Unknown pain and Autism

So as most of you have noticed there was no blog post on Friday or Monday. Doodle was sick with an ear infection and was out of school. So she was home so I could take care of her and since she was running a fever at school on Thursday, kids can't go back to school unless they have been fever free without the help of medication for 24 hours. So that was my long weekend. Monday I was busy just trying to catch up on everything. This was written on Monday but finished tonight, on Wednesday.

Today has brought it's own challenges. Doodle has been SLS free for about 4 or 5 years now. If you don't know what sls is, here is it's technical name. Sodium Laurel Sulfate. This is a chemical that is found in a lot of products from toothpaste, soap, liquid soap, lotions, bubble bath and shampoos. Anything that would need to bubble in most cases and would need a preservative to keep from going bad you will find will have sls in it. If you do a little research you will find that sls and slsa are very harmful chemicals. They cause cancer and cataracts. But what can you do? Large commercial companies put them into everything because it's a cheaper product to use to fill the product up. Convenience is our down fall.

If you have been following Kreed from Kreed's World, A complex journey through autism, it's worth checking out. Here lately Kreed's pain issues have caused him to self harm in very bad ways. And the posts and video's from his parents are just heart breaking. But why would I bring up Kreed? Keep reading and you will find out.

Well, this morning after I had Doodle brush her teeth she wanted to use mouthwash and I figured since she just brushed her teeth with the toothpaste that I make up maybe it would be okay. Grant it sls is in mouthwash and the bentonite clay and coconut oil in the toothpaste are suppose to removed toxins. Since she is learning how to take care of her own teeth without me having to brush them anymore I'm thinking she didn't really brush her teeth that well this morning. When she got to school she went into fits against herself. She began slapping her face and punching herself in the head. She was whining and crying and wouldn't stop.

I knew what the issue was so I knew how to combat this problem. That chemical had to be removed out of her body and quick! Since I had just made up a batch of toothpaste I knew that I had run out of the clay. Bentonite clay acts just like activated charcoal. It works quickly and I can always count on it. So I grabbed our toothpaste and headed to the school. I knew the fastest way to get the clay to work would be to put it on the inside of her mouth between her cheek and her gums. I used to care for a type 1 diabetic and when his sugars would drop to low I had to put frosting there to bring his blood sugars back up. After just a few short minutes she was back to normal. A little whiny for the rest of the day but she wasn't trying to self correct input/output or the stabbing pain in the body feeling as I like to call it.

Her behavior at school reminded me a lot of what Kreed was going through. I've been seeing his mothers posts a lot in my feed as I do like to keep up with what other children on the spectrum are going through. We are a tight knit community. A lot of children on the spectrum go through stomach pains, whereas some don't. It's best to be aware of what a lot of children on the spectrum are experiencing so you don't feel so lost. If these kids and parents have gone through it sometimes they will tell you the doctors they went to that helped. I'd much better be prepared then grasping for straws. That was what our first 4 years with autism were like. Not know who or what services to get. The first 3 years of autism are the hardest. I don't want other parents to feel as lost as I did after Doodle's diagnoses.

When Doodle was around 5 or 6 is when I had done research on the products we had in the house. I stumbled upon a site called Wellness Momma and the products she created and one was homemade toothpaste. Reading through the comments I noticed a lot of autism parents had commented on her blog post about how much the toothpaste had changed their child's behavior. Children were beginning to get speech, they were focusing and they weren't doing the yelling that the parents were used too. I figured it was worth at least a try. And yes her behavior changed dramatically. As you who have been with this blog for awhile, you know I've referred to Doodle's past as her being a wild child. She's no longer a wild child so I've stuck with the toothpaste that I make. I like controlling what goes into the products and they having things in them I can pronounce.

Yes, the toothpaste in my opinion helps Doodle with her autism. She focuses more and will learn and take correction when prompted. I feel better with knowing what is in my products verses not knowing. I can sleep with a clear conscious.

You guys have a great day!

FYI the title says unknown pain but I knew it was sensory pain. SLS has a habit of causing sensory pain.

Your talent Autism

Oh no! Not one of those posts. Some parents get really mad when it comes to the talents of autism. Mainly because a lot of parents say their child doesn't have a talent. So it's a bit of a tricky subject to be entertaining today.

Ever since Doodle was little I always made sure she had a pen, pencil, crayon or marker in her hands and paper at her disposal. Kids are suppose to be able to draw and color. Its like a right of passage. If a child isn't doodling or coloring a child isn't learning.

Doodle has always shown a talent for drawing since she was itty bitty. I wasn't one of those parents that put feet prints on tile or ceramic and hung them to the wall. I gave her art pads and canvases. I'm big into art. It's what I've always loved. She was either going to get art from me or music from her father. 

Typically, children on the spectrum have talents. Some not all. The talents range from music, to art to math. Some children on the spectrum get the talent of sports and even running. Nothing should hold your child back. 

Now we all know that Doodle suffered a regression at the start of the school year and she's only now starting to recover so it's no surprise that her art suffered as well. And though I'm not a happy camper with it her teacher is still considered a part of my support system. And I will continue to stand by her. I can be peeved off and angry but that won't help Doodle. What will help Doodle is getting everyone on the same page. If we are working together then we are working to get her and keep her on track. Always remember that.

But back on task. Doodle's art work. She goes through paper faster then I've ever known anyone to go through. It's seriously mind boggling. I noticed last night at work that we had a huge discount section again. And since it was so late I just grabbed some wool that I needed because my next project is to make a wool hat. I can't stop myself from just about anything DIY. And basically staying busy with crafts will keep me out of trouble. So I headed to work today after Doodle's honors ceremony to get Linseed oil which was in the discount section for $5.99. Which is a far better price then what it normally sells for in the fine arts section.

And since I wasn't working but being a regular customer I had plenty of time to actually shop. I got my Linseed oil and a few other items that I wanted to get and the one thing that kept Doodle busy for a good 20 minutes after she finished her homework. I found cra-z-art modeling clay. A 24 pack of the modeling clay. So now she has a new outlet with her art. 

She had a blast. And with Doodle's obsession with Care Bears the clay came in handy. She wants the entire collection of Care Bears. That's really not going to happen. I can't stay broke. She for the past several months she's been drawing them on everything she can possibly draw them on. But tonight, she crafted her own Care Bears. Almost all the ones that I printed out for her last month in December. She wanted to know the names of the bears so I went online and found a list of all the bears with their names. She threw away her paper but she's still drawing them all from memory.

And what did she do tonight? She created almost all of the bears in clay. This was the best $1.49 I spent on clay.

You guys have a great day!

I love that she put details on them. The detail of the heart on their bottoms.

Here you can see how small they are. 

Happy Birthday Autism

Yes, this post is late because today is Doodle's birthday. Currently she's suppose to be asleep but as it would happen to be a first for her for having an actual party with other kids and not just family she's still wide eyed and bushy tailed.

We started this day with one donut from Krispy Kreme. Doodle loves sweets and today is a good day to skip healthy and allow the treat of "junk food". This was the start of her fun day. I had a communication book that I needed to put together so I spent a good portion of time today scanning and printing the pages. A trip to Walmart to get the binder and some packing tap, she also got to pick out a present. She wanted a carebear so I allowed it.

After that we hit McDonalds to get a happy meal with shopkins in it but they were out. It's okay she was still grateful for a meal with a toy. We don't eat at McDonalds and she wanted some shopkins.

After I finished the communication book we were off to dinner at Dairy Queen before her party and me not wanting to be hungry while teaching a class at work tonight. We didn't eat much tonight because we were still kind of full from lunch. But she had fun and we picked out an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and they wrote on her cake. I got the cake with a $3.00 off coupon and another $3.00 because it was her birthday. Doodle had a great night tonight.

Most of the kids cancelled from sickness but thankfully my friend and her daughters were able to attend. Yes, Michaels Craft Store does birthday parties! There were tons of crafts. Because they were going through so many crafts I had to go out on the floor and get more! The girls made a turtle, an owl, a lady bug, crowns and they painted picture frames.

Doodle got to open presents and everyone got ice cream cake. And luckily I didn't have to bring any of it home. One of the girls at my work claimed dibs on the rest of what was left.

This was a first for Doodle. An actual party with kids. And she had a blast!

So guys enjoy your day!

Communication Autism

Doodle has a few issues with communicating with me. This blog is suppose to be about her communication book but as luck would have it for some reason the blog isn't uploading the pdf. One of the things that I use for Doodle is a communication book. I really can't go anywhere without it. This communication book has helped me to understand what Doodle is saying.

The items that you will need is a binder that's 9" X 7". You can purchase these smaller binders at Walmart and any office supply stores. You will also need card stock if you don't have a laminator and a hole punch.

The following link has all the pages in Doodle's communication book. It's only missing one page because that page has the all of Doodle's classmates in it when she was in the second grade.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5_8xN6xpgQmZ25jWmRwdm0tZjA/view?usp=sharing

You guys have a great day and I will see you the next time.

David Bowie and Autism

Yes, the headline on this one is a bit misleading. No, as far as I am aware David Bowie never had autism. What I am trying to convey is that to me one of his songs hit the nail on the head with how we as parents feel when it comes to autism.

If you have never heard the song Space Oddity it is worth the listen. We as parents are ground control and our children are Major Tom. We go from connecting with our children to one day not being able to contact to them at all. It's really pretty much a scary thing to deal with. Most days we are at a loss with the fact we can't reach them.

David Bowie and Freddie Mercury shaped my musical world. Heck music is the only way that Doodle could pretty much communicate before and after she was diagnosed. This is where the barrier can be broken. The rainbow that you cross into with an insight into their world. It's something that I will always be grateful for. Not the fact that we always feel as though we are always Under Pressure. 

Doodle is into TobyMac now and can't get enough of his song Lights Shine Bright, featuring Hollyn. Which it's either going to be bass that she loves in the song or it's going to be the words to it. I'm not sure right now. But she also loves the song Til The Day I Die. This is the song she thoroughly enjoyed at the concert. I think mainly it was because Toby Mac was waving the Christian flag on stage. And that flag was huge!

So other then Space Oddity being our song for autism what would David Bowies' passing have to do with autism? Well, David Bowie taught us so much that we really need to embrace about autism. We need to be proud of who we are. That we are different, unique and even our "weirdness" we should embrace. It's who we are and it doesn't matter what others think. I mean heck when David Bowie came up with Ziggy Stardust, it sent us all to the craft store on the hunt for the perfect glitter. Okay, that was before my time but I'm stuck in a time warp. I was in middle school when Freddie Mercury passed away. His stage presence was legendary along with his music.

Both men believed that home life was something that should remain private. In this day and age of social media no one believes in having any privacy. 

And given that many parents hate everything about their child's autism, I'm not one of them. I don't focus on the autism aspect of Doodle. She's a creative child and some days I flap and spin with her which does get her attention and a smile from her. It's my way of connecting with her. Just like the legends of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, with autism our children are special and unique. It doesn't take much to open their world. And yeah the stemming can get on my nerves at time but that's her soothing mechanism. It tells me that something is off and I need to figure out what it is and correct. I figure out the sensory first. Correct what is wrong with the input and output.

#RIPdavidbowie another legend gone. And just like Freddie when he knew his time was coming to an end they both still kept their fans close to their hearts and released albums before their death. Which shows us that we as parents always need to keep fighting 'Til The Day I Die, as per TobyMac. Which I know I will. 

You guys have a great day, I've got a meeting at the school today and two separate iep meetings tomorrow. The behavioral assessment plan is in tomorrow and Doodle's iep is expiring next month and has to be updated tomorrow.

If you caught all the songs listed in this blog, kuddos! You're my kind of person.