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Thursday, 18 March 2010

  • Medicine that won't go down...

    It’s a common phenomenon for many of us with children on the spectrum – those pesky fine and gross motor skills, with a dash of scattered sequencing and a dollop of mis-matched motivation – a recipe for disaster if ever I heard one.

    They come to the fore every mealtime to taunt and tangle with us. Although we persevere with cutlery my children insist that everything is finger food. Let’s be honest here, how many other parents, cooks and nutritionists also have to factor in ‘splash, spill and ping,’ distance into their calculations?

    But they keep getting bigger, so something must be reaching their intestines, one way or another. Just lately, it’s ‘another,’ because although they don’t conform to the conventional, they’re nothing if not inventive.  

    More Here...
  • C is Celebrating 21 years!

    I want to bounce into C’s room singing ‘happy birthday’ giving him a big hug and showering him with kisses and presents. But I know what would happen if I did. And it is not about me.

    So I walk into C’s room, he spies me with his peripheral vision. And then he looks at me, head tilted upside down, fingers pressed into the corner of his eyes. C hums loudly to drown out anything I might say. So I whisper in short sentences not directed at him but to the birthday present I am holding. His humming becomes quieter as if he is straining to hear what I am describing. I don’t give C the present as I know he will push it away so I open it and leave it in his room for him to look at in his own time. But I know he won’t touch it, he hardly ever touches anything, his fingers are glued in his ears.
    C doesn't want for much, I have to be inventive. So apart from a few presents I give him experiences – memories.
    Because of C's love of loud music we went to see We Will Rock You.
    More Here...

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

  • Are you the Perfect Mother you want to be?

    How many times does a mother feel a failure?  Am I the only one?

    I think I’m a good mother, but I have more moments than I ever wish to admit where a meltdown of all that is holding me together occurs.  I don’t know why.  From playing a more-or-less single mom for 1 ½ months with the same time to go? The pressure?  The insurmountable number of aIl I have to do in order to balance family and self?  Or just what’s on the family list?  Or am I selfish for wanting, for needing a “self” list?   More Here...

  • Vaccine-Autism - The Other Cost of the Debate

    Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who first concluded that autism and the MMR vaccine were linked, was found guilty of over 30 charges by the General Medical Council. He has been on trial for more than two years. You can read the Fitness to Practice Panel documents here:

    All over the internet, people are spouting reactions. Clearly, I’m a fan of the internet, and opinion spouting, but tonight I am concerned about the larger effects of this extended controversy.

    What has the Vaccine Controversy Cost Us?  More Here...
  • We Exist - Scottish Autism Strategy Bill

    I have an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) yet I consider myself very fortunate that I have had little need to access any support services. Had it been possible to have received a diagnosis as a child perhaps I would have had support and my life may have been different. Whether it would have been any better I can't say, I like my life and I have no complaints. However there are many people on the spectrum whose autism is a serious impairment to living a full and productive life around half of whom it would appear are not well served by support services. When I say "around half" that is a guess because without accurate recording of people with autism, their requirements and provision of services we really don't know how inadequate the provision is. We do know from a recent survey by NAS Scotland that 48% rated their overall experience of services to help them with their autism as either poor or very poor and that a third of people have had to go to a tribunal to get the right support. The same survey found that 95% of people believe it is necessary to create a legal duty on local authorities and health boards.   More Here...
  • Do I Dare Jinx It and Say Jaylen is Potty Trained?

    I knew it would take a long time to potty train Jaylen.  Boys usually take longer, and kids on the Autism spectrum take much longer.  So we were dealing with a double whammy.

    Two weeks ago Jaylen's teacher said that she thought he was ready.  Her suggestion was to basically stop playing around and just do it.  Put underwear under the Pull Up for the car ride to school, and then she would take it off and have him in just underwear while there.  I felt ashamed that she was willing to take that step and be consistent with it at school when I was too lazy and inconsistent at home to really just pull the trigger.

    We had been "dabbling" in potty training for almost a year.  He showed interest way back then so we started him on sitting, coloring and reading on the potty.  He got a treat for trying, but didn't really get the concept at all.  He would sit on the potty, then stand up and pee on the carpet before I got the Pull Up on.    More Here...
  • The Symptoms of Asperger

    I’m going to speak about some of the symptoms in this post, mentioned on sites such as the National Autistic Society (UK) and if/how I’ve experienced them. It’s about time I got around to doing some more posts…I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with computers and such.

    Anyway, it’s time I got on to it.

    “difficulty understanding gestures, facial expressions or tone of voice”

    As such, I haven’t had too much of a problem with facial expressions. Sometimes I get them mixed up and try very hard to determine what people are thinking or feeling like from the look on their face but get it wrong – though this is very rare and I usually have no difficulty at all with processing facial expressions.

    Tone of voice is more of a problem with me than facial expressions and hand gestures. I will find it hard to determine if you are being sarcastic or not, joking…or being serious. It can be difficult at times, but it’s usually not a problem with me.   More Here...

  • Quote of the day - An Example of not understanding Idioms

    When I once told Dannie not to put all her eggs in one basket, she went into the kitchen and took all the eggs out of the fridge and started placing them around the house, I asked her what on earth she was doing, she said "Putting our eggs in different baskets."

    As I stopped her (before we ended up with omlette all over the house.)

    I had to explain to her what I meant. 
    More Here...
  • Federal Autism Coverage Madate: WE NEED IT

    For those of you who do not have a child with autism, ask yourself "what would I do if my child was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder"?  Most of you would seek treatment - as soon as possible.  Most of you would want the best and most effective, scientifically-proven method of treatment for your child.  And some of you would seek alternative treatments - any means of possibly "curing" your child of this disorder. A disorder so few people know anything about.


    But most of you would find out that ANY treatment for autism is very expensive, difficult to obtain and not covered by insurance companies.  More Here...
  • The Strenghts of my First Born, Justin

    Justin does show affection to Mommy & Daddy. I have to say he is my first born and I spoiled him with affection from the first moment he was placed on my chest, when born. I had a c-section with both kids and when Justin was born, I immediately fell in love.

    Some women say that they don't immediately feel like they "love" this being that's been living in their belly making them uncomfortable all that time....not me. I always knew I wanted to be a mother. I'm glad I did wait until I was older. When you're younger your just not ready emotionally, intellectually.....life hasn't prepared you enough. So when I did have my boy at 33 I was ecstatic. I carried him ALL THE TIME. Yes I know, I did not follow any of the rules. I wanted to hold him all the time. I sang to him, he was my biggest fan. I have video footage of how he'd react when I sang.   More Here...

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