Minnesota Autism Mom

This has weighed heavily on my mind lately. Never a clear answer. Constantly trying to think about what does MY son need and what exists. Even if you know your options (ABA/RDI/public preschool/private/daycare/etc)…then it’s a matter of openings. In the past week, I have had 2 places call with openings. I was on the waiting list since last April (so basically a year). The place my son goes is only half day and they had openings after 6 months.

Today I ran into this about.com article. Which might be a good place to start if you are in a similar situation. Once you know the options, then it becomes impossible to try to figure out what you pursue. But, if you are like me, you will just get on as many waiting lists as possible and more or less take the first one that calls.

Apart of the reason I started this blog, was to find others that are utilizing these PreK options so we can discuss our likes and dislikes of the programs. I only think we can make intelligent choices if we talk, rather than always talking to the provider.

Another conversation I have had lately with friends with children entering Kindergarten is the similar transition to K. Again, about.com has written up a great article to possibly help w/ this transition as well.

I also found these links doing a quick Google search.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Living_Autism_Moving/

http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/education/Kindergarten.html

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Autism-1010/Transitioning-Kindergarten.htm

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=Ln6hwn7RR26P3Y3Vh12QY8rLjTnRVrS7Fz8Vmp85zjp2GyLz2mYX!2144018255!1093128662?docId=5002101290

http://www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/22295.aspx

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07234/811045-114.stm

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?

Science Friday’s