Taking the Scenic Route

Oh, I love ebay…look what I just got!  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170045627178

It is about $80 if I buy it new.  Score!  Now I don’t have to worry about getting blasted by a blizzard this winter.

I have been in search of some autism blogs and I am finally finding some voices I have more in common with.  (see the bottom area of the “parenting blogs” in the left hand module) 

Ever since I started realizing that ds actually did have autism (and there was a lot of denial getting there) I have felt so alone in my opinions.  I am an active member at MDC, but most of the parents there are rabidly “autism is mercury poisoning” and advice is on the dizzying array of urine/hair sample tests that go to labs that I am not sure are credible, diets that seem to contradict eachother, and huge loads of vitamins and enzymes..more than I am sure is really a good idea.  Although I agree that there is a good possibility that a lot of kids labeled autistic are suffering from mercury poisoning, it just doesn’t seem to fit ds.  (especially when the rant is against the MMR, which ds has not yet received) 

Then I go to pure neurodiversity, which seems to have the overriding opinion that ANY intervention is disrespectful to the autistic person.

I feel stuck in the middle.  I see great improvements with ST and OT, but most of what has changed is that we are learning to help him interact with the outside world better.  As a family, we were doing just fine, but he couldn’t interact with other people, and we couldn’t figure out how to help him do that.  Now he is learning to navigate the rest of the world a little better. 

One of his STs uses a little bit of ABA, in the form of discrete trials (which seems to be a fancy way of saying “flashcards” and “visually supported short answer quizzes”.  It is marginally practical for real life (that part of it, she also does stuff that is enormously practical and we duplicate at home), but seems like it is really beneficial to get him used to being tested and evaluated.  Although I don’t agree with standardized testing, I would be doing a disservice to him to not prepare him for it if I intend to have him in school.  (more on that later).  It gives him a framework to be able to show his knowledge in a way a tester can understand.  It doesn’t catch everything, that is for sure, but at least they are able to get some level of understanding of his knowledge base.

Then there is Floortime, which I agree with the most.  I really need to finish the book (in my spare time *humph*), but it sure is a lot more in line with my views.  At it’s core, it basically says to meet the child where they are at instead of where they *should* be.  Sounds like good parenting to me, and sort of sad it has to be written in a book.  A lot of what I have read is right in line with what we were doing anyway, so it hasn’t been difficult to incorporate in our lives.  We don’t do a formal “NOW IS THERAPY TIME” in our house (unless there is a specific concept he is having problems with, but that is pretty limited).  We just try to incorporate techniques from ST, OT and Floortime in a more mindful way than we did before we learned that a lot of the things we were doing had nifty little labels.  (like, when he is getting really anxious/stimmy, we decide to do a few OT things that helps him get the deep pressure without him resorting to banging into walls to try and feel better inside his skin)

Political note:

Although I am generally pleased with the elections  (don’t know the outcome yet, but at least the dems aren’t getting pounded), I heard something today that totally disturbed me.  I keep hearing the news people say that if the dems win, it will be the first time we have a woman as the majority leader.  How is that possible?  How did we get this far past suffrage, past the women’s movement, and still not have a woman in a position of power like that in our government?  If just seems shocking to me. 

Now, real life:

I got two children’s books today that I am just totally thrilled with.  Todd Parr’s “The Feelings Book” and “It’s OK to be different“.  Both of the kids were captivated by the books, and Zane decided to act out the “feelings” book…including “Sometimes I feel like standing on my head”.  lol  It was very cute.  I absolutely LOVE the message in these books and the pictures are really fun and energetic.  I think I will be getting a lot of his books.  Exactly the kind of messages kids need to hear.  Both books are very inclusive, with an eye to different cultures and different abilities. 

Today we noticed that Zora kept handing us things and waiting for us to hand them back to her.  I am going to have to write out a longer blog about her emerging personality, but let me just quickly say that she is going to be every bit as challenging to raise as Zane, although I suspect in nearly opposite ways.  She is a little firecracker.  She has already decided that she does not want to be fed by the big people, she wants to do it herself, and if you don’t present her with food she likes, she is going to scream like her arms are being chopped off with a rusty spoon.  At least her favorite food is currently green beans.  I can live with that. 

For the liberals…well done video using George Michael’s “Freedom” as the music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm2OXQh3duI&eurl=

AutTV is the autism tv channel that broadcasts on the internet.

did you?

I was going to post about how all the automated political calls are making me crazy.  We get several a night and they just irritate me because they usually wake somebody up or pull me away from something more important (changing a diaper, picking my nose…whatever…about anything is more important than the dang calls).  However, I just picked up the phone and heard Bill Clinton’s voice.  I actually listened this time…it was rather surreal.  And…he didn’t irritate my kids and wake up the baby, so we now know my kids are good judges of character too. 

I have spent much of today going over the candidates.  In my heart I am a moderate.  I actually agree with some of the Republican stances, but then it all goes south when I see how they want to accomplish their goals.  We have govenor Sebelious, who I am happy with.  She is really strong on education.  She is, surprisingly for how red a state this is, a Democrat.  That one is a no-brainer…Sebelious. 

Then we have the Attorney General slot.  I have a feeling I am not going to be happy about the outcome of that one, but Kline really, really ticks me off.  I am personally pro-life, but I don’t think I have the right to decide that for other people.  Kline is VERY anti-choice… he is pro-life too, but he is tryng everything he can to make it impossible for women to access abortions, including trying to make it legal to make health records public if there is a court case.  That is a seriously slippery slope I have no desire to go down.  It also opens a door to access health records to see if there is a history of mental illness, or any other condition that might make it hard to get insurance.  No, I don’t like it one bit.  He is also running an incredibly dirty campaign.  Kline is annoying enough to get me out to the polls just to vote against him.   I am glad Morrison is palatable, because I hate just choosing the one I hate the least.

I have a big list to sift through today.  *sigh* 

An absolute must-watch commentary by Oberman on MSNBC.  Powerful and groundbreaking.  Grab a cup of coffee, it will take about 11 minutes. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7JUi1lQc4

A video to make my brother (the Mustang fanatic) cry:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAgz7pw75uo

Now for the question all of Santa’s helpers stuggle with this time of year…what to get our little angels for Christmas, because grandmas and grandpas are going to be asking soon.

The “big” gift is the one we are trying to decide on for Zane.  It is narrowed down to “Kitchen” and “Dollhouse” right now.  Both things he seems to enjoy at the therapist and offer a lot of opportunity for social skills work.  We are leaning towards a doll house though, since we have a real kitchen to mess around in and the doll house seems like it would provide more varied play and grow with us.

Now, try to find a doll house that is appropriate for boys.  The are all so…..pink.  ugh.  I considered, briefly, getting him one of those tree house things, but I can see serious potential for it being used as a stepping stool instead.  I did find a really beautiful dollhouse, but it would cost more than our car to get all the pieces for it.  lol. 

Then, much to my delight, I ran across the one that he was so excited about at the Day Camp this summer.  He was playing with it every day when I came to pick him up and he cried when I pulled him away from it.  It is from plan toys, a company who’s toys I really like,  and it looks really nice.  It is simple enough that I wouldn’t get tired of looking at it all the time, but complex enough to really have a lot of potential for long-term playing.  It will also be something that Zora can grow into, so now would be a good time to get it.  It is also big enough that two kids, theoretically, can play with it at the same time.  (or, if all else fails, you can take the basement off and have “two” houses)  It also has some neat accessories besides the basics shown here. And, none of it is plastic.  yeah!  One of the things I found sort of cool about this particular set of furniture (there are three different sets, as far as I can tell) is that they substitued an office set with a computer for the kid’s bedroom set…so the family, apparently, co-sleeps and spends time on the computer.  lol (I can buy a kid’s bedroom set from one of the other collections if I want to)

The dolls for it are sweet too. They have several families I like.  Even though I doubt I will get the Magic Cabin because of price (well, at least not right now), they has dolls that are the same size in various themes.  They are really cool.  I really like the Modern family instead of the plan ones because it resembles our family a bit more.  And, for your drooling pleasure, Magic Cabin also has a pioneer family and log cabin that is to.die.for cute.  If I was buying for *me* that is definatly the set I would get.  Hands down.  Maybe I can get Zora into “Little House on the Prarie” enough that I *have* to buy it for her.  lol.  (Hey, I don’t think it is coincidence that Zane loves Nintendo, just like daddy.)

The other “big” toy set that is in contention, is the Plan Toy’s car set.  It would work well with his Thomas stuff, and we really like it a LOT, but we are probably not going to get it right now because it is similar to his Thomas set, just with cars instead of trains.  (where the doll house is a whole new type of toy)  We might get some of the accessories…like the traffic signs and trees.  I know Zach is really eyeing the parking garage, but I am not sure.

Isn’t it odd.  As a kid I never considered my parents where dreaming about Christmas as much as I was.  The only thing is, parents have to move from dreaming about what they want, to figuring out what they actually can get.  That is the hard part.