Do/did any of your kids sleep with their rear in the air?  I think this is so cute and hilarious.  This photo was taken this summer during our camping stay in a yurt.

My family LOVES to play games. One of the newest ones we've been hooked on is a dice game called Farkel. It's similar to Yahtzee, but way more fun.

I think games are a great way to bring family together. Some other's we like are: boggle, sequence, backgammon, othello, battleship, monopoly, phase 10, uno, cribbage, pictionary, mexican train (dominos), tri-ominos, upwords, gin rummy, blackjack, poker and sorry. We also have ping pong and air hocky downstairs. Not to mention a ton of yard games that we play (when it is nice out). We also play video games togther. We have Wii (Wii bowling is the best) and Playstation 2 (Guitar hero rules!!) and Playstation 3 and I think I have just about every old school video game ever made on my laptop.

So yeah, we are complete game junkies. It's a great way to spend some quality family time. I don't think there is a day that goes by that we don't play something together as a family. Give Farkel a try if you haven't, it's really fun and addicting (cheap too, I think it goes for around 10 bucks).

What games does your family play?

What are you all doing to combat summer boredom for the kids?

Wyatt is currently being entertained by an Uncle Ben's Ready Rice pouch. (The one he likes isn't gluten free, in case you are wondering). I discovered those rice pouches recently because of a coupon. Unfortunately they are not dirt cheap or fat free, but they taste yummy. The best part is that they only take 90 seconds to nuke. I highly recommend them, especially for those in the fam that are not GFCF. It's amazing how much entertainment kids can get out of rice and various pasta. Food as entertainment. Works for me.

It's a bit too sunny to go swimming right now, maybe in a little while. I'm out of sunscreen. I dragged Wyatt's little patio kiddie pool inside to put in front of the sink. Lately he has been driving me insane with his constant desire to play in the sink. I wouldn't mind it so much if he wouldn't deliberately pour water all over the floor. Then I have to wash and dry out a ton of towels/mats in the dryer because the coastal fog in the mornings and evenings prevent them from air drying and they get all moldy smelling.

Earlier we went to the park for 45 minutes. It was a trial, but Wyatt did OK. I had another adult to go with me this time, otherwise I wouldn't have attempted it at this park. The closest park to me is a giant sports park with a very small play area (no swings). Of course, there is every imaginable sports camp going on right now for summer, which I hadn't realized. Soccer, frisbee, tennis, baseball, etc. A nightmare for me because I have to prevent Wyatt from running onto the fields in the middle of games. But Wyatt, unhappily, seemed to understand that he could either play on the play structure or take a sedate walk, or leave.  read more »

Hi!  I suppose I could have private-messaged you, but I didn't think you'd mind if I asked you about something in your profile.  You said your son might move out soon for some independent living.  How's that going?  How are you preparing?   What's the timeline?  Any hurdles?

I'm so new to this whole thing, we are going to our first specialist appt in june. WE've been working with speech and behavioral therapies since 18mo and all agree that our son is autistic, we just need the final diagnosis form the specialist to get the services ball rolling.

I dont know what to expect from autism. It terrifies me, I'm afraid that I'm going to loose my son into the depths of his own mind. Does ASd work like that, like alsheimers in that it slowly worsens until theres nothing left of the child I love so dearly? I dont care if he learns slower, or if he's weird in the eyes of strangers, I only care that he can still be the loving wonderful little sprite that I know today. That would tear my heart out is he stops being affectionate with us, I dont think I could handle it. I just want to keep telling him to stay here with me, just stay how you are and I will always be here for you. Someone please tell me what happens as they grow up, do all ASd kids disapear emotionally? It's like mourning a death right now, I cant loose my baby to this, I just cant take that and still be OK.  

What if autism turned out to be caused by a virus?  If autism turned out to be caused by a virus, then wouldn't it be ironic if there was eventually a preventative vaccine, you know, since there is so much controversy over a possible vaccination-autism connection. 

There are all kinds of new, scary viruses and yuckies out there.  There's Ebola, Hanta, SARS, AIDS, bird flu, Lyme disease, West Nile Virus, CJD (Mad Cow), and a bunch of nasty stuff related to bat guano.  A couple of years ago, my husband's forty-something aunt, who lives about an hour from us, got West Nile Virus and was in the hospital for 6 months, most of that in an intensive care unit.  It caused a lot of nerve damage and she's still mostly in a wheelchair.  We all got eaten alive by mosquitos that year.  What if an exposure to something like a West Nile Virus mosquito bite affects children (and their developing brains) differently than adults?

Sort of along this topic, I'm going to the LIA Lyme-Autism Connection conference in Indian Wells CA at the end of June so I'll take notes and report back to all of ya here on the blog.  There seems to be a theory that a person need not be bitten by a carrier tick to contract Lyme or syptoms of Lyme disease.  I am so interested to find out more about this.  It's very bio-medical, for sure.

My name is Becky Fetterman and I am Autism Spectrum disorder teacher here at Nathan Hale in Schaumburg, Illinois. I am working on completing my master’s degree at National Louis University. As part of my class, I am required to complete a survey to present to the class. I am going to focus my survey on the causes of Autism. I ask that you please complete the survey by May 28th to the best of your ability. I truly value your time and comments. Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to reading your results. If you have any questions for concerns, please feel free to email me at rebeccafettrman@sd54.org. Thank you again for your time, Becky Fetterman

Have you ever considered becoming a surrogate? Not a traditional surrogate where you supply the egg, but what is known as a gestational surrogate. There was a recent article in Time magazine about that interviewed among many other mothers, a mother of an ASD child. She said she was going to use the money (average $20 to $40k per delivery) for a therapy room for her child. What surprised me was that the parents didn't have any reservations about having an ASD mom as a surrogate because they felt that autism is mostly genetic anyway. (They were European, maybe that made a difference in the view of ASD?) That blew me away because I myself was not convinced that genetics play such a large role.

My husband would love it if I earned some extra money as a surrogate. What do you guys think?  I also placed this topic in the forum section but I was afraid no one would look there.

I'm a single mom and my daughter was diagnosed hours ago with autism. I've been told to contact the police department, fire department, board of education, SSI, and 2 local elementry schools in my area. I've got information overload and a little overwhelmed. Can anyone give me tips to make this process any easier.

Dear Readers:

I am deeply concerned and dismayed about the prevailing "white" image of autism portrayed by the Autism Society (AS), especially in the staging of their Annual Conferences.  

The upcoming Orlando Conference, like others before it, has workshops whose content lacks any reference to issues of race,ethnicity and culture. Also, the conference presenters (speakers) are persons, "experts" who  largely are representative of the "white" race. (See the pixs on the AS Orlando Conference web-site)

The Orlando Conference workshops are void of content that reflects and/or directly addresses the cultural and or cross-cultural dynamics that impact autism in such areas as medical diagnoses, the values, beliefs and mores related to issues of treatment and threapeutic interventions, culturally-sensitive/culturally-appropriate testing/evaluative and research methodologies, tools, community education, and I could go on and on.

Likewise, each year the conference presenters/speakers continue to reflecta very visible lack of racial minority representation. Am I to believe that the Autism Society is incapable of locating and recruiting such "experts," or that there are no such "experts" from racial minority backgrounds with professional qualifications, work experiences, or even with  lived experiences among the growing numbers of non-white persons with autism, or non-white parents of a child or children with autism? 

Maybe , the Autism Society just continues to perceive racial minority people as mere atendees at such conferences. Yet, as some of my collegues have pointed out, one has to look very hard to find the visible reflection of attendees from non-white and/or diverse race and cultural backgrounds at such conferences.  read more »