At our pharmacy we fill hundreds of compounded prescriptions every month.  New mom’s/dad’s come into the pharmacy often with 5-6 new prescriptions and a limited budget.  They often ask, which is more important (i.e. what can I put off until next month?)  My off the cuff answer is “all of them”, but I realize that compounded medications can become expensive quickly.  Many times prescription insurance does not cover custom compounds so the patients have to pay out of pocket. 

So…here is what I call the Three Big Bats (the 3 best therapies for your money – in my opinion)

1.       Trio Injections (Methy B-12, Flonic Acid, NAC)

2.       GFCF Diet

3.       Hyperbaric Chamber therapy  read more »

Does your child tell you that “it hurts” or leans against a chair or clinches his fist and presses hard against his belly?  If so...

Nobody Likes to be Labeled

It's time, we all decided, to take matters into our own hands.  What's out there in our community, how do our kids gain work skills, socialize, get transportation...these and about a million other vital questions need to be answered!!  And you all know as well as I do that there is no one person, place, or thing that can help us with this.  WE are the caregivers, we are the directors, the facilitators of our kids' lives...and aren't you sick and tired of stumbling around in the dark trying to get answers?  Why isn't there a clear path for our kids to travel on?  Why do things keep on changing? 

I hang out with a group of parents who all have kids with disabilities.  Of that group, probably 8 families have kids who are 'transition' age.  We see each other at church, at the grocery store, at school meetings, and at sports.  We get together at times for drinks, to kvetch, to cry, to pass along what we've 'heard' from other parents or teachers...It's all so vague!!  What's true and what's not?  What used to be available but isn't there any longer?

What is and isn't covered by insurance?  What did you ask for, and got, vs I asked for and didn't get?

You all know exactly what I'm talking about.  It's a maze within a maze, and no-one has the map.  read more »

What to get the boy.  Hmmm.  We always go thru this every year.  What to get our son with autism.  Not just for Christmas, but also his birthday falls on Dec 1st, so it's a double whammy.  So far, Playmobile has fit the bill.  This year, we were looking for something a little less-toy and a little more-learning.  We ended up getting him the Lego City Set, which is a construction site.  He builds a house, elevator, and 3 construction vehicles.  The best part is the directions, which have no words. They are all pictures!  He has been working on this set for 3 hours now, and is so proud when he finishes each part.  My son is 15, but is lower than that age cognitively.  The box says it's for ages 6 - 12.  He also has visual - perceptual problems which cause him to really struggle with reading...well, this is perfect for him.  I'm also pleased that the theme is based in reality, rather than monsters and bionical creatures.

Any other success stories for toys/gifts?

On slashdot today, there was an article about why programmers are often not paid what they are worth, along with this comment about Larry Wall's Virtues of a Programmer.   

 It struck me this might be instructive for parents of autistics, so here's my four marks of a great autistic software engineer (with apologies to Larry):

 1.  Lazyness- quite often autistic people are accused of this one, for the same reason Larry's great programmers are.  In reality, we're just looking for the most efficient way to get things done without wearing ourselves out; social interaction is so hard and tiring, why should we waste our energy on anything less?

 2.  Impatience- just try to talk to your kid about his latest obsession when you haven't spent as many hours as he has studying it....and you'll really know the meaning of the word impatience.  In computers, though, this means that we don't like bugs and seek to eradicate errors.   Or at least, minimize their effects.

3.  Hubris- yep, us programmers have a tendency to be on the neurodiversity side of things, or in the words of one person on alt.support.autism in the old Usenet days- we have Addams Family Syndrome.  WE ARE NORMAL, IT IS THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT IS WEIRD FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO DO WHAT WE DO.

4.  OCD.  Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder.  Here I leave Larry and his neurotypical engineers behind- The best programs written by autistic programmers will never ship, because we'll never be satisfied that they are complete.  Takes a good manager to work around this problem. 

Blogging is fairly new to me. Actually, it's totally new. I am really excited because my world is now about my boy who is Autistic. He was diagnosed when he was two-he is  now three. I am in the middle a divorce which is taking away too much energy away from my quest to find answers for my son. It has become my second job to find out how I can fix my son. I know it's a condition I can't fix but I know there is an answer somewhere. I research, read and have no idea what to do next. Accepting things for what they are is not an answer. But, I do understand that in quest for finding answers. I  know there are people who are just like me; Wishing there was a key to unlock, Wishing they could have a Jimi Hendrix fix and think outside the box.

I will be writing again just to vent to people who understand my frustration, happiness and life with a special someone.

   read more »

If you are working with a child with Autism or disability and are wondering if you should change strategies consider the following...

1.  Has the person been feeling well? not over tired or hungry when the intervention was run?
2. Are preferred items being used with the intervention-does the person really want that item or attention?
3. Is the intervention at that person's skill level-how do you know? Have you seen them to the steps separately?
4. Is the person who is running the intervention consistent?
5. Is the person who is running the intervention taking data? and does the data say there is no progress or is it "a feeling" that no progress is being made.-sometimes behavior changes in very small amounts but change is still occuring

For more information, free web based child page, and soon to come parent lounge visit. SkillSprout.com

http://www.skillsprout.com/

From a reader...There have been lots of successes with using visuals.  But, for two older, high functioning girls who also struggle with mental health issues, using a "FIRST calm down, THEN we can talk" really worked for them and made a difference for the family.