Regression & stitches Autism

So last Wednesday was my last post. Couldn't write on Friday because we were in the emergency room. I had barely gotten into my work when the school called. But this is what has led up to the school call so bare with me and please excuse me for not posting on Friday. I will admit that I sat down and was getting ready to start the blog on Friday and let it just post as a late late blog but then the news of Paris being attacked there was just no point in me writing as I stayed close to the news. Friday was bad for me but it was nothing compared to what they were going through in France.

Wednesday was a doctors appointment all the way back to where Doodle and I used to live. I love this pediatrician and she knows Doodle since the day Doodle was born. She's seen Doodle through it all including her diagnoses of Autism.

When Doodle was first diagnosed I did not cry. It was a relief that now we knew how to get her the help that she needed. Our pediatrician told me the words I didn't want to hear because well Doodle had been progressing. But the words that brought tears to my eyes were she's acting like a child with autism and I think she has regressed. We do need to get her re-evaluated. That's one thing about Doodle, it used to be that no one would know she had autism unless I said something. Now it's just like a slap in the face. I don't need to say anything anymore. It's apparent, she has autism. All that work just flushed down the toilet! And by who? Well, it would be the people who have her for 8 hours in a day. The school system.

One thing that is burning my butt faster than you can blink is the fact that Doodle's teacher told me last week that she just didn't want to deal with all the meltdowns so she's been giving Doodle kindergarten work. Kindergarten work for a 4th grader who wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Doodle is just a drop in the bucket away from being as autistic as she was at the horrible school when she was in kindergarten. And as most of you know that school got wiped off the map.

So it's very much apparent that Doodle has regressed. So it's no shocker when the phone call from the school came on Friday mid-morning from the school nurse. "Hey, it's the school nurse again. I know you're tired of hearing from me." And the first response out of my mouth was. "I already know about the ear infection. She's already got ear drops and is on antibiotics."

"No that's not why I'm calling today. There's been an accident."

"Accident?"

"Doodle was spinning and wouldn't stop and she spun right into a pole. She's busted the skin above her eyebrow and looks like she's gonna need stitches."

"Please tell me your kidding."

"I'm afraid not. I need you to come up here and get her."

Now I can walk out of an iep meeting all day long like a boss. But this, this just makes me want to put a foot in someone's rump. When I got to the school I was told that Doodle was spinning and acting wild and refused to listen when they told her to stop and she smacked right into a pole. And well the accident report from the school states differently.

Doodle did need to get stitches. But because of her autism they decided that surgical glue would be better. And that was after I had taken her into Urgent care. They didn't want to deal with it so off to the emergency room we went. There were no observations to make sure that she wasn't going to pass out or check for a concussion. But the medical field down here isn't anything like where we come from. This is not our first rodeo with head trauma. As Doodle had busted her head open when she fell on concrete when she was 3.

But the good news is at this time my lawyers' interest is peaked. And that's always what you want. I still haven't gotten her everything from the iep meeting. And it looks like I have the school accident report to get in to her also. It really does help to have an advocate working on your side. And I'm thankful I contacted my advocates when it came to the school board not abiding by the iep. Of course there is a lot of words being thrown around, such as we never got that, it came in too late, and we will do it all now.

I'll admit it right now as an entrepreneur with a child on the spectrum I'm tired. Heck I can barely get any work done thanks in part to the school not doing their job with my child and either calling me in or sending her home. But I am great full because if I had a regular 9-5 job I would be out of work with no job to fall on. So my convenience is a blessing. But my business is suffering. And it's suffering hard!

So at this time there are a few things that will need to go on the back burner until I can get at a point where I can mange them all again. That would be Doodle's business and a few other things. Doodle does come first but her business will just have to wait. I might just sell off all the products for Christmas and be done with it and start over again from scratch after the new year. It's just something I will have to pray on. And with that it's almost time for me to go get Doodle from school. Since I was trying to work and every time the phone rang I could be heard saying, "Please don't be the school. Please don't be the school".

You guys have a great day.  

My poor little baby.

This image was shared from my favorite radio station Way-FM

Winning at the IEP Autism

Okay so it's pretty much a given. You have a better chance of getting hit by a car then you do at getting what you want when the school board is in your IEP meeting. That's always been the case for me. School boards are the worlds worse for helping parents get their kids the best. Seriously, at one point in time Doodle went to a horribly crappy school. The teacher just babysat. That's all they did there. And then Doodle was transferred to a school were she learned to read, write, do math and her speech came in. This was a dream school. And the school board said she needed to go back to the crappy schools. Um, no that's not gonna happen.

Well, it happened but in a different way. We moved 400 miles away, due to what was out of our control. So here I am battling this school board with a child on the spectrum that is regressing to the point she is self harming and she's throwing chairs in the classroom. Yeah, my dream life. There's been a large shift. It used to be that Doodle was horrible at home and great at school. Now she's bouncing chairs off the teacher cause she doesn't want to do any work including speech and she's pretty much golden at home. The school just threw too much change on her and the regression that slowly started last year is picking up speed this year. That's right school and school board. Children who can't handle change at all, you just keep throwing changes at her. I can only do so much but I'm not a miracle worker when your being difficult.

But hey, the good news is I didn't get hit by a car today but I did leave the IEP meeting today getting everything I was asking for. So here's the break down.

Last week I got the call from the dream school where Doodle's fantastic teacher started her career at. I was informed they never received Doodle's request for an evaluation to be placed on the waiting list. I did a little snooping around and found the offender who messed up at the school board. I contacted my advocates and followed everything they told me to do. Up until my IEP meeting today I watched my emails as you can see the person in question was beginning to become flustered with the emails she was sending to me. It's funny because every email this woman sent me I just forwarded it to my lawyer (that's what an advocate is). Last I was told in the emails was that I would not be able to get a behavior specialist at this meeting for today.

I never responded to any of the emails that she sent me. I just copied what she put and then pasted it to the message to my lawyer. That's it. But hey, guess what I had in the meeting. The behavior specialist I requested in my original email to the teachers, therapist and two school board members. Yes, the one person I was sent a message about that said because it was such short notice they wouldn't be able to bring the behavioral specialist in to the meeting. And I got one.

Not only did I get the behavior specialist but because of Doodle's new aggression and regression with self harming and her not wanting to be throw off schedule to the point where it breaks out in a flat out fight at school it pretty much sealed the deal that when Doodle gets ready to transition to middle school she's headed to the new school! Yay!

First things first I kept my poker face on. I didn't budge on anything and had tons of notes. Notes that the advocate said that I would need for the meeting.

And big apologies to everyone that I didn't get to post on Monday. After I had finished my work Monday morning I sat down to finish my notes for the meeting today and the next thing I know I was getting a call from the school that Doodle was flinging chairs again and they needed me in the classroom to calm her down and get her back on task to getting her work down. So needless to say I was at the school for the rest of the day. Doodle got all of her work done, I got to practice on my calligraphy and it was pretty much a win win for everyone. All but you guys who missed hearing about us on Monday. Sorry it couldn't be helped. Once we got home from school, we had homework of course. And it was regular schedule for the rest of the night. I had a meeting via messages with my computer guy later in the night and well there was no time for blogging on Monday.

And here it is Tuesday night, I'm writing the blog because Doodle and I will be on the road on Wednesday for a very important Doctor's appointment that she needs to be at. So we are traveling 400 miles to make the appointment and then 400 miles back. Just to get in with a specialized doctor that the school board won't be able to ever say no to whatever he writes as Doodle's prescription. So that means if the doctor writes a prescription for Doodle to get into the school tomorrow, they have to do it or people lose their jobs. Now that's my kind of doctor. That and he's going to re-evaluate Doodle's autism.

So you guys have a great day! We are traveling as you read this right now.

Another round of IEP's Autism

So you know those IEP's you have where someone at the school board thinks they're God and rejects the IEP altogether? I'm having one of those weeks.

Last year I had an IEP with Doodle's previous teacher and her therapists' to get Doodle placed on the waiting list for this special school that is geared the same way that her fantastic teacher taught from so many years ago. Two nights ago I finally got a call back from the principal of this school, which was a shocker to me because I wasn't expecting a call at night from a principal, especially since Doodle didn't attend this school at all. I was informed that she had never received any paperwork for Doodle to be evaluated so she could be placed on the waiting list. But she would request it again if she couldn't find the paperwork.

So I did what any parent would do, I contacted Doodle's current teacher to let her know what all had been discussed on the phone as she knew about the IEP from last year and she had been trying (unsuccessfully) to follow up. What I discovered was there is a Resource teacher at the school board who took it upon herself to disregard after the fact the IEP. Now if you are not aware of this, you need to be. An IEP is a binding corner to corner contract and once all involved sign it, it can't be broken, disregarded or dismissed.

So what's the next step. That would be my advocate. Which I promptly called the next morning and they contacted me back the following day. I was never given a written notification as to why Doodle was never allowed to be evaluated. I sent an email to all involved including my daughters teachers supervisor and the Resource Teacher at the board a letter stating that I needed a letter from the school board regarding a decision made after the fact of an IEP as to why Doodle being evaluated was denied. I also stated that they had 30 days from the time of my email from me to get that to me. And in my last paragraph I stated that there was to be a board certified behavior specialist at my next IEP meeting that is to take place on Tuesday this coming week.

The woman with the God complex was the first to respond. She stated that this special school is over crowded. Well, heck the school Doodle attends now is over crowded and not to mention Doodle's class. 14 kids, 1 teacher and 2 para educators. That's a lot of children to keep up with especially when one is having a bad day and that just flows right to all of them!

I've also been informed not through this resource teacher but from a credible source that Doodle is being denied access to a continuous learning school. One that is geared to children on the spectrum with behavioral issues. Okay, on a serious note here, I don't notice Doodle having behavioral issues other then the incident that took place on Monday and that was because of something that was out of my control (no, I'm not a control freak) and Doodle was having a hard time dealing with being angry over it. Emotions are something children on the spectrum have a hard time with.

This womans' response via email is not complying with my asking for written notification to be mailed to me. And I don't care what the excuses are that someone at the school board gives. Schools are crowded I get it but no child should be denied to be on a waiting list at a school that could better met Doodle's needs regarding her education. So as of this time I'm letting my advocate handle as much of this as possible before they basically jump out and say surprise! I love a good surprise when I'm in on it. You never want a school or the school board to surprise you, it's best if you have surprises for them. And that's how I roll.

So since I'm not sure how to go about handling this situation it's best if I am just the puppet and the puppet master is revealed later. When you need help, true help in battling a school board, take the help. Seriously, take the help. For the benefit of your child, always take the help.

Well, as this all develops I will keep you all posted. Have a great day!

Gorgeous Gobblers and Autism

Yeah, that's a nice post heading. If you don't know what's going on read the previous post Aggression and Autism and you can get caught up.

** Update on the whole situation from Monday's post: After I posted the blog Doodle attacked another student and the teacher. She was punching another classmate screaming, "no dad, no dad, no dad!" One thing that is obvious of the attack on classmates is that they are all boys that she went after. **

Well, on Saturday I was quiet aware that Doodle had yet another school project due this Tuesday and this one was dealing with a gorgeous gobbler. The kids make a turkey and turn it into the school. The party last Friday wasn't a big hit. I spent a lot of money on it and only one parent turned in their $5.00. But that wasn't the kick in the pants. Some parents showed up and complained that the class didn't have a roasted chicken or pizza at a Halloween/Fall party. Get real people. These type parties are for candy and I didn't even give the kids but three pieces of candy each but they did get lots of toys. And the kids got cupcakes. There are only 14 kids in the class but I wanted to make sure that the kids got what they wanted. If they wanted 2 cupcakes they could have it in the flavor they liked. 15 chocolate and 15 vanilla along with chips, cookies and plenty of drinks (no soda's).

I think this started off my bad weekend, was that party. For the next party Doodle won't be there at the school so I don't even need to worry about it, but I was planning to just pick up two hot and ready pizza's and that be it. That would be my $5.00 and the other parent's $5.00. I wouldn't be no where near out this time around. But I wanted the kids to be happy considering I can't stand for my kid to come home with tons of candy. And I did know that if all the parents paid their $5.00 I still wouldn't get back all my money and I was fine with that.

Any ways, yesterday the kids for Doodle's grade turned in what the school calls gorgeous gobblers. Doodle's teacher was all excited about Doodle doing this project. I, on the other hand am not thrilled over the pumpkin story book project and didn't feel like doing the gobbler. Luckily for me I work at a fantastic store! And going through the isles before I left work on Saturday, they had already been placing out the Thanksgiving stuff. I picked up a small craft pumpkin in a bin and a cute little 5 minute craft for a pumpkin table display.

All I had to do was glue the sticks to the holes and Doodle could do the rest. Which is what she did. It came out great! I barely did anything. Fastest project I've ever had to deal with and I still look like mother of the year material. Though I'm not quiet sure what to do about Doodle and her new aggression.

But this is what I have leaved from a dear friend of mine who is a nurse. I need to get Doodle's autism reevaluated and then get her on medication. I'm not a big fan of medication as bad behavior can be corrected with positive and negative re-enforcement.

Monday, Doodle lost iPad privileges for the night. She also had to spend a good portion of her time at home in her room under my watchful eye. After that we headed to my work to get some art supplies. Drawing is sometimes Doodle's coping mechanism. I let her draw and paint for an hour possibly less while I worked on my calligraphy. As the fine arts instructor at Michaels craft store it's something that I'm suppose to be able to do. I've always wanted to learn it and now I'm getting my chance. I'm loving this awesome opportunity.

So now that you are all caught up as myself and the school prepare for an emergency iep review to deal with this new situation that Doodle has found herself in. I'm spending the rest of the day scoping out special schools geared towards Doodle's autism. Friday's blog will deal with an issue that cropped up Tuesday night regarding an iep that took place last year. This one is going to be interesting! Have a great day!

This is the finished product

the "two supplies" needed for the gorgeous gobbler. $6.99 for the little decorative pumpkin and $5.99 for the kit

I glued the tooth picks into the holes so they would hold up longer.

And Doodle put it all together how she wanted it to be.

Done. Now I'm mother of the year for helping my child with her gorgeous gobbler and basically Michaels Craft store supplied me with what I needed.

  

Aggression and Autism

Well, we've had an uneventful weekend which has led to Doodle feeling the emotion of anger. And this anger has turned into aggression. Needless to say the child that used to be so happy has attacked two students today at school. Which is one of the reason's why this post is sort of late in going out. I knew she was upset on Saturday night when I got home from work at Michaels Craft Store. And Sunday I saw the anger hit a sour note. She was slamming doors, refusing to listen and throwing objects around the house.

I did give the para's and teacher a heads up this morning but they and myself did not expect this kind of behavior. This morning I was called to come to the school. While on the phone with the counselor who called for me to come in I was informed that Doodle punched one of her classmates. And before I even got off the phone with her she said she was just given a note stating that Doodle threw a chair in class and knocked out another one of her classmates.

What could have caused this you ask? Long story short. Doodle's father came into town. He didn't get in until late late Friday night and he left super early due to an emergency the following Saturday morning. Now children on the spectrum have a very difficult time articulating their feelings. And anger has never been an issue we've had to really deal with. Doodle last saw her father in April, so she couldn't understand why her daddy couldn't spend time with her. I blame the whole situation. Doodle is taking it out on everyone, which means she's blaming everyone.

So what's to be done? Sunday I took Doodle out to lunch, just her and myself and had the it's okay to be angry but it's not okay to throw things. It's okay to say that your anger and it's okay to tell the person that your angry at that they have made you mad. After that we went into my work to pick out a project to do together. This morning I've requested a special social story from her teacher that I learned so much from. Because, well the school system here really isn't in the autism know how here. They don't know what to do and they don't understand. And in all honesty there is no way to prepare for an explosion like what transpired this morning at her school. I headed down to the school with her favorite stuffed toy Ojo and my bottle of frankincense oil. I talked to her teacher and got to see Doodle ride the emotional roller coaster. She seriously went through so many emotions in less then 10 minutes it was scary! I then left to go to Michaels craft store picked up some kentic sand. Kentic sand helps calm Doodle. To me at home, it's my go to miracle worker. I also brought back with me Doodle's calm child. This is the stuff that helps her melatonin to work at night. Doodle was happy and calm, laughing and reciting all the things that start with the letter P in the alphabet.

I'm not sure how the rest of the week will go. It's one of the things that I'm really dreading right now. As this is not the Doodle that I know. This is not like her typical behavior and I pray that it doesn't lead to a regression. That would be devastating to not only me but to Doodle as well.

Before I left the school I was informed that they are going to be holding an emergency meeting with resource teachers and specialists either later this week or next week, that Doodle is now considered a danger to her classmates and she is being taken out of her current school. So at this point I'm disappointed and just about desperate.

But on a somewhat positive note here are the pictures of the craft project that Doodle and I did together. The craft was on clearance for $2.99 which mad me pretty happy and it's what Doodle wanted. You guys have a great day!

Doodle opened the packaging in the car which is why there is a picture of the empty box.

This project was super simple to piece together. I took all the pieces out of their board packaging, assembled the thing and let Doodle decorate it.

Here is what it really looks like pieced together as Doodle is decorating.

Here is the finished product. I think she did a fabulous job. Clean up was a breeze and there was no glue involved, which means there was no mess. Yes there is a bottle of glue in the picture but that's to do with Wednesday post.

Halloween DIY Autism

It's early on a beautiful Friday morning. And here I am typing up the blog to stay on schedule for you guys. Doodle's class party is today and I know she's excited about it. I got my hair appointment done yesterday.

And my day is just flying by and I still am not quiet finished with my costume. Doodle's class party is in just 30 minutes. I still have to go get balloons and pick up the cupcakes I've already ordered. But I'm just about there today.

Today is going to be a short blog but I'm sure you guys understand. I'm a parent trying to do it all just like you guys. Enjoy your Halloween, check out your local Publix store to do easy Autism trick or treating and don't forget to hit Michaels Craft Store because they are having an event as well.

Have a great day.

I started with faux leather from the fabric store. Here it needs to be trimmed

Cut to size and ready to paint

Eyelets I purchased at Michael Craft Store

I painted my corset purple. Because that's the color that looks best on me

After the eyelets are in. Now I'm just waiting on it to dry

Doodle's costume as a Doctor

My costume for work. Once the corset dries and I can put my cording through the eyelets, a black scarf, leggins, white shirt and my boots and I will be rocking the pirate look.

Better late than never Autism

Okay, it's bedtime for Doodle and I am just now posting the blog. It's been a really busy and long day. I always have things on my plate as I'm a parent. There is always things that need to be done and tended to. But I was not going to post anything else until I did the donut post.

So here it is. Donuts that Doodle and I did together as a way to bond. She likes all things sweet and I don't really care for sweets. The donut recipe comes from Gemma. So if you guys want to do the same this is the recipe that I used. My oven however at 375 meant my donuts were done in 10 minutes and not in 15 and I couldn't use my bottom rack as those donuts came out crunchy and were a bit harder to keep an eye on. 3 racks came out perfect one rack did not. Tomorrow morning we will be enjoying donuts, tonight it's bedtime. So I will see you guys later. Hope you had a great day.

Gemma's Bigger Bolder Baking - No knead Donuts

When the dough was ready to be rolled out I made sure I had plenty of flour.

The cookie cutters came from Michaels Craft Store. And trust me they worked great!

We were also cutting out small holes for donut holes as those are my favorites.

Here they are proofing, getting ready to go in the oven.

And here they are fresh out of the oven. This is the very first batch. You are suppose to put melted butter on top to give them a golden look but I skipped that.

This is what I used for the topping for our donuts as candy melts are fun to work with minus one.

When I bought the pumpkin pie flavored candy melts I thought it would be a great idea on the pumpkins. However they didn't melt in the microwave and I didn't feel like doing a double boiler to melt these bad boys. They just got chunked.

The 3 racks that we got decorated and waiting for the candy melts to harden a bit. 

Cute little boxes for the donuts to be in. And we are done! 

The cute little boxes I found at Party City along with the orange bucket. The green bucket is a trick or treat bucket I picked up at Michaels Craft Store.