It's an update Autism

I'm trying to wrangle in my finances. It costs a lot to raise a child on the spectrum. Heck any child with special needs are expensive to take care of. But this time around I'm trying to get financial freedom. And the fact that I work with fine arts at Michaels and in my regular business, life gets really pricey with what all you have to have.

In order to keep the school compliant with IDEA, Doodle will be participating with regular education students in the writing event in school. The teacher was suppose to work on this at the school, but with all the things she has going on in the classroom she doesn't have the time. So I took the opportunity to visit shelsilverstein.com to get some great help with accomplishing this. In one of the kits that are available free of charge there is a lesson on creating a non rhyming poem. All Doodle had to do was tell me who she is. And there is also a science fair coming up. Doodle can't create a hypothesis so a quick discussion with the school assured me they will accept a project of the solar system. As Doodle knows the solar system by heart and the order of the planets. Yeah, that's not gonna be costly (insert sarcasm).

I'm not sure if Doodle is able to swallow pills or if she's chewing them but I've had to go with a different melatonin, due to my health food store being out of the fast acting sleep aide. I've switched Doodle to a 6 hour time release that is pill form and it seems to be working the same way as the fast acting. She lays down at night, watches about 5-10 minutes of television and is out like a light.

I'm no longer using calm child to keep Doodle calm. Which saves me money there. And I'm trying my hardest not to buy any more essential oils though I use them every single day. Next month I will be purchasing essential oils for Doodle's line. The price will be what I need to keep her essential oil line affordable for all. And like all essential oils they will be tested for purity and how well they work.

Teaching over at Michaels craft store is pretty fun still. I love teaching fine arts and I will be teaching a new course next month. I will be teaching calligraphy and it won't just stop with the store. As I already have a back ground in creating "workshops/parties" I may be doing a calligraphy workshop. Which will help with becoming financially free.

I don't advertise my services unless it's for Michaels craft store but the other goes by word of mouth. And that seems to work fairly well for me.

And the best part is Doodle is beginning to grow tired of shopkins. She keeps getting the same two toys every single time we purchase one of the little baskets. She's not happy with that. She wants something different but I'm trying to teach her that we buy for being good not for just any time. Which is why I rarely take Doodle anywhere when I go out to buy for what I need. If Doodle is with me she wants it all. She seriously takes that song by Queen to heart when it comes to obsessions.

So now I can start a nest egg and feel better about Doodle and I doing it on our own. That's the most important part.

Later this week Doodle will be going for her eye exam. Which reminds me I need to find her glasses again. And with the insurance that she has I'm only allowed to get one pair of glasses and it's not by what I want or what she wants. Which means that Doodle won't like them. Which is always the way it goes. So I've got to make sure that I have enough to be able to get two pairs of glasses she wants with pink tint to them. Children on the spectrum do better if they have on glasses with a yellow tint to them or pink tint. It really helps with their sensory of sight issues. Which is why I mainly shop at Michaels craft store for crafts. I can't go into Hobby Lobby as the lighting affects Doodle. I haven't been in that store in almost a year.

And along with a full pallet, no pun intended regarding fine arts. I'm also learning how to code. Which is a bit challenging but worth it. I've posted a DIY to JSN Creative. This DIY has helped me to learn calligraphy a lot faster and with more ease. It will also help with illustrations that need to be done.

So this is why you haven't heard from me last week. I was working and taking care of Doodle as always. I'm researching, learning and preparing. It all just takes time.

You guys have a great day and I will talk to you when I get a free moment again.

DIY diffuser necklace Autism

I shop at the health food store a lot and of course I follow a lot of essential oil pages. One thing I would like to try for Doodle would be a diffuser necklace. One thing I've never been a fan of is the prices that others are selling them for. 

So why not just make your own? It's simple and the supplies can be found at Michaels craft store in the jewelry section. You can find lockets in the jewelry section that you can place a piece of felt in. The felt will hold your essential oil on.

And yes I know a lot of the pictures are really dark because of my background. At least I got the last picture right.

The supplies you will need:

Locket with open holes in the front

Felt

E6000

Scissors

Jump ring

Chalk

Necklace chain

Remove your locket from packaging and add your jump ring to the top hole of your locket.

Next add your necklace chain of choice. I chose this one because it's harder for Doodle to take off.

Take your felt of choice. You can tell a crafter by the supplies that they have.

Cut a square about the size of your locket.

Chalk a circle that will go into your locket.

And make sure if your locket closes with a magnet, you make room for that so the locket can close.

Here you can see the locket closes correctly

Now it's time for glue.

Glue your felt to the bottom of the inside locket using E6000 glue.

Once your glue has dried, I allowed a 24 hour cure process, your ready for your oil. I use Frankincense the most on Doodle to help her focus. It's the oil that actually keeps her calm as well.

 

Lauren Daigle made autism cry

Yes, Lauren Daigle made Doodle cry. But in all honesty autism is a tricky disability. Keep reading to find out why.

Winter jam was last night and yeah it was a school night, but it's not everyday that you get to see for King and Country on stage live. And that's the main reason we went to winter jam. It was 10 bands for $10 which is a really good deal. Which is why I'm pretty stocked for when Newsboys comes to town on their rocket tour next month.

But this is how the night played out. Getting to winter jam, the traffic was backed up to the main intersection. No big deal to me and the parking lots were full. We parked at the baseball field with a sign that said park at your own risk, objects fly off the field into the parking lot. Luckily for me there was no game last night. Doodle wanted to take in her care bear, sweet dreams bear. Not going to happen, I'm only going to keep up with my child. As we were walking to the venue we passed a lot of church vans. One church van in particular will forever stand out in my mind. There was a child, a boy about Doodle's age and Doodle's look. The look of autism is very familiar especially for some who deal with autism a lot. Similar nose features and the placement of the eyes. He was screaming and crying as we passed. And his youth group leader or father (I have no idea) was placing him in a hold with his hands behind his back like an officer would if he were arresting you, which was the cause of the boy distress.

Well, here's one incident where my child will feed off that boy's energy and start to have a meltdown.  I prompted her not to pay attention and we kept walking. No point in me going to blows with someone and getting arrested when Doodle and I are out to have a good time at a concert. In all seriousness though, you have to remember that there are wolves in sheep's clothing in churches. The Bible reminds us of that. They aren't there to serve the word of God just have the appearance of it. And you could tell with this guy. When we got to our spot to wait in line, oh course their spot was being held by one women for 15 or so people and this guy had no patience at all. He was ready to get into the concert and told his group they were letting people in and they could squeeze in with everyone else. That's right, we were at the back of the line that was wrapped around the building and they were all going to skip the wait and squeeze on through. Nice church, glad I don't go there cause that's not what I'm trying to teach my daughter is to think of herself but to think of others. We never saw that group again. And by the time we left at 11:30 their van was gone from the parking lot or it could have been towed as they parked in the grass part and not in a parking space not 100 feet away.

Doodle and I had dinner at home but they were serving $12.00 nachos and popcorn and soda's. Not on my budget last night. I seriously thought winter jam was on the 24th of this month not last night. I found out my mistake when I got notification on it over the weekend while I was working so a good save of on money was not in the cards for last minute as I had an eye appointment on Tuesday because my glasses are no longer cutting it for my sight. Great news is my eyesight has improved. The doctor said that I am almost at 20/20. which is a shocker because I have had really bad eyesight since I was a kid and it's always gotten worse not better. Looked like turning 40 is my year!!! And my best friend says it's because of the plexus that I take everyday that helped improve my eyesight.

We missed the first band, Stars Go Dim. But that's okay, it took awhile to get into the venue. And it was cold outside while waiting. We found a seat just in time as Stars Go Dim was leaving the stage.

The concert was going great. Doodle didn't dance much. Not like she did at the TobyMac concert. She really loved that concert. A few times she asked for Newsboys but like I said in the beginning that's gonna be next month. By the time Lauren Daigle got on the stage Doodle's night was going down hill. Lauren wore a large hat that draped around her face and made it impossible to see her face. So of course Doodle thought the show was over because she couldn't see Lauren's mouth moving like she could for the rest of artists in the show. She thought the show was over and she wasn't allowed to see for King and Country, the main reason we were there. She cried during her entire set! Would not stop crying. So we sat there and I rubbed her back and let her cry on my shoulder. My poor Doodle.

After Lauren left the stage Doodle was headed to a meltdown but it was a quick stage change and Red came on stage. This is a heavy metal band for Christ. Now my heavy metal days are long gone and I'm just not tolerant of the music anymore. A grim reaper figure walked around on stage and the flames of fire that shot up from the stage could be felt from our nose bleed seats. And the blue haired in front of us (who looked a lot like my dad's sister) who was head banging to Red was something that I will not forget! It was different!

Matthew West came on stage and Doodle seemed to really enjoy his set. He was really great. He wanted us to hug the stranger next to us. But Doodle was ready to bolt for it by this time and she was more apt to leave and I needed to love on her and keep her calm and close to me I couldn't hug the stranger to my right. Sorry young lady it was nothing against you. But like Matthew said, we don't know what others are going through. God understands. It was while he was wanting everyone to hug that Doodle was pinching herself and trying to get her skin to bleed. She also picked at the sore she created at school during her last incident just to get her face to bleed. This was her way, I feel that she tried to get us to go home or it could have been sensory. Last night was a little hard and going through trying to keep her calm made it difficult to fully know why she was doing what she was doing.

Crowders' set took forever to put together but was good. While they took well over 20 minutes to set up their stage we made a break for the outside to get some swag. I picked Doodle up a for King and Country t-shirt, which she was happy with. And we headed back to our seats. When we got back to our spots Crowder was still not done getting the set built. But it was just a little wait and that went well though they were super loud and they got "swampy" with it, it was a bit confusing for Doodle and of course it was getting really late. But in all honesty she was ready to go home when Lauren was on stage.

But the group that we were there to see was for King and Country and they did not disappoint! Joel and Luke had tons of energy on the stage. The song before last was when we started making our break for it. We stood behind the stage as the last song was finishing and they were taking their bows. At that moment Doodle ran for the stairs to leave. It was a great night of worship all together and the best part for Doodle that had her the most excited was the ride home.

Autism is a really fickle disability. She enjoyed the TobyMac concert more then she enjoyed winter jam. That I could tell. But in honesty all she wants to do is listen to TobyMac in the car. In the mornings, in the evenings, no matter where we are going we have to listen to TobyMac. This is her absolutely favorite artist of all time.

As I do not have a cell phone, I didn't take any photo's at the concert. As I have stated in a previous post I just can't have a cell phone at this time. I like being out to dinner or anywhere out in public and Doodle having my undivided attention. Children on the spectrum make a break for it really fast. Nothing worse then checking your phone and looking up to find your child gone. But hey I will not be getting a ticket or getting into an accident for a phone ringing or answering texts messages. Everyone everywhere will get my undivided attention, because I don't get the distractions most people get. So the pictures that are posted are from what others have posted regarding winter jam. Including a picture that was taken by Caleb Cook Photography of Lauren Daigle that was not from last night's concert.

You guys have a great day.

On a side note. I did send a message to Lauren Daigle letting her know that Doodle cried during her set and why. She was really understanding and said the next concert that we attend of hers she wants to meet Doodle. That was really sweet. I didn't send her a note to be a jerk, I just wanted to make her aware that the hat was confusing and if my child had an issue maybe someone else's would too and she would be making future autism fans happy with being able to see her face.  And her response is the whole reason why I love Christian artists. Heck even when we listened to Way-FM where we used to live, you would find Christian artists serving others at drive through windows at Chic-fi-la. When was the last time you heard about main stream artist doing that? Okay the exception for that would be Lecrae, but he's truly a Christian artist. Just listen to a TobyMac cd you will find him on there.

Crowder

for King and Country

Joel from for King and Country

Joel from for King and Country

Joel and Luke from for King and Country

Matthew West

Lauren Daigle photo taken by Caleb Cook Photography

Crowder

Red

KB, Tedashi and Triple Lee were great! They come on stage several times during other people performances and knocked it out of the ball park!

Sidewalk Prophets was great as well.

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.