Testing...testing.....

Wow, where has the time gone? Seems like forever since a blog post. I have many of them swimming around in my head but no time to get them to keyboard. Let's see, March has been a whirlwind for sure, trip to Las Vegas to work the TACA and MAPS event for New Beginnings, then my bday, 1st anniversary of my Dad's death 2 days later. Following week my best friend of 30+ years had to have open heart surgery (her 3rd) so I was on hand to see her through that, as I was 30 years ago after her 1st. Let me tell you, it sure was scarier THIS time around, funny how growing up and knowing about "what ifs" will do to you. Then I came home but hubby was gone all week and in between it all, our new house to get ready to move into. Yes, big things, septic being installed, cistern getting up and running, painting almost every room, packing and unpacking yet again.

And also in the midst, 3 year retest for Mr. M. My (not so) little guy, more testing for him. Every 3 years the school system looks at retesting to see what supports are needed for him. Hard to believe 3 years ago we were preparing him for kindergarten. For that was my own personal time limit of sorts. I knew the clock was ticking and I wanted to do as much in the way of what I call "roadblock removal" as I could prior to kindergarten. I don't know why I set that limit but I did. Just shy of 1 year prior we began seeing Dr. Kurt Woeller and our path to recovery began to skyrocket. So 3 years later, I was quite excited to see, on paper, the changes I know I have seen in my son both cognitively and communicatively. And here we are in a new school to boot so yes, testing was really needed to get a clear idea of what he needs.

Testing round 1, the Psychologist. A little trepidation. Our last eval with the school psychologist (Apr 2009) resulted in a paper being slid towards me, eyes averted. Well yes, he fell on "THAT" end of the bell curve.....hmmmm, you know, the one on the left.....far left. That's OK I said to myself, trying not to let the tears form. These tests are all bullshit anyways! (I know my Alma Mater is threatening to revoke my degree in Psychology right this moment for such blasphemy!?) Maybe he will be a child who tests differently. And in the end I said "Screw you!" to the tests and we kept plodding on. But yes, that day is still back there in my memory banks. I felt like somehow that test was counting him out, and I was determined never to let that happen! So here we are, another year (or 3), another (different) psychologist. Imagine my excitement when on their first break the psychologist comes out and says that M knows vocab words that a child in 5th grade would be beginning to learn! Hey hey! Not to shabby. So I was excited to hear the full results. He had strengths in the areas of reading and writing. Math was more challenging. His recall was better on verbal things vs. visual. His perception of his body in space was a challenge. That was certainly nothing new. So we have some strategies to help him as the curriculum changes in the next few years. All in all, I took it as a very positive thing.

Testing round 2, the SLP. Our last round (Apr. 2009), CELF-2P was done. Core language - 8%, Receptive - 4%, Expressive - 8%, Language content - 5%, Language structure - 5%. "The results indicate that M has a significant receptive and expressive language delay". Yes, no surprise there. But this time around was very, very, VERY different. Our school speech therapist approaches me one day at pick up (her son and my son are in the same class). She says "Will you be disappointed if I really don't find anything?". Are you kidding me?? This is what we have been working towards!! Yesterday we get the results, besides a little articulation with "s", that's it! Zip, zero, nada! And she was specifically watching him for social issues. And what's more she said that if she had not read Autism in his file she would never have thought of that in regards to him. Say what?!?!

I must say, it did make me feel a bit odd. The Psychologist said that this was just astounding and how he's never heard of this ever happening before. That makes me squirm a little. I talk about Autism and Autism recovery all the time, I mean alllllll the time, to anyone, anywhere. And I know many parents who are doing biomed and see fabulous things so to me, this is (or should be) the norm. I try and avoid the "cure" debates because to me, my son had some serious underlying medical issues that impacted his language and cognitive functioning. Do I think my son is amazing and has wonderful gifts for the world? Yes! Would I want to "cure" him and take those gifts away? No. But, what is significantly impairing his ability to interact, love, feel and express emotion and connect with other souls in this world has got to go! I put that on notice years ago and no one can tell me a child filled with yeast, clostridia, inflammation, auto-immunity, untreated food intolerances, etc. wants to live that way! The child could hardly sleep, screamed most of the day and night, did not interact with us and certainly had to have a hard time learning with all of that going on. So, that had to stop. And I know many parents out there doing all the same stuff without as many gains. I am humbled by this journey. My son has taught me so much and although I wish he never had to go through this we are all healthier for it now.

And part of me wonders at whether his new school contributed to the gains we saw this time around. I believe that the way he is being taught now is the absolute BEST way for him (and every other child by the way, ASD or not! And he has phenomenal teachers. I have never seen him so open and receptive and each day is filled with sensory experiences and meaningful ways to use his body to help him learn. If you don't know about Waldorf inspired charter schools, you really should. Click HERE to learn more. It is a little bit of "What came first, the chicken or the egg?". I have seen him blossom and grow (literally as well as figuratively) before my eyes in the almost 6 months that we have been here. His desire to learn is there more than ever. The environment is loving yet has clear boundaries and all children (as I see it) are supported in the way that they need. I went into this meeting with no issues. And I know that if an issue arises, the teacher will seek me out. We decided that the plan will be set in place but really we will implement when HE needs it. What a novel concept huh?

Right now he is doing very, very well. And what else could I ask for?? I know the future is not certain, regression happens, puberty happens and we'll cross that bridge when it comes. But right now I have a happy, HEALTHY, vibrant young man who keeps me laughing each and every day. What a blessing to be called his mother. And tonight, after a very long, rough month for me and an even more not so great day, I walk in to kiss him goodnight. He is reading "Love you Forever" by Robert Munsch. It is a book I cannot read without crying. He is nearing the end, reading it by himself. He looks up at me just as the part of story goes where the son is singing that song to his elderly mother. He gets tears in HIS eyes. He says "This story makes me teary eyed Mom, can you read the rest?". But he continues on to read the last page, then looks up at me and says "I love you Mom".

Autism - 0, M - INFINITY!!!!!!!

GFCFSF Thin Mint style cookies

We made these little gems recently and all I can say is dang they were good. As I write this I think that I may even whip up another batch. I love the Nourishing Our Children site and that is where this recipe came from. You can find the original recipe on their site HERE.

But as usual I made some modifications to suit our family's needs so here goes:

Ingredients:
½ Cup Coconut Oil Softened
1 Organic Egg
¼ Cup Coconut Nectar (SEE HERE)
3/4 Cup Coconut Flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon Non-Aluminum Baking Soda
¼ Cup Organic Cocoa or Cacao Powder
Several drops of organic Peppermint Essential Oil.

Directions:
Blend together the softened butter and the coconut sugar with a hand held mixer. Add the egg and beat to make a soft batter. Mix in the flour in small increments. You want it to be soft and pliable. Mix in the cocoa powder until combined and add the peppermint essential oil. Roll the dough into a log and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice dough from the chilled log approximately ¼ thick and place the rounds on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 7 – 9 minutes. Let cool completely then freeze.

Take some Enjoy Life allergen free chocolate chips and melt them down. Take each frozen cookie and place on a fork. Spoon the melted chocolate over the cookie. Hold cookie over melted chocolate chips so the excess drips back into your pan/bowl. Place back on the parchment and allow to set. Using frozen cookies will help the chocolate set much faster. Store in the freezer, trust me they are even better frozen! You can see that we do deviate from the original recipe quite a bit in terms of sugar. We do not eat refined sugars on a regular basis, but these are more of a true cookie so the coating does have evaporated cane juice. We do lots of healthier cookies so I don't feel bad about doing this version once in a blue moon. Plus, if you are like us, the kids won't end up getting too many! ;)

Getting your hopes up, the Hirning Family story

We are thrilled to post that Julie Matthews has featured our story on the Nourishing Hope website. She is doing a whole series called "Getting your hopes us" so that families can hear the positives that come from dietary changes. I post our trials and tribulations here and all of my blog readers know my feelings on diet and its impact on health. But it is critical that parents of children with Autism/ADHD/etc understand that dietary changes do help many, many children and they are easy to begin on your own with just some guidance. And these changes impact the whole family. There is much hope to be had and parents need to be empowered and encouraged to try these things. So here is our story, courtesy of Nourishing Hope. Click HERE to read.

What diet are YOU?

One of my friends posted this article HERE on Facebook and it hit a nerve. Whether you are talking about diets for weight loss or any sort of diet for medical reasons, I feel like there is such pressure put on the question "What diet are you???". Within the Autism world there is the GFCF diet, SCD, GAPS, LOD, I could go on and on. And there are just as many weight loss diets around. The point is, nothing will work for everyone meaning we are all different and different bodies respond to different diets. And, just because you are following XYZ diet doesn't mean you can't deviate should your body need it. We should not be defined by the way we eat or what we do/don't eat. We should eat to nourish our body, no guilt trips, no competition, just what works for you.

The main point is HEALTH, or it should be. I had this discussion with the same person who posted this article. She happens to be a Beach Body coach. We were talking about healthy as opposed to thin. There are lots of shortcuts to thin. Most of them are filled with soy proteins, chemicals, artificial sweeteners, etc. Yes, there are shortcuts to losing weight, there are no shortcuts to health. That is indicative of all of the latest "hot" diet trends, many filled with convenient "bars" or shakes or prepackaged foods because we have gotten so busy that we can't even cook ourselves healthy meals anymore. The problem lies in their ingredients and the fact that high soy diets often lead to thyroid damage, read the recent Cheeseslave blog HERE that speaks to this. And when you hurt your thyroid you make it harder for your body to lose weight in the long run. And of course all of those prepackaged meals do not address the issue of eating in the real world.

And the same goes with the various diet options in the Autism realm. No single diet is going to fit every child. We've had lots of variations, we've made changes and adjustments as necessary. Our goal is the health of our children and sometimes you have to switch things up to accomplish that. It is a long road ahead, assuming you plan to continue to eat all of your life that is. So being flexible is the key. For us, we continue to be GFCFSF, no refined sugar, no preservative, and lately even more vegetarian options. The last one is new, since our move, and not even a conscious decision really. It has just been a migration of sorts that seems to be working and leaves us feeling really good after. Soaking nuts and grains is still a big part of our diet and we do still eat many raw recipes as well. And to be honest, much of our diet is (no pun intended) based on my gut feeling. We take bits and pieces and fit them together with what works for us. There is an intuitiveness to eating and cooking and I try and listen to that gut feeling. But whatever your path, your diet should reflect the level of health your are attempting to achieve.

And speaking of, coming soon, my modified recipe for a healthier "thin mint" cookie and a cornbread recipe that is out of this world!

GFCFSF Chickpea "Chicken nuggets"

I posted a picture of these chickpea "nuggets" that I whipped up today and got a few requests for the recipe so here it is. I adapted it from THIS blog. I decided to leave out some things, add in others so here is MY rendition;

Wet ingredients
3 C cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I used canned chickpeas because I decided pretty last minute that I wanted to try this. I used 2 cans, rinsed them then cooked them in water on the stove until tender, about 30 mins)
4 T toasted sesame oil
Juice of 1 small lemon, or ½ of a medium or large lemon
1/2 of an onion, diced

Dry ingredients
1 C brown rice flour
2 tsp xanthan gum (you can use either chia or flax seed and water but I have heard they fall apart unless eaten really quickly. I made plenty for leftovers so I used Xantham gum)
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp rubbed sage
½-1 tsp smoked paprika, to taste
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper

Mash the chickpeas in a large mixing bowl. Add the oil and lemon juice. Mash again a couple of times to mix in the liquids. Chickpeas should be pretty mashed, some smooth, some still partly whole.

In a small bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together.

Add the dry ingredients into wet and stir until fully mixed. It may be crumbly at this point. Add some water until you get to a thick, almost bread dough consistency. It should be wet enough to mix well without crumbling but not soupy. I added the onions in at this stage (they were not in the original recipe but I think many things are better with onion!).

Form into little balls or patties and brown on each side in a cast iron skillet with a little coconut oil. Salt a little more once cooked.

I let the kids eat them with their fingers with a healthy (No MSG, HFCS, etc) ketchup to dip into. They loved them! Now if only they would eat their chard :/

I also see us making these with some mashed potatoes and gravy, YUM! So for a meat alternative, I think this one is a hit!

Dow and Monsanto

If you are watching what Monsanto is doing these days and care to get involved, here is a little issue you should check out. There is still time to weigh in with your opinion if you are so inclined. And if you haven't already figured out that Monsanto is bad for us and our food supply, you should check out the copious amounts of info on the subject. But for now, check out THIS blog.

Update Feb 2012

We just ran an IgG food allergy test and Organic Acid Test to look at what is going on after just a few months of Camel's milk. The IgG test was pretty amazing, he's gone from 5 "High" IgG foods to just 1. His Organic Acid Test showed some elevated yeast, bacteria and oxalates but I have a strong idea as to what is causing that and a game plan. But the most exciting part is that he is less reactive to the byproducts of these nasty little organisms! We used to have a completely goofy/silly/giggly child who would not sleep but would rather laugh in the middle of the night and whose name you had to call at least 50 times to get even some eye contact with yeast overgrowth. Bacteria brought a very short fuse, no patience and even aggression which was very uncharacteristic. That speaks of neurological and immune healing! And we did test both wheat and dairy (one isolated exposure to both) with no behavioral or gut reactions.

In my consult with Dr. Woeller to go over everything we both feel that at this point we are looking at child specific issues (i.e. personality emerging, his own traits) and less "Autism". I am hard pressed to find things to "work on" (unless someone has a supplement somewhere for back talk or sibling fighting???). That is a pretty cool place to be considering where we came from. I had grand hopes of integrated kindergarten, and yet even when I made that resolve to heal him by that point, there was that small spark of doubt within me that we could achieve that. And yet we made it. We struggled a little but had an amazing, wonderful, loving, caring teacher to help guide him through (and a loving class full of very accepting and helpful children!). We continued with the healing and things have just gotten better ever since! Now, does that mean we have zero issues? Of course not! We pull out the stops when we need to. I know when he needs his homeopathic remedy, I know when I need to add in some herbs for yeast, I know when he's growing and it throws his sensory system into utter chaos. And I know the future will bring its share of curve balls for us. And I don't even want to THINK about the hormones kicking in. But, it is nice to appreciate where we are, today, in this moment.

He will always face challenges from Autism, despite this thing called "recovery" and I totally get that. But, the fact that we have removed many, many roadblocks for him is incredible. This is a child with almost zero language who never slept and who would be content to spin Tupperware lids all day and who screamed bloody murder at even a quick trip to a grocery store due to sensory overload. I am so thankful for our team from doctors to therapists, teachers and just friends and family who support us through this. And more than anything I hope to share our story with others and impart some hope for recovery from this "incurable" disorder we call Autism. You have to try new things, you have to see what will work for your child. There is no magic bullet no matter what anyone says. Each child is unique and should be treated as such. And above all, never give up hope for improvement!

Homemade cough drops/throat losenges

Yes, it is that time of year....the dreaded bugs are circulating schools and homes. As we got hit with colds this week, I remembered this blog I stumbled across a while back. I knew I wanted to try and make this. My son woke http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifup on Wednesday complaining of a sore throat. So, I figured it was a good time to give this a try! So here they are, I am linking back to the original blog, and please look around. I found this blog when homeschooling through the Waldorf style. This blog had so many wonderful ideas and when I came across it yet again for these losenges, I knew I had to promote them even more! You can click HERE to find the recipe. I have to warn you though, your kids will not understand these are actually medicinal. They are yummy and I do find myself having to limit them or they would eat them all day. I love that there are no refined sugars in them like in most commercial losenges, and you can tailor them to your needs, adding or reducing whatever herbs you need to.

GFCFSF Newton style cookies

This post is a long time coming as I first attempted it back in September. But hey, life has been a little hectic lately so here it is! I have to warn you, these make wonderful treats for lunches or after school but once you get your hands on one, YOU will be the one who needs to be told "Just 1 more!". I could seriously eat these all day. And with a few tweakings, you can make these very low on the glycemic index so they won't feed yeast like other cookies may.

In a food processor grind 2 cups almonds (preferrably soaked/dehydrated). Add in 2 cups potato starch, 4 tbsp coconut oil, 1/2 cup coconut nectar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt. ** Note - I usually add in all the dry ingredients and mix a few times to ensure that it is all evenly mixed before adding in the "sticky" stuff.

Combine until a dough forms and sticks together. Divide in half. Roll out between two pieces of parchment paper, make into a long rectangle. Spoon a layer of jam/jelly (for lower sugar content use a xylitol sweetened jam/jelly) leaving a border around the edges.

Fold the dough in half so you now have a long skinny rectangle. Gently pinch edges to seal. Square the edges. Using a sharp knife, cut into 12 cookies (or to your size preference). Cook in a 325 degree oven for 12 minutes (DO NOT OVER BAKE!!). Repeat with other half of the dough! Enjoy!!

Camel's milk.....2 1/2 weeks in

So update #1 on our trial of Camel's milk. We haven't been very scientific, we don't give the same amounts every day or even give it to our son everyday. But we did see an increase in appetite and physical growth very quickly. I began to truly believe the power of this stuff when an unintended dietary infraction happened early on in our trial of camel's milk. Turns out that a product we have used over the years changed their formulation and he actually got wheat without our knowing. What we saw was an increase in emotions. But it also coincided with the fighting of a small cold so it was hard to tell what was what. It certainly was not to the level that we have ever seen with gluten infraction which is usually off the charts meltdowns, aggression, lots of screaming and crying with a level of irrationality that is not usually present. So, being that it is school break, we decided to try adding in wheat and/or dairy to see what is going on. I will admit, this is scary. The tantrumming, lack of sleep and aggression for 3 days (at least) is hard to stomach, especially doing it ON PURPOSE. But, our goal is to get to the point where the occassional infraction is not a big deal. In the past it turned his little world upside down. Since then we've embarked on lots of things to help heal his body. And reactivity to food for us is an indicator of healing in the body.

So here we are today. We decided to hit up Diablo Burger. Diablo Burger is a local restaurant that serves up local, organic, grassfed burgers (and veggie burgers) and they offer gluten free buns as well! They focus on local, quality, fresh food. It is DELISH. Since we've been to Diablo Burger before without any reaction whatsoever, we figured changing one thing today would give us a reliable look at reactions. We gave him the choice, either a regular, gluten bun or a gluten free bun but with cheese. He chose a regular bun. No surprising since the child can only remember the dairy free cheses (some awful) that we've tried over the years. I was actually happy since I would prefer for him to try raw cheese if anything, given his strong reaction and addition to dairy in the past.

We ordered the burgers, ate and waited.......nothing. We went shopping in downtown Flag, ran into some school friends, no auditory processing delays, no "in his own world" behaviors, no running off. Hmmmmm. So here we are 7 hours in, still no reaction. Now, I will be watching for the next few days but I am optimistically hopeful that we've turned a corner here. The last time we had a real infraction (1 Ritz cracker) was in kindergarten and he came home a screaming child, bit his sister (he's never been a biter) and then slammed her finger in the dresser drawer. It was a weekend of that type of behavior. So the reaction was immediate and strong. So far this afternoon was filled with imaginary play with his sister while I finished some Christmas presents. There is none of the vacant eyes, crying, or addictive cravings we've seen in the past. Now, whether we have detox from this we shall see. But, I look at this as a promising step in his recovery.

My 13 year old step daughter wondered whether we would begin eating wheat and dairy again if this is sucessful. I believe this was said very hopefully, lol. There was probably some disappointment when I said No (OK maybe a lot of disappointment). We've learned too much to go back. I now know the immune stimulation that occurs with gluten ingestion in most of us, largely unnoticed but contributing to so many auto-immune disorders and overall degradation of health. I would NEVER go back to drinking cow's milk. But, I would like for a school treat or birthday party slice of cake to be able to be eaten without a major breakdown in functioning for days. These changes have helped all of us so much, even when for those who didn't think they needed to make the changes, that I would not go back to the way we used to eat at all. But this is a very good step in the right direction I believe. So, here's to our first trial of wheat. Let's hope this is just the beginning of no more food reactions!!!!

Food and Nutrition for Autism Course by Julie Matthews!

I first met Julie years ago as we embarked on a biomedical treatment plan to heal my son. Dr. Woeller recommended her after labs revealed IgG food allergies and unbelievably high oxalate levels. As a veteran of GFCFSF cooking, the oxalate issue threw me for a loop and I needed help, big time! You see, even healthy food can be damaging if there is an issue like oxalates or food allergies. We had been juicing, adding lots of raw recipes filled with nuts and doing green smoothies, all very high in oxalates. This posed a problem for my son with gut pathogens such as yeast and bacteria and a leaky gut. She helped us navigate this twisty, turny path and gave me ideas on what to fix, how to fix it and recipes to help nourish my son's brain and body. Over the years I have gotten to know Julie on a personal level. Very few people have a passion at helping our kids on the spectrum without one of their own also on the spectrum. And yet Julie has that passion, she researches and continues to grow her own skill set and delves deeper into the science of these issues and then helps to educate parents.

She often does classes around the country and at the major conferences like Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!). But, if you have not had the chance to take one of her classes or have a consult with her, this may be a great time for you to do so. She is offering a discount HERE. From first hand experience, Julie will help you understand the role nutrition plays and the scientific explainations as to why these diets work for our kids. Start the new year empowered!!

DIR Floortime therapy??

Hello East Valley parents! If you are looking for an in-home therapist who specializes in DIR/Floortime therapy please contact me. Since our move, our therapist has our spots open in her schedule. If you don't know what DIR/Floortime therapy is then click HERE to find out more. It is our therapy of choice and our therapist is WONDERFUL (we miss her tons!!). Please leave a comment and a way to contact you and I will put you in touch with her. Not only does she provide one on one in-home therapy during the week but she also does social groups on the weekends. And yes, DDD HAB hours can be used for your sessions!!!

Camel milk, healing or hype by Julie Matthews

Camel milk, new treatment to help children with Autism? Maybe....and a whole host of other issues if the research is to be believed. My friend Julie Matthews, Nutrition Specialist for Autism recently wrote an article talking about this very thing. You can find the article HERE. If you know Julie then you know how scientific she is in her basis for diets in helping individuals with Autism. One of the best things about her book in my opinion was its citation of WHY these children have issues with gluten and dairy. She doesn't gloss over the why's, she explains to you the biomechanics of food intolerances and why certain products, including some raw dairy products in certain people, can be tolerated when the pasteurized and processed forms can't be. For me, understanding the chemistry of the body and the breakdown of our food was so important. Our food is the basis for our health or disease so we really do need at least a basic understanding.

So, when camel milk was introduced on the scene (important to note, this is NOT a new thing in other countries) it intrigued me. Julie and I had chatted a few months ago about the potential here. When you read just how powerful this stuff can be and how because of the small immunoglobulin size, the camel's milk is able to penetrate and heal the gut/immune system like few other things, you will be intrigued too! Julie has been trying this personally and will be sharing more of her findings. I will pass those on as well along with my own. ;) Wish us luck as we embark on this next phase. And by the way, because of its intense immune boosting potential, I am trying this on several members of my family so our experiences will cover more than just Autism!

GFCFSF BBQ sauce

So this one is especially for Julie Matthews, I have owed her this for a while now! :)

Our move has been so amazing but has left very little time to blog unfortunately. We will be moving again soon and so the process is not quite over but for now, I will take whatever moment I can grab.

So, we have some grass fed, organic beef in the freezer from a local rancher and I just had a craving one day for BBQ beef. So I started searching the Internet for a recipe and this is one that I adapted from a few different places. I stuck this roast in the crock pot and man did my house smell good!!

Put your roast in the crock pot with about a 1/2 - 3/4 cup of water and turn on low for a few hours.

BBQ Sauce:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 chopped chile pepper
1 medium onion grated
1 cup bourbon or whiskey (distilled alcohol is gluten free)
1/2 cup diced tomatoes, tomato paste or tomato sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup molasses
2 - 3 tbs crystallized coconut sugar
salt

Melt the oil. Add the grated onion and pepper, heat over medium heat 3 - 4 minutes or until the onions are clear. Take pan off heat and add the bourbon/whiskey, return to stove and turn up the heat medium/high. Boil for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste/sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, molasses and sugar. Mix well. Return to simmer for a few minutes. Pour over meat in crock pot and let cook down another couple of hours. And be prepared to have your mouth water for those next few hours!! Enjoy!!

ARI Conference

Sorry for the lack of posts. We are moving which has created a whole new level of chaos.

As I sit waiting for my flight after the ARI conference, I reflect back. This past 3 days has been filled with hugs to newly diagnosed parents, many in tears, talking about my son's recovery from Autism, what helped, what didn't, our hurdles and accomplishments. I remember my first conference as a new parent in this world of Autism. I was scared, sleep deprived, angry that we were apart of this group at all and devastated by the lack of answers from mainstream doctors. The past 4 years has gone way too fast for one thing but has been filled with ups and downs. There are always new things to try, more studies to be read and supplements to add. But the thing that stands out is the normalcy that our family has now. We make decisions on what we want to do, not based on what my son's system cannot handle. This is a place I am still not always comfortable. Sometimes I still wait for the other shoe to drop, but these days it usually doesn't. And being at ARI makes me remember those days. I always tell people that each child is different, there is no one size fits all treatment approach but all kids can get better. Maybe not all will recover but wouldn't you try? Our story is amazing but not impossible. And that is what I hope I got across, especially to those parents in tears, opening up to those of us who have "been there". Autism is not for the weak. And I met a friend from the internet, an adult with Autism. She is amazing and I loved meeting her in person. Learning from her will give me additional perspective that may help my son and others. We still have a lot to learn but we have to share successes.

As we prepare to move our family, I can say that we did so without fear. Change is good these days, before it was a dirty word. Adaptability has replaced inflexibility. This change was met with excitement and enthusiasm. It was of course tempered with sadness at missing his friends. The fact that he has friends is reason to celebrate. But he's excited at what is to come and that friends is progress! Never give up, recovery is possible, my son is proof (and pretty darn amazing at that!).