Thursday, April 26, 2012

This is an Outrage!! Sign the Petition to Have These People FIRED!!



The father of this 10yr old non-verbal autistic boy sent his child to school with a wire attached to him. He wanted to know why he was getting reports that his son was getting aggressive in class. Without any information about these incidents from the teachers and staff at the school, and being that his son is not able to tell him what is going on in class, he sent him to school with a wire to see if he could catch anything that would give him a clue. What he caught on the audio tape was disgusting.

This is an outrage people! I send my autistic son to school every day in good faith that the people there will take good care of him, love him and respect him as we do. Since he cannot tell us what happens in school, we rely heavily on reports from his teachers as well as his behavior. To think of something like this that could be happening to ANY child, much less one who is DISABLED, breaks my heart and makes me ill. I am asking everyone who watches this video, reads my blog, has an autistic child, knows of an autistic child, has typical kids, has no kids, or even teaches children, to sign this petition to get these people fired. Adults who treat children like this do not deserve to be parenting, much less teaching.

Autism Awareness is for everyone.

Here is the PETITION to sign.



Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Meeting with the Psychologist....

I met with Nick's psychologist today at his school for the first time, as well as two others from his 'team'. Nick has a 'team' of people involved in his daily activities at the school. This meeting was to 'officially' place him in the partial hospitalization program at the school. We meet with them every 15 days to go over progress, behaviors, or any restraints that they have had to use, medications, etc. We will be kept much more in the loop with things to make sure that everyone is on the same page. He is using PECS and words to communicate (YAY!) and they are going to provide us with his PECS notebook so that we can use them at home as well. His behavioral therapist informed me that he has transitioned really well (much better than they thought he would) and his average for massive meltdowns at the school over the last month has only been two a week! Mini meltdowns averaged from 4-10 a day. They have only had to restrain him twice since he has been there! Other times they get him to sit in a chair and one person stands behind him while the others kind of create a circle around him to prevent aggression. It has been working! He sits and calms down. Their goal for him in the coming months is to decrease these episodes by 10%. Wonderful! His meltdowns at home have also decreased dramatically! He now only has maybe 1-2 a week vs every hour! I can't begin to tell you how good this is for him! No change in medications for now, as the psychologist really wants to investigate him further before anything is changed. The risperidone is a good med, but we are at the max dose we can get him to without any adverse side effects like movement tics.

Nick however has apparently come down with a bug that is going around. Mike has been sick all week with this thing, and Nick threw up this afternoon in school and had a messy diaper. Ugh. He has to stay home for 24 hours since he had the runs, so I had to call transportation this afternoon and tell them he would not be on the bus tomorrow. PA has a rule that if the kids miss the bus three times without an excuse, then transportation gets canceled for them. So I called transportation, told them his bus # and our address, and said he would not be on the bus tomorrow because he is sick.I am hoping that with all the probiotics he gets this won't be a very big deal. He has kept everything down so far, and is now sleeping. I will keep checking on him tonight to make sure he did not throw up while asleep. He has done that before. I went into his room and he was laying in a pile of vomit, he did not wake up or anything. Scary to think about the fact he could have choked on it during the night.

Our not-so-busy week has turned into a busy one. I start training for my new job on Friday, Saturday Michael has a hockey try out for a local school team, and Sunday he has his first games for Spring hockey. On top of all that, we are hoping this 'flu' does not go through the whole house. I am hoping the rest of us can escape this crud with only minimal effects. Only time will tell. We are like ticking time bombs up here :( Going to check on my baby boy now.....


Sunday, April 22, 2012

Nothing Much to report......

This week passed by and we really have nothing new to report. Things have been going well with the supplements, and nothing but progress for Nick.

Yesterday I took Michael to see the movie "Chimpanzee", and when we got back, Mike told me that Nick had several tantrums because he apparently wanted to go with me. So, I went upstairs to change him and asked him if he wanted "raviolis or bye-bye?" (it was after lunch time, so I thought he might be hungry). He said "bye-bye". I got him dressed and we said our goodbyes to daddy and were on our way to Toys R Us. I figured the toys might make it more fun for him, instead of going to just a Wal-mart or Target. He was so happy to be out of the house and doing something with Mommy. We ended up having a great time together and he came away with a new Angry Bird :) Have I said how much he LOVES his Angry Bird stuffed pillows??? So, to have a new one put a huge smile on his face! More and more, Nick is becoming aware of things. It is a huge development for all of us. The other day he wanted to be outside with Michael when he was playing with his friends. Nick just stood at the door looking out. It is becoming clear that he wants to be like Michael. But, he just can't. It is difficult to go places with him because his behavior is so unpredictable. He can be fine one second, and the next he can be in a full-blown meltdown. And that leads to no one having a good time, and leaving places early. I am going to have to make more of an effort to find that balance I guess. It is a work in progress, and it seems that everyday Nick is teaching us more about Classic Autism that we never thought of. He is once again HAPPY. All things considered, life around here has been boringly 'normal'. No major meltdowns, no school calling, no SIB, no aggression. Just boys being boys.

I had a job interview on Thursday for Sears. They liked what they saw and I ended up getting the job. It is only part time, but that is really all I need. Mike is still searching and sending in resumes. Hopefully he will find something soon. Michael's school is re-organizing next year and he will have to be sent to another school. The school they are wanting him to go to is not exactly a great school. We are going to see if we can find him another school in the district for next year. The only appointment we have this week is on Wed. we meet with the psychologist at Nick's school. Other than that, like the title says, not much to report!

Hope everyone has a great week!!