I am in need of someone experienced with asking for an aide, and for ABA services of the school during IEP meetings. Someone who has done this and gotten the services, who KNOWS Autism and can give me the right things to say. This is something that needs done on the phone, so please email me alesovoy@yahoo.com and let me know if you can help me. The IEP is on Thursday, and I need some help, please.
I'm tempted to go post on Squid's blog and beg her, but I'll look moronic and probably scare her away with my stalkerishness. I just don't want yet another shitty, worthless IEP meeting.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Some Halloween Pics
Let me start by saying I feel so much better today. I am so proud of my sweet boy. Jaymes trick-or-treated like a PRO. He ran up to the door and said "Tik-o-tweet" almost every time. He carried his own candy bucket. He laughed and talked and had a BLAST. He was excellent. He passed as "normal" on this night, which is a welcome break for once. There are a LOT of pictures, so I'll post more in the morning. For now, here are a couple.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
I give up...
Ok, biomed mommies. I'm putting away my skepticism for the moment, and asking for info. Jaymes is a holy terror at home. He's great at school, better at therapy. I'm tired. At this point, I sit here on the couch watching him scream and beat himself on the floor and just have no desire to do a damned thing.
Give me a biomed plan that I can afford to do. That is a "starter" thing, of sorts. I've got some ideas- eliminate the red dye/msg... What else? Let's keep it under $50 a month. No fancy vitamins, he takes a multivitamin, and it's hell to get nasty tasting crud into him.
Give me a food plan. He eats the following:
So yes, I'm swallowing my pride here and asking for info.
Give me a biomed plan that I can afford to do. That is a "starter" thing, of sorts. I've got some ideas- eliminate the red dye/msg... What else? Let's keep it under $50 a month. No fancy vitamins, he takes a multivitamin, and it's hell to get nasty tasting crud into him.
Give me a food plan. He eats the following:
- Crackers
- Pretzels
- Breaded chicken nuggets
- fries
- Baby food peas
- Fruit snacks
- Pizza
So yes, I'm swallowing my pride here and asking for info.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
I'm much too young to feel this damn old
Yes, I quoted Garth Brooks. What of it?!
I am so tired. I shouldn't be. It's weird. I could hardly stay awake coming home from Jaymes' OT session. So I'm sitting here on the toilet (just sitting, nothing gross!) with my laptop watching the kids take a bath. Before that I was sitting on the couch watching them pour pretzels everywhere. Jason will be furious at me if it's not perfect when he gets home but I don't even care anymore.
Jaymes did good at OT. The Speech therapist told me that when she went to observe him (she's a saint for doing that) that he was also awesome. I am so proud of my lil buddy.
Now if only he were like that at home. I admit that it's gotta be my fault. Obviously, if he's good pretty much everywhere else, it's me. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I wish someone would tell me, so I could fix it.
I'm back to this whole non sleeping thing. I lay there all night and watch the clock. It pisses me off. all the little noises all night make me angry and by morning I want to kill someone.
But all in all, it's been worse. I can't complain too much. I'm blessed in too many ways to hate life entirely right now:
I am so tired. I shouldn't be. It's weird. I could hardly stay awake coming home from Jaymes' OT session. So I'm sitting here on the toilet (just sitting, nothing gross!) with my laptop watching the kids take a bath. Before that I was sitting on the couch watching them pour pretzels everywhere. Jason will be furious at me if it's not perfect when he gets home but I don't even care anymore.
Jaymes did good at OT. The Speech therapist told me that when she went to observe him (she's a saint for doing that) that he was also awesome. I am so proud of my lil buddy.
Now if only he were like that at home. I admit that it's gotta be my fault. Obviously, if he's good pretty much everywhere else, it's me. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I wish someone would tell me, so I could fix it.
I'm back to this whole non sleeping thing. I lay there all night and watch the clock. It pisses me off. all the little noises all night make me angry and by morning I want to kill someone.
But all in all, it's been worse. I can't complain too much. I'm blessed in too many ways to hate life entirely right now:
- Great kids
- Awesome therapists for The Boy
- Sierra has this cute dimple right above her butt that makes me laugh (they're in the tub, I can't help but see it!)
- My dogs are happily munching pretzels off the floor
- My best friend forgave me for my stupidity
- It's almost bedtime and I'm going to take some Seroquel (literally a little chip scraped off one of my ancient Seroquel's puts me out all night)
- Jason's not home... So it's peaceful.
A book review
Not by me. found it while wandering aimlessly on Amazon.com. The review is of a book I would very much like to read, called Autism's False Prophets: Risky Medicine, Bad Science, and a Search for the Cure. Review is below.
I just read an article about Jenny McCarthy--yes, that Jenny McCarthy. Ms. McCarthy has a child with autism and she is convinced that a vaccine caused her child's autism. She now considers herself an expert because she attended the "University of Google" (her words, not mine) and that she is right because "because there is an angry mob on my side" and "until [someone] walks in our shoes, [he/she] really has no idea."
That's right...because there is an angry mob on her side, the consensus of scientists that attended real schools and obtained real master and doctorate degrees in things like epidemiology and medicine, is wrong.
Dr. Offit faces a very challenging opponent and he did it with an exceptionally calm and rationale analysis of vaccines, why they are safe and more importantly, why the quacks and anti-vaxxers are wrong. And he did it in a style that is very readable by the lay person.
When Dr. Offit starts laying out damning facts against the anti-vaxxers, you will be left agape. For example, Dr. Wakefield took $800,000 from a plaintiff's attorney and used it to fund his studies and never disclosed where the funding came from, he never obtained informed consent and when he ran his studies past IRBs, they were anything but medically qualified. Just astounding. Of course, the results of his studies have never been duplicated and any physiological basis for his hypothesis has been debunked.
Yet, there are people who flock to Dr. Wakefield and give him lots of money for unproven and dubious-at-best treatments and cures. Very, very sad.
Dr. Offit also discusses how science is perceived in society. A lot of people simply don't "believe in" science and how science is done. Dr. Offit analyzes this later in the book and it is hardly comforting. (An excellent book about this phenomenon is Carl Sagan's Science as a Candle in the Dark.)
Probably the scariest part of the book is when groups like Generation Rescue hire public relations firms. Whilst I'm all for spirited debate, these groups will misrepresent any fact, omit crucial details and pander with the most vile and loathsome tactics.
Definitely a highly recommended book. Scary and depressing because science and vaccines have taken such a bad rap. But hopeful because there are folks out there like Dr. Offit, Orac and others that are willing to stand up for rational, evidence-based medicine.
While I feel for Jenny McCarthy and her struggles with autism, her incessant denial of huge amounts of science and evidence is causing thousands of parents to forego vaccinating their children. She is endangering our children and some will die from childhood disease that were once almost completely eradicated.
On the flip side, here is another view of the same book:
| By | David C. Brayton "kestrel2000" (Santa Rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews |
That's right...because there is an angry mob on her side, the consensus of scientists that attended real schools and obtained real master and doctorate degrees in things like epidemiology and medicine, is wrong.
Dr. Offit faces a very challenging opponent and he did it with an exceptionally calm and rationale analysis of vaccines, why they are safe and more importantly, why the quacks and anti-vaxxers are wrong. And he did it in a style that is very readable by the lay person.
When Dr. Offit starts laying out damning facts against the anti-vaxxers, you will be left agape. For example, Dr. Wakefield took $800,000 from a plaintiff's attorney and used it to fund his studies and never disclosed where the funding came from, he never obtained informed consent and when he ran his studies past IRBs, they were anything but medically qualified. Just astounding. Of course, the results of his studies have never been duplicated and any physiological basis for his hypothesis has been debunked.
Yet, there are people who flock to Dr. Wakefield and give him lots of money for unproven and dubious-at-best treatments and cures. Very, very sad.
Dr. Offit also discusses how science is perceived in society. A lot of people simply don't "believe in" science and how science is done. Dr. Offit analyzes this later in the book and it is hardly comforting. (An excellent book about this phenomenon is Carl Sagan's Science as a Candle in the Dark.)
Probably the scariest part of the book is when groups like Generation Rescue hire public relations firms. Whilst I'm all for spirited debate, these groups will misrepresent any fact, omit crucial details and pander with the most vile and loathsome tactics.
Definitely a highly recommended book. Scary and depressing because science and vaccines have taken such a bad rap. But hopeful because there are folks out there like Dr. Offit, Orac and others that are willing to stand up for rational, evidence-based medicine.
While I feel for Jenny McCarthy and her struggles with autism, her incessant denial of huge amounts of science and evidence is causing thousands of parents to forego vaccinating their children. She is endangering our children and some will die from childhood disease that were once almost completely eradicated.
On the flip side, here is another view of the same book:
There has NEVER been a definitive study of the autism rate among unvaccinated populations in the U.S. Most Amish people do not vaccinate their children. Doctors who service these families have indicated that autism virtually never occurs among them. Dr. Mayer Eisenstein of Chicago runs a number of pediatric offices the majority of whose patients are not given vaccinations. He says, "We have a fairly large practice [4 separate offices employing 5 doctors]. We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines." He goes on to say: "We do have enough of a sample. The numbers are too large to not see it. . . . It's not something that anyone would miss." Dr. Eisenstein is the author of the book "Don't Vaccinate Until You Educate," which I highly recommend. It is therefore not surprising that former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Bernadine Healy has called for more research into a possible vaccine link to autism and said the question had not been settled. In 2006, a bill requiring the federal government to conduct a study of autism rates in unvaccinated American children was introduced by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Tom Osborne (R-Neb.). When Rep. Osborne did not return to Congress the following year, Rep. Maloney introduced similar new legislation (H.R. 2832) and got Ron Paul (R-TX) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) to sign on as co-sponsors. 18 other representatives subsequently signed on (11 Democrats and 7 Republicans). However, the legislation has remained bottled up in committee for over a year in the face of intense, yet unpublicized opposition. One can only wonder where that opposition is coming from. |
Monday, October 27, 2008
Jaymes makes me smile...
Jaymes had a good day today. Not a tantrum free day, but a day of achievement. I'm so proud.
I got him this make your own candy necklace kit for Valentines Day, but we forgot to do it. Jaymes found it, so I decided to let him have at it. The candy pieces were pretty small, and it was very hard for him to string the pieces. Took a lot of dexterity. And a lot of patience. He actually sat there for an HOUR, stringing candy pieces. Quietly. Peacefully. No screams, even when he dropped candy pieces. He didn't even really eat that many pieces while stringing, he was set on making his necklace.
He looked like he was concentrating SO hard!
Look at his awesome necklace!
See how many he put on there, all by himself?!
Awwww!
Sadly, at the end, he dropped his necklace and it went everywhere. Then he ate all the pieces. But isn't that just amazing? He sat, stayed on task for an HOUR. He managed to string those little pieces with a piece of stretchy rope... I'm really just floored by it.
Later he had a huge fit at bedtime, which was unpleasant.. He beat his face up pretty good against the wall. However, he talked, used the longest sentence I have heard out of him. He screamed at me "WANTA WATCH ELMO!"
What a day for language and attention span. Jaymes is awesome.
I cleaned the kitchen and put up the new drapes...
And my little tack room I recently made...
Videos...
I got him this make your own candy necklace kit for Valentines Day, but we forgot to do it. Jaymes found it, so I decided to let him have at it. The candy pieces were pretty small, and it was very hard for him to string the pieces. Took a lot of dexterity. And a lot of patience. He actually sat there for an HOUR, stringing candy pieces. Quietly. Peacefully. No screams, even when he dropped candy pieces. He didn't even really eat that many pieces while stringing, he was set on making his necklace.
He looked like he was concentrating SO hard!
Look at his awesome necklace!
See how many he put on there, all by himself?!
Awwww!
Sadly, at the end, he dropped his necklace and it went everywhere. Then he ate all the pieces. But isn't that just amazing? He sat, stayed on task for an HOUR. He managed to string those little pieces with a piece of stretchy rope... I'm really just floored by it.
Later he had a huge fit at bedtime, which was unpleasant.. He beat his face up pretty good against the wall. However, he talked, used the longest sentence I have heard out of him. He screamed at me "WANTA WATCH ELMO!"
What a day for language and attention span. Jaymes is awesome.
I cleaned the kitchen and put up the new drapes...
And my little tack room I recently made...
Videos...
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