Surprising Summer Findings

      As mentioned in this post, Eli did summer school. As it was winding down to the last few days, I was talking with his student teacher and mentioned my son has autism. She told me that she was wondering what his official diagnosis was, because the student teachers are apparently not allowed to see the actual IEP's. I was surprised to hear that. I told her he was diagnosed as moderate, classic autism at the age of 2 and 1/2. Obviously he does not meet that diagnosis any longer, but I have not had him re-evaluated. I told her, "Nowdays he is much more like a severely ADHD child with speech issues." Even I didn't know I was going to say that as I said it, it was true all the same. I really surprised myself! It has really sunk in how true that is as I have been thinking about it in the weeks since. On one hand, I want to cheer! It is such a miracle that has occurred right under our noses. At the same time though, we are already doing everything I think that a parent of a child with severe ADHD would do on this medically healing path we are on.

      Last week was Eli's first week of his swim lessons since we moved to our new town. I have been very surprised how well he has handled it. He does have some sporadic, excited behavior that is not appropriate. But for the most part, he does what he should, he is not timid, and he is not defiant. His behavior overall last week just got better and better as swimming lessons progressed. (The improvement occurred in the pool and at home.) The only downside has been the allergy bumps on his upper arm from the chemicals in the water. We have only four more days left this week, which is too bad. Perhaps I will need to drive him farther and pay out-of-city rates to take him to an indoor pool, as this outdoor city pool in our town will not be offering any more sessions. I think we may have found what our son needs to make more progress. It really does make sense to me. With his slightly disfunctioning nervous system, the water pressing on him at all sides feels good to him and helps him relax. ("Oh, now I can feel my arms better, so I can control them more.") After all, Michael Phelps was once an ADHD kid taking swimming lessons, so he would stay out of trouble! Perhaps swimming just clicks for kids with autism/ADHD.

     I had such plans for doing speech at home, and I have not gotten myself to adhere to a program the whole summer! It is terrible because he needs it so much. At the same time though, with his improved behavior with the swimming lessons, I have been able to do more correcting in our everyday conversation. He has been more willing to "say it again" and repeat after me when he needs to correct something. He has not been getting mad or defiant like he has before. If I can get this to continue, it will be like speech lessons everyday at our house and things will improve rapidly, I think.

    Through all of this, Little Bear has gotten to be one mobile baby. His is crawling and climbing everywhere, with a smile on his happy face!

Being Bad

My mom treat tonight is:

1/2 batch of Augason Farms Gluten Free Basic Cookie Mix
- substituting 1 tablespoon milled flax mixed with 3 tablespoons hot water for the egg
- also 5 drops Wild Orange DoTERRA essential oil in place of vanilla

And yes, I can polish these off on my own if occasion requires! :)

What is your favorite gluten free treat?

Summer, New School, and FOOD

        Summer is always a challenge, whether your child is typical or not. We have been blessed to participate in a summer school program this year with the local university, even though our son does not qualify for summer services with the school district. He did it last summer, and is now looking at finishing up his second summer with them next week. The class is even held at the elementary school down the street for 3 hours a day. The university holds this summer school as a way to give their students experience. The program is overseen by professionals, one of which is Eli's fabulous kindergarten teacher, Miss Dale.

       Since the program is ending next week, we will be doing our best to fill the rest of the summer with constructive activities, and some fun. We have plans for a session of swimming lessons, sessions of speech therapy with a neighbor, day trips to the canyon, and reading at home to gear up for a new and awesome experience in the fall. I don't think I have shared this, but we have found what we feel is a great educational and social situation for our child. It is a charter school. I am honestly still feeling slightly apprehensive about pulling him from the local school district, but we both feel that this school is the place for him. Don't get me wrong, the school year last year ended on a positive note. He learned how to "be" in a mainstream classroom, but maybe not so much how to learn in one. Everything was done which could have in the situation. We decided it is just time to change the situation. Here and here are the previous posts which I wrote over the school year last year. We are looking forward to even more great things in the coming year.

      Oh yeah, and this is nothing new, but food is my nemesis. More accurately, it is a terrible love/hate relationship. I love food. However, it can easily make me and my child sick if we eat the wrong thing. I am not always a stalwart solider. This causes me stress and work which I sometimes whine about. One thing I hate about food is the "allergy bumps" that my son occasionally develops on his arm. When I see these on his upper arm, I feel as though I am a failure, even though this often happens in situations beyond my control. When we see these, my husband and I say things to each other like, "Oh yeah, that bit of cracker a kid on the playground told him to eat yesterday." Or, "Oh yeah, he got into the kool-aid at grandma's."

     My sister and I had persistent bumps like these on our upper arms as children. My mother, who was very conscious of our health, asked our pediatrician about them. Our doctor recommended Lubriderm because she really had no idea that it was all allergy, or food intolerance related at all. At least this is what I attribute it to after all I have learned. For all my complaining, I really do feel very blessed to have some answers now so I can be proactive in the health of my son and I.

Things Fall Apart Sometimes

     My son is doing very well. He has been mainstreamed for a good part of the school year. I am convinced that when I take him in for a re-evaluation, he will fall in a "mild" range, whereas when he was first diagnosed, he was much more "moderate." This is all great stuff! The work of diet, supplements, and of course lots of dicipline, love, and patience all have done wonders.

     Last week, however, was a little bit of a cloudy week. He spent a couple of days in the autism special ed class for behavior reasons. He was being more diffucult at home, and getting very whiny. I felt like things were falling apart alittle bit, like when the laces on your shoes get loose and they need tightened and retied. It felt... uncomfortable, like something was wrong.

     Over the weekend I did some thinking about what was going on. I realized that besides the change in weather, (Yes, that does affect, too!) I had also changed a supplement. It was the melatonin he takes at night. I didn't even change the dose, just the brand! He had been taking the new one for 1 and 1/2 to 2 weeks and was getting more and more tired everyday and was getting headaches. I ran to Smith's to get the brand we used before, and now afew days later and with the help also of some sunny weather, he is himself again. I am so grateful that I finally figured out what to do. Sometimes it feels disheartening, though, how fragile it all really is.

Glutathione

I have a confession to make. When I go in with my son to his DAN! doctor, and the doctor starts talking about the methylation cycle, he gets a blank stare from me. That is not because I don't have a basic understanding of what the methylation cycle is. Basically, it is the body's system of detoxifying. (I know, grossly simplified.) The body uses chemicals to do this job, and when those chemicals are not available in normal levels, that helps cause many of the problems we see with autism. His doctor used to pull out a chart, thinking it would help me to understand how the lack of this chemical effected this or that part of the cycle... however, after dragging my then toddler with moderate autism to to office and waiting with him, I was exhausted, and my comprehension levels were not...so...high.

It is now high time for me to study on my own to learn more about the methylation cycle, especially now that we are using glutathione cream to help that cycle work.

The cream comes in two parts. One is the actual glutathione. The other cream is a "reactor." Dispense the dose of glutathione cream, add an equal part of the reactor cream, mix and apply. We have done this twice a day for afew months now.

I was at first concerned about the cost of adding yet another new thing to "The Supplements". After a trial, my husband and I consulted over what we thought about continuing the cream with the expense and all. He said, "He has actually been greeting me when I walk in from work." That image became our mental "marker" for the raised awareness we have seen in our child. The greetings, conversations, it is all more than worth it.

Photography

My little guy has always liked taking pictures, particularly lately. I have decided that he is old enough now to use the camera (besides the one on my phone) with supervision. (Warranty that covers him dropping it makes me feel better about that, too!)

Mostly he takes pictures of items he finds around, like his toys and video game cases. Sometimes he takes pictures of me and his brother. Here is a pic he took on a recent outing. I am so proud of him for this one! (No, I actually did NOT touch this one up... this is how I downloaded it. It really is that good.)

Birthday Dessert Pizza

For Eli 's birthday this year, we did something alittle different and made a dessert pizza with raspberry jam for a topping. It turned out quite well! We also served hummus with Lay's potato chips and a vegetable tray.

Eli's Birthday Pizza
Gluten free, casien free, corn free, soy free, sugar free, and it is yummy!

1 1/2 cups tapioca starch
1 1/2 cups potato starch
3 teaspoons guar gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon potato flour
3 teaspoons corn-free baking powder

Combine the above ingredients.
Add:

1/4 cup honey
6 tablespoons softened Spectrum Shortening
3 eggs
3/4 cup rice milk

Beat by hand or by electric beater until well mixed and there are no clumps. Grease and use white rice flour to lightly flour large pizza pan. Dump the very sticky dough in the middle of the pan. Spread dough out on pan with the back of a wet spoon. The trick to this recipe is taking the time to spread it out round and evenly and to continue wetting the spoon or perhaps using a very light dusting of white rice fhour when things start getting really sticky.

Bake in preheated oven, 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Remove and spread one whole 10 oz. jar of Smucker's Simply Fruit Raspberry Jam evenly over the top of the pizza.

Place in the oven and bake another 10-15 minutes until done.