Just Tomatoes Snacks

We have to really think outside the box on this diet and my kids are quickly growing sick of boiled eggs, nut butter brownies, pancakes and bananas for snacks. I know they miss the crunch that wheat products have like crackers and cookies. The other day at the health food store we found a product called Just Bananas made by a company called Just Tomatoes. It is called Just.. (fruit/veggie here) because that is all it is! Nothing else added. The fruit and veggies are freeze dried taking all the water out so they are left crispy and crunchy. Perfect snack food! My kids favorite is the Just Bananas but the just Blueberries and Just Peas are good too. My kids react to strawberries and can’t have them but I tried them and they are great! They taste like the fruit they put in cereal. In fact you can add them to cereal or use them in baking too. When you add liquid they become moist again. They are great and a perfect snack for kids!

Videos and photos

My schedule has been hectic but I do have new videos and pics to post. The few times we are actually home, Mickey has taken over the computer. He has learned how to use it to play games. It is really actually quite amazing to see a barely 3 year old work a computer. He knows how to open and close programs, switch his games and manuever throughout the game. They are all educational games and along with computer skills, he has learned alot from them. He loves to play Dora’s Backpack adventure game, the games at Disney Playhouse, Fisher Price, Nick Jr., Sesame Street, Noggin and Charlie and Lola BBC just to name a few! A month ago he couln’t even work the mouse. Now he can use the back button, close tabs, open games, close games, and actually play the games well! We try to get outdoors and do a nature activity on the weekends because I can easily see my son becoming a video game kid who would rather be indoors than outdoors. Everything is ok in moderation but I want him to be interested in the outdoors too! I got some magnifying glasses, spray bottles and binoculars from walmart and we take them with us on nature walks through state parks on the weekend. The kids have fun spraying rocks, trees, leaves and shells and looking at them through there magnifying glasses. We usually bring a blanket and lunch for a picnic. I really think the kids benefit from being in nature. It is not much but we love it. Anyway, as soon as I get some computer time I will add some new photos and videos.

SCD 2 month regression

We had a big scare these last 2 weeks when Mickey regressed. It started with him acting out of it. He was just in a daze, not making great eye contact. He started talking in more jibberish than words and wasn’t interacting much with us or his sister. He had weird high fevers on and off for a week. I thought he was just ill. Than his ears turned really hot and bright red and he broke out in a heat rash on his ears and legs. The ear rash happened twice at different times over 2 weeks. He lost his appetite. He had HUGE tantrums and was fussy often. It seemed like he fully regressed again. We had not introduced any new foods, nothing had changed in his routine. This was just out of left field. Than I remembered a book called Autism: Effective Biomedical Treatments from the Autism Research Institute that talked about regressions at certain points in the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. We were rigt at the 2 month mark in the diet. Sure enough the first regression was at exactly 2 – 3 months! Mickey met 95% of the symptoms listed. It said the regression could last up to 14 days. Sure enough it was about 12 days for us. However, after the regression he blossomed! He is talking more than ever before. He is acting more like a typical little boy too. He is silly. He is pretending more. He is saying cute and clever things. We went to Sea World and when we got to the flamingos he saw people feeding them. The food was from a machine and we didn’t have any change on us. He said, “Mommy, I want to feed the flamingos.” I said, I am sorry, honey. We don’t have any money for the flamingo food. What else can we feed them?” He thought for a moment and matter of factly said, “Grapes!” (We can’t eat grapes yet on the diet so it wasn’t like he is used to eating grapes. He just decided that is what flamingos eat!) He has been doing great on his vocabulary. He knows very advanced names of things. He has a book of animals and can name them all from hyena to egret (mommy and daddy didn’t even know that one!) We were suprised when he saw Shamu and called him an orca! Some things he has a hard time pronouncing but he tries like hippopotamus is “hippopossum” and rhinocerus is “rhinosos.” His speech teacher is taking advantage of his interest in letters and is teaching him sight words. Since Mickey has an incredible memory he can see a word and memorize it. So basically the way he memorizes pictures in books or flash cards, he is memorizing written words. This will help him in future reading skills. I noticed after this regression he has self-corrected some of his previous words. Before he would say fire car but now says fire truck. He would say squad car (although technically correct, not as common in his age range) whereas he now says police car. The regression was hard. Probably the hardest 2 weeks to date, but the results have been worth it. There are supposed to be more regressions at 5 months, 7 months and 9 months. Good to know a time frame if we go through this again.

2/19/08 Update

It has been busy busy for us lately! Minnie had all her Early Intervention evaluations last week. She is 20 months old and I was concerned with her speech and some sensory issues with her. Some points of concern are: toe walking at times, spinning at times, lack of age appropriate speech, lack of imaginative play, unable to jump, problems with motor planning (major clumsiness to the point of daily injury), tantrums and sleep disturbance at night. She was evaluated for speech and at that time had a boost in her language so she just barely qualified but the therapist felt that with help she would catch up to age level within 6 months. She than had an early intervention evaluation and it seems Minnie’s skills are scattered. Meaning in some areas she is extremely advanced while in others she has some delays. For example she can string small beads on a shoe lace which is advanced fine motor skills. However, she gets confused with cause and effect. When shown how to make a toy pop up by pushing a button she couldn’t figure out that if she pushed it she could make the toy pop up. Instead, she kept telling the therapist to “open.” So weekly she will be getting 1 hour speech, 1 hour occupational therapy, 1 hour group therapy and 1 hour in home early intervention therapy. (Basically half of what Mickey got.) I do not think she has autism. She has alot of great skills and makes great eye contact. However, she is uncomfortable around kids, spins more than I would like (at least once a day), she has alot of tantrums and she does some jibberish just like her brother. I am worried she may have PDD-NOS which is pervasive developmental disorder not other wishe specified. It basically means on the Autism evaluation they do not meet enough of the criteria to have full autism but they have enough symptoms that puts them on the spectrum with the less title of PDD-NOS. I am debating whether to get her evaluated or not. At this point the diagnosis would do nothing more than confirm my instincts. We may qualify for respite care (paid babysitter) for her which we desperately need!! Mickey already qualifies for it and lord knows our marriage needs a little attention and we both could use frequent breaks from the kids. I am dealing with the kids disorders from a biomedical perspective so the labels really don’t mean a whole lot right now. After age 3 it matters because with the label you qualify for more services that really help the kids alot that we would otherwise not be able to afford. I am a huge believer in the early intervention program and we have had AMAZING results with Mickey’s therapy. So if the time comes and Minnie needs to be evaluated to qualify for services we may do the Autism/PDD-Nos evaluation.  It doesn’t come as a huge shock to me. I am dealing with it fine because my heart tells me in the end my kids will be just fine. It just means alot more work for me! It is worth it in the long run and I have faith every thing happens for a reason. There are many blessings that come with this disorder and I am just trying to focus on those.

Mickey is doing AWESOME in school. I had a meeting with his teacher who told me Mickey is excelling and his “top of the class in all areas: speech, intelligence, compliance, behavior..” (Those were her words!) Music to this moms ears. She said he is a model student and never has any issues with him. She said she is concerned this he is too advanced for his current class and may end up picking up some behavior issues from other students since his class has alot of behavior problems. She would prefer him in the advanced class for the just speech delay class with no other behavior issues. However that class is only 2 days a week. We both agreed that 4 days a week has been great for his socialization and routine. So as soon as I can figure out both kids therapy schedules he will move from 4 days in the moderate class to 2 days moderate and 2 days advanced.  He LOVES school and is happy when I drop him off and pick him up. Every day he tells me what he did in school (I confirmed it with his teacher and he has been telling me everything accurately!) He said he does dancing, marching, colors, reads books, sings the fishy song, jumps in the ball pit, does the monkey bars, made a heart.. etc It is so great to be able to hear him tell me how his day was! Today I asked him how was your day today. He answered, Fun! I had alot of fun today!” As we were leaving he told his school friend, “See ya alligator!” The other day as I was walking out with Mickey, another mom, with a son on the spectrum, said I just can’t believe he has autism! He is so verbal, makes great eye contact and even hugs you! I said, 5 months ago he was a different kid. Biomedical and the diet has saved him. I can not tell you how good it feels that people are in disbelief that he has autism. It is at the point I really don’t have to tell anyone. He still has his quirks and there are times I am reminded that he still has autism, but for the most part he is doing so great!

Savant

Many children with autism have certain attributes that are extrodinary. An example of this is in the movie Rainman starring Dustin Hoffman. In the movie he displays remarkable mathmatical abilities and memorization. I noticed very early on Mickey had an amazing memory. He can watch a show one time and have the entire dialog memorized. He can recall information that happened months ago. He has the entire layout of Disneyland memorized as well as the routes of everywhere we drive. He also often will have premonitions. He will tell me what is on TV before I turn it on. He made a comment to his speech therapist about the chair falling and a few seconds later it did. Today while I was driving he said, “Big truck crash!” I didn’t see anything but I proceeded very cautiously home. Who knows maybe he warned me and I was able to prevent something. I also noticed about 6 months ago that he had a knack for letters, numbers and shapes. Well, his “knack” has grown to be quite extrodinary. I have noticed him spelling things lately, reading signs and memorizing the computer keyboard. I am not quite sure what to think of this yet. I also don’t know what to say when he starts reading signs at the check-out counter and people notice. His teachers and therapists have all commented on his extrodinary abilities with letters. His speech therapist knows he knows the letters and sounds but at the last session we learned he also knows what words start with certain letters. She did an alphabet puzzle with him and asked him what each letter was for and he answered. A for apple…etc. when he got to M he said M is for monkey then looked at me and said… and for Mommy!!! In some ways I am thrilled that he is so smart but I am also a little concerned. Children with autism are most comfortable with order and anything that has do to with order. That is why letters, numbers and patterns are so interesting to them. Since so little is known about autism and its effects I just am not sure if this is something I should be encouraging or another form of a “stim.” As for now, I use his love of reading and letters as a way to connect with him and we play games around them. I guess as long as it is not effecting him negatively or keeping him from interacting with others than it is a good thing. Here is an interesting article about Autistic Savants.

 The videoat the top is an excellent display of some of the same abilities Mickey has with memorization, patterns, spelling and letters. (This is not my video but a great example by another parent!)