Happy 5th Birthday Griffin!

Happy Happy Birthday to a beautiful little boy name Griffin Blaise. He is 5 years old today! Please stop by and say, "Happy Birthday" to Lora's little guy Griffin. I found Lora's Blog in 2005, Griffin was just 3 years old. If memory serves me correctly, I think Lora had found us first. I was having trouble keeping K.C. in diapers, he wanted to take them off constantly and run around in the nude, lol. Lora gave me great advice and I was / am still very grateful:)
Have a great Birthday Griffin!
Stop by Lora's blog, http://griffinblaise.blogspot.com

Viral Meningitis

((A happier Jayce pictured above, I miss that smile very much! Get better soon!))

Big Brother has been sick, very sick. We didn't know what kind of sick until yesterday. Is this the season of the icky yucky sickies? I am praying my little guy is better soon and smiling again and back to his curious self.
K.C. is well and I am ever so thankful for that.
I love my boys with all my heart, they are my entire world.

"THERE IS NOTHING ONE CHILD WITH AUTISM CAN TEACH ANOTHER!!!!!

"THERE IS NOTHING ONE CHILD WITH AUTISM CAN TEACH ANOTHER!!!!! If your child needs extra help or small group resource is the least restrictive environment where his peers are not socially and communicatively challenged. I think they actually do have a couple of programs now due to parental pressure but I would not put my child in one."

Hmmmm, this is what another Autism Mommy said to me in an email yesterday in regards to a program for K.C. I thought about what she said all night long. The more I thought about it the more I felt offended in a way. I do realize she is trying to help and I appreciate any help I can get but something struck me as wrong about this statement. I should mention that this Mommy is also an RN , Autism Mommy, who works at an Autism Centre. The more I think about that statement the angrier I get. I mean what is she saying here? Is she saying the a child with Autism has absolutely nothing to offer another child with Autism? What about my son? This person knows that K.C. is non verbal, self injurious, what am I supposed to do? Should I just tell the school to toss him into a classroom full of regular kids and pray he makes it? K.C. needs to be in a self contained classroom and just because she thinks Autistic children have nothing to offer each other doesn't make it o.k. for me to deny him what he needs at this point in time. It's really strange because I was checking on different programs for K.C. (schools) and asked this lady for some advice because she does work at an Autism Center and "she's the person to talk to." She has never met or seen K.C. ever. I have only mentioned him briefly. I should take him to their office and let her meet K.C. and then ask her, "where shall I place him.?" When I corresponded with her through emails I tried to be courteous because I do appreciate any advice a person has to give especially someone who has worked with Autism kids for so long. Maybe I am missing the big picture here? Maybe she's right? My heart tells me, no freaking way! That's like saying all of your Autism kiddos have nothing to offer each other. I have one thing to say to that lady, "go to hell you stinking Autism child hater." I am so mad.
Big Brother is still sick, very sick. Tomorrow I have to take him back to the doctors office because they may admit him to the childrens hospital. The doctors don't know what is wrong with him. He isn't eating, just sleeps, runs a very high fever, without Motrin. He's been taking Augmentin, 600 mg. twice a day and it hasn't done the trick. I am picking their daddy up from the airport early tomorrow morning. I am very worried about Big Brother. He has never been this sick and to top it off he is worrying himself to death over germs. He cries a lot which he never does. I have kept K.C. away from him as much as possible because of the biting incident and I don't want him sick too. We shall see what the doctor says tomorrow. Pray that Big Brother is o.k. and gets better soon. My heart is totally broken to see him sick the poor little guy. I have been laying down with him every spare second I get.

My Boys When They Were Little Fellas.

My boys when they were babies. K.C. (Chance) had blond hair, as he got older it got darker (sigh). Big Brother (Jayce) is always saying, "he looks like an elf Mom!" Big Brother is a funny kiddo. In the picture above K.C. is 18 months old. I don't have the date on the back of Big Brother's pic :( Still, he's got the same smile and cute dimple. It wasn't too long after the picture above of K.C. that we thought he was deaf. He didn't respond to us at all.
Big Brother went to the Dr's yesterday because he is still sick and completely out of his mind over "germs." He had 103 fever all night long and has held that fever for about three days now. The doctor sent us for blood work yesterday and Big Brother did very well. He didn't cry or anything. He looked scared but I reassured him and kept him on my lap while they did the blood work. He hasn't been to school because of the sickies. Today we should know the results of the blood work. The doctor wants to check for Valley Fever and Strep. She did do a quick strep in the office and it was o.k. but she said 95 percent of the time it's accurate but, let us take his throat swab to the lab with us to speed up the process to see if the lab may see strep that the doctors office didn't. I am worried about him. Yesterday I thought K.C. was trying to show Big Brother a sign of sympathy because he went right up to his back and put his head down on Big Brother's back. I thought oh my gosh! Look Big Brother he loves you! Then out of the clear blue sky K.C. bit him on the back. Oy vay. Didn't see that one coming in a million years. So I had a crying Big Brother. Poor kiddo. I brought K.C. over to him and held his arm so he would stay and said, "Big Brother is hurt, you hurt him, you bit him, he's sad and crying, naughty boy!" I was angry with K.C. K.C. was angry with us because he screeched an ear piercing screech after I said that and broke away from us. I am watching him carefully today. Looking back I wonder if I should have said anything at all to K.C.? I wonder if he will bite again because I made a fuss over the bite? I had to say something. Big Brother gave me the look that needed no words, "hey Mom you aren't letting him get away with that one, say something, punish him!!" Hopefully today will be bite free. I don't think he'll do it again.

What We Have Been Up To These Days.

We have been going up North (This time to the town of Payson) to spend the weekends in the snow. This is the third weekend in a row. My sister asked, "aren't you getting tired of all that snow?" I replied, "No way!" I know that in March it will start heating up here again, from March till at least November will be hot.

Since homeschooling my Chancinator, (K.C.) I have noticed he is smiling more, not crying as much, yes he cries at least 5 or 6 times a day everyday, real tears, not just whimpering. He has hasn't hurt his head since he's been home and is responding fairly well to the habilitation worker that has been helping teach him. 58 hours a month of habilitation is what Chance is allowed. Another thing I have noticed with Chance (K.C.) is that his energy level (mostly curiosity) has skyrocketed. He isn't covering his ears as much either.

For the very first time, Chance (K.C.) went to the very top of the playland equipment at McDonalds! Yes he really did, the very first time! Usually he'll just sit and watch and sometimes he'll sit near the bottom of the slide. But yesterday as we drove up north to spend the day in the snow we stopped at McDonalds to eat (I was praying Chance (K.C.) would handle it well) and he did. I must have sounded like a weird lunatic Mommy when my almost 6 year old son made it to the top of the playland! "Look, Look he's at the top, he did it! I looked and people were smiling. When Chance (K.C.) got to the top I waved my hand hoping he'd look down and he did. He looked perplexed but wasn't crying. It took him a bit to come down but he did it! Jayce (Big Brother) has been feeling icky this week didn't play or follow Chance. He had a fever :( I am taking him to the Dr. tomorrow. Just as we were about to leave McDonald's, Chance (K.C.) walked right up to a table that a Mom, Dad and child were sitting at. He went to grab their soda but I caught him and apologized to the people who said, "it's o.k." Chance (K.C.) did throw a fit and oh how I wished I was able to pick him up and carry him out quickly in times like that. But, I can't anymore, he's too darn heavy.

Another huge change for us, I am going to stop Chance's (ABA). Insurance will not help pay for it at all, not a cent. I made a trip to the pharmacy and brought Chance (K.C.) along. As I waited Chance got restless, there were chairs behind us, I motioned for him to "sit" and he did, only he dropped to the floor where he was standing and sat. Oh boy, you should have seen the looks on the people's faces that were waiting for prescriptions. I want to use the money we spend for ABA to get a tutor at home for Chance (K.C.) With the amount of money we were spending for ABA we should be able to find an excellent tutor who works with Autistic kids. Another factor, I am going to send Chance (K.C.) to private school in September. I will have two boys in private school and it's expensive.

Something that makes me very, very sad is this. I think about it everyday. What happens to the Autistic children whose Mom's and Dad's can't afford ABA or another therapy? Who will help them? Why doesn't insurance help? It makes me sick to death.

School & Shopping

K.C. was quite the daydreamer today, even while shopping I had to shuffle him along. I am still making changes, many changes to K.C.'s schedule now that we will be homeschooling. His habilitation worker and I are in the process of organizing what K.C. will be working on during the day. His days will be working with me, habilitation worker and ABA. Speech is just twice a week so that will be easy to fit in. I have been thinking of Noah's Mommy a lot these days http://dearnoah.blogspot.com/2007/01/dear-noah_09.html and how she is teaching beautiful Noah Life Skills. I think it's so very important that I try my best to teach K.C. some life skills. He needs a lot of help in this area. He can take his clothes off but can not put them on. He struggles to get dressed even with help I have to guide his hands. I do try my best to get him to help himself as much as he can. Like if we are going to go somewhere I will say, "K.C. get shoes on." He will not look toward the shoes at all. He just looks straight ahead as if he has no clue. I always walk him over to his shoes and say, "shoes on" and help him pull his shoes on. Potty training is another area we can really work on now that he is home schooled. Sometimes K.C. will learn something and then we will never see it again. Working on using a spoon is another, he just can't seem to scoop with the spoon and bring the food to his mouth without it falling all over the place. He gets very frustrated and sometimes knocks the food to the floor. When he does this I always have him pick up as much of the mess as he can and help him (hand over hand) to throw it in the trash can. Life skills is a brilliant idea that Noah's Mommy has for him. I am hoping that K.C. will be able to concentrate better now that there are very little distractions. I do feel very good about homeschooling, very excited. I want to teach K.C. numbers and letters, shapes, sorting etc.

Another Trip To The Snow!

We made another trip to the snow! This time we went to Strawberry, AZ. Just about 19 minutes away from Payson on highway 87. ( Just a Mom, the snow was beautiful!) (There is a small shop that sells honey and nuts on the way home on 87 just before you reach Payson, it's wonderful!) K.C. seemed to be more curious this time, walking through the snow but not touching yet! He's o.k. as long as it doesn't touch his hands. He won't wear gloves, he refuses them. Big Brother had a blast! I swear he could stay in the snow for hours! He loved it. K.C. was fine until a snow plow came hauling down the road not once but three times! I haven't heard a snow plow in years so when I heard it, but couldn't see it, it scared me to death! K.C. screamed out covering his ears. It was very loud. I walked K.C. back to the car took his shoes off and covered him with a blanket. Turned his little DVD player on and sat it on his lap. He quieted down. Big Brother played as we watched by himself. Big Brother wasn't unhappy playing alone, it has become the norm. It's fun to watch Big Brother play, he'll talk and talk and talk to himself the whole time. Even though the boys hardly play together Big Brother never gives up. He'll always try to get K.C. to play with him. I have seen that K.C. will watch Big Brother a little longer and sometimes screech (he's happy) but I really believe he doesn't know how to play. When he screeches, he's smiling and watching, sometimes jumping. Obviously he wants to play, I have to teach him how. A little each day.

Homeschool

K.C.'s Daddy and I have decided to home school him for the rest f the year. I don't want to send him to a school that doesn't know how to deal with self injurious behaviors. It is unbelievable to me that he would be sent home each time he head banged. "It's for his and the other's students safety" is also unbelievable to me. I don't want to send him where he isn't wanted. The school offered one other option of a different program the deals with only severely Autistic children who are self injurious but it's an hours drive and the summers here are brutal. I can't imagine K.C. riding on a bus for that long in 118 degree weather. He's going to be 6 for his birthday and I wouldn't dare place him in a program like that. There is so much hope for K.C. and his future. The placement the school offered seemed like an Autistic kids- end of the line program and there's no hope for you except this place.- I am going to keep him home and send him to a private school in September. His speech therapist suggested Temple Grandin School. There is a site in Glendale and Mesa. For the rest of this school year K.C. will keep with his ABA, OT and Speech. I asked long term care for 60 hours of habilitation but got 58- go figure. 60 hours for the entire month which I am grateful for. He will still be learning, maybe much more now that there is less distraction, noises, people moving about, bus rides, I think it's a lot for an Autistic 5 year old with serious sensory issues has to deal with on a daily basis. I do feel it's the right thing to do for K.C. at this time to be home schooled. Thank you blogger's for your kind words, I will keep you posted about our journey into homeschooling!

Not a good morning.

The school called this morning and asked me to come pick K.C. up from school because he was headbanging. Is the school not trained in how to deal with SIBS? I am so angry! He was in the nurses office and the nurse said, "he let me put ice on his head." The teacher says she doesn't know what triggered his headbanging. She did say that if he headbanged in the future he would be sent home. Sent home because of Autism?? I am so mad- I will write more later.

Puzzles

The Boys put puzzles together this evening. K.C. let Big Brother help for a short time. After a few minutes K.C. moved away from Big Brother. He still prefers to be alone, Big Brother knows and doesn't push K.C. to stay and play too much. K.C. has been a handful this week. He has been trying his best to empty anything liquid down the sink. I had to hide the shampoo, conditioner, lotion, you get the idea. I have gotten everything that is liquid out of his reach. I went to Parent Teacher conferences today. Big Brother is doing very well especially in Reading and Math. She says he always helps clean up the classroom without being asked. He earns "grabbers" for helping and at the end of the week he gets to pick from the treasure chest. His teacher eats with her class at lunch time each and everyday. She said Big Brother ate with another little boy and seemed to be getting along fine. His teacher said the little guy Big Brother was eating with came to her and said, "Jayce (Big Brother) said I am going to drop dead if I keep eating rubbish." When his teacher told me this today, I knew Jayce didn't mean to sound cruel, I know he must have seen this kiddo eating something he thought was unhealthy. He didn't get in trouble and I promised to talk to him about it. Sure enough Jayce said the little fella was eating a sugar filled lunch. That being said I once again talked to Jayce about respecting other people and to choose his words carefully. Think before you speak! He really does mean well, it just comes out wrong. We will work on it.

Snow Day

We drove K.C. and Big Brother to Flagstaff, AZ. this morning to see the snow. (I took pictures but when I tried to upload them I discovered dead batteries) I brought K.C.'s little dvd player and it kept him busy most the way. We also bought some alphabet and numbers flash cards. He really likes the numbers but not the letters. He looks them over and over and as he looks at each one we tell him what number it is. Sometimes he doesn't want to hear our voices and will let out a screech that we know means, "hey no more talking!" We stopped for gas on the way to Flagstaff. K.C. wanted out of the car so he went inside with us. There was quite a long line of people paying for gas (pay at the pump was not working) so I thought I would walk with K.C. and Big Brother and get what we wanted while C.B. waited in line. (to make it somewhat quicker) I walked K.C. past candy, sodas, chips, you know, all the junk food. Big Brother wanted Clamato to drink as he's addicted to the stuff I swear, then asked if he could have Oysters of all things. Big Brother loves smoked oysters. No oysters, just the Clamato. I tried to find something K.C. might like to snack on, I did bring his dry crunchy snacks with us but thought maybe he might like something new. He did find something new alright. A sign that was for sale, it said, "no parking." Black and red sign. He would not budge from this sign. He looked, then tried to grab it. I thought, I should just get the sign, then I thought no, this will just encourage his grabbing things from the shelves. Then I thought, well Big Brother got what he wanted, K.C. just happens to want the no parking sign, I should get it for him. I did not get it for him. I felt bad, should I have gotten him the sign? I am afraid it will turn into an obsession for K.C. he loves logos, small print, open/closed signs and I don't understand why? Does anyone in the blogosphere know why some Autistic children are fascinated by signs/numbers? If I can figure it out I may be able to help K.C. learn from it. I know he loves numbers but doesn't seem to care that they are actual numbers and they mean something. I see him looking at them at every angle, studying them. When we reached the snow K.C. was very interested, he looked and looked until we finally stopped. When he got out and his shoes hit the snow he wouldn't budge. He held his arms straight out in front of him like a mummy. Big Brother thought it was hysterical. I told C.B. and Big Brother to walk on without us and I stayed with K.C. I picked up some snow and held it in my hands and he poked at it with his finger. I walked ahead a bit and hoped he'd follow me and he did! Very slowly, but he was following! Big Brother and C.B. called his name trying to encourage him. He walked with me holding my hand. I lead him to where Big Brother and C.B. were and he watched them build a small snow man. Big Brother ran up to K.C. and put a snowball he had made into K.C.'s hand and said, "throw it." K.C. screeched and DID NOT like snow on his hands at all. He wiped it away again and again. The good thing is he only screeched, he didn't lose it! We all had an awesome day and I am so proud of my boys:) In the past when we went places and K.C. didn't come because we thought it would be, "too much for him to handle." I always went with a sinking feeling in my heart that I left my little boy at home because he's Autistic. I can tell you it is a crushing feeling, because I didn't take him with us. He's family, he should go everywhere with us, we should never exclude him because he's Autistic. We love him dearly, Autism and all.

K.C. at Play!

I am trying to get K.C. a bit more active. He did climb on the play structure today. He stood on the first bar but would go no further. I wanted to take him for a short walk but he didn't want to go. He headed straight up the stairs and walked towards our front door. Will try again tomorrow:)

Big Brother's Blog...

K.C. and I visited my niece Linh Linh today. She went along to the market today with us today. We bought some 7 UP and Dr. Pepper and K.C. did great. Linh asked if we could stop by McDonald's and I immediately thought..K.C. So, I told Linh that if we went inside that K.C. might not stay for very long. She said, "o.k." We went inside and K.C. waited patiently while we waited for our food, (french fry's and chicken nuggets, 3 diet cokes.) Got the food, Linh filled each of the cups with soda. We walked back to the play area and Linh climbed up onto those very tall seats. Why on earth do they even have such tall chairs I swear the chairs in the AZ. McDonald's are as tall as bar chairs! Linh climbed right up little bitty as she is. K.C. couldn't get in the chair. I let him try to work it out for 5 minutes but he just couldn't get his body into the chair. I lifted him into the chair and gave him his fries. The chairs swivel too, can you believe tall seats that swivel for kids? K.C. was eating his fries and I handed Linh her Chicken Nuggets and sure enough he fell out of the chair and hit his head yet again on part of the play structure behind us. Just a red spot on the forehead, still I wonder why they use those chairs? This time I sat him on the opposite side of the table and held the chair still with my feet. He stayed the course even after he fell out of his chair. Linh ran off and climbed and played and called to K.C. but he sat with me. He could care less about playing. When it was time to leave Linh was so far up into the play structure I had to find her. K.C. followed behind me and when I turned around I saw him making a beeline for the door. He doesn't run really, it's more a very fast walk. Thankfully he stopped right at the door and stared at the numbers on the door. I glanced at what he was looking at and it looked like Hours Of Operation. Linh seen us near the door and she ran to us with her shoes in her hands. She said she had fun! Big Brother has started a blog with my help. The typing on each post will be and is all his own. He's a brilliant little boy, I think the blog will be good for him. Maybe he needs to vent too sometimes. I know it isn't easy for him sometimes being a Big Brother to K.C. but he tries very hard. Big Brother is 6 1/2 years old but he is learning on the 4 th grade level. His blog is here.. http://www.jayceversustheworld.blogspot.com