Autism Blogger

We have had a quiet week.  Everyone is feeling better.  Life is back to "normal".  My boy is being stubborn about not wanting to do things for himself that I know he can do.  Since that is the only major thing going on right now, I consider myself lucky.  It is nice to have a little break from the normal roller coaster of a life we have.

Yep Marcel broke a window tonight right before daddy got home.  Elsie (the wonder dog)

let me know. I had just changed a poopy diaper & had taken it to the garage trash can when Elsie

started FREAKING out. It wasnt her usual cute yelp, it was her "Mom hurry up Marcel is in trouble"

bark. Luckily he's okay, not a scratch on him. Daddy is boarding up the window as I write this &

will pick up some plexiglass tomorrow. Our windows are all very tall but luckily they are sectioned

off so we just have to replace a section thats about four feet wide by two feet tall, it was the

window in his therapy room. Thank God it wasnt one of the BIG windows in the living or dining

room. Never a dull moment.

My friend Michele and I both have boys with autism who are soon to turn 14.  Here in New Jersey, that is the magic number for what's called "Transition".  You have a big meeting, much like an IEP meeting, and you plan what your child's needs are for high school, so that he has what he needs for adult life. 

No small task!

So I'm supposed to know what my son's future is, and can tell what he will need for highschool, in order to get him there.  omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!Michele and I have been to lots of talks and workshops in our sons' 14 years.  Now we see that they are all generally geared towards young kids with autism;  behavioral help, ABA, stimulating language, social skills, eating problems...well, we've lived thru all those, but now we're faced with Life Skills,  Vocational training, and the ever popular Sexuality.  omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(did I say shoot me now?)

We went to a friend of ours who is a case manager at our local hospital, and she immediately set up a series of workshops that we desperately need.  The first one was last night - "Transition and the IEP".

IT WAS GREAT!!!  the lady talked about who should be there at a transition meeting, what should be discussed, what will happen...all those parts made me feel empowered.

Then she talked about how bad it is in NJ...how the waiting list for housing (group homes and apartments) is at least 10 years.  And that's if you are considered a priority because you're over 55 or you have a life-threatening illness.  Otherwise it's longer.  Oh no.

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This site is very interesting, personally I could spend hours on it if I had the time. Enjoy =)

http://growabrain.typepad.com/growabrain/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/health/research/11brain.html?_r=2&em&o...

I realize stores are advertizing Christmas early because the economy is so cruddy but its irritating ugh.

 Did anybody else read this and get steamed? I want to walk up to the woman and smack her with her own book. I realize Michael has started off on the spectrum and in the end he may not end up with a diagnosis. There have been other cases of kids progressing off the scale over the years. But I feel a parent cannot cure their children. And without her doctors, therapists, and all the people who spent years researching and writing the material she read, would her son be "cured"

http://www.usmagazine.com/news/jenny-mccarthy-my-son-is-no-longer-autist...

Jenny McCarthy: My Son No Longer Has Autism
Thursday October 16, 2008

Despite criticism from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Jenny McCarthy says she helped her son, Evan, recover from autism.??

The actress - who believes the MMR vaccine was to blame for her son's diagnosis - says a strict no wheat-and-dairy-free diet has changed her son from a quiet little boy who used to flail his arms around to a loving six-year-old.??

"Before the vaccination, he was huggy, lovey, snuggly," she says in the newest issue of Us Weekly. "Then it was like someone came down and stole him."

McCarthy, 36, remembers when Evan began to come out of his shell while watching a SpongeBob episode. "I heard Evan laugh...I jumped on the bed and started screaming."

She adds, "When he finally hugged me, I prayed, 'Please God don't let this be the only time.'"??  read more »

Sooooo I can buy myself some new hooters from that plastic surgeon =)~~~ Im gonna

get me some Pamela Anderson implants whoo hoo!!

I've been out of the loop because we have been sick.  We are getting better.  Stomach bug.

I have a 5 year old son who has autism, But my main scare with him, is that he is a head banger.... He has broken all the windows in my house just by headbutting them. Does any one out there have any ideas that I might be able to use???

Thank you
Kari

There was a great article in the St Paul, Pioneer Press last weekend about a new web site called Autism Hangout .com.  http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_10934381 

Could y'all weigh in on how many of you have both parents working?  I ask because that's our situation.  We can't afford to have one of us stay home.  

This is my first time making a blog.. So I'm not sure what to say. Or TYPE, rather.

I'm 19.5 years old and still unemployed and single. I've spent the past year and a half trying to "discover myself," but its not really turning out the way I hoped. Mostly I joined this Blogger so I could type out all my thoughts in hope of someone actually listening to my drivels. I'll update all the things that have happened, as well as all the things I have discovered and realized about myself withing the 2 existing worlds (The real world and the world inside my head) and whatever philosophies and life anecdotes worth dumping on. :laugh:

I dont want to rant or vent about my autism or about my loneliness or anything.. I just want to know someone out there is listening.

All my old ex-friends were really close, and I was sort of the party clown of the group. I'd do goofy funny things to make everyone laugh and feel better and not hate anyone else. I thought it was WORTH it to do such things to make friends. I wanted so BAD to confide in others and to let them confide in me.

Eventually, after we all graduated, the self-titled Group of Inseparable Friends started to separate, and I became sick of trying to pretend I was okay in front of them. I started on a downward spiral thats STILL going on now. All they would do is whine about their problems and assume that I was perfectly FINE, simply because I was the funny, happy-go-lucky one. Then later on when I became really depressed, they started hanging out with me less and they began mocking my virginity and lack of 'experience' with the opposite sex. So I told them to forget about the fact that I ever existed, and to leave me alone.

That pretty much sums up my whole life. I have made a CAREER out of trying to not exist in other people's lives.  read more »

I am a BIG Greys Anatomy fan. They have a new charactor on the show (hopefully she'll stick around

awhile) a heart specialist who is quirky, I figured out right away she must have aspergers and sure

enough she does.