My Ideas Are Not Up For Debate!

I know in the arena of Autism and Vaccination I am not part of the norm.  I have my ideas on the subject and you do not have to share my opinion.  If you do not share my opinion you can state so in the comments below ONCE and then after that it gets excessive.  I do NOT want to argue.  If you disagree you are always welcome to start your own blog and state your own opinion.  :)

Chantai Snellgrove had a wonderful idea!  She developed a Cheat Sheet for her child.  The idea of the Cheat Sheet is to give a quick and concise way for teachers (and I think caregivers too) to learn about her child and their diagnosis.  What a GREAT idea!!!  I am planning on filling one out for each of my children so I can have a quick reference sheet for all the other people in my kiddos lives.

The National Autism Association (NAA) has something called the Big Red Box. The Big Red Box is meant for autistic children who elope or wander.  Margaret is prone to this and she has scared me several times.  The kit normally sells for $35 but occasionally the NAA gets a grant and can offer the Boxes for little to no cost.  The kit comes with:

1) Educational materials and tools

          -  A caregiver checklist           -  A Family Wandering Emergency Plan
          -  A first-responder profile form           -  A wandering-prevention brochure          -  A sample IEP Letter

2) Two (2) Door/Window Alarms with batteries

3) One (1) RoadID Personalized, Engraved Shoe ID Tag*

4) Five (5) Laminated Adhesive Stop Sign Visual Prompts for doors and windows

5) Two (2) Safety Alert Window Clings for car or home windows

6) One (1) Red Safety Alert Wristband

*You will receive instructions to submit a custom personalization order online at roadid.com. Your tag will be quickly engraved with your emergency information and mailed to you at no charge.    

This kit is a MUST have if you have a child that wanders.  One the same topic of keeping an autistic wanderer safe I was also checking into ID bracelets and other identifiers.  Margaret does NOT like have barrettes  bracelets, necklaces, or anything else on.  It just drives her nuts...lol

My Precious Kid makes a variety of products for ID purpose.  They have velcro bracelets that I think Margaret would have a hard time getting off.  She has weak hand strength.  In addition to the bracelets though they have dog tags (might could sneak that on her), charms for necklaces (allergies) and shoe ID tags.  I think the shoe ID tag would be the most successful with Margaret.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) has some really great tools.  One is a tool where you can see what additives are in the vaccine itself before you decide to vaccinate.  Another tool is a vaccine ingredient calculator.  This is a neat tool and you can see if the additive in the vaccine.  The calculator will determine how much, if any, the additive in the vaccine exceeds safety standards for the person you are making the calculations using the weight of the individual.  There is a lot more information available and the site is well worth investigating.

A small study (Gehan A Mostafa and Laila Y AL-Ayadhi Reduced serum concentrations of 25-hydroxy vitamin D in children with autism: Relation to autoimmunity. Journal of Neuroinflammation 2012, 9:201 doi:10.1186/1742-2094-9-201 Published: 17 August 2012)   recently stated autistic children tend to have a low level of vitamin D in their body and a high level of antibiotics.  With the small population sample one could not call this study conclusive but it is worth thinking about and if you have an autistic child in your life I would suggest getting their vitamin D levels checked.  

I have several friends that deal with PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus) and have had a tough road to finding a diagnosis.  In an article written by Lori Parrish (
PANDAS and Autism Spectrum | Questioning Special Needs Diagnoses) does a wonderful job talking about this disease.  I think I am sadly in the majority when I said I had never heard of such a thing.  I hope to get the word out to others.  It is SO tough when you feel as though you have lost your child yet you do not know what is going on.  When you push and fight to find out people (doctors, nurses, educators, friends, and even your spouse) can turn on you and look at you like you are crazy.  All I can say is stay the course!  As the parent your instinct is often right!

One bit of homeschooling advice.  If you are looking for a site that will generate additional math worksheets for practice then Math Worksheet Site.com is a great place to turn for some FREE (LOVE that word) help.