaining? Yes, actually, I am and I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm not blaming anyone or blaming my child but yes, I am complaining. I get tired of all the challenges of autism and how it invades every aspect of our entire lives. Although I don't really pay attention anymore to the stares out in public, I do still get tired of them.

I get tired of every single day, nearly every waking moment being a challenge.

I am tired of politicians in high places cutting funds for services (i.e respite care....can I get a "Hell, yeah!" from those of you who know what I'm talking about???) families like mine desperately need and then offloading billions to people who have entered my country illegally. Yeah, I said it!

I am tired of trying what all the behavior "experts" whose clients are parents of typical children say to do for behavior modification and it not working with my child. I wish all these "experts" would walk a day in my shoes and understand that their Supernanny methods, 1-2-3 Magic, positive reinforcement, giving choices, and just about everything else imaginable doesn't always work with children with autism the way they swear it does with typical children. While all those are good methods and we have had limited success with each of them, the fact still remains that children like mine are wired differently. It's not just me saying this - it truly is a fact. Even my child's own preschool teacher understands that none of these methods will work consistently and for very long with a child with autism. So why don't these professionals who are getting paid multiple times more than her seem to get that?

I get tired of being judged for everything - how I handle situations with my children, the way I feed them, the treatments I choose to work towards recovering my children from autism, and on and on and on. Just this morning I was speaking with another mom of two boys with autism who told me her extended family swears that her sons' improvements towards recovery have nothing to do with the biomedical treatments (that are, coincidentally, very similar to the ones we use) she has been doing, but rather, her sons are simply "outgrowing" their autism. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry because we - my husband and I - have both heard things along the same lines.....

"Oh, it looks like Reiss is really starting to outgrow this..."

and

"Just give it a few years and he'll outgrow it."

I am tired of nearly every encounter with my child being a struggle. Reiss may want his pancake cut up today and then throw a ten-minute tantrum tomorrow because I cut it up. This evening I may give him a fork at dinner and then have to listen to him have a meltdown about "Why'd ya' give me a fork, Mommy?" when just yesterday he wondered why I didn't give him a fork. It's like no matter what I do, I have to think about my actions before doing them and recall what it was that made Reiss happy in the same situation ten minutes ago or this morning or yesterday and then recreate whatever made him happy, only to be met with a tantrum because this time he wanted it differently......again. Ignorant people call this being bratty. In my children, it's autism.

Yes, I'm complaining. And yes, I hate autism. And yes, I hate living in a world that's not made for people like me or my children. And yes, I am having a bad day. Yes, I would love to be one of those mothers of children with autism who just puts on a happy face all the time but that's not me. And honestly, I have a feeling that it's not really how those moms feel either......they just save their unhappiness for more private moments. I don't know of a single mom who will say they love autism or the challenges it creates.

I'm done....that's all, folks. Back to the grind and tantrums and challenges and endless paperwork for services for my children and therapies and phone calls to therapists and finding a babysitter who truly "gets" it and finding that magic combo that will save me my sanity improve my child's well-being.....

Mysterious Milla Meltdowns Mean No Mommy Break For Me

On the second Thursday of every month (except December!) there is a women's church group meeting, called Elizabeth Ministry Gathering, that meets at the church of a few of my other mommy friends. Typically, I try to go to the meeting but have been very sporadic in those efforts the last several months. One of my goals (I'm not calling them resolutions because many of them are not "fixing" anything, but rather, efforts to simply do better in particular aspects of my life.) for 2010 is to get out more amongst other moms and also to try and attend each month's EM Gathering. I keep telling myself I need these Mommy Timeouts.

I made it to January's EM Gathering and was well on my way to making it to this evening's meeting too until a few minutes before I planned to shovel my dinner in and make my way out the door. That is when the Mysterious Milla Meltdown occurred.

Milla has meltdowns all the time (yes, I know, two-year-olds do that - so save me the "That's-totally-normal" lecture, please.) so the fact that she was having a meltdown was not out of the ordinary at all. What was strange though, was how she was conducting her tantrum. A few minutes before dinner was ready, she walked her little shirtless self into the laundry room, left the light in there turned off, closed the door, and sat down on the floor. A few minutes later she started screaming and crying. I made an attempt to go comfort her and try to bring her out but she was having none of it. She screamed when I turned the light on. She flailed when I tried to pick her up. She was not coming out of there. So I left and continued with cooking dinner.

A few minutes later, same scene, different position. Milla had gone from sitting on the floor to lying down on the cold tile floor. Let's not forget she was shirtless too, so I know she had to be cold because the laundry room connects to the door going to the garage and it gets cold, cold, cold in there.

She screamed to have the light turned off when I turned it on. She screamed answers to all my questions:

Me: Do you want anything?
Milla: NO!!!!

Me: Are you hungry?
Milla: NO!!!!

Me: Do you want to eat dinner?
Milla: NO!!!!

Me: Do you want the light on or off?
Milla: Light OOOOOOOFFFFFFFF!!!!

So I left her in there again. She would not come out for dinner. James, Reiss, and I all ate dinner without her while she sat in there letting out an occasional wail for goodness knows what reason. She didn't want to eat and we did ask several times while we, ourselves, sat, eating our own dinner.

Meanwhile, it was getting closer and closer to the time when I needed to leave to go to my EM meeting but I still planned on going. But the nervous mommy in me set in and the fear of all the "what if" scenarios would not stop nagging me. So I stayed home.

Just before all this happened, Milla had eaten part of a sucker given to her from Reiss's and her occupational therapist. Normally, we do not allow artificial dyes or flavors and we try to stay away from soy. While we are not as stringent with these things like we are with gluten and casein, we do allow exceptions occasionally. This sucker had all three of those things in it - red dye, artificial flavoring, and soy lecithin.

Now I know for people who are not familiar with this diet we are on, or for those who do know about it but do not put a whole lot of stock in it, it may sound ridiculous and downright paranoid of me to think that a little sucker would cause such a reaction in a child - or more specifically, my child. However, I have observed enough of my own kids' reactions to different foods to know that yes, something as trivial as a few licks on a Valentine's sucker can indeed induce such a reaction with one of my children.

Before I even allowed the occupational therapist to give Reiss or Milla the suckers, she volunteered the bag upfront so that I could check out the ingredients list. The list didn't have any glutenous or casein-containing ingredients on it so I said "what the heck" and made an exception, all while hearing that little voice inside tell me I shouldn't.

Next time I will listen to that little voice and maybe, just maybe, listening will result in Mommy getting a break that evening.

Lesson learned: Listen to the voices in your head.

Happy Belated Blogiversary To Me!

And to celebrate, I am doing another giveaway!

It was around this time last year that I began blogging about my family's life, the challenges of having a child with autism, and on many occasions, about nothing in particular. In the year that has passed, I have read several books on autism, treatments for it, and the stories of other parents and their trials in raising a child with autism. Some of the books have been so-so. Others I finished with an attitude of wanting to change the world, or at the very least, make it a much better place for my child and his needs.

The book that has captivated my attention and influenced me like no other is A Child's Journey Out of Autism by Leeann Whiffen. Although it is a story about one particular family's journey into and out of autism - and not a reference book for treatment options like many others I have read - it is definitely a book I know I will refer back to quite often for years to come.

With that said, I am offering a new copy (not mine! Mine is dog-eared and highlighted and well-loved.) of A Child's Journey Out of Autism as a blogiversary gift from me to whomever wins.

To enter this giveaway, please read carefully:

1. Giveaway entries will be received by emailing your street address and blog address to pnewlin@prodigy.net by January 31st. Entries received after January 31st will not be valid.
2. Please put "Blog Giveaway" in the subject line of your message.
3. If you would like to increase your chance of winning by receiving two entries into the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post in addition to sending an email to me.

Masters of Disasters

Last Wednesday Reiss' class made gingerbread men. Because our family eats gluten and casein free, Reiss obviously cannot have the traditional gingerbread cookie dough, so I made a really great GFCF version of it and sent some of it to school with him. What was left of it was dealt with on Saturday evening.

A little bit of tapioca flour for dusting down the table and making sure the dough didn't stick when rolling.....

Reiss eating a bunch of icing. YUM! And we have one shirt off....

If it looks like fun, I can tell you it really was a good time. I don't think I remember the last time Reiss and Milla stayed occupied for so long with one activity. It was nice to be able to just sit and relax without having to entertain them or worry what they were getting into...who cares that they made a ginormous mess. They had fun and the mess was cleaned up in about ten minutes - a nice trade-off for about twenty minutes of breathing time for me.

And no, you are not imagining things. Yes, they were eating the gingerbread cookie dough raw and although I am not one to worry about salmonella in raw cookie dough, I definitely didn't need to worry about it with this dough because the recipe is free of gluten, casein, and is egg-free as well. You can find the recipe HERE. It is Lisa Lewis' recipe for Gingerbread People from her book, Special Diets for Special Kids.


Moving on to other messes....

Our new two-person, open-concept shower.....

The extra-wide, extra-deep spa tub and glass block window....

The granite countertop we had made for a miraculously inexpensive price by purchasing a remnant.

And finally, what happens when someone (not me!) adds "a little bit" of shower gel to a spa tub with the jets turned on......

I am still left wondering how much constitutes "a little bit."

Breakfast with Santa Claus

Reiss, Milla, and Daddy at one of the craft tables. They made little reindeer ornaments with popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and googley eyes.

Reiss getting ready to tell Santa Claus to bring him a Colts shirt, please - with buttons! We're still trying to figure that one out.

Reiss surprised us with his willingness to sit on Santa's lap. Milla wasn't having any of it!

Another surprise.....Reiss not only did not throw a fit about the horse, he was very willing to check him out and even give him a little pat. If I sound pessimistic, I don't mean to. I'm just going by most of our experiences with animals. Reiss and Milla are both terrified of most animals - even Grandma's chihuahua. In their defense though, Grandma's chihuahua is yippity-yappy and more hyper than Reiss doped up on candy bars.

Dancer and his merry red-painted hooves. This was the last photo I took before we all went on a very, very chilly carriage ride.

Yesterday was our breakfast with Santa Claus. The event was held at a church not far from our house and was sponsored by our county's autism support group. Although we had to take our own food in order to be able to stick to eating GFCF, it was nice to be around others who "get it."

No one around to point, stare, and whisper if our children began having an all-out meltdown over something as trivial as a drop of water getting on their shirt or having to have the food wiped from their faces (as was the case with us). Really, I'm not prejudiced against people who only have typical children but I do get tired of the looks we receive. If pointing and staring at children like mine is the example these parents are setting for their own children, it's no wonder why their kids grow up to be the ones who bully kids like mine once they are in school.

I will not go off on that tangent though. This is supposed to be a positive post!

Reiss and Milla got to eat breakfast at a table decorated with Christmas decor and marshmallows for snow, work on crafts, see Santa Claus, use bathrooms away from home (which is the whole reason we went there, right?), and take a carriage ride. It was incredibly cold yesterday but fun was had by all. Other than the mouth-wiping incident, I would say it was one of our best outings in quite some time.

Things Are Better Than I Make Them Sound

First things, first.

Celeste Jean, if you are reading, I have emailed you to request your mailing address for your Betty Crocker prize pack to be sent to you. If you're like me, you may get a lotta, lot of email and perhaps did not see my message, so I wanted to bring it to your attention on here.

We did not get to do the adorable marshmallow craft pictured below this morning because I am a slacker mommy. I was going to go to the craft store last night to get the styrofoam ring to make it and noticed that I didn't have any marshmallows either. I could have just sworn I had a bag of the large kind in the pantry but alas, none, and I didn't want to make two separate stops last night. So, going to the craft store and getting marshmallows at the grocery are both on the list of to-do errands this weekend. Maybe we can save this project for a craft-time activity for Monday.

This week has been a challenging week. Dealing with this autism thing day in and day out, one would think I would get used to some of the more annoying behaviors and just let them roll off - and really, sometimes I do.

However, this week and over the past two or three weeks now I have heard the question "What's gonna happen if I close the gate while I'm on the brown?" probably no less than 422,000 times. See, Reiss knows how to open the gate at the top of the stairs but we keep it there so that Milla doesn't fall down the stairs. Reiss is welcome to let himself through the gate and to the stairs going to the basement whenever he wants. Too often though, he will open the gate, stand on the top step (which is brown, hence, "the brown") and try to close the gate behind him, all while asking that question....the question that I am just certain if I hear it one more time, steam will come barreling out of my ears or nose or mouth or all three combined.

When I tried to express my frustration on facebook about this, I got the typical phrase all parents of children with autism just love to hear: "Oh, that's normal. All kids do that." Well, that wasn't exactly what was told to me but that was the jist of it and any parent in this position knows that this kind of behavior is not normal. If I had a dime for every time I've heard the "All kids do that....blah, blah, blah." Whatever....come walk in my shoes for a day and you will know what I'm talking about.

Yes, all typical kids will ask questions over and over. For example, "Can I have ________, please? Pleeeeeaaaase? I promise, promise, promise I'll be good." And that's what the parent may hear several times in one day. If you're one of these people, seriously, tell me, when was the last time your typical child asked you the same question three-hundred, four-hundred, or even more times in one day? And yes, I am being literal. Those numbers are no exaggeration.

If I sound like I'm complaining, well, maybe I am and this is my blog so I'll do what I want. Call it what you will but I have the right just like anyone else to vent now and then. And don't even get me started on the petty little complaints on some of my facebook friends' pages to the likes of "Oh, poor me. I'm so tired. I need a nap." from people who don't even have kids, much less a kid with autism. I really just want to tell them to suck it up and that they don't know the first thing about exhaustion. Ask any parent about exhaustion and I bet close to 100% will say they never knew the true meaning of exhaustion until they had kids. And that's saying a lot coming from me, someone who was in the military, someone who knows what it's like to get up at 4am, go to PT and then train all day long for an eighteen to twenty hour day.

Blah, blah, blah.....blah.....blah, blah, blah!!!

Yes, I am very frustrated this week.

Guess what Milla's thing is right now? She likes to take her pull-up off and get a new one every few minutes. By 11 am this morning, she had changed her pull-up no less than fifteen times. Keep in mind, that is only about two hours that she had time to do it too, because she woke up a little before 8am and her speech therapist was here for an hour. She did not pull off her pull-up any while the ST was here so that only leaves about two hours - or an average of a new pull-up about every eight minutes. Good times.......

On a more positive note, we are going to have breakfast with Santa this weekend. We have to take our own food, because although it is sponsored by an autism support group, many of the parents do not use any special diets for treating their child's autism and the food there will be traditional fare, almost certain to contain all kinds of gluten and casein. I am happy to have friends who also eat gluten-free and casein-free who will be in attendance. There's nothing I hate more than being the freaks wherever we go because we don't eat things others do. I'm starting to think this must be how people feel who eat a raw diet or vegan or both.

It will also be interesting to see the kids' reactions to Santa and if they will go near him. Hopefully, I will not forget the camera. Let's hope I have something pleasant to photograph.

And another positive....Reiss pooped on the potty last night!!! Something that has not happened much as of late. Just when we think we have his "currency" figured out to bribe him to poop on the potty, he switches things up on us and his currency turns to something else that we can't figure out and the old currency is worthless. Right now, chocolate candy bars are out. "Bugs" are in. Bugs are gummy fruit snacks, such as the Betty Crocker Create-a-Bug snacks I recently reviewed. We also buy the Annie's bunnies, but wow, are they expensive!

Well, I'm sure no one came here to read me complain about everything under the sun and since I'm not having the greatest week or looking at things with the best perspective....Toodles!

Until next time...

Alec's Journey

Today has been a bad, bad day and as a mommy who is having a serious "autism day," this video gives me hope.........

Alec's Journey

Invitation to Plug Your Fave Book/Website

Between dealing with a home remodel project under the supervision of the world's slowest contractor, my growing dissatisfaction with Reiss' progress (yes, I DO indeed recognize this is not his fault!), and everything else going on, I am getting more and more frustrated with eating a gluten-free, casein-free diet and not being able to get a break from cooking and dishes. I'm tired of the same old fare I seem to be rotating in an organized fashion.

So with all that said, please share (in the comments section) your favorite book or website that caters to gluten-free - and casein-free, if possible! - recipes and cooking.

And I hate to have to give this little disclaimer but there are the few who ruin it for the many: Any website postings meant to be advertisements for any products or services unrelated to gluten-free dieting will be deleted.

Post away, people!!! Pleeeeeaaaaasssee, post away!

Join Me on Facebook for Biomedical Discussions!

This is just a quick heads up to all my bloggie world friends that a few friends and I have created a facebook group called DAN!/Biomedical Parents. If you are interested in joining, the aforementioned boldface words are the exact words you will want to search for when on facebook.

The intent of the group is for those who are using the DAN! protocol or those who are interested in learning more about it to discuss issues relating to the protocol and other biomedical treatment methods used in treating individuals with ASD's.

Here is the fine print, per se. And I hate to have to say it but unfortunately, as my friends and I have found in the past, it is necessary: Currently, the group is set as "open," making it available for any facebook member anywhere in the world to join. If problems should arise with any member or members causing trouble (bashing, criticizing treatment choices of other members, etc.), said members will be booted from the group and the group will be reset as "secret." In the event that the group is changed to secret mode, it will not be searchable on facebook and membership will be by invitation only.

Come join us on facebook and give us an introduction! I look forward to "meeting" all of you!

Swine Flu Vax Is A Moral Obligation???

Really? Seriously?
Read what I'm talking about here.....

Swine Flu Vax 'A Moral Obligation'

I am speechless, yet totally outraged at the same time, by the audacity of these people who are supposed to be "religious leaders" for their labelling the H1N1 vaccination 'a moral obligation.'

Um, no, I don't think so! Plain and simple. Who the you-know-what do they think they are, anyway???

And because I refuse to get off on a tangent and get any madder at these ignorant souls today, this concludes my post for the day, folks!

Enjoy! And don't shoot me....I'm just the messenger.

A (Nearly) Perfect Autumn Day

Today we went to a birthday party for a little boy who is our neighbor and a very good friend. In the last three and a half years, even before the little guy came along, James and I have really gotten to know his mother and father and they are awesome people. By the way, if you click on the link on the right for "The Wellness Philosophy," that is our neighbor's blossoming business.

The birthday party for our little friend was held at a park fairly close to our house. We have been there one other time and didn't think much of it but obviously it was because we did not walk around a whole lot while there. When we went today, we found there was a bridge over a stream that led to what must be miles and miles of cleared away and paved trails. It was an unbelievable surprise, to say the least.

At one point, I was walking along one of the trails with Milla while Reiss and James were over in the playground area and, with all the colorful leaves falling all around us and just being in the middle of it all, it felt like a little slice of Heaven. Being back there surrounded by all the color and beauty of the environment, one would never guess there is the hustle and bustle of a very busy commercial area close by and a very well-travelled street right outside the park's gates. It was refreshing and relaxing and I could have kicked myself for forgetting to bring the camera. The setting provided a perfect opportunity for one of those kinds of photos where a child is pictured from the back wondering amidst falling leaves and those already on the ground. Grrrr! Maybe next week.....

Our neighbor, who has shown great interest in the biomedical treatments we use in treating Reiss' autism, attended one of the DAN! conferences and is now a practicing provider in the DAN! protocol. Because she is so aware of the importance of our GFCF diet, she made a cake especially for us to eat at her own son's birthday party! How cool is that? And although I told her to please do not do anything special for us, I have to admit, that is a true friend!

There were several children at the party and we all played on the playground equipment and walked around (making certain to avoid a very large, very disrespectful pile of dog poo someone failed to dispose of - seriously...what is wrong with people?) and talked and it was just great fun.

There was one time when Milla was making her way up the steps to the slide and I had to seriously restrain myself and now I wish I hadn't but who knows what the consequences would have been had I opened my mouth. Anyway, there was a little girl of about four years old who was trying to get past Milla rather than wait her turn. Her father kept telling her to wait her turn and she kept on trying to get past Milla and the father grabbed her on her chest (like one of her breasts) and squeezed and very angrily told her to wait her turn. She let out a little wail and, although I did see it happen, I didn't need to see it happen to know by her wailing that it hurt pretty badly. Call me a wimp and call me a stereotyper, but I kept my mouth shut because all his tattoos running up and down his arms scared the crap out of me. Now I'm wishing I would have said something....poor little girl. If he does that out in public, I don't even want to think what happens at home when she does something he disapproves of. (SIGH!)

The child abuser was the worst part of my afternoon. Otherwise, things were mostly ideal. The kids played fuss-free for nearly two hours. They were very happy and having fun and probably would have played even longer without any fits but Milla was getting tired and naptime was approaching, so we left. Milla was worn out and was asleep in her carseat as we approached our house.

It doesn't sound like a particularly spectacular day but it was a great Autumn day and one I will remember for a long time.

Let's Just Get Something Straight Here....

People, you do have rights regarding your child and vaccinations. Yes, Americans do still have a right to refuse to vaccinate their children....for now, anyway.....and they can still go to school! Although I would love to be a homeschool parent myself, becoming one is not a requirement if a person chooses not to vaccinate their child. Amazing!

I know this comes as a surprise to many people because, not only was I unaware until early last year when we began looking into not vaccinating our own children any further, but I was once again reminded just this morning when not a single one of the mothers who came to a playgroup I hosted were aware of the laws either in regard to vaccinating children and admission to school.

Let the CDC, the FDA, and the American Academy of Pediatrics be damned for their part in convincing unknowing new (as well as not-so-new!) parents that vaccinating their days old infants is the law and the only way to go. And shame on people like myself for blindly believing our doctors without looking into things further! If I knew four years ago what I know now....but hindsight is twenty-twenty. At least now maybe I can inform other individuals who may have otherwise gone ahead and let medical personnel shoot up their infant every few weeks with all sorts of harmful and unnecessary chemicals.

On numerous occasions, people have asked me, "Well, if you have stopped vaccinating your children, how are they going to attend school? The school requires vaccination records."

Oh.....the "requirement." Yeah, well, it's not a requirement and I wish the schools and doctors and everyone who is so darn pro-vaccine would stop referring to it as such. Yes, it is indeed a requirement that parents provide vaccination records in order for their children to attend school. However (and here is where the confusion comes in), showing the records is what is required - not getting the vaccinations.

So exactly how do we plan to have our children attend school without having all their vaccinations? It's very simple, really. It's this wonderful thing called a waiver. There are three different types of waivers - medical, religious, and philosophical - and all fifty states have at least one type that people can claim, with most states offering two or all three of them.

If you are interested in seeing which types of waivers your state allows, please visit the National Vaccine Information Center.

Please be informed of your rights and what you are putting into your child. Do it for your child and for yourself and do it for those of us who wish we had done so ourselves.....before our children became autistic.

Go, Kim, Go!!!

Seeing that I've done a lot of blog reading and not a lot of blog writing in the last several days, I thought I would share something I came across this evening. Actually, to avoid confusion, I get on the Age of Autism website every few days. To refer to this as "something I came across" sounds as though I stumbled onto it by accident, which isn't the case. Either way, I found it of interest and wanted to link directly to it......

Kim Stagliano (of Age of Autism)
Speaks at Town Hall Meeting

I think the point that stood out to me most was when Kim mentioned the shock this Congressman had at hearing of the financial devastation so many families of children with autism face. These guys are so high in the clouds, they need to be brought down several notches into the reality the rest of us are living in. Seriously......

When we first began this journey ourselves, I came across a figure that estimated 80% of families with at least one child with autism will claim bankruptcy at some point. Unfortunately, I found this tidbit of information at a time when I felt very lost and overwhelmed in a sea of information and therefore, do not have a source to cite.

Regardless of the lack of a source, knowing how our own medical bills have progressively mounted over the last year or so, it does not surprise me if the estimation is accurate. We have gone from "pretty comfortable" to financially planning for the unexpected-and-possibly-thousands-of-dollars-out-of-pocket (many autism-related treatments are not even covered by health insurance) worth of medical bills that seem to pop up for us every few months. Reiss' seizure back in June being the most recent.

Having said that, if this is our own situation, I can't help but think how devastating it must be for families who are in much less cushy - for lack of a better word - financial situations than our own. So very sad, yet something these politicians need to understand. They need to hear it again and again and again and...............

We are not going away and we will not back down.