Another Field Trip More on My Son (Part 27) May 22, 2009 The final field trip of the year is to a beach side park. My wife is taking him on this one. If you remember or check my previous posts (you will probably have to look at my previous compositions, since I did not start posting these updates under the blog until this year), You will find one about the field trip I went with him on to the farm. My wife called when they were all on the way to beach, after the morning classroom instruction ie Calendar Time. Where the students are called on to help tell the day month year, day of the week, weather, time, etc... Well, this time he actually participated and got two answers right!! But like I felt when I saw this my wife commented to me about his stemming really bad during this instruction time. He is just so anxious, (probably close to an anxiety attack) he just starts his stemming really bad. He balls his hands into little fists and puts them under his chin, with his elbows tucked into his belly and tightens his muscules so hard he shakes. We really try to curb this stemming at home and when we are with him in other places, by talking to him smoothly, and gently rubbing his back or the sides of his arms. Now I wonder how often he does this throughout the school day. The last thing we want to do is look at prescription drugs to help with his anxiety, so we want to look at other alternatives. Just not sure where to go from here.... Google here I come. I will update more on the Beach field trip later.

Its Description Is Unimportant

http://autismvliet.blogspot.com/

Driver Suspended After Leaving Boy on Bus A Box Elder County school bus driver is on suspension after a five-year-old autistic boy fell asleep on her bus and was later found wandering the streets. The boy, Dylan Snow, has autism spectrum disorder and dozed off as he was going to the early learning center preschool in Corinne. The Box Elder County superintendent's office said when the kids were dropped off at the school, neither the bus driver or aide checked to see if everyone got off. The bus driver drove home and parked and Dylan woke up to an empty bus. He walked about three blocks when a neighbor spotted him and called police, who then put Dylan back on the bus. He was then returned home safely. http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-driver-suspended-after-leaving-autistic-boy,0,102881.story If you were this child's parents, what would you do to insure that this didn't happen ever again? What sort of safety procedures do you have in place for your child's transportation?

We started the Cipro today to get rid of the bacteria. We've done 1ml of Nystatin a day for the yeast for the last 6 days...trying to ease him into the 3 to 5ml. His poor tummy can't take too heavy of an onslaught. So, a few more gray hairs and shot nerves for Mommy waiting to see what effect these two new interventions will have on Caleb.

COPAA has released their report on their findings of improper restraint/seclusion. It is important to note that many of these families had no idea anything improper was occurring within their child's classroom until they went and observed their child. It is so very important to observe your child at least once each year and every time a change in the IEP takes place. Please observe more often if your child has funcitonal communication deficits. The report is touch to read and very heartbreaking, but please take some time to read it. There is a lot of valuable information in it! Find the report at http://www.copaa.org:80/news/unsafe.html

"I don't like baseball anymore" (More on My Son Part 26) May 4, 2009 Yep. Those were the exact words. But there was more... "I don't like the baseball. I don't like the baseball bat. I don't like running the bases. I want to play soccer. I want to play baseball." This is what I heard one week after the previous post regarding what a great game he played. While disappointed that he did not want to play, it was hard not to be happy over the explanation he offered. No tantrums, no yelling, just an explanation delivered as simple as a conversation. Although other people said we should make him finish the season since we had him started it, I am not going to force my son to participate in something he can clearly explain to he does not want to do. Even the explanation may not be crystal clear to us, the fact that he calmly explained them, now that I did understand and was happy with it. When a sport at his age is something almost entirely recreational and supposed to be fun I am not going to force it upon him, where the sheer enjoyment of the game in that? Needless to say we are looking into soccer and basketball programs in our area. Movin' on... He had a splendid birthday party. We kept it pretty simple this year and just had it in our backyard. All the children had a wonderful time, his best friend from school and summer camp showed up and so it would not have mattered if he did not get a single gift, he just enjoyed playing with his friends and cousins. My wife and helped participate in a fund raiser to raise money for the local summer camp for children with autism and it turned out pretty good, enough to send 3 children to camp. Pretty happy with that.

I loved how young minds work together. GOD was were he needed to be that night, with everyone. Amen y Amen I love the way those kids think. They will go a long way in this world. Don from Juneau --- > They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students > filing into the > already crowded auditorium. > With their rich maroon gowns flowing …. and the > traditional caps, they > looked almost as grown up as they felt. > > Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely > brushed away tears. > > > This class would *NOT* pray during the commencements- ---not > by choice, but > because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it. > > The principal and several students were careful to stay > within the > guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational > and challenging > speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one > asked for > blessings o n the graduates or their families. > > The speeches were nice, but they were routine....until the > final speech > received a standing ovation. > > A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He > stood still and > silent for just a moment, *and then, it happened.* > * > All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly > SNEEZED!!!! > * > The student on stage simply looked at the audience and > said, *'GOD BLESS YOU > *’ > each and every one of you!' And he walked off stage... > > The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class > had found a > unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future > with or without the > court's approval. > > Isn't this a wonderful story? Pass it on to all your > friends..... ....and *GOD > BLESS YOU!!!!* > *This is a true story; it happened at the University of > Maryland *. > *Oh, how I wish THIS one would take off and > FILL the whole > Country!!!

I have started a special needs ministry in our church. We scheduled a Parent's Night Out. We had it put on our tv community calendar, and I gave some flyers to some special ed teachers. We did not have anyone come. I really do feel called to this ministry. Anymore ideas on how to start this ministry to help families who have children like ours??

Lisa Jo Rudy of About.autism.com shares some wise and helpful advice on planning a family vacation: http://autism.about.com/od/copingwithautism/ht/vacationstep.htm?nl=1 Are you able to do a family vacation? If so, how do you make it work? Where do you go? What special plans do you have to make? What is your experience and advice? Thanks! Shannon

This past week there has been a story done on channel 10 news in San Diego that was picked up by UPI and posted on many sites and blogs as well.

http://www.10news.com/kgtvnewsteam/19306624/detail.html

After reading the story the first idea that came to my mind was to find out who the Sheriff's Deputy and Judge were and send them a thank you letter. I thought a letter writing campaign would be great - to compile a stack of letters from the autism community around the world and send it in one envelope to each official.

I called the reporter a few days ago but no response back, so today I left a voice mail message for the Mom. The media got their last name wrong, I did a few searches to make sure it was her, the face on her business site matched the face on the video.

Marla called me back this afternoon - she is in San Diego and I am in Los Angeles. She said there have been many calls regarding interviews. She saw many of the blog posts and they did get out of control, using vaccines in the conversation. Marla said she has never done a public comment on the vaccine issue. Also some posted the names and pics of her neighbors.

She said no one had the same idea as me, I did not want to do something someone else had done. She will get back to me with those names and addresses.

I mentioned to her that I would not post online the contact info and do it through email. I told her she could google my name to see I have been online for 9 years talking about autism. She said she could tell I was legit.

So I posted on twitter asking if anyone was interested in doing a letter that they could email it to me and I would print out and mail them. Marla is on facebook but not twitter.

Later I recalled that there was some blogging campaign for the boy who was voted out of his Kindergarten class in Florida. I saw a blog with mailing info to this one blogger or toys for the boy and they sent them to family, there were pics of the boy with the packages.

Anyone remember that? I will do a google search to see if I can find it. I thought it would be nice to get Marla's address and send somethings for her son. I have several containers of Dokeo Putty I can send.

Is anyone interested in doing a thank you letter to the Judge and Deputy? Someone asked me for a sample letter. Would that be easier? I thought it should be individualized with people saying how old their kid is and they are glad this did not end up wasting the courts time and that the Judge and Deputy showed good judgement. Glad to see they comprehend autism.

Any thoughts on this?

We had Carl's IEP today. Set more realistic goals that we did last year. He is still just grasping the fundamentals of going to school.