The Pictures Don't Lie

These are snapshots I took of Eli's preschool pictures. In the first one he is barely 3, and in the second he is 4 and 1/2.



This one with the glass glare was taken early in 2008. Although not really smiling, he is looking in the general direction and seems to show curiosity on the photographer.



I was so shocked and pleasantly surprised to pull this packet out of Eli's backpack last week! What a difference! Here he is obviously engaged... what progress.

Biochemical therapy has made him so much more available for learning. His schooling, and life experiences, and activities with mom and dad have been more beneficial for his learning than ever. His academic progress has been phenomenal. (He can read many words.) But it is his social progress that makes me the most proud of all, and these pictures are a clear documentation of that.

Siblings

I am an autism sibling. I've had lots of my experiences come to mind lately as I've been thinking about what my family may be like in the future. I live in a very family oriented part of the country. It is not uncommon to see a woman my age or even younger tote three or four children to the grocery store. When people see that I have a four year old and no other children and no signs of expecting, I get asked, "Do you want more kids?" Rude, I know.

I have a memory bank full of experiences of what it is like to be an autism sibling. I wouldn't call my teenage years "normal." My brother is classically autistic in the moderate range. While there were definitely rewarding experiences, there were also lots of challenges.

This is a story I wrote for autism siblings in a previous post. Even though I am not much of a writer, I feel like for this story I included a good balance of the good and the challenging.
Read The Chocolate Effect here.

I did have some friends that were like the Allison in the story and I will always be grateful. (Admittedly though, we would usually hang out at other places besides my home.) My most Allison like friend, (as far as the purposes in the story goes, anyway,) was the young man that I eventually married. When we were just friends in high school Jason would invite himself over and hang out. He put up with my brother's antics marvelously. My sister and I coined the challenge of our brother with new people "The Jared Test" and when we were young adults we used it on all our dates. We learned quickly which of the young men were most patient. It turned out to be a very viable test.

So as I have my memories running through my head, and my future family before me, I've been feeling like I am missing a perspective. That is the one of the parent of the child that has the autism sibling. Are there any parents out there who are willing to share? What do you do with your autism sib kids to help them learn from, be patient towards, and in some cases, have normal social lives despite their challenges at home?

Hepatitis B Vaccine

My sister sent this link my way. Especially with my family's history of autism, I wish I would have known this four and a half years ago. Every medical intervention costs the body something, even if that something is meant to prevent. This article also states the rate of autism as 1 in 63. Astounding.

Hepatitis B Vaccine Triples the Risk of Autism in Infant Boys

Dr. South and Recycled Clothing

It has been alittle while since I have updated. Even though Eli has been in school, I have somehow been very busy. One thing that has been occupying my time is creating products for the upcoming Beehive Bazaar in Provo this next month. I was so thrilled to be accepted because it is a very trendy artsy type of show.

thebeehivebazaar.com


The products I am submitting are eco friendly. I am producing clothing made from pre existing fabric. Most of it is from donated pre loved clothing and linens. I was required as part of the application process to tell them why I do what I do. The answer is simple: Less toxins in our environment means less cases of autism, and as an autism sibling and mom that is important to me.





Acouple of weeks ago I went to a meeting all of the Giant Steps parents were invited to on BYU campus. The meeting was led by Dr. South and his students in the psychology department. At this meeting I learned that the Giant Steps program is in constant danger of losing funding, and has been threatened especially so this school year. The research that Dr. South and his students do is in part right in the preschool program. I am so excited about this because if they can come up with the actual documentation to show how essential the program is to the kids, it is far less likely to get funding cut because the results are then proven in numbers.

Some of the senior students of Dr. South's presented research on how autistic children reacted to trials differently then typical children. Their findings were interesting, but I kept thinking to myself, autism effects the whole body, not just the brain! Being a parent who is a biochemical therapy convert is maddening at times. I feel that more answers could be found if only all symptoms were taken into account.

Eli's First Day of Giant Steps

Today is Eli's first day of Giant Steps. We took some pictures this morning while waiting for the bus. He was very happy to show off his spiderman backpack.





It is strange for me to be at home so long by myself when I am used to having Eli with me, and I miss him, but thank goodness for Giant Steps! I have met the staff and peeked in the classroom during work time. It is going to be so good for him and I look forward to documenting lots of progress!

DIR and ABA

We have been looking around to see what the best option available is for our son's education once he is done with his specialized preschool program. Should we stay here in the area we live now, the Clear Horizons Academy looks like a very promising option. We are going to go tour it soon and start the application process so our son can be on the waiting list.

www.clearhorizonsacademy.org

The exciting thing about this school is that it works on the DIR, or relationship based model. The preschool he will be starting next week is ABA model based. Although I can't remember what ABA stands for at the moment, I know that it works on a rewards system. Things are about routine and memorization. We believe that our son will make many gains with this model in this coming school year.
However, we have been considering for afterward the Clear Horizons Academy for it's relationship based program. Although the program he is in this year uses the DIR model to some extent, the idea of an educational program based on it is very interesting to us. The DIR model is child directed and it focuses on building in the children that kind of social addiction that most of us just seem to be born with. Example: With the DIR model you play, and that play is directed by the child. If the child is banging blocks together instead of stacking them, you bang blocks together. Eventually you are taking turns banging blocks and here we have communication circles opening and closing, and opening and closing.
There is a certain acquaintance of ours who tells us that there is a particular family in the area who flies the husband to California each week for work and the rest of the family stays here in Utah, all because of the Academy. I am thinking, if the school is that good, we are going to look into it.

Why, Mom?

My son approached me while I was at the sewing desk, so I greeted him and told him what I was doing. "Why Mom?" was his response, so I calmly told him more about it. Really, on the inside, I was just thinking, "DID HE JUST SAY THAT??"

By the time most children are the age of four, they have already been tormenting their parents with the 'why' question for quite some time. I just heard it from my son for the first time about 2 weeks ago when this incident happened. Parents of typical kids: be grateful to hear the perpetually asked question. Apparently it is very important for a child's development. I haven't yet learned all the details of 'why' yet. :)

In the meantime, I am hoping to encourage the 'why' question more often.

In other news, this week is another Low Dose Antigen (LDA) injection. My son's DAN! doc is the only one that does these, but he is very active in the conferences and so I hope that many other doctors learn about it from him. The LDA helps my son not be so sensitive to things in the environment and also foods that bother him. It is very safe, it simply helps him build a tolerance. Parents of autistic children know: These kids are sensitive! A special test showed that my son was sensitive to many common foods, and soy especially was almost off the chart!

Preparing for the LDA includes eliminating fish oils from supplement regimen two days before, and eliminating supplements all together for three days, the day before, the day of, and the day after the injection. Fish oil is still avoided during the week after. Also during the supplement free days, he has to be off of chocolate, eggs, wheat, sugar, corn, and milk. I have to admit though, that we usually never give him those things anyway, except the egg. I'll have to remember that when I'm making pancakes in the morning...