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.
                                               

NOT having a good morning....

There are some days I look at my life and wonder what in the hell is going on! This morning is a case-in-point. I went to bed late last night because I was working on school work and I drank some caffeine late so I just was not tired. It is not uncommon for me to have an insomniac moment. In any case I went to bed late.

The door on the children's room has a lock. John puts the children to bed at night. He changes their diapers and brushes their teeth. Then he puts them in bed, sings twinkle, twinkle little star to them twice and closes the door AND THEN LOCKS IT (just a vertically hung chain lock). For some reason last night the door was not locked. So this morning I was sleeping. Normally if I sleep late the children will wake up and play in their room for a bit. While they are playing they will make noise (laughing, crying or just playing with things loudly) and I wake up. This morning there was nothing. so I get up thinking they are being very quiet but when I go and look at their bedroom door it is open. I immediately start to panic!

I call out Margaret and James's names but I hear nothing. I search the upstairs and I did not see them. I stood at the top of the stairwell and see the downstairs door unlocked. John went out the front door this morning trying to be quiet (not running the garage door) since he had to leave early today for training. I felt another surge of panic when I saw the front door unlocked but from upstairs it appeared closed. I get Joseph up and change his diaper and then I headed downstairs.

Downstairs I went straight to the kitchen. It is not uncommon for them to make a beeline to the back door and head out into the backyard. As I walk into the kitchen I see the back door open. I put Joseph down and head outside to look for them. I called out their names since I did not immediately see them. There was no answer and it was quiet. That ball of dread came back worse then ever. I started to really panic then! I re-searched the downstairs again and then notice the front door was open. It was pulled to but it was OPEN! Then I hit FULL panic mode! I called John first and he did not pick up but I was crying and screaming hysterically at him on the phone as I left a voicemail. I heard the message later. I am surprised he could get anything out of it since I was screaming hysterically. He said he could understand that the front door was open, the children were missing and he thought I said "she is dead."

In a panic he leaves his training session and heads home. I get Joseph and place him in John's car, with no car seat, because John took my van. I buckled him into the front seat as best I could and them I took off to circle our neighborhood. As I am driving I call 911. I told the dispatcher that I was missing my children and she said it is ok because they had them. I started crying! Bawling really. I was relieved that Margaret and James were fine. Margaret had me especially worried since she will wonder out into the roadway because she has NO awareness of danger. So I go into hysterics again but this time it is from relief. Knowing that my children were ok.

Four police cars pull up to my house as I am pulling back into my driveway. I get Joseph out as one of the cops approached me. They, overall, were very nice. I them the children are autistic and two of the safety measures we have to prevent them from leaving the house were not used this morning. One of the police officers went asked if he could look over the house and I said yes while I spoke to the other 2 female police officers. They were nice. I got a good idea too of putting a label with the word autistic and my phone number on all their shirts. This is a great idea! It would help the police find me faster. They said they had been circling the neighborhood looking for a house with the door open.

After the police left John showed up. He was in hysterics because he thought Margaret had been killed. He was feeling guilty since he had left their bedroom unlocked. I told him it was okay because the children were fine. He asked for me not to be mad at him because it was all his fault. I told him it was my fault too since I did not notice that their bedroom door was not locked. I said I was happy to know the children were ok and back home.

What a scary story! This never should have happened and I know John and I will be WAY more vigilant in the future. What a way to wake up in the morning!