Today was a good day for Adrian. We had a little upset with showering, but other than that and two potty accidents he did quite well. Tomorrow is his first Kindergarten field trip and I will be going with him. I am hoping things go well and he does not have a meltdown. We got some more difficult news... Jade has auditory processing issues and ADHD due to her epilepsy. Makes me think Adrian's maybe not due to Autism, but instead due to his epilepsy. Yes we know have one child who is on the spectrum, has Epilepsy and is ADHD and one who has Epilepsy, ADHD and an auditory processing issue. Life could be more difficult however. I am glad the kids still enjoy living and try not to let their issues bother them too much. I am in processing information mode and finding the best help possible so they can learn effective ways to manage and cope and hopefully learn at school also. I do not want them falling behind. Adrian is still not wanting to move into the next phase of toilet training and I don't want to push him there. I want him to be able to understand what is being done and why. We threw a getting rid of Diapers party last summer and moved into night time pull-ups and daytime underwear. He has shown a lot of progress with the potty portion, but not #2. I am not sure if the toilet scares him or what it is.

http://www.amazon.com/Udis-Original-Cranberry-Hawaiian-BanaBerry/dp/B000PW05MQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

This is a new food product I am going to try for Adrian. He is starting the GFCF diet as of last month so Hopefully once he is fully free of these products his rage episodes will decrease. I will let you know how things turn out.

Since no one reads this it is basically a chronicle of our lives through navigating Autism and any unexpected occurrences. Adrian has seemingly began to revert to his self stimulating behaviors. Hand-flapping, jumping all the time, ear covering, tantrums and more... I have to assume this is because of his move to kindergarten. He says he is angry a lot during the day and kids are too loud. There is not much I can do to solve this that I am aware of. Therapy over the summer seemed to be a great tool that got him out of his comfort zone and helped him to not need self stimulating as much. He is still in therapy outside of school, but only once a week now instead of twice and it does not seem to have the same affect on him since he began school. He has gone from a classroom with maybe six or seven children to one that has twenty children. That is a big leap for a child with ASD or any child at all for that matter. The self stimulating bothers me because I know he needs something else and even with therapy techniques he does not seem to be getting what he needs. I am currently debating on purchasing a large board that he can spin on. The cost is what has me debating it. We just found out that Adrian will receive SSI based on my husband Steve's income so I should just buy it right? Problem is we are still trying to pay off what seems like an enormous never ending debt to the place that diagnosed Adrian and then therapy bills. I am also concerned that he may never use this board for it's intended purpose. We have hundreds of Thomas the Train items that have been purchased over the last four and a half years now that never get used. He used to line them up and talk about the characters non stop now he hardly mentions Thomas at all unless a new movie or book comes out. It is about Cars now. and Dora and any number of shows that provide long strands of information he can use as conversation or in repetition. He has always been that way though so that is not new. Just thought I would vent to myself a little.

I Plan to buy Adrian the Train Sound Puzzle This week. His therapist recommends puzzles to help sharpen his motor skills

 

http://www.melissaanddoug.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=adwords&os=adwords&gclid=CI7T_LSuzqMCFSVL5wodZUTevg 

 

My Page - Autism Speaks Social Network

My Page - Autism Speaks Social Network

Video005.3gp

Adrian is a handful. He is amazingly bright, but throws a temper tantrum like no child I have ever seen before. Lately he throws or knocks over things when frustrated. Today he threw a bunch of items because his computer game did not do what he wanted it to. Then when it was time for bed and to turn off the computer game he threw more items. He is physically abusive at times and there is not a lot I can do to keep him from pinching, slapping, kicking and even biting when he does not get his way. When school is out he becomes an entirely different child. He loses focus and is generally unhappy unless watching cartoons or playing computer games. Sounds odd for a six year old child not to enjoy going outside, but given the choice he usually chooses to stay in. I can't hardly blame him because when he goes outside he has sensory overload and wanders off. He calls it exploring, I call it the worst kind of safety hazard. He could be half way down the block in a matter of minutes and I can't yell out to him because he does not respond. This makes parenting an extremely difficult task while outside. I expect that any parent who has a child on the Autism Spectrum has felt the same exact way. What I am hoping is to find other parents who deal with issues like this and figure out how they have handled them. Any strategy would be good. Thanks!!!

Today Adrian had a horrible melt down. Adrian is my husband and my second child, our baby, who has recently been diagnosed with PDD-NOS. Melt downs should not surprise me, He has at least one everyday, today however was different. He threw and spit out food all over our floor and then proceed to spit on me and assault me. He is only six, but a very strong six year old. It is exhausting to deal with on an every day basis. I figured maybe writing would help. We were supposed to do our first Autism function tonight, but due to lack of funds were unable to. I am not sure how Adrian would have handled it anyways. Tomorrow he is supposed to spend a night with his sister at his Papa and Grandma's house not sure how he will deal with that either. He is a stubborn little boy!!! I am hoping the next session with his therapist is scheduled soon because it seemed to help. and he will not let up about the three fancy girls he met at his cousin Lisa's birthday party. He named them coffee, water, and sprite. I am not sure what their actual names are we were too busy chasing Adrian to even ask. there is a lot of chasing involved when you have a child like Adrian. I think I am through for now. Good Bye :)

It has been awhile since I blogged and I have free time now so I figured why not? The economy is shot! My husband had been employed as a maintance technican for five years. Almost to the day of his five year anniversy with the company he was told he would be laid off for six months until November. Well now the company is saying they may not bring everyone back which I did not know at the time, he may have known however. So he is receiving unemployment for right now which runs out in September. We have know idea if he will qualify for an extenstion, but the last time he was unemployed he did not qualify. So that really worries me as well as him I am sure. Then I was told I have to find my own internship by September in order to qualify for graduation and I am stressing over that because I have no idea of how to go about finding an internship. My daughter has had a round of freighting seizures which have also scared her neuroloist so badly that she is being sent to a specialist in Grand Rapids and my son must have surgery in August. It seems too much for one year. On the plus side we got rid of our crappy refridgerator and replaced it with a second hand one that is much better so far. The first one we bought brand new from Lowes when we moved in our house in 2005 and for the past like nine months it has been pooling water in the bottom of the fridge. Which is extremely annoying and messy. Either all our food would freeze solid or it would rot and mold from water damage. We found out when we moved out the old one that it had leaked on our floor within the past couple of days too. Also I got a new computer which I REALLY needed since I am completeing my college degree on Baker online. The old one was not fast enough. Steven cashed in his vacation days two weeks worth after his employer told him he was going to be laid off and he got a lumpsum from that. We still have to pay for a loan that we took out of his 401K though even though he may never work for them again. Which sucks it's $9.00 a week so that's not too bad. I think that is about all that is going on at this point. I applied for a job today. Maybe i'll get it that would be great!!!

Hello all ! Wow it has been awhile since my last post. My children are growing like crazy. Jade will turn Seven, Adrian Four this year. Steven and I will be 28. We now Have two kittens, Fiona and Chewbacca and one very hyper dog Daisy. We recently found out that Jade has epilepsy and Mono and Adrians Kidney disease seems to be clearing up well. I am still in college working towards my Associates degree in Accounting and I have until fall 2008 before I complete my degree. Steven is still hard at work for Eagle Alloy, INC. where he works as a third shift maintance technican. For those of you who do not know of that company they are one of the biggest steel foundries in MI owing three other Eagle companies besides the one Steven works for. They make parts for tons of different companies including bob cat and Harley Davidson. Steven has been there since April 2004 and really likes it there. I am hoping to return to work sometime this year. Jade starts school full time this September and I have been off work since 2003 so I am ready to return to the workforce.

It has been awhile since my last post. Things have been pretty crazy lately. We are getting ready for two family weddings both of my sisters are getting married. Chantilly on August 11 and Melissa on September 15. Steven, Jade, Adrian and I are in both weddings which will be fun. The Photo above is of our newest Kitten Fiona Steven named her after the princess in Shrek. We got her on April 25th, 07. I am in my Sixth semester at Baker Online! I love it there. Right now I am Job hunting with little success. I won't finish my associates until August of 08 so I was hoping to work before then. Jade and Adrian will both be at OECC starting September 4 so starting work seems like it would be a good option. I haven't worked since August 2003 and I am anxious to work again. I am hoping something comes up soon. I just recently reconnected with some friends on facebook and finished up the myspace account I opened like six months ago. Melissa has a page for Sonya and it is amazing. We still have Daisy and Halloween my cat Steven got me for my birthday last year. We had another kitten we got after Sally ran away, but we could not keep her. She was bad. well this is it for now. Bye!!!

Susan

It has been awhile since I posted to my blog. I am now starting my third semester at Baker Online for an associates degree in accounting. My husband Steven was going to take courses at ITT Tech for electrical engineering, but decided college isn't for him. Our daughter Jade started Kindergarten and turns five in October, and our son will be three in March. I was a little apprehensive about Jade starting to ride a bus to and from school, but she does fine. Not much else has happened since my last posting.

Daisy
Family portrait December 05
Jade and Adrian Christmas 05
Sally
Hello Everyone!! My name is Susan Treptow. I am from muskegon, Michigan and I am 25 years old. I have been married for six years to my high school sweetheart. We were married on December 21,1999. I graduated from Fruitport Community Schools in March 2000. After graduation I moved to where my husband was stationed Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Our first child a daughter was born on October 25,2001 at the post army hospital. Her name is Jade Noelle. We spent a lot of time in the mountians in Oklahoma. We had never really been able to see mountians, so that was our favorite part of the state. We also enjoyed seeing Buffalo. In July of 2002 we moved back to Michigan and lived in Spring Lake for awhile. I found out I was pregnant with our second child while we were living in Spring Lake. We moved to Muskegon which is not far from Spring Lake after we found out I was pregnant. I had our second child, a son on March 11,2004. His name is Adrian Zachary. We stayed in the city of Muskegon a little while longer and then moved again because of the school systems. We now live in a township outside of the city. The school system for our children is better in this area. Our daughter is about to finish Pre-School at Oakridge Schools. In my spare time I enjoy reading writing and watching T.V. I also like to spend time with my family and pets. There are pictures above.
Susan