America's Got Talent.....

Not sure how many of you all out there in blogland have heard about this extraordinary young man. He is 9yrs old and was diagnosed with autism when he was two. He would sing in the bus on his way to school and back. This was news to his parents because he did not speak at all. I could not watch this without tearing up. He is such a sweetie and I cannot wait to watch it this week to see how he does!

GO DAVID!! We are rooting for you!!!

Vacation...part 2

It has been an interesting vacation to say the least! Wednesday started with daddy calling the dealership at 8am to see what the heck was going on with our Jeep. The guy was getting fed up with all of our calls,but daddy did not care. He just wanted to get this whole thing fixed so we could enjoy our vacation! The repairman told him that he was several days behind on fixing cars, and he did not know when he could get to ours. Needless to say, this distressed everyone; especially mommy. We needed a car to get home with, since staying another week would be too much money. With all this stress going around I was getting rather un-hinged sometimes. Luckily, our friends understood, and did not take any of my outbursts personally. Mommy and daddy decided it might be best to upgrade our old Jeep;so we ended up trading in our old Jeep for a new(er) one. This newer one has all the luxuries! Anyway, we got the car thing settled, and then on Thursday we headed off to Silverwood Theme Park!!

We were excited about this day. My brother was especially excited since he was getting to ride the roller coasters for the very first time. All of us went on the first ride; which was some log splasher thing. I personally think they could have done without all of the employees talking over loud speakers...they were not using their inside voices! I tried not to come unglued; and I think I did pretty well. We all sat in this log thingie and went for a nice quiet ride..until we got to this big drop! We plunged down and that was the worst bath I ever took..no matter what daddy tried to say! I was scared for a bit, but I tried not to let mommy see, I was brave. After a few more rides, it was time to hit the water park. YEAH BABY, YEAH! That was MY domain!! We sunned ourselves, played in the lazy river, and ruled the toddler attractions! I was thoroughly over stimulated!! Mommy thought I would sleep easily that night; but she was wrong! I just could not settle down and she had to give me some of my sleepy vitamins.

The next day was the 4th of July; and we really did not do too much. We cooked out hamburgers(they smelled really good, so good in fact, that I never want to eat them, just smell them) and then went to meet up with our friends at their house. We went to Riverfront park to watch the sky light up. It was most fantastic!! If you love lights like I do; then you should see these lights!!! After you get used to the loud BOOM they make, it really is very neat!!! After the loud lights, we went back to the parking lot and waited for traffic to die down before heading home. I was introduced to "E" and "N"'s grandfather; who had a strange car that kept beeping. I tried my best to find out what it was so that I could fix it, but the dang thing would not stop beeping no matter how hard I banged on the seat. I never did find out what everyone was laughing about? I think that car is messed up and I tried to tell everyone that it was not funny; but they kept on laughing anyway. Maybe I missed something?? Nah, that car is totally busted!! Why else would it beep everytime I banged the seat?? Any mechanics reading this??

Today we just hung out again and relaxed. We are heading back home on Monday, and no; it's not funny!

The Vacation Saga Begins....

We started our little journey yesterday just after 11 am. All went smoothe with the road trip, and we were all looking forward to an uneventful vacation. I somehow got stuck on the phrase "It's not funny" for about 20 miles. Everyone was laughing at what they thought was just a random phrase I was saying. I kept repeating "It's not funny" over and over again. We got to our friends' house and stopped to chat for a while before heading to find a campsite. Daddy turned the car off, and we all got out. A little while later, daddy went to start the car again, and all it did was "click,click". I mean, I tried to tell them "It's not funny", but did they listen to me?? Of course not. So, we had to get help from the neighbors to get the trailer off the car, and hitch it to one of their trucks. So, mommy and all us kids stayed with our friends and played while daddy rode with the neighbor guy to the campsite. We went to Wal-mart to get some necessities to last us until we could get situated with everything and collect our thoughts about the car thing. After a LONG day, we all made it to bed around midnight.

We woke up today and started working the car problem. Mommy called our friends so they could come and get us, and see what we could do to fix our problem. Daddy went to start the car again to humor himself, but the car just made the same clicking noise. Daddy called around to a couple of mechanic places and to the Jeep dealership, as well as scheduled a tow truck guy to come pick up our car. Mommy made a phone call to see if we could get a temporary loan to fix the car and pay for the tow truck costs, and possibly a rental car. She still wanted us to be able to do some fun stuff on our vacation,instead of just be able to fix the darned car. So, the tow truck guy arrives and we all go out to meet him. He tells daddy to try and start the car again, so daddy does. What do you think happens next?? The car starts! We quickly pile in to two cars, and follow our friends to the dealership. By the time we get there, their service dept. is closed, and so is the rental car places. Stranded. At the dealership. We figure out a way to get 8 of us back to the house, with leaving the Jeep at the dealership. After "T" dropped off his wife and kids plus my brother back at their house, he came back so that mommy,daddy, and I could go to the airport to get a rental car. This was fun for me...a big windstorm came and I was cracking up because the wind was spinning my pinwheel SOOOOOO fast!!! This was the funnest part of the day by far!!! Long story short, we got a rental car for a couple of days until ours can be fixed. After that, we went back to the house and all pigged out on pizza. Except for me; I don't care much for pizza. Too messy. Now, we are back in the trailer, getting ready for bed. It was another long day, but overall, better than yesterday. Stay tuned..more to follow!!

1 Week of Enzymes

They seem to be helping! Along with the rice milk. Today was the first day that I can remember that Nick had solid poo all day long. He is also not pooping as much as he was before. He was pooping sometimes four times a day; somedays he had a poop in every diaper. Mike is even convinced that enzymes seem to be helping him. Nick has also tried some new foods this week. He has now added ham and hot dogs to his growing list. Feeding himself is still a challenge that we are working on, but he has made progress in that area as well. Talking is more or less on his own terms. We have heard him say things like "oopsie" when he drops things, and he sings a new song now. It is a different version of the "clean up" song...Nick will sing "Line up, Line up". Today he did that while arranging drink cannisters in a square pattern on the coffee table. He has also taken a renewed interest in his fridge magnet ABC toy. "BEEEEE!" he will shout as he puts in the letter B and the song starts.

We are all excited about our upcoming vacation. We are going to visit our friends in Spokane beginning July 1st and will be doing lots of fun summer activities. One of those will be a trip to Silverwood theme park. We are all looking forward to some fun time together as a family. Doing "normal" family things.

Day #2 of Enzymes

Yesterday I went once again to Super Supplements to see what they had for kids. I was looking for something to aid in digestion. Something HAS to give with Nick's mushy poo. He has had problems with poo for as long as I can remember. It is never consistent-he normally goes numerous times a day, and one of those might be solid-the rest are mush. Not to mention he had started doing his little "humping" of the floor again. The Gastro tells me it is "normal", but I don't think so. Call me crazy...but you can't tell me that pooping mush daily is "normal". So, I am on the search to find things that can help ease our tummy troubles. I found KIDS DIGEST in a powder form. It is supposed to help enhance digestion and absorbtion-just what we need over here! He gets one little scoop full(and the scoop IS little) mixed in with juice once a day. So far, so good. He seems to be tolerating it well, and drinks all of his juice. I am just looking for something to help my poor bubby's tummy!

Hi there!

Mommy has not had a chance to update in a while. I have been doing all kinds of stuff too! Daddy and I invented our own little game and we just love to play!! We chase each other and he pats me on my behind and says "Butt!". Sometimes we even get my big bro in on it. One day last week while mommy was at work; daddy came up to me and said "Hi Nick!" and I called right back at him "Hi Butt!". Mommy says I am getting a sense of humor on me; but honestly he DOES say "Butt" all the time-so that must be his name??

I am also learning to feed myself. It is kind of tricky, but I think I am getting it. It is hard because I get so excited about learning a new skill that I tend to "Tense up" and then do lots of flapping. That's ok though, cause Mommy and Daddy (AKA BUTT) taught me a new phrase to tell myself when I get like this. I say "Hands Down" to my hands. 'Cause when they get to flapping, they have a mind of their own!

Last Thursday night my brother decided that he would get sick. It was pretty "hairy" here for a while. He was saying that his chest hurt when he breathed, and he had a headache and cough. Mommy thought she might have to take him to the hospital, but after a little medicine and some rest; he was feeling much better. I think he ate something at school that bugged his tummy. I felt bad for him-he was feeling so ill that he could not even play with me! He just layed on the couch the whole evening until he went to bed! He is feeling MUCH better now though! Well, I am gonna go for now-I just turned on the ceiling fan and I simply love to watch that spin! Have a great day everyone!!

Petition to Fire Ms. Portillo!

Okay all you out there in blogland, time to make a difference! Here is an online petition to FIRE that awful teacher in Florida from my previous post! Let's keep this going...
Just click on the word "FIRE"

Perfection...

It was around 7pm and Nick had fallen asleep on the floor under the ceiling fan. This is his most favorite place to be. He relaxes himself while watching the hypnotic spinning of the fan. He is at total peace with himself and the world. He often falls asleep under the fan in this manner. I went over to him and layed down next to his sleeping body. I took his "Nicholasness" all in. His long curly eyelashes, his button nose, his fine blonde hair, and his smell. His oh so sweet smell. Most four year olds have lost that "baby" smell-but Nick still has it. I lay beside him and kiss him gently on the forehead and on his cheek. He is simply PERFECT.

Sweet Alex Barton; the Five year old who was voted out of his class by his hideous teacher, you are PERFECT just the way you are! You have so many people who will stand with you and your family! The whole WORLD is in your corner little man!

Beyond Words...

I don't know if any of you out there in blogland have heard of this story yet, but it is simply disgusting and a prime example of ignorance. A teacher in FLORIDA had a 5yr old boy who is in the process of being diagnosed with high functioning autism (HFA or Asperger's Syndrome), stand in his classroom and be "voted out" by his classmates! FIVE YEARS OLD!! Read on in the article and you will hear how most people view kids like Nick. They are viewed as "disgusting", "disruptive", "violent", the list goes on. This is what we have to deal with. This is an outrage! It is 2008 people..why are these children being taught how to "hate" anyone who is different? This little boy has been traumatized in a way that NO FIVE YEAR old should! Autism is not "Disgusting". I cannot type right now...I am too furious and heartbroken.

It's Potty TIME!

It's me Nick here! Just wanted to give a shout out to all the mommies in blogland-"Happy Mother's Day". Us kids would be nowhere without the mommies. So, all you kids and babies out there, give your mommies some kisses! I don't know about your mommies, but my mommy is just a gem. I am serious when I say that the woman does it all. She is so busy with my daddy,brother, and I that she hardly has any time to spin or twirl anything! That's just so much fun to do!! I think she should also just take time to watch the microwave-all those numbers, not to mention it spins on the inside. Pure satisfaction if you ask me. I ALWAYS have time to watch the microwave!!

See? Anyway, this same wonderful mommy is planning to ambush me tomorrow! She is planning an all-out war on my beloved dipeys(a.k.a. Diapers for all you grown folks) This CAN'T be!! She is wanting to get rid of these things and get me to wear UNDERWEAR!! BLECH! My brother wears these, and I must say, I think they are boring! I am so going against the grain on this one. I let her win the food battle, but that is where I draw the line! But then again, all the food tastes so good..especially cake! You all have got to try that one...you won't regret it! It's kinda weird, but it tastes soooo good! Maybe I will give this underwear thing a try; but that does not mean I have to like it! Well, I better get going before mommy catches me on her computer. Then I will really be in trouble!

In the Trenches with Potty Training...

We had an appointment with the psychologist yesterday morning to discuss potty training Nick. To put it simply: It is not going to be easy. We are prepared to start intensively this weekend. She advised us to "set-up camp" outside the bathroom. Section off that part of the house, and put some toys, and a naked Nick as well as each of us from the time he wakes up; til the time he goes to bed. We purchased some strong reinforcers from Target. Since he does not care too much about any type of sweet rewards, we went for the material ones! We have started him already on a potty schedule. We have the schedule posted on the wall outside the bathroom and write down every time he sits on the potty and every time he goes. It is not going to be pretty this weekend; but if we get it done, that is one more major hurdle we have crossed. He is doing good on his supplements. Yesterday he came out of his room and said "Hi" to daddy as he passed by him. Today before he left for school he replied "I love you too" when Mike said "I love you!" He did not care for the vitamin supplements in his milk, so I have switched to putting them in his juice. That seems to be fine with him, and he drinks it right up. Other than that,not too much else to report. I have posted a video of Nick doing what he does best. He LOVES to spin our phones. If it ever becomes an Olympic event, he should take the Gold medal!

Pleasantville

No, we did not move! But that is where we have seemingly resided with Nicholas the last few days. The last few days have brought some amazing results.

Monday: He had his ABA therapy at UW. We have been working since last summer to get Nick to imitate on a regular basis throughout sessions. He NEVER did it. I mean, he would do it once or maybe twice, but that was it. Monday, I kid you not, he did EVERYTHING she did..with very little prompting, in fact, it was almost none at all. She said the session was a huge success!

Tuesday: I can't count how many times he came to me and said "I want cup"; he is very good at that now. Did I mention he looked at me every time I called his name and stopped spinning objects?

Today: Another huge success. He went with me to get my haircut. Now, I dread taking him on these appts. because he has nortoriously hated the hair salons. This time however, he thought it was hilarious. He was looking at everyone around him, smiling at himself in the mirror, laughing at me when my hair was funny looking. Michael is having to constantly say "Nick! Get out of_____, or Leave _____ alone!" This morning, every time MIchael was out of his sight, he cried. Mike found them this morning sitting in their room together. He asked why Michael had not come out, and Michael said "Every time I left, Nick cried. So I stayed here."

We know that he will always be autistic-that much we accept. We are not trying to "cure" him. We just want him to get better sleep, and be healthier. If that makes him function a little better, then it is a plus.

Sunday Ramblings

Some things are just better lined up.
I have changed up the blog a little bit. I thought it was time for something new. Well, it is going on Day 3 of Melatonin, and all I can say is, WOW! Nick has slept two nights in a row!! HOORAY! We started him back on 1Tsp. of Cod Liver Oil as well. He is doing much better. Today Mike was playing around with a thing of breath freshner and wanted to show Nick how he could get it to spin on his fingers. Nick saw it and suddenly said "BAM!". We were a bit confused until I noticed that Mike's hand was in the shape of a gun. I have no idea of where he could have seen or heard a gun before, (maybe from Michael and his friends playing), but something connected with him and he put it together.
He has also been coming up to me a lot more and saying "I want cup". I mean, not even stopping to think about what to say..just saying it so easily. Not just saying it, but looking right at me when he says this! Michael has even said "Nick is so much HAPPIER now!" Amazing what real sleep will do!

2:41 a.m.

And Nick is still asleep. So far, so good.

In our quest to find natural ways to help Nick, we came across this:

It is basically vitamins. Click here for the link. For those who do not know, ASD stands for Autism Spectrum Disorder. I don't know if it will help him or not, but it is worth a try. The paragraphs below summarize the product.
Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have multiple vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Our ASD Vitamin/Mineral Powder is specifically formulated to help counteract these deficiencies.

Several other companies also offer vitamin and mineral supplements. However, these supplements have many disadvantages. Some of these supplements are sold in a liquid dosage form. The problem with liquid supplements is that many vitamins and minerals are not stable in a liquid for more than a couple of hours or days. As a consequence, the patient may not receive the correct therapeutic levels from a liquid supplement. Also, to keep costs down, most supplements are made from inexpensive forms of the vitamins and minerals. In many people, these inexpensive forms are poorly absorbed and some can encourage yeast overgrowth.

Another problem is that many supplements are designed for the general population. These supplements do not fully meet the unique nutritional needs of a patient with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, none of the supplements we have tried taste very good. As most every parent of a child with ASD knows, it is not easy to get a child to take a bad tasting supplement. When we set out to formulate our ASD Vitamin/Mineral PowderT, we made sure to avoid all of these common problems.

Because Lee Silsby's ASD Vitamin/Mineral PowderT is added to a liquid immediately before serving, the vitamins and minerals have no chance to degrade. In addition, we use only the best forms of the vitamins and minerals available, and our formulation was designed in conjunction with several DAN! practitioners specifically to meet the needs of the ASD patient.

Lastly, through more than a decade of flavoring children's medications, we have developed the ability to make almost any medication palatable. Our expertise in flavoring medications insures that our ASD Vitamin/Mineral PowderT tastes great. It is available in citrus flavor or unflavored to meet the requirements of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Our formulation is free of gluten, casein, soy, sugar, artificial flavors, artificial dyes, and preservatives.




Each dose of ASD Vitamin/Mineral Powder™ contains:Click here to hide ingredients...

Chromium (as Chromium Aspartate) 200mcg elemental Chromium
Selenium (as L-selenomethionine) 200mcg elemental Selenium
Molybdenum (as Molybdenum Glycinate) 150mcg elemental Molybdenum
Zinc (as Zinc Amino Acid Chelate) 30mg elemental Zinc
Magnesium (as Magnesium Glycinate) 100mg elemental Magnesium
Calcium (as Calcium Citrate) 420mg elemental Calcium
Vitamin B-1 (as Thiamine HCl) 10mg
Vitamin B-2 (as Riboflavin-5-Phosphate) 15mg
Niacin (as Niacinamide) 40mg
Vitamin B-6 (as Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate) 25mg
Biotin 150mcg
Pantothenic Acid (as Calcium Pantothenate) 100mg
Folinic Acid 800mcg
Vitamin A (as Vitamin A Acetate) 5000 IU
Vitamin C (as Sodium Ascorbate) 500mg
Vitamin D 200 IU
Vitamin E (as Vitamin E Succinate, natural) 200 IU

We got a call from the psychologist today, and we have an appt. set up for Friday at 9am. We got his stool sample results. Everything was normal.

Melatonin

Today I took Nick back to see Dr F. We had a lengthy discussion on how Nick is progressing. The words "Classic Autism" were thrown into the conversation. Basically it means that if Dr. Leo Kanner himself had seen Nick back in the 1940's; he would have diagnosed him with autism. Classic Autism is on the severe end of the spectrum, and comes with such things as Mental Retardation. I, for one, do NOT think Nick is mentally retarded. We will not give up on therapies of any sort. We will NOT give up on Nicholas. He wants to be seen and heard. I knew in the back of my mind that he fit more of the classic autism than anything else, but just hearing a doctor say it was very different. But, Doctors don't know everything. The brain is still very much a mystery, and autism is even more of a mystery. They don't know our Nick!

That being said; we did have some issues that need to be resolved. We started Nick on Melatonin tonight. Melatonin is a natural hormone produced by the body to regulate sleep cycles. Kids with autism often do not produce enough of this hormone; and that leads to erratic sleep. Nick would spend sometimes 2 hours in bed stimming off toys, light switches(we had to unscrew all the light bulbs in their room-he figured out the switch cover and would constantly turn the lights off and on)or anything else he could find. Then, once he did fall asleep, he would not stay asleep. You can imagine how much a sleep deprived brain could function-not very well. It affects the short-term memory; so he is essentially having to re-learn everything from day to day. We are hoping the Melatonin makes recouperative sleep a possibility for Nick. This has been going on for a while, and we decided it was time to pursue options. We started him on 1mg tonight, and Dr F said we could go up to 6mg if needed. Wish us luck! Wish us SLEEP!!

Another thing we did was give Dr F a stool sample. NIck is still plagued about 1-2 times a week with mushy poo's. We want to make sure he is not having troubles digesting his food. We should know the results in a week or so. We also put in a referral for a visit with a psychologist. They are supposedly going to help us potty-train Nick. We shall see! It would be wonderful if he were to be out of diapers by summer!

Other than that; not much else is going on. I am also starting him back on Cod Liver Oil. Fish oils are very good for the brain-so we hope to see ANY improvement.

Word Full Wednesday

I am sitting here absolutely stunned at my four year old. He spends much of his days barely uttering a couple of sentences at most, and we spend much of the day trying to get him to talk. It is always a question of just how much information is making its way in, as he has a hard time getting it out (I hope that makes sense??) So, it is always a nice surprise to hear words coming from his mouth.

He is sitting here playing with his Fridge magnet toy and repeating every word it says. Then, he came up gleefully shouting "Cuppiieee, Cuppppieee, CUP! I want cup!" I think it is going to be a good day today!!

Nick TV

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Frustrated....very frustrated....

A couple of days ago I called Nicks' doctor to see if we could get a referral for a doctor in Portland to treat Nick. This Doctor came highly recommended by another mom and we were starting to get excited about doing some new treatments with Nick. We were going to do some of the biomed stuff. We just wanted to see if Nick would improve. We were not looking for some "miracle cure", but just improvement. Well, his Doctor just called me back this morning saying they would not cover anything like what we were looking for. They will cover the basic therapies like OT,ST, and ABA (which he is getting), but that's it. WE will have to cover anything outside of that. Just an initial visit to this Dr would cost $800. Excuse me while I bang my own head against a wall...

HAPPY EASTER!!

Nick here!!! Sorry we have not updated in a while; but mommy has been super busy. She started at a new shop and they have been changing her schedule all around. She never knows when she goes to work one day whether her schedule will change the next. I really like the one she is on now though. She can get me and my brother off to school every morning, and pick us up. She also gets to take me to all my therapies--which both of us really love. Her lunch time is right around our bed time; so she comes home and says "goodnight" to us as well! During her off-time(which there is not much of as you all know) she is going to school, trying to see if I can go to Little Gym(she says it would be good for me),taking me to UW and Speech, and doing stuff together at home too! Whew...boy am I tired just from thinking of all that! I did some new things this week: I identified spoon,bus,and ball on my flashcards. I am learning animal sounds(I like to MOO like a cow, and oink like a pig) and I really like shapes. I surprised everyone at UW by blurting out "triangle" when I saw one!

We are having a quiet Easter at home; which is just what I like. Too much noise makes me crazy. I got a book and a stuffed ducky in my basket. I might even try some of this stuff that they call chocolate. I don't know about that stuff; but I really like the plastic,purple colored wrapper my brother's basket came in!

Autism video