I refused to put underwear on Michael or to let in him the bathtub. He finally got so desperate to poop he went in and put his little seat on the toilet and went. Not very much but it is a huge break through!

I figure you didnt get my personal message since you're so good at getting back to me.

Try cutting off the melatonin for about a week if you can, Wyatt has probably built up a

tolerance to it. If you can I'd give him benadryl to go to sleep & give him a warm bath

with the light sticks I talked about earlier, keep the lights low. The melatonin will work

better if you take him off of it for just a little bit. I take it myself. Good luck. Im sure we've

all had our share of sleepless nights.

My son is such a couch potato. If I do not have the tv on he will turn it on. If he does not like the channel he will cry. I do tire of Disney Channel all day every day. Even if he is not watching Mommy cannot change the channel. I know another boy who has Asperger's Syndrom and he ios like Michael always TV TV TV

Monkey Trouble was on last night, and then repeated today. Michael loves that movie. The whole time he is sitting here yelling MONKEY. I may have to buy the movie. If it will help him work on his real words I am not going to complain about the tv.

On a much wetter note.. My mother is out of town this weekend, and rented a car so that I can have hers and go feed her pets... I woke up to a beautiful dawn thunderstorm. It was the type of rain that makes you just curl back up and sigh. I left the car windows open last night... I just know the seats are going to be soaked when we go to leave...

I just wanted to let y'all know the chalkboard is a big success woo hoo lol.

Actually there are two boards about four feet wide and three feet long.

My husband will put them up this weekend. Today I just leaned one up against

the wall, Marcel had a blast!! He'd color for awhile, then bring the chalk to me

to exchange colors. We used sidewalk chalk which is safer for him in case he

trys to take a bite out of the chalk yuck. The paint only cost about $13 and it

was well worth it!!

It's nearly 6:00 p.m. and Wyatt has just recently fallen asleep. I knew his whole sleep routine would be out of whack because of the respite debacle yesterday. I guess his body is tired because he's been up since 2 a.m. and he's had an active day. So I have to let him take at least a little nap before I ruthlessly wake him. The nocturnal cycle must be broken!!!

I spoke with my main mentor-therapist, Brooke, and she said I definitely need to give the respite sitter a firm schedule with a very detailed to-do list. She said if my sitter balks at it, then I will need to find a sitter with more energy.

Perz, I do think my respite sitter has some strong opinions on how things should be done, but she's pretty good about throwing up her hands and saying, "OK, whatever you want. That is fine." The reason why I don't think she's one of those strict 7 p.m. bedtime people is because she's let Wyatt go to sleep as early as 4 p.m. before. That's why we started having her only after 6 p.m. I truly think she bores Wyatt to snores and she likes it that way. If I could have her start coming at 8:30 p.m., that would also solve my problem, but I doubt she would be willing to arrive that late. Her strengths are that she is really safety conscious and she's super about making Wyatt dinner. She's just not much of an entertainer.

My previous respite sitter was not only an entertaining sort who would do art and read books to Wyatt, but she would make my bed and straighten the house up. Oh my goodness, she was the five-foot Fairy Goddess of Respite. But she had to quit because of some personal upheaval in her life.

Cindy, what happened to your respite person?  read more »

It is nearing 4 and Michael is supposed to use up 10 hours in 2 or 3 sessions but there is only another week available for him to use it in. I cannot imagine they take the kids that late. And I wanted him back before 6 so I can start supper.

I am wondering if they just are not coming. So I am going to call on Monday and tell them to shove the respite. Ok by then I will be in better moods. I will simply say they can give my hours to another family because I need something I can rely on rather than being told oh sometime after lunch and then nobody shows up. I asked specifically for a time and was denied. I was told they would get back to me with a time, and that did not happen. My son was left disappointed because I told him a girlw as going to come and take him to go play...

The respite sitter was here from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. and didn't stop Wyatt from going to sleep at 7:00 p.m.  She said Wyatt didn't feel well.  Well,  Wyatt felt well enought to get up at 2 a.m. and stampede around the house happily yelling and getting into things--he's still awake and it is 8 a.m. and time for therapy and the last day of summer school.  That means we've had only about 2 hours of sleep. 

I feel like I can't even think straight to make choices for the day and whatnot.  How can I keep Wyatt safe if I'm practically catatonic from no sleep?  My husband has said THAT'S IT, NO MORE RESPITE EVENINGS, ESPECIALLY ON WEEK NIGHTS.  How can he function to get up and go to work all day if he's had no sleep because of "respite"?  He says it's okay if I want to use respite during the day while he's at work.  But after the summer, the respite sitter has a day job at a school.

I have asked the sitter to please keep Wyatt awake.   Maybe this is my fault for not having a schedule of activities for the respite sitter to do with Wyatt.  I can just imagine though, she'll say "He didn't want to play."  And really, watching Wyatt can be a pain in the neck.  He's an active little guy.  So I can fully understand why, after feeding Wyatt dinner, the sitters turn the TV on and tune out.  Wyatt gets bored and falls asleep.  Is it my fault?  Is it the sitter's fault?

I'm going to give the sitter another chance.  During respite, I'm going to call her every half-hour to see if Wyatt is still awake.  If he's nodding off, that's the end of the evening for us.  No exceptions.  She's a nice lady and she's been a respite sitter for over 10 years, so maybe all of this is somehow my fault?   

Today Michael's OT therapist commented that after a few more sessions he may be dismissed from therapy. But not because of his behavior and emotional blocks like last time. This time it would be because of the strides and progression he made. So this time I can be proud if they kick out.

Michael has learned how to draw smilie faces. It is so cute. He can also say his name now... But not in the right occasions. I was writting his name in marker on the paper we were coloring onn, so he scribbled and said Michael. But he does not say his name if you ask, or respond with his name when looking in the mirror or at self  pictures...

Respit care is supposed to start tomorrow. Only I have no idea when they are coming to get him. Which makes me mad, because I think I should have a right to know when they are coming. I have to clean my house quick tonight because these people are fanatics. I have 10 hours to figure out for this month then re-apply. I decided I am not going to reapply. He will be in school next month. PLus if they cannot even set a time rather than saying oh Friday Afternoon, then why bother...

Marcel has been trying to bite again when he gets mad. Does anybody

else have this problem?

Tomorrow is the last day of summer school.  After that...gulp...I will have no time to myself.  No time to go to the store without Wyatt, no time to run errands without Wyatt, no time to take a leisurely walk with the dog.   Virtually no respite from Wyatt's charming company for three weeks.  Until day camp. 

(Oh, I know, I am so whiny.  There are millions of working  mom's out there who get up and go to work everyday and their personal time during the week is probably about 30 minutes total per week, and that's counting the commute).

Next week a long-time friend is visiting from Oregon and bringing her brand-new baby, so I've arranged to have the babysitter come for three hours during the day.  The sitter only had that weird time slot between lunch and dinner available, but I am grateful.  I've used up all of my free respite hours so I'm going to have to fork out, but it will be worth it, definitely.

Anyway, I am frantically trying to write comforting things onto my calendar, like:  Park, 3 hours.  Pool, 3 hours.  So it doesn't feel as though I am on my own for three weeks.  After Day Camp week, there will still be one more week of nothingness, but at least my mother is coming to help me that week.  I think Wyatt is more tiring than two full-time jobs.  He needs to be kept busy, busy, busy.

If you are employed by one company or another, consider taking advantage of a Flexible Spending Account, if it is offered.  These special account plans are also sometimes called "Cafeteria Plans."  They allow you to put aside $5,000 in pre-tax income to pay for qualifying childcare or healthcare expenses.  This income cannot be taxed (section 125 of the IRS Code) and is not counted as income when applying for SSI (Social Security) benefits.

We use my husband's Flex account to pay for things like Music Therapy for our son, dental woes, and my prescription co-pays.  At the beginning of the calendar year, the company puts aside up to $5,000 (whatever amount we have chosen) in an account.  So theoretically, we could use the whole $5,000 right away.  Over the course of the entire year, the divided amount is deducted from my husband's paychecks.  So, if we have opted for the entire $5,000, my husband's paycheck would be about $200 less per pay period.  But we are still getting that $200, just in another account and tax free as well. 

My friend Mr. John Wooler has worked with the practice and facilitation of relaxation using visualization techniques for years. When he met my Autistic son, Nicholas Miller, Mr. Wooler simply asked Nick; “Would you like to learn to relax more?” My son Nick answered “yes!” without any hesitation.  Nick followed a request to go into a quiet room in our house without distraction, and followed Mr. Woolers? additional instructions which were to sit down in a comfortable position and to close his eyes. In a short amount of time I saw my son Nick begin breathing more slowly, & remaining in a calm sitting position with no fidgeting and squirming. Nick?s body language and facial expressions demonstrated to me that Nick was indeed in a very relaxed state . He was also responding to questions and was talking with Mr. Wooler about how relaxed he was feeling. Some of the conversation during this relaxation session between my son and Mr. Wooler was about how Nick my son could help himself to feel relaxed by returning to his “quiet place” that Mr.Wooler was prompting Nick to describe in detail by asking Nick “What did this quiet place have in it?” The visualization activity seemed to motivate Nick to stay involved in the personalized relaxation activity.

So, I have been researching treatment methods for autism and found some very disturbing information relating to biomedical interventions such as medications, chelation therapy and the Gluten-Free Casein-Free diet. I think people are being mislead and misinformed about these different treatment methods to believe that their child/children can be "cured" of his/her autism. Is there a reason people feel that autistic children need to be cured? Why not focus on embracing and accepting these children and helping them rather than hurting them? Here are the main points I thought I would list about the different methods:

Medications

The only medication I could find out about that has been approved as a treatment specifically for autism by the FDA is Risperidone (Risperdal). There are several other drugs that have been used to try and address problems associated with hyperactivity, impulsivity, attention difficulties and anxiety. These drugs includeclomipramine (Anafranil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), fluoxetine (Prozac),Elavil, Wellbutrin, Valium, Ativan, Xanax, Clozapine (Clozaril), Olanzapine (Zyprexa), Quetiapine (Seroquel), Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine. A good quote I found states that"Increased use of medications to treat autism spectrum disorders has highlighted the need for more studies of these drugs in children. The National Institute of Mental Health has established a network of Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology (RUPPs) that combines expertise in psychopharmacology and psychiatry."  read more »

I want an anatomically correct boy doll for Michael. But not neccesarily a potty training one. Unless it popps... But I know alot of us are having potty training woes. I found a link to a video advertising a Baby We-We. I think this is a Euopean toy or something. It is quite the anatomically correct doll...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOtK5BVocKo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76B4hG_wLJs&feature=related

WOW.  I am tempted to see if I can find one on Ebay.