adventures Outside

Today my son decided that since his sister was at a friends house he would go over too. This has happened a total of three times since we moved in our home almost six years ago. My son has a terrible fear of being outside. I am not sure exactly what triggers this fear, but I can see it almost every time he decides to try going outside. As I've said before he has several sensory issues as many children with an autism spectrum disorder do. I can only imagine how difficult it is for a child who is sensitive to sight, sound, smell, taste and touch to go outside. Lights bother him, noise bothers him. Trying to understand how he makes this work when he is outside is puzzling to say the least. It is nothing short of a miracle when he actually feels comfortable enough to venture out. I have problems getting him to go out to pick his sister up from the bus. It's a three minute walk and I have got him to make the trip three times out of the entire school year. Because of this difficulty my husband who works third shift and never seems to make it to bed before 10 am must get up and pick up our daughter from the bus stop almost everyday at 3:40 pm this means he gets roughly 4 1/2 hours of sleep a day! The amazing part is that he manages to do so and still work an 8 hour day six days a week without injuring himself!!! The Man is plainly amazing!!! He has now taken on the job of bringing Jade back and forth to soccer practice twice a week :) They both enjoy it because of their love of sports!! Adrian went to Jades first practice and did well but has not wanted to go again so far. I am hoping he does well through Jade's six soccer games. I do not want to miss those!!! I don't drive so Steve could not stay home with Adrian even if he wanted to. I am hoping that Adrian will be able to handle the situation because I know his sister will want him there. That's all I really can do is hope. Maybe Adrian will adjust to being outside more often and maybe he won't only time will tell. For right now we will just see how the first game goes and take it from there.

writing from a college course

Probably the single most important transition in one's life is the transition to parenthood. Before children you can sleep in as late as you want on weekends, enjoy late nights with your spouse, spend time with your friends, and enjoy peace. After children Life is more wonderful than before. Every thing is chaotic and beautiful at the same time. Here you are responsible for another life and helping your child become a good person with morals and a sense of responsibility and a personality all their own. Teaching them manners as well as building their confidence in themselves. Helping them find their individualism and encouraging them to be individuals and not to follow the crowd. The worst transition a kid can make is the transition into terrible two's. A whole new parenting style is learned for this phase. In my case I let my child have melt downs. I could not do enough to stop tantrums and my children did not want to be coddled so I just let them do what they needed to. I have learned that with every phase of a child's life a phase of a parent's life is made. When my kids learned to walk, I learned to baby proof the house, when my kids learned fluent vocabulary, I learned it is not important to correct it is only important to encourage,when my oldest went to pre-school I learned it is important to let go a little so they have room to grow and be independent. I never imagined how much I would learn as my children grew, but I have learned a lot with them and I have many years of learning to go. That is the marvelous thing about parenting, you are supposed to teach your kids and yet they end up teaching you more than you ever thought you could learn.

Autism Awareness Month

This should have been posted Saturday but with two children in the house I am barely ever at the computer anymore. The kids enjoy taking turns or fighting over it now. I have discovered an app on my iPod that will allow me to post from my iPod which means In can post more often. Now about Autism Awareness this is important because as any parent of child with Autism can tell you the level of awareness of people around you can make a huge difference. I am forever trying to tell people about my son's Autism. Sometimes I find people who listen and sometimes all I find is ignorance. I still have to try the more people know the more they accept. My son was diagnosed at the age of six with PDD (NOS). That was almost a year ago. May 28, 2010 to be exact. Since then I have never stopped reading on the subject of Autism. Looking at research data and reading up on all new Autism documents. I have read hundreds of things on Autism, and though I understand more about Autism I still am never quite sure what to tell people about why Autism happens and what we can do about it. We do therapy and our son is enrolled in a special program. This summer in addition to therapy he will take a social play class too. We enroll him in therapy and now play group hoping he can learn the skills he needs to be accepted. That is what I want most for him!! I do not want him to feel left out or odd or alone ever!! I want him to be able to relate to others and share common interests and know that he is accepted. He has HUGE potential as all children do but if he is only ever seen as the Autistic kid what are the chances of him reaching his potential? My husband and I recently had a t-shirt and sweatshirt saying Autism help unlock a piece of the puzzle for our son Adrian made. I wear mine to raise awareness and I have not had anyone ask me about Autism or Adrian yet. I am shocked however because before the t-shirt I would have complete strangers in line ahead of me talking about how bad my son is and how I should beat him. Yeah how about I beat them. I have been known to spank, but spanking does not work on my son unless he knows what he did. I would never spank him for acting up in a store when his sensory issues are so bad that lights physically cause him pain!!! To those people I say mind your own damn business or scream he has Autism now shut up. This usually works. Trying to spread awareness to people who think my son should be beat for every little thing he does and that will help don't need my message what they need is a message on human decency and how to behave like you have a kind bone in your body!!! Sorry if i'm rambling but it just angers so much!!!!!!! I think I'm done for today thanks for listening :)

Last month after much deliberating between my husband and I we decided to purchase Adrian an ipod touch. We could not have made a better decision. That little piece of electronic has been my sons greatest tool since the day we purchased it. He reads books on it, watches videos, uses netflix and kindle and other programs. We thought it might be a bad choice because he is prone to violence and has a tendency to throw things. We purchased an additional warranty for drops and spills just in case. He has dropped it on the floor a couple of times without harm. I purchased a screen protector, a silicone back and a hard back. He chewed the silicone back and would not leave the hard back on. Still It works just fine. Today I was looking through Autism Apps on a review page http://www.autismepicenter.com/autism-blog/blog2.php/2010/10/23/autism-apps-that-will-help-you that rates apps. I was originally going to purchase proliquo2go and decided to hold off. I found an app on the review sheet that looked interesting and went to itunes to read more. After reading the app sounds like exactly what my son can use to help him. He is obsessed with lists and first we than we and this app is all about that. We paid $9.99 today to download First Than Visual Schedule by Good Karma Applications and I started looking through the app. I can download pictures of my son's personal items like snow pants boots and such into the program. He is a vary visual and specific child. Everything needs to look just like it does in real life for him so this program will be a tremendous help. I will post more as we use the program more. For now I have hope that this will help to avoid are usual morning transition meltdowns.

My son is six, his name is Adrian and he was diagnosed with PDD-NOS in May 2010.
Adrian just went crazy because Comcast On demand got an error message when he tried to watch Team Umi Zoomi. I set it up oh the kids tv and he fought me for fifteen minutes, tried to break our Wii and the tv in our living room because he could not watch it in the living room. Normally he would be at school today but he has the day off. This creates tons of chaos in our home. any break from normal activity sends him into a violent panic. Right now I am debating on whether to buy an ipod touch and a program called proloquo2go. For more information visit: http://www.proloquo2go.com . My husband is sure that our son in a fit of rage would break an ipod touch and I can not say I blame him. He brings for example the numerous keyboard and mouse combos we have had to replace, speakers of every kind, and the fact that he has either knocked down or tried to knock down several items in our house ie. computer monitors, towers and tv's. My fact is that we see a lot less rage episodes than we used to and I think this is light weight and small enough that he may not try to do anything to it at all. We can also buy a heavy duty warranty that will cover many things including drops and spills. I think the program would make it easier for him to communicate his needs. His is verbal, but has a very hard time expressing himself and this is what causes most of  his episodes. I would like opinions from other parents who have had to deal with this type of issue. Thanks in advance for listening.

Well another Christmas has come to pass. The kids seemed to like all of their presents. Most everything went well except for the fact that my husband is sick and wants to do nothing but be in bed which never happens during holidays. A present we bought for our daughter also did not seem to work out so far. I may take it to a pro and see of they can handle it. Adrian did pretty well over the holiday. We went to my In-laws house and Adrian expected everyone to rush through dinner to open presents. He waited about 45 minutes for everyone to completely eat while telling everybody to hurry. I was honestly surprised that he did not rip open presents. Jade lost a tooth over the weekend. She was so excited. We do not do the tooth Fairy anymore though. Adrian is almost Seven and has not lost a tooth yet, I am not sure if that is normal for a child with his condition or not. Something to discuss with the dentist I guess. Jade has been having a lot more ear sensitivity lately. I thought we were going to hear back from Generation Care about therapy for her. I will have to contact them after I finish solving our health insurance problem. I am waiting on paperwork because the company my husbands employer provides health insurance through is refusing to pay for a list of visits to various providers because our coverage lapsed for six months while my husband was laid off and the company thinks they have a right to deny coverage because of some preexisting condition in the medical contract. Except for the fact that these medical conditions are new to this year and we have had complete coverage all year. They said they sent us an entire packet to fill out and I have know idea what they are talking about because we never received it. In fact I just spoke to someone from the insurance company on Monday the 20th and they said they were sending paperwork  out that day. Even with the holiday they are only in Grand Rapids so we should have received it. The claim is for a couple thousand dollars. We have already paid a $5,000 co-pay for the year on top of $160 a month for premiums so they should cover the $2,000 Hopefully they will. Sorry to talk about that but that's what happens when you have children with health problems, you rack up large medical bills!!!!! It's scary to think they may not cover every trip our son has to make to his Neurologist twice ever six months because they think it's a preexisting condition. Jade also sees the same neurologist once every six months, but her condition occurred before the lapse so they have to pay for hers. That is what's going on in our world right now. Bye!!!

Monday Adrian had a full blown meltdown at Walmart. We went to cash a check because it was closer than the bank and Adrian wanted C batteries for his Rocky the Robot Truck. We had to leave the store  without them because the check could not be cashed there. Try explaining that one to a six year old with PDD-NOS. To complicate matters further I had complete strangers look at me as my son was in full meltdown mode and start laughing when he bit my face. He has never bit me before. He has attempted when highly stressed, but he has never bit me. This caught me completely off guard. My husband has few moments where he is absolutely patient and thank god this was one of them!!! I had to carry Adrian who had kicked off his boots at that point to our vehicle about 7 to 10 feet away while he was thrashing and screaming. Not a pleasant moment for Adrian or me. The rage takes over his small little body and nothing will calm him until he is ready. He completely disappears and it's as if an alternate personality steps forward to deal with the frustration he can not handle.  Steven and Jade are lost on me. They may be saying things or doing things to try to help and I am not hearing it. Usually for some reason when Jade speaks he freaks out even more so I am constantly trying to remind her not to say anything to him when he has these episodes so he does not lash out at her. Steven has the ability to help calm him almost every time. Even if he has to yell to Adrian over his screaming to get him to listen it usually works. I just want to rock him like I did when he was a baby. The rocking helps too and calms me down as well. Lately we have been deep breathing like crazy!!!! On a positive note Adrian did get those batteries after we went back to Walmart and I have heard Rocky the Robot truck moving around his room and our kitchen ever since. Mostly he moves it back and forth so he can watch the wheels, but he also likes to play with it and listen to it talk. We got him a Stinky the Garbage truck for Christmas so I will hear them both in a couple of days. He has had this strange obsession with play houses over the last couple of years so we bought him one this year.  His Neurologist has a play house in the waiting area and his obsession with them has grown since he started seeing his Neurologist in October. He wants his own space to play in and for his sister too. I also ordered The Transporters Series his Special Ed teacher was  telling me about. Maybe it will be here by next week so we can start using it.

The Transporters - How it Works: www.thetransporters.com

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.