Exhausted from parenting/ASD children/Welcome to Schmolland!

[toodycat]

Good morning, Schmolland!

Daisy&Max,I want to go so bad and its looking like my plans might fall through due to cost. Max doesn't want me to lose my trip so he is trying to figure out if he can help me out some more so we can go. Of course he would go to. So we'll see.Plumbing problems are the worst! When we first moved into this house, we had an episode in which DH and I kept noticing that a large loaf of challah bread was getting smaller and smaller in the course of a few hours. We each thought the other was eating it and didn't want to say anything. As it turned out, DS was incrementally flushing it down the toilet for reasons best known to a six-year-old. That night, the downstairs toilet backed up and flooded the basement. The plumbing bill was large and had to be put on a credit card, though I tried to regard it as a teachable moment to explain to DS what can and cannot be flushed. I hope there's a way that you can fix the plumbing and still get to WDW.

TC..I understand the shorts and the polo shirts! However, my son's use color as their jumping off point....two different shades of red or red and orange, or two shades of green. Sometimes I have to say, "yes they are the same color but they don't go together. "
Yes, DS does the exact same thing...lime green and olive green, burgundy T-shirt with fire engine red athletic shorts. He doesn't understand what my problem is and called me the Fashion Fascistnista after he learned about Mussolini in social studies.
KFKCongrats on the kitty AND the trip to Cancun! Hope you have a great time!
The trip to Cancun is replacing the WDW second honeymoon at AKL DH and I were planning for late July. Although my broken foot is better, we didn't think I would be able to walk around the parks just yet, so we re-booked the airfare to Cancun. (Even with the re-booking fee, Cancun came out to be about $1000 less than the trip to WDW, so we ended up tacking a couple of days at WDW on to our trip to MIL's timeshare in Hilton Head. We are flying into MCO, staying 3 days, and then driving to HH and then flying home from JAX. Hopefully, I will be able to walk greater distances by then.) I am a bit anxious about leaving DS with my parents while we are in Cancun. He is a good boy and my folks love him to pieces, but my sister (45) lives with them and she competes with DS for attention. He, of course, doesn't know he's competing, so her behavior can be quite confusing to him.

I hope your son's back is okay! What was the instructor thinking? Nothing is worth a permanent injury to the spine. I'll say an extra prayer for him tonight. Thank you so much! I appreciate it very much.

I'm off to the doctor now and, hopefully, will get a clean bill of health on my foot. Daisy&Max, I hope your MRI goes well.

Have a great day, everyone.

 

[kampfirekim]

I'm so jealous of you going to WDW KFK. I want to go so bad and its looking like my plans might fall through due to cost. Max doesn't want me to lose my trip so he is trying to figure out if he can help me out some more so we can go. Of course he would go to. So we'll see.

OH and last time Max was here, DS6 warmed up to him but didn't seem to notice that he was gone. This time he was really a little pill after Max left. So I asked him if he was upset that he was gone. He told me that he wanted him to live with us and didn't want him to leave. Then a little while later when I was getting dressed to go run errands he brought me a not he had written to Max that he wanted me to mail to him. It said, "Max I love you. I wish you would stay. Love E" I almost cried. I immediately took a picture with my cell and sent it to Max so he would know how E was feeling. He was thrilled. Now we just have to make sure his kids can accept me and we should be able to have a wonderful life. LOL


KFK...I think our problem is farther down in the pipe. It was suggested that I go in through the drain somethingorother that is under the house. That's a big fat negative! I do not go under the house, i don't like, I won't do it. So I will rent some of my beloved DVC points and pay for someone to do it for me.

I have an MRI tomorrow afternoon for my knee. I'm so hoping they can find out what is wrong. So I've asked a girl friend to come to the dr office to sit with DS6 and keep him out of trouble while I'm in the testing room. I've already warned her, and honestly she knows, that he will probably ignore her most of the time and she is okay with it. She understands him.

off to night night land!

Daisy

Sounds like Max is an awesomely great guy. I hope you do find a way to make it to WDW. We are within a 8-9 hour drive towing a camper so we don't have the added cost of airfair and dining out. That definitely helps us to keep our trips fairly cost effective.

The story of your son's note to Max choked me up big time! What a breakthrough. I'm sure Max was over the moon when he got your pic of it. It is so very wise to give all the children time to adjust to you two being together. So many just jump right into a relationship or even marriage and then don't understand why the kids resent the situation. You're absolutely doing it right!

As far as crawling under the house......AMEN SISTA! KFK doesn't like it and won't do it either. Def a job worth hiring out!


Hope your appointment at the Dr. goes well. Isn't is nice to have a friend who's willing to tag along. I've actually babysat kids that I WISHED would've ignored me.

KFK

Good morning, Schmolland!

Plumbing problems are the worst! When we first moved into this house, we had an episode in which DH and I kept noticing that a large loaf of challah bread was getting smaller and smaller in the course of a few hours. We each thought the other was eating it and didn't want to say anything. As it turned out, DS was incrementally flushing it down the toilet for reasons best known to a six-year-old. That night, the downstairs toilet backed up and flooded the basement. The plumbing bill was large and had to be put on a credit card, though I tried to regard it as a teachable moment to explain to DS what can and cannot be flushed.

THE MYSTERY OF THE CHALLAH BREAD....

Have fun in Cancun and H.H. and WDW. Wow! That sounds like quite a trip when you say it like that! Too bad you'll be so close to us and we'll be out of town. I def would have considered a day at HH beach to meet you!

 

[Nik's Mom]

Should be an interesting week for us. DH's family is coming to visit us from California. The kids are really excited to have their cousins here with them. We're hispanic, so we are going to have an assembly line set up to make tamales on Sunday. I don't know how I"m going to squeeze 9 people into my kitchen.

 

[bookwormde]

Sounds like a great time, a little chaos is fun, enjoy
bookwormde

 

[Disneylvr]

I haven't posted in this thread although I don't know why. My daughter, age 7 has moderate to severe autism. She is our only child and sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes it isn't. In my heart I really wish she had a sibling but it took me 7 years to get pregnant with her and by then I was 35 years old. But then at the same time, she is all I can handle at the age of 42 years old!

Last month we took her to a developmental/behavioral pediatrician to discuss options (we also saw a dietitian) because she has so much trouble focusing and stay on task. In fact she regressed on one of her IEP goals that was to increase task focus in the last quarter of the 2009-2010 school year. The doctor told us about medication options but let it 100% up to us. Abilify was the one we said we might consider in a very low dose.

Any experiences with Abilify? She told us about the weight gain as a possible side effect.

 

[bookwormde]

I know a few parents who have children who have used it for limited periods of time. For the labeled indications it worked pretty well in most situation, but there are some who discontinued it quickly since it actually made the manifestations more acute. It there is a short term acute event or situation that you are trying to manage, then it is one of the safer drugs at her age. I she was an adolescent I would say no. Just be sure that you understand specifically why it is being used, and what the benefits are to your child (not to anyone else) and what the risks are. And as with all drugs in your life, take the time to read the full indications and disclosure in the Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR). Here is an online portion of part of the disclosure so you have a "feel" for the drug.

http://www.rxlist.com/abilify-drug.htm#

Click and read the professinal tab for the indications and usage tab at the upper left and then the warnings and precautions tab and overdose and reactions (be sure to click on the blue higlighted adverse reaction label at the end) .

Actually my understanding is that weight gain is actually a "benefit" of the drug not a " negative side effect" for many of our kids.

I believe this was the first of the psycotropiocs that included the requiremen that for Autism patients that it should only be used in conjuction with a broad treatment plan including a social skills program (actually has allowed some parnets to get their insurance compainies to pay for social skills that they otherwise refused to since it is medically neccessary for proper application of the drug)

bookwormde

 

[Disneylvr]

Thanks, we are very reluctant to put DD on medication but she is having such a hard time focusing at school and she sometimes has terrible mood swings.

 

[bookwormde]

Focusing is because they are not supplying the infomation in our perfered format so that is not a medication issue, mood swings are different and are typically because of anxiety and frustration so while everybody is getting better at meeting her needs it can help in the short run as long as they continue to maximize all the other potentinal supports and accomidations.

bookwormde

 

[toodycat]

Bookwormde---Do you believe there is a specific format that is best for ASD learners? As a parent and a teacher, I'd be curious. By saying "preferred," you mean the individual's preference, no? When I taught in an inclusion classroom, I used to try to present information in all modalities whenever possible, so that I covered all my learners' needs. With DS, I notice he has a tough time with information that is only presented verbally. He needs notes and diagrams to back him up. Sometimes, if I make up a "catch phrase" that is humorous or use a lot of sensory imagery to create a picture in his mind, he will remember the information based on that.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Bookwormde---Do you believe there is a specific format that is best for ASD learners? As a parent and a teacher, I'd be curious. By saying "preferred," you mean the individual's preference, no? When I taught in an inclusion classroom, I used to try to present information in all modalities whenever possible, so that I covered all my learners' needs. With DS, I notice he has a tough time with information that is only presented verbally. He needs notes and diagrams to back him up. Sometimes, if I make up a "catch phrase" that is humorous or use a lot of sensory imagery to create a picture in his mind, he will remember the information based on that.

I have 2 on the spectrum and both of them are visual learners.

 

[bookwormde]

Non liners, visual is the core,(video pictures etc), but for acedemics complex realation diagrams and charts work wonders (think the coralated hitory of the earth or the atomic to universe type). Basically anything that is not reading or spoken linear comunication. Also repetition of input (and processing, organization and output) methodologiesis very helpful.
Harmonic reinforcement can be helpful also.

bookwormde

 

[iwrbnd]

We finally medicated our first son because he just couldn't focus. He daydreamed his life away and was frustrating everyone! The medicine worked wonders through grade school and middle school. He's in high school now and won't take it anymore. He's doing okay without it because he has better coping skills. The medicine can help but it still scares me, especially with kids on the spectrum that may have more underlying neurological issues. My oldest has had some mild tics/OCD tendencies that come out in stress. So, for him, the meds made his tics/OCD go away but it has the potential to make them worse. That scares me. I have a 7 year old daughter that I know would benefit from medicine but she also shows mild signs of tics/OCD, too. I know so much more now than I did 10 years ago and I'm too scared to put her on medicine. My niece is similiar to my kids and when she went on focusing meds (can't remember if it was Ritalin, Focalin or whatever) she had a psychotic episode and thought demons were talking to her and also began washing her hands constantly! It eventually went away when she went off the meds but it scared the &^% out of me! The decision to go on meds or not is a big one and should be done carefully. As scared as I am of the meds I have to admit I believe they saved my oldest son!

 

[disneymom3]

I can't remember if I've asked you: Have you seen the film: "Autistic Like: Graham's Story"?

It's about a boy who was misdiagnosed ASD when he really had SPD.

I have not seen that and it sounds like I really need to. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

[ppony]

Don't know if anyone caught this today.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/31/irpt.autism/index.html#cnnSTCText

 

[toodycat]

Greetings everyone. I hope all's well with everyone. DH and I are home from Cancun. We had an amazing time and my parents took good care of DS while we were gone. They took him out to dinner and to see "Despicable Me." Now that we've returned, we picked up DS' new pet yesterday, Cupcake the kitten. We went to Petsmart and bought her a bed, a bunch of toys and a climbing structure. She is the cutest thing ever and he is lavishing attention on her. DS is very gentle with her. I think he really understands why she feels shy and tentative in a new environment. I can hear her jumping and thumping around his room and DS laughing hysterically. But, she did sleep through the night last night which is good.I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

 

[Brightsy]

Boy we have some wonderful and weird kids, don't we?
So, t'other day we were talking about numbers and such. My DH as our Shmutch boy what his favorite number was. Our little lad answered without delay "20274."

LOL We're still trying to figure out the significance of that number...

 

[iwrbnd]

ppony-nice article!

toodycat-congrats on the new cat! Ours isn't peeing in the house right now!The culprit ended up being our 17 year old cat. The vet said his kidneys weren't working well. He gave us some meds and it has seemed to work, temporarily at least. He's old and I expect it to happen again. Oh well, after 17 years he's earned the right to mess up now and then. Luckily, he pees mostly water so it's not the typical/horrible cat pee!

Brightsy-that made me crack up!Thanks for the good laugh!

Kampfirekim-are you back from Disney yet? I can't wait to hear about it!

 

[Daisy&Max]

Medication...My oldest schmutch has been on an ADHD med since age 4. We put him on an anti-depressant for his anxiety and ocd at age 5. At age 6 we put him on Respridone for his aggression and anger. We now have a child who can focus on everything from school to play, who doesn't flip out over things any more, and can now be nice. I question it at times because I feel bad giving him such a cocktail, but I know it makes a difference. This is how I know, I ran out of respridone the other day and I decided to see if he could do without it (he only takes .5mg twice a day, not a big amount). I let him go for 5 days. By day 5 he was surly, abusive, angry, and not a nice human being. I don't know if his ASD things were more noticeable because we stayed home those days because of the heat. But I did know now that he does need this medication in order to participate in daily life. And his ADHD meds make it so he can focus not just on learning but on playing, reading, watching tv, etc. It also keeps his frustrations down to a minimum since he can focus on what he's doing and problem solve.

Cats...don't have any but we do have a bunny and my its my oldest's biggest love. I think it is more important than any human. LOL He loves me but he REALLY loves the bunny. My youngest wants a big dog. I said, heck no, I can't keep up with two kids, a rabbit, and my mom. So there's no way in heck I could handle another body in here. LOL

Numbers....oldest schmutch counts things when we go to the zoo or the aquarium. We went to the aquarium the other day and we spent lots of time with him hunting down all the turtles, snakes, scorpions, and a few others. Thankfully, he didn't want to count all the fish! LOL

I'm ready to go back to work. I'm done being a SAHM! The kids are over being together every day and I can't afford to take them any where so we are kind of stuck at home...well except for places like the zoo and the aquarium, but they can't do that too many times in a summer.

I hope everyone is doing well and getting rested for the coming school year!

hugs to all,
Daisy

 

[persimmondeb]

We just came back from a trip from Montreal and Quebec City with myself, one Smutch teenager, my sister, her extraordinarly precocious four-year-old, and my 82-year-old father who uses a cane. By train, with a small mountain of luggage. We did all survive, although DS had a couple of small meltdowns the first day, and shredded several pairs of socks over the course of the trip. He also managed to get a piece of wire caught in his teeth.

 

[iwrbnd]

We just came back from a trip from Montreal and Quebec City with myself, one Smutch teenager, my sister, her extraordinarly precocious four-year-old, and my 82-year-old father who uses a cane. By train, with a small mountain of luggage. We did all survive, although DS had a couple of small meltdowns the first day, and shredded several pairs of socks over the course of the trip. He also managed to get a piece of wire caught in his teeth.

Sounds like quite an adventure! Welcome Back!