Riley started summer school at Early Class this past week. He has a new clinician, Lacey, and I think she is going to be great with him. She is the picture of calm, cool, and collected and I think that’s something that Riley really appreciates. He has had a couple of meltdowns but nothing too major. He had his best day on Thursday but at the end of the day was angry and threw his folder. It just happened to hit the new kid in the face WHILE I was talking to the new kid’s mom up in the gallery. How embarrassing!! I couldn’t apologize enough!
So, since it has been a couple of weeks that Riley has been potty trained, I went ahead and sent him to school in his underwear. He hasn’t had one accident but still sprays all over the bathroom. I showed him how to stand up at the urinal and he used it without fussing. It happens to be a LOT cleaner, too. But, at home he wants to sit down. sigh. I have Swiffered that bathroom more times than you can count!!
I am loving the way that Riley wants to eat at the table with us. He used to eat at the island but now brings his food over and wants to be a part of the family. I have never seen more eye-contact out of that little guy!! He also wants to sleep with Kylie every night. She was fine with it at first- they giggled for about an hour straight. Now she’s kind of over it but still lets him. He’s at one end with his pillow and blanket and she is at the other.
I feel the need to write about the anti-fungal meds that our DAN! Doctor gave Riley. There were two prescriptions that he had to take. He hated taking them- we literally had to hold him down kicking and screaming- and one was really inconvenient. Three times a day? Are you kidding me? But, Alan and I felt like he was really communicating and talking ALOT while he was on them. Now that we are off of them, we see a lot of stimming. Time to go back. I really can’t wait to wait in that office for five hours. Isn’t that the best? If we didn’t see such great results, I wouldn’t go back. But, that DAN! Doctor really knows his stuff. One of the best decisions we ever made.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Making Beds And Wearing Boxers
It’s almost been a month since I have written about my sweet kids!! I have been super-busy and I can only imagine how fast this summer is going to fly by. The kids are doing great and we have some really good news about Riley. He is almost totally completely 100% POTTY TRAINED!!! Yea!! We are so proud of him! This weekend he took himself to the bathroom and didn’t have one accident!! Of course, his aim is REALLY bad, but that’s beans compared to what we were dealing with. He loves his boxers and looks so darn cute in them.
He’s also making his bed! I don’t know where he picked this up but I like it. Here he is so proud on his newly made bed. I am so amazed at the little sponge that this guy is turning out to be. Lately he has really been interested in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It’s so cute to hear him retell the story.
He’s also making his bed! I don’t know where he picked this up but I like it. Here he is so proud on his newly made bed. I am so amazed at the little sponge that this guy is turning out to be. Lately he has really been interested in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It’s so cute to hear him retell the story.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Jenny: Telling It Like No One Else Will
You gotta love Jenny! She gets to the bottom of what everyone else is hiding. I have learned so much from her and also from other mothers who have sons that are recovering (not cured!!) and are doing great. I was having a really hard time with things a while back and then, out of the blue, I get an email from my angel that I never knew existed! She had seen my blog off of another friends’ blog and had contacted me. I truly believe in the power of God and that He sent her to me! She has a son that is recovering and will go to Kindergarten next year! Amazing!! She is my encouragement because she has been through it and knows that there IS hope! Thank you so much, Lauryn. First, for reaching out to me, and secondly, for your wisdom, compassion, and inspiration! The world needs more people like you!
Riley had an appointment with our DAN! Doctor this week and also had the backscratch test. My mom went with us in case I needed her. I really enjoyed her being there with us. Riley’s back was too small for the whole test, so they just did the food portion of the test. The nurse took a sharpie and divided his back into three columns and then around 40 dots for 40 sticks on his back. It didn’t hurt him but he didn’t like the fact that people were messing with him and he couldn’t see what was going on. We were to stay in the room and wait for whelps on his back to pop up. He had fun playing in the room and the 15 minutes went by quicker than the 50 minutes that we waited to get into a room. It wouldn’t have bothered me but when we walked in, that same nurse was hanging around the reception area doing NOTHING!! Then all of a sudden she’s busy for 50 minutes? Come on!
Anyways, he is intolerant to dairy but peanut butter is okay and I am happy with that! The doctor said from one of his other tests, he should be allergic to lots more and they were probably chemicals or environmental factors. The main thing that he was worried about was the way that yeast was affecting Riley’s body. Read this article to learn more about that. This is the first time that we had been back to the Dan! Dr. since finishing all the tests so he was ready for Riley to start on anti-fungal medication. Two prescriptions later and 2 more supplements, I am hoping that we will tell a difference when the yeast starts leaving his body. I have heard GREAT things! Of course, we do have to take sugar out of his diet. Just more stuff he can’t eat.:(
Last night, Alan and I spent time with the kids. Kylie was talking so much about her trip and her day at school. Sometimes she IS Chatty Kathy. Riley was doing great things, too. When I asked him where everyone was he would tell me and point to them. POINT!! Are you kidding me? This is something he hasn’t done since Easter 2005!! He had a rough couple of days after things were injected into him with the test, but he was back to his new self last night and I was getting good conversation out of him.
The first thing that Kylie said when she got into the van at the airport was, “I want to see Riley’s back scratch!” I guess Alan had told his family and she had overheard. I love how she interprets things sometimes! I’ll post pictures of their trip this weekend!
Riley had an appointment with our DAN! Doctor this week and also had the backscratch test. My mom went with us in case I needed her. I really enjoyed her being there with us. Riley’s back was too small for the whole test, so they just did the food portion of the test. The nurse took a sharpie and divided his back into three columns and then around 40 dots for 40 sticks on his back. It didn’t hurt him but he didn’t like the fact that people were messing with him and he couldn’t see what was going on. We were to stay in the room and wait for whelps on his back to pop up. He had fun playing in the room and the 15 minutes went by quicker than the 50 minutes that we waited to get into a room. It wouldn’t have bothered me but when we walked in, that same nurse was hanging around the reception area doing NOTHING!! Then all of a sudden she’s busy for 50 minutes? Come on!
Anyways, he is intolerant to dairy but peanut butter is okay and I am happy with that! The doctor said from one of his other tests, he should be allergic to lots more and they were probably chemicals or environmental factors. The main thing that he was worried about was the way that yeast was affecting Riley’s body. Read this article to learn more about that. This is the first time that we had been back to the Dan! Dr. since finishing all the tests so he was ready for Riley to start on anti-fungal medication. Two prescriptions later and 2 more supplements, I am hoping that we will tell a difference when the yeast starts leaving his body. I have heard GREAT things! Of course, we do have to take sugar out of his diet. Just more stuff he can’t eat.:(
Last night, Alan and I spent time with the kids. Kylie was talking so much about her trip and her day at school. Sometimes she IS Chatty Kathy. Riley was doing great things, too. When I asked him where everyone was he would tell me and point to them. POINT!! Are you kidding me? This is something he hasn’t done since Easter 2005!! He had a rough couple of days after things were injected into him with the test, but he was back to his new self last night and I was getting good conversation out of him.
The first thing that Kylie said when she got into the van at the airport was, “I want to see Riley’s back scratch!” I guess Alan had told his family and she had overheard. I love how she interprets things sometimes! I’ll post pictures of their trip this weekend!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Update On Riley Roo
I haven’t written about Riles in a long time and I have so much information everyday to document. Like that he has been on the GFCF Diet for almost 3 months and is doing great! We haven’t had pizza or McDonalds since the first of January! That is huge!! When I think about all the times that I talked to a mom who had started the diet and told me great things about it, and I thought that we just couldn’t do it, I cringe. I thought that Riley was THE pickiest eater in the world! There was no way that he was going to eat food from Whole Foods or places off the internet. We seriously wasted TWO YEARS on that negative thinking!! I even had a mom tell me “RIley looks like my little boy BEFORE we got him on the diet. He just looks spaced out and in his own little world.” Thank you, Angela! That is seriously what I needed to hear. After that conversation, and many talks with my Autism-guru friend, Kendra, who said to change the things he would eat with ones that were GFCF, I took the plunge in January and switched some things FOR good!
The first thing that I took out of his diet was food additives and preservatives. Those goldfish and fruit roll ups were making him crazy! He would want a whole meal of those things! When I took them away, it was like he went into withdrawal. No kidding. He craved the stuff. It was like living with an addict coming down from a binge. I still can’t take him to the store or any supercenter for that matter. I am sticking and he is much better for being off of that poison!!! I added lots of GFCF snacks like animal crackers and things from an online store (crazy expensive!) and that’s all he ate for a while. Better than nothing!
Next, I switched his bacon and pepperonis for all natural and NO nitrates or BHA/BTA. Instead of getting the microwave bacon that cooks up crispy in seconds, we had to get a kind at Whole Foods called Applegate Farms and cook it like they did in the old days, in a pan on the stove. It took more time but he liked it just as much. He is now totally off of bacon. His choice.
He still loves pepperonis and I have only found one acceptable form of these. They are Applegate Farms and they are the size of softballs. When I first introduced them to him he looked at me like, “seriously?” He ate them and still eats them. He will ask me for “pepperoni pizza!” and that is what he gets!
Next I found Glutanos which is an acceptable form of Cheerios. He will eat those for breakfast. Now he will also eat wheat-free waffles which I am finding in more and more places. Kroger Signature Stores has a big section and I find almost everything except meat and chicken there.
Some days he would not want his new foods so would fill up on Juicy Juice which is supposed to be 100% juice, but who knows, right? Then I got smart and started giving him Organic Pear Juice which I know is approved but costs an arm and a leg for 2 glasses worth. So, we recently added Organic Lemonade which he squints when he drinks it, but it is cheap, comes in gallons, and doesn’t fill him up so he eats more.
He loves homemade french fries and will eat Bell & Evans chicken fingers. He mainly wants PB&J now for every meal! I got GFCF bread which stays in the freezer and takes some work not to make it crumbly, and organic peanut butter and organic strawberry jam. He LOVES his pb&j and sometimes wants it for breakfast on the way to school. He likes me to cut it in triangles and eats every last bite!
Other things that he likes are hot dogs (without the bun) and fruit leathers (sticky but real fruit made into a strip) This morning he ate waffles with peanut butter on them. He will try new things if I tell him to take ONE bite about a million times. I’m learning that he needs to be coaxed and will do it for me.
He still will not eat fruits or vegetables or any mixtures like spaghetti or anything with a weird texture. We are working on it and I see him trying new things before Christmas. Once his little gut is healed, he will be a new man and want new things, I just know it!
We just received allergy test results and he is highly intolerant to dairy. So, definatly no dairy for him which he cringes at anyway. I used to sneak milk into his juice, too because I thought that he needed the calcium. UGH! So, we are going back to the DAN! Doctor for a back scratch test in the middle of April and that will tell us exactly what foods he is intolerant of. I hope it’s not peanut butter or jelly!
We have seen less stimming and more focus from Riley being on the diet. Once you teach him something, he can learn it quick if he wants to. If he doesn’t, he will file it away and bring it back out when HE wants to. He has got a smart mind, the trick is just getting it all out! Sometimes I think that I am the only one that can do this, but then I see things he has learned from school and it makes me so happy!
We have also seen less fits. We made the mistake of letting him have queso on spring break and we saw signs IMMEDIATELY that we should not have done that at all! The fits and uncontrollable crying made Alan and I see that this is what we used to live with. We don’t want to go back!!
So, that’s just a little something that has been going on in our little world. Riley is turning out to be a great artist and I love the interaction that I get from him daily. It’s not fun to be ignored by your son. People just don’t get it that that’s what is going on when your child has autism. Sometimes he didn’t even look at me, much less listen to what I was saying. Now we can have some sort of conversation going on. I am thankful for that!
Hopefully, I will write more about RIley every week. He does something everyday that makes us smile! I couldn’t imagine life without Riley!
The first thing that I took out of his diet was food additives and preservatives. Those goldfish and fruit roll ups were making him crazy! He would want a whole meal of those things! When I took them away, it was like he went into withdrawal. No kidding. He craved the stuff. It was like living with an addict coming down from a binge. I still can’t take him to the store or any supercenter for that matter. I am sticking and he is much better for being off of that poison!!! I added lots of GFCF snacks like animal crackers and things from an online store (crazy expensive!) and that’s all he ate for a while. Better than nothing!
Next, I switched his bacon and pepperonis for all natural and NO nitrates or BHA/BTA. Instead of getting the microwave bacon that cooks up crispy in seconds, we had to get a kind at Whole Foods called Applegate Farms and cook it like they did in the old days, in a pan on the stove. It took more time but he liked it just as much. He is now totally off of bacon. His choice.
He still loves pepperonis and I have only found one acceptable form of these. They are Applegate Farms and they are the size of softballs. When I first introduced them to him he looked at me like, “seriously?” He ate them and still eats them. He will ask me for “pepperoni pizza!” and that is what he gets!
Next I found Glutanos which is an acceptable form of Cheerios. He will eat those for breakfast. Now he will also eat wheat-free waffles which I am finding in more and more places. Kroger Signature Stores has a big section and I find almost everything except meat and chicken there.
Some days he would not want his new foods so would fill up on Juicy Juice which is supposed to be 100% juice, but who knows, right? Then I got smart and started giving him Organic Pear Juice which I know is approved but costs an arm and a leg for 2 glasses worth. So, we recently added Organic Lemonade which he squints when he drinks it, but it is cheap, comes in gallons, and doesn’t fill him up so he eats more.
He loves homemade french fries and will eat Bell & Evans chicken fingers. He mainly wants PB&J now for every meal! I got GFCF bread which stays in the freezer and takes some work not to make it crumbly, and organic peanut butter and organic strawberry jam. He LOVES his pb&j and sometimes wants it for breakfast on the way to school. He likes me to cut it in triangles and eats every last bite!
Other things that he likes are hot dogs (without the bun) and fruit leathers (sticky but real fruit made into a strip) This morning he ate waffles with peanut butter on them. He will try new things if I tell him to take ONE bite about a million times. I’m learning that he needs to be coaxed and will do it for me.
He still will not eat fruits or vegetables or any mixtures like spaghetti or anything with a weird texture. We are working on it and I see him trying new things before Christmas. Once his little gut is healed, he will be a new man and want new things, I just know it!
We just received allergy test results and he is highly intolerant to dairy. So, definatly no dairy for him which he cringes at anyway. I used to sneak milk into his juice, too because I thought that he needed the calcium. UGH! So, we are going back to the DAN! Doctor for a back scratch test in the middle of April and that will tell us exactly what foods he is intolerant of. I hope it’s not peanut butter or jelly!
We have seen less stimming and more focus from Riley being on the diet. Once you teach him something, he can learn it quick if he wants to. If he doesn’t, he will file it away and bring it back out when HE wants to. He has got a smart mind, the trick is just getting it all out! Sometimes I think that I am the only one that can do this, but then I see things he has learned from school and it makes me so happy!
We have also seen less fits. We made the mistake of letting him have queso on spring break and we saw signs IMMEDIATELY that we should not have done that at all! The fits and uncontrollable crying made Alan and I see that this is what we used to live with. We don’t want to go back!!
So, that’s just a little something that has been going on in our little world. Riley is turning out to be a great artist and I love the interaction that I get from him daily. It’s not fun to be ignored by your son. People just don’t get it that that’s what is going on when your child has autism. Sometimes he didn’t even look at me, much less listen to what I was saying. Now we can have some sort of conversation going on. I am thankful for that!
Hopefully, I will write more about RIley every week. He does something everyday that makes us smile! I couldn’t imagine life without Riley!
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Just The Facts, Maam
A while back I ordered puzzle piece pins for the men in my family to wear on their lapels. Since then, I have read that the “puzzle” is a controversial sign for Autism and that some people are unhappy with it. I am not one of those people, however, because sometimes I do feel that Riley is just a little puzzle that we are trying to figure out.
Anyways, I have been keeping a card from the pins in my jewelry box that states facts on Autism and such. I just got it out and looked at it and it has the facts that you see everywhere, “1 in 150 children are diagnosed, 1 in 94 boys” We all know these facts by now. What I wasn’t really aware of, was the amount of private funding that Autism receives. I will list them here, but first, I want to state that out of all these diseases, I am not saying that because my son has Autism, it is more important than any other disease or disability out there. We have dealt with cancer, alzheimer’s, diabetes, ADHD, etc. in our family and they are all horrible in their own ways. I am just shocked at how more people are affected by Autism, yet there is less funding. What is up with that? It’s almost like, “Oh, they have Autism. Well, there’s no hope for that person so we are only going to pay for therapy, and, oh yeah, it’s only the therapy that we choose in our network, and, oh yeah, it’s 50 miles from your house but near your zip code, and, oh yeah, we are just going to deny coverage and see you squirm!!!!!” Can you tell that I have insurance issues? Here’s the chart:
Leukemia:
Affects 1 in 25,000/Funding: $310 million
Muscular Dystrophy:
Affects 1 in 20,000/Funding: $175 million
Pediatric AIDS:
Affects 1 in 8,000/Funding: $394 million
Juvenile Diabetes:
Affects 1 in 500/Funding: $130 million
AUTISM:
Affects 1 in 50/Funding: $15 million
Ridiculous! These are facts from 2005 and I have researched to see if they have changed with no luck. These are still listed on autismspeaks website. Funding and research seriously needs to catch up and I’m excited to see so many blogger moms and dads out there to make people aware of what’s going on! Yea bloggers!! Keep it up because I learn something from each one of you!!
Here’s a picture that Riley drew on the whiteboard yesterday. Can’t the world just be rainbows and sunshine?
Anyways, I have been keeping a card from the pins in my jewelry box that states facts on Autism and such. I just got it out and looked at it and it has the facts that you see everywhere, “1 in 150 children are diagnosed, 1 in 94 boys” We all know these facts by now. What I wasn’t really aware of, was the amount of private funding that Autism receives. I will list them here, but first, I want to state that out of all these diseases, I am not saying that because my son has Autism, it is more important than any other disease or disability out there. We have dealt with cancer, alzheimer’s, diabetes, ADHD, etc. in our family and they are all horrible in their own ways. I am just shocked at how more people are affected by Autism, yet there is less funding. What is up with that? It’s almost like, “Oh, they have Autism. Well, there’s no hope for that person so we are only going to pay for therapy, and, oh yeah, it’s only the therapy that we choose in our network, and, oh yeah, it’s 50 miles from your house but near your zip code, and, oh yeah, we are just going to deny coverage and see you squirm!!!!!” Can you tell that I have insurance issues? Here’s the chart:
Leukemia:
Affects 1 in 25,000/Funding: $310 million
Muscular Dystrophy:
Affects 1 in 20,000/Funding: $175 million
Pediatric AIDS:
Affects 1 in 8,000/Funding: $394 million
Juvenile Diabetes:
Affects 1 in 500/Funding: $130 million
AUTISM:
Affects 1 in 50/Funding: $15 million
Ridiculous! These are facts from 2005 and I have researched to see if they have changed with no luck. These are still listed on autismspeaks website. Funding and research seriously needs to catch up and I’m excited to see so many blogger moms and dads out there to make people aware of what’s going on! Yea bloggers!! Keep it up because I learn something from each one of you!!
Here’s a picture that Riley drew on the whiteboard yesterday. Can’t the world just be rainbows and sunshine?
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Target and Goldfish Are The DEVIL!!!
Target is NOT my favorite store any longer. The love affair is over. I’m sure that the people in Target on Tuesday were not very happy as well. Let me start by saying that Riley is still new to the diet and I haven’t taken him into stores because I don’t want him to see all the foods that he can’t have. Fair enough? Well, Riley had an eye doctor appointment this Tuesday and we had an hour to spare. I still needed some things for Valentines Day so I decided to go into the NON-FOOD section in Target. Right off the bat I spot Huge boxes of Goldfish Crackers in the area where the Hot Spot is on the food side. So I carefully guided him over the the movie and book section. So far, so good. We shopped for about twenty minutes until we hit the back of the store which should be pretty safe. Toys! Okay, we can look at toys. We still have time. Lo and behold, there is a wire hanging of some sort on the end cap with goldfish galore!! Many tiny boxes of goldfish ‘I will mess up your son’ crackers. The same goldfish with red dye #40 and other traces of petroleum in them. Riley looks at me, then looks at the goldfish and says, “Goldfish! I want goldfish!” I try to play it off, keep on walking and say, “No, No goldfish.” Then, being fully aware of what he was doing, Riley squeezed my hands, looked me in the eyes, and screamed bloody murder at the top of his lungs! I knew at that point that I could no longer stay in the store and I couldn’t disappear into thin air. I would have to walk to the front of the store while my son was screaming at the top of his lungs and stay calm. It must have taken what seems like half an hour to get to the front while Riley is still looking me in the eye and screaming on and off for the goldfish. I have no idea if people were looking at us or not. I was looking at Riley and calmly repeating that it would be okay and that we would eat in the car. He was still thinking about the goldfish. I finally made it pass the checkers and one Chinese Checker had the audacity the cover her ears so dramatically and ask, “What is that noise?” Still walking I said to her, “That’s what happens when you put food in the toy aisle, lady!” (I may have said some other things but I won’t admit to them at this time!)
Surely my son isn’t the only one who can’t have these bits of venom and has screamed and cried throughout the store, right? Why do stores put candy and crap in the toy aisle and at the check-outs? Why am I the only one complaining about it? Who decides this? Childless executives who hate kids?
That was just one example of the challenges of this diet. The other one happened at a restaurant. We went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant for my dad’s birthday Saturday night. I brought Riley’s special tortilla chips, we were all set. Instead he grabbed a chip from the middle of the table and tried to crawl over me to get to the queso that someone ordered on the other end of the table. We took him out of the restaurant and Alan drove him to Chick Fil-A for some safe french fries. By the time he got back, he had forgotten about the chips and queso, or accepted it, and ate his fries successfully. I still had a GFCF cupcake from VDAY so that is what he ate when everyone ate cake.
I’m sure there will be more of these incidents to come. I can’t wait for all the fun adventures that Autism will bring in the future.
Surely my son isn’t the only one who can’t have these bits of venom and has screamed and cried throughout the store, right? Why do stores put candy and crap in the toy aisle and at the check-outs? Why am I the only one complaining about it? Who decides this? Childless executives who hate kids?
That was just one example of the challenges of this diet. The other one happened at a restaurant. We went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant for my dad’s birthday Saturday night. I brought Riley’s special tortilla chips, we were all set. Instead he grabbed a chip from the middle of the table and tried to crawl over me to get to the queso that someone ordered on the other end of the table. We took him out of the restaurant and Alan drove him to Chick Fil-A for some safe french fries. By the time he got back, he had forgotten about the chips and queso, or accepted it, and ate his fries successfully. I still had a GFCF cupcake from VDAY so that is what he ate when everyone ate cake.
I’m sure there will be more of these incidents to come. I can’t wait for all the fun adventures that Autism will bring in the future.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
My Little Riles
We are approaching week 3 on the GFCF Diet for Riley and he is doing great! He has been receptive to eating what I put in front of him and has only inquired about McDonalds, goldfish, and cupcakes 178 times. He is not eating as many things as I would like for him to eat but I think that will come in time. I made homemade crispy chicken strips for him and he looked at me like, “seriously?” So, I am finding out that all I have to say is, “Just take ONE bite” and he will do it. He ate the chicken after that. But, when he took one bite of a carrot, he shook his head and said “no” to the rest of it. Baby steps.
I have been packing a lunch for him and it contains mostly snacks, fruit leathers (which he suddenly loves), and either hot dogs or turkey bacon. Our favorite day is Tuesday because we stay up at Early Class for individual speech therapy. We have an hour in between class and therapy so we eat together and I get lots of time to talk and play with him. Yes, I spend a lot of time with him every other day but we are mostly in the car rushing from one place to another. Not so much fun.
Last Tuesday after class he looked up at me with those big hazel eyes and said, “Early Class is finished. Time for Mcdonalds!” Luckily he was smiling and just said it to see what I would say and if I would cave. I just said, “No, no McDonalds. Let’s eat your lunch here.”
Here’s a couple of cute things he is doing:
☑ He sneezed and said, “Bless You!”
☑ He has picked up, “I’m sorry” and “your welcome”
☑ He says ‘Yea” and claps his hands often when we do something
☑ He is learning to say, “I’m mad” but most of the time it just comes out, “maaaaaaad” like a sheep
☑ He is repeating a LOT of the words we say and looking at us for confirmation
He followed, copied, and played with Kylie at the park on Sunday afternoon
He is getting great at “Who is” and What is this” questions
He is the biggest and loudest singer in Early CLASS and LOVES music!!
Kylie was really great with him at the park, too. These past couple of years have been really hard on her and lately she is either annoyed with him or just tries to stay away from him. Recently, he has been trying to hug her or take her hand and she looks at him like, “why are you doing that? you were never interested in me before?” I totally understand where she is coming from but we are still trying to get her to include him and understand why he acts the way he does. How do you explain that to a six year old, though? We have a great book that she has read and she also made her own book about Autism. It’s called, “Autism’, and here is what she wrote”
Dear Partens (Parents)
Please do not let your child stim. I do not have fun with that. I don’t like when Riley screams. I do not appreciate that. I love when Riley doesn’t stim. I love when Riley plays good. That is great. I watch Riley when he jumps on the trampoline. He jumps good. Sometimes Riley does not like to go to bed early. It is good to have Riley as a special boy. And it is good to have you to.
Alan and I are so proud of her for wanting to understand more about him all the time. She knows that when he “stims” (repetitive behavior) to try to get him involved in something else or just to come tell on him, which she loves to do.
I have been packing a lunch for him and it contains mostly snacks, fruit leathers (which he suddenly loves), and either hot dogs or turkey bacon. Our favorite day is Tuesday because we stay up at Early Class for individual speech therapy. We have an hour in between class and therapy so we eat together and I get lots of time to talk and play with him. Yes, I spend a lot of time with him every other day but we are mostly in the car rushing from one place to another. Not so much fun.
Last Tuesday after class he looked up at me with those big hazel eyes and said, “Early Class is finished. Time for Mcdonalds!” Luckily he was smiling and just said it to see what I would say and if I would cave. I just said, “No, no McDonalds. Let’s eat your lunch here.”
Here’s a couple of cute things he is doing:
☑ He sneezed and said, “Bless You!”
☑ He has picked up, “I’m sorry” and “your welcome”
☑ He says ‘Yea” and claps his hands often when we do something
☑ He is learning to say, “I’m mad” but most of the time it just comes out, “maaaaaaad” like a sheep
☑ He is repeating a LOT of the words we say and looking at us for confirmation
He followed, copied, and played with Kylie at the park on Sunday afternoon
He is getting great at “Who is” and What is this” questions
He is the biggest and loudest singer in Early CLASS and LOVES music!!
Kylie was really great with him at the park, too. These past couple of years have been really hard on her and lately she is either annoyed with him or just tries to stay away from him. Recently, he has been trying to hug her or take her hand and she looks at him like, “why are you doing that? you were never interested in me before?” I totally understand where she is coming from but we are still trying to get her to include him and understand why he acts the way he does. How do you explain that to a six year old, though? We have a great book that she has read and she also made her own book about Autism. It’s called, “Autism’, and here is what she wrote”
Dear Partens (Parents)
Please do not let your child stim. I do not have fun with that. I don’t like when Riley screams. I do not appreciate that. I love when Riley doesn’t stim. I love when Riley plays good. That is great. I watch Riley when he jumps on the trampoline. He jumps good. Sometimes Riley does not like to go to bed early. It is good to have Riley as a special boy. And it is good to have you to.
Alan and I are so proud of her for wanting to understand more about him all the time. She knows that when he “stims” (repetitive behavior) to try to get him involved in something else or just to come tell on him, which she loves to do.
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