Monday, December 5, 2011

He Decided to Join Us

"He decided to join us" were words my husband said to me over the weekend.  We had taken G down to the Strong museum of play in Rochester.  For about the first 2 hours we were there G was very content in some very unusual play.  First it was at the stage area being a ticket taker, just handing out tickets and retrieving tickets.  He was very content with that, he engaged other kids a couple of times for about 30 seconds each time.  He got very angry if a child attempted to take the tickets away from him or didn't give the tickets right back.

After that was the post office, for about 45 minutes he was content with putting mail in post office boxes and collecting the mail from the drop box. This play repeated itself over and over, again not engaging other children or even his own parents. If we got in his way he would move us.  If he needed help he would struggle till we asked if he needed help.

They had a children's singer in about 30 feet away from him, the music was loud the children were loud he never noticed.  He glanced over it didn't excite him so therefore it wasn't happening to him.

The next area of interest was the big plane, here is where he actively kinda engaged us.  He put his father in one spot and me in another.  This was when my husband made the statement of he decided to join us. Then he went to his own world.

Then he asked to go to the train, yeah he said he wanted to do something. He rode on the kiddy train, then played with the train table, again solitary never acknowledged any other kids.  Very happy with his solitary play.

Our last area was Sesame Street, there is a taxi cab a favorite of all the kids, G is no exception. He got in and didn't want to leave the drivers seat, but would when reminded. Then it was off to the time clock, nice repetitive  put time card in get it stamped, put in have it stamped.

We had to lead him away, not kicking and screaming, but still he wasn't willing to leave that day.  We maybe got to 1/4 of the interactive areas.  Maybe next time he will allow us in his world and we can do more.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

It's not easy being me

So today while grocery shopping I was feeling sorry for myself.  Now anyone that knows my family would think that I was feeling bad due to G allergies, being allergic to eggs and peanuts can make shopping interesting. Or maybe I was feeling put out due to the others and their food sensory issues.  One doesn't like "stringy meat" gets stuck in the teeth.  Another hardly eats anything.  Then the last that didn't get mentioned, just takes after her sister and doesn't like healthy things.

Nope none of these things were it.  I was feeling sorry for myself because I wanted to get eggnog, and all of them had high fructose corn syrup.  For the average person who is not diabetic, (which I am not) it probably wouldn't phase them.  It is a concern to me due to the fact that if I consume to much processed sugars I will get a migraine.  This type of pain is so not worth the goodness of eggnog.

So I sucked it up and went into the "healthy" part of the store, the part that has all the organic, and vegan stuff.  Yep there was eggnog that just had corn syrup 4.99 for a quart.
32 oz was it worth it.  I stood there looking at it.  I walked away went back to the dairy section, reread all of those eggnogs, staring at the fact that the ingredient list read milk, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, egg.  Hello eggnog.  A main ingredient is in the name.

But, I really wanted some, did I want to spend the money.  I went back looked at it again.  Looked at the ingredients, cream, milk, egg, corn syrup.

I cashed out came home and poured me a small glass of eggnog.  Maybe I need to get some  8.00 rum to go with it

Thursday, November 3, 2011

What does autism look like.

What does autism look like?  Who the h@@@ knows.  Really, granted if you see a child walking on their tip toes flapping their hands looking like they are about to take off, they might be autistic.  If you try talking the child and they ignore you or screech at you the child might be autistic.

But if you see a child walking around doing weird things with their fingers, staring off into space, guess what that child might be autistic.  If the child comes up to you and starts talking about different breeds of dogs, yep that child might be autistic.  If you try to talk to a child but they won't look at you  in the face and mumble a comment.  Yep that child might be autistic.

If you are in a crowded place and you hear a child whining he wants to go home, and his parents are trying to convince him to stay, yep he might be autistic and the parents are trying to push his boundaries.

If you have met one kid with autism guess what you have met one kid with autism.
Like every other human being, every one is different. There is no autism mold.  Every autistic child is different.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Finding resources

Took G to the mall today.  There was the man with his 2 kids.  English was a second language to them.  His son starting getting into G face.  The man reprimanded him and apologized to me.  G had ignored the whole incident stared past the kids like he wasn't there. The guy then said his son was autistic.  I told him no problem G is also and I am working on his socialization skills. 
 (there was more like he was trying to get his son to engage G in conversation, not G strong suit so that didn't go over well). 

Then he was telling me about his daughter who is also on the spectrum, she is 6 looks like she is 4 (he wanted to know how old G was, told him almost 4 who looks like he is 6). She is non verbal and getting very few services.  He had not a clue that in NYS as long that there is  a medical dx the child is medicaid eligible.  He didn't know where to find resources for his daughter.  He was relying on the school district and was being let down.  He didn't know that if he disagreed with the IEP he didn't have to sign it, and he can fight for other things.

He and his wife have no support for the kids, it is just them.  By the time he left I had given him a list of different resources to look into. 

Over all I felt bad for this family, just because, I know that if I wasn't such a research person, I also wouldn't know half the things about autism that I do.  It also made me realize that with a lot of places you get a dx and sent on your merry way.  With the advice you can use our agency or not. But there isn't a ton of follow up given. Plus it depends on where you get the dx from. 

Not only are the kids over looked but the family as a whole gets overlooked. 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Childhood memories

Like any good parent I want my children to have good memories of their childhood.  I want those memories to be of the things we did that were out of the ordinary.  Not mom got home, cleaned cooked dinner Dad got home he ate and we just watched tv every night.

This evening my son wanted to go to the park with 2 sandboxes as he puts it.  Well the only issue with that was I was cooking dinner at the time.  He didn't like that answer.  So he proceeded to lay on the floor and allow me the pleasure of hearing his displeasure.

So I told him if he would calm down, we would pack up dinner and have a picnic at the park with 2 sand boxes.  He stopped the screaming, the funny part was I had been thinking of doing a simple dinner and just eating at the park.  So it wasn't like the idea just came to me.

So that is what we did, packed up dinner at ate the park, life was good, till the rain started

It hurts to be a parent

I know this topic has been gone over before by many a person.  But I have to say it hurts to be a parent.
 
You have the parents that hurt because their kids get in with the wrong crowd, turn to drugs drinking and sex.  The parents then ask themselves "what did I do wrong."

You have the parents that hurt because their child is being hurt in non physically ways by their peers.  In this case as a parent you want to give your child all the tools they need to make the hurt go away.

Then there are the physical hurts that you as a parent cannot make go away.  The your child is in pain, and you can only hold their hand and sympathize. Now yes I realize I have it good, a lot better than most my child isn't chronically or terminally ill.

It doesn't negate the fact my child is in pain.  She has been in constant pain for over 2 weeks now.  We still don't have a concrete answer for what is going on.  They think it is narrowed down to 2 things.  In order to get any real answers she has to go under and a scope inserted into her urethra. 

She is scared, and in pain.  She lashes out verbally or withdraws into a book.  How can I fault her for either thing.  There is nothing I can do but say yes you can have more pain killer.  If I suggest a hot pack she bites my head off.  She is cranky and miserable and I really can't do a thing for her.

It hurts to see her like this.  It scares me to have to take her into the hospital knowing she is being put under to be scoped.  It scares me not knowing what is really going on.

It sucks to be a parent at times

Friday, September 16, 2011

Bullying

With a teenager and preteen this is a scary subject. 48 hours is doing a program on it tonight.
I am sitting here talking to my teen wondering where the difference is between when I was bullied and to the bullying now.  We are talking about 25 years, (yes I am old). 

Right now the main factor we have come up with is internet, and social networks.  I didn't have internet but I was bullied.  I was called fat, ugly, scum this happened day after day after day.  I never told an adult or teacher.  But one day I got fed up and lashed out physically.  Did I win the fight not physically.  But the person never bullied me again.

Now my daughter has had a couple of episodes with a girl bullying her on the internet.  When I first found out about it, I made her defriend the girl on facebook.  Why she had her as a friend, I still don't know.  But once the girl was defriended my childs life became better.

Of all the things to be scared of, I shouldn't be scared to send my child to school.  For fear that they will be harassed verbally and then physically