Tag: Links
Links for you & we finally made a decision!
by admin on Apr.02, 2010, under 2010
This is becoming a hole to no where. I can’t fully enjoy quiet journally to myself because I know I put the link of facebook (amongst a few other places). I also know a few people have said, I read your blog, I just don’t have to time to comment. (which is fine, of course, I just don’t know who my audience is (if any!))
Hint, hint – just say hi in the comments if you just read this. thanks
As a personal update, I think I finally made a decision for my son’s programming. I am so tired of asking myself where to send him this fall. There is one place that is FT, but it’s not verbal behavior (VB/ABA), so we don’t know if we like that. Then there are 2 places I am quite interested in, but neither takes MA/TEFRA and I am not getting MCHA when there are other options for day treatment. (Plus, both places are working on getting MA, so that’s a wait-and-see thing).
The reason we didn’t want to send him to the place he goes right now all day, was the lack of outdoor facilities, but it finally clicked in my little head – but, he doesn’t need to go outside in the winter! So I think, for now, our plan is to take him where he is FT this school year and see how it goes. Then in the summers, I am hoping he can go less or back to PT so we can still have a normalness.
I am so happy to have made a decision. If the school doesn’t like this idea, then we are back to where we started. But, still…I think we’re good now.
Plus, school has been incredibly receptive to making changes.
I have some links I want to share. To go along with this random post…
Finding therapies in MN
Minnesota Yellow Pages for Kids – great site with lots of therapy, etc options in MN. Much broader than what I have posted before.
Minnesota On-Line Special Needs Directory
Speech therapy related Links
http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/
http://asktheslp.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html
http://www.speechtherapyweb.com/
http://teachmetotalk.com/2008/07/15/discover-the-best-approach-proven-to-teach-your-toddler-to-talk/
http://www.speakingofspeech.com/
PECS – free pictures
http://trainland.tripod.com/pecs.htm
http://www.dotolearn.com/
http://abaresources.com/free3.htm
Random good stuff to look at
Happy B-day Hubby
by admin on Feb.15, 2010, under 2010
I just finished up a lovely dinner b-day party for the husband. Son woke up confused with odd people in his home and happy, but more confused when Grandma and Grandpa showed up too. It took awhile, but he eventually warmed to the company and luckily hubby kept him out of the kitchen so I could make dinner.
We decided for me to not take the position. The money was crap. The money would be fine, but working at a school is not 12 months worth of work…so I had to say no. Just not worth it with daycare and MA expenses going up. My goal is to find a job teaching art…nothing else, unless something exciting jumps out at me. It might mean we will be living on only my hubby’s money for a few months. My thoughts – oh well, I need to get back into my career…not take a huge step backwards for the sake of ANY job. Not yet at least, hopefully not ever.
Some articles I am reading…
Occupational Therapy for Autism
Another article on MMR/ASD comes out and now for my 2cents
by admin on Feb.07, 2010, under 2010
I just finished reading “Autism’s False Prophets” and I would highly recommend reading it, even if you didn’t have a child w/ ASD. I believe everyone is bias and he clearly is a dr that sees his pt of view and is arguing it strongly and clearly.
Prior to having my son, I was told to consider spacing out vaccinations by co-workers (who happen to be teachers). Everyone said that they think vaccs are important, but also scary and shouldn’t be done all at once. The ASD scare was clear to me. I did the same. I did no research on the topic and was then was scared too by the amount of inoculations they wanted to put in my baby boy. I spaced them out. Did them when I wanted to and my son has autism today. I have no way to prove this, but I do not believe shots caused ASD in my child. I think he had a rough start and continues to be delayed today. Shots or no shots, I think my son would be the same.
So the first time I walked into the Autism Shop in Hopkins (the day after he was diagnosed), I was surprised and taken back by the woman in the store. Her first question…”do you believe he has asd from shots?” Ummm…no, he didn’t have a traditional imm. schedule and blah, blah…Anyway, she dropped it. She moved on the GCFC diet. She explained it wasn’t that hard to do and her daughter now goes to college..is cured or whatever. I was a little annoyed with her. I told her we just got the dx and were there to shop. She really wanted to discuss this and I felt overwhelmed by her need to educate me on the spot. She did this again the 2nd time Iwent in a few months later. I could not order certain products online, so I went to her store again. Same old crap and I couldn’t believe she was dying to bring this up again. I am not sure I will ever make a pt to go there again.
It seems like everyone is fearful of the all might shot these days. I see in newsletters put out by TACA, recommending to not give the flu shot or any other shot if your child has a dx of ASD. This makes being a parent very confusing. Is there weight to the argument that vaccinations cause ASD? Is it the mercury/thermisoal? I was tired of wondering and have started to read more deeply this week. Read online, read various books and after some serious thought, the most believable conclusion is of Dr Offit’s book. There is no proof mercury causes ASD. None. And Dr Wakefield’s conclusion that MMR/bowel issues are related to ASD has been all over the news lately…again and again disproving his theories. He was too quick to have found a cure and I see the media pointing this out today, but clearly the damage is done. How many people are not vaccinating today because of him? It’s going to take a long time to counter what has happened since the 90’s.
Anyway, I am going to try to conclude now (as I would rather be napping!!). I am not a huge fan of biomedical approaches. I am concerned about the desire to do anything and everything for a child. I worry about the emotional issues of proving you are a good parent by doing everything. I really liked Dr Offit’s comparison to polio. As he reflects on the desperate measures (and sometimes fatal) to cure a child of polio…we can easily see how history is repeating itself. It happens in all medical disorders that are not currently curable. Do you remember the cure for MS using bees?
I am skeptical of the GCFC diet, I think chelation is a horrible idea, and I most definitely do not think people should be scared of big “pharm”, but always cautious of well-intended, but uninformed individuals. In fact, that is a good way to wrap this up. There are A LOT of well-intended, but uneducated people. I am going to be extremely skeptical of the ASD cure until there is some serious evidence over a period of time. I am not going to let my baby be someone’s guinea pig. My new research topic…allergies/ASD/ and the GCFC diet. Where did all of this come from? Any recommendations on where to start?
