B is for BEHAVIOR

It took me a long time to understand that behavior is communication with ASD kids. Once I got that through my thick skull though, I was able to use it to my benefit. Now when Ivy gets cranky, irritable or discontent, I know there is an underlying issue at hand and it's up to me to figure out what the "real issue" is, so we can move forward. The following is an excerpt from Ellen Notbohm's TEN THINGS YOUR STUDENT WITH AUTISM WISHES YOU KNEW.

For children with autism:

Behavior is communication. All behavior occurs for a reason. It tells you, even when my words can’t, how I perceive what is happening around me. Negative behavior interferes with my learning process. But merely interrupting these behaviors is not enough; teach me to exchange these behaviors with proper alternatives so that real learning can flow.

Start by believing this: I truly do want to learn to interact appropriately. No child wants the negative feedback we get from “bad” behavior. Negative behavior usually means I am overwhelmed by disordered sensory systems, cannot communicate my wants or needs or don’t understand what is expected of me. Look beyond the behavior to find the source of my resistance. Keep notes as to what happened immediately before the behavior: people involved, time of day, activities, settings. Over time, a pattern may emerge.

**On a side note, we went swimming today and had a little fun. Ivy conned me out of a hot dog on a real wheat bun today...behavior tonight? You betcha!!! Anytime we do dietary infractions, there will be a consequence to that (much to my disadvantage). But sometimes, you just have to let a kid be a kid and swim and have a hot dog on a bun all in the same day! Right now she is happy as a lark and I am happy that she is happy. :)

The ABC's of Autism

Many people ask me exactly what IS autism??? I can never really answer that with a simple description. Fact is, autism is very, very COMPLEX. It affects many parts of the body and no two children have the exact same symptoms. My only experience with autism prior to Ivy being diagnosed, was of Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of an autistic man in the movie Rain Man. I do not believe that the 1 in 150 kids being diagnosed today are of the same type of autism. I believe that there is something much more complex about today's autism. I don't buy into the theory that the rise in autism is due to better diagnosing. In fact, I think that is a load of crap. I think the autism of today, is being triggered by outside interferences such as vaccines, exposure to heavy metals, poor diet, nutritional deficiencies, amalgam illness, poisoned water supplies, pitocin overuse, and the list can go on and on.....

So, over the course of the next 26 days I am going to give you autism from A to Z. Each day I will write about something directly related to autism be it an explanation, treatment, therapy, etc. I hope by the end of the alphabet, you will have a much better understanding of autism. Enjoy!

A is for AUTISM

:: Autism is a bio-neurological developmental disability that generally appears before the age of three.

:: Autism impacts the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction, communication skills, and cognitive function. Individuals with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities.

:: Individuals with autism often suffer from numerous physical ailments which may include: allergies, asthma, epilepsy, digestive disorders, persistent viral infections, feeding disorders, sensory integration dysfunction, sleeping disorders, and more.

:: Autism is diagnosed four times more often in boys than girls. Its prevalence is not affected by race, region, or socio-economic status. Since autism was first diagnosed in the U.S. the occurrence has climbed to an alarming 1 in 150 people across the country.

:: Autism does not affect life expectancy. Currently there is no cure for autism, though with early intervention and treatment, the diverse symptoms related to autism can be greatly improved.

50 Things I Like About Myself

I recently had the opportunity to meet some fantastic people when we went to DC to the Green Our Vaccines Rally. One such couple was from NW Indiana, named Jacob and Arianne. Arianne is a phenomenal blogger. I have been reading her blogs since we got back from DC and she is such a talented writer and she has 2 boys with autism. I think she is line for Sainthood, only she doesn't know it. So we don't really "know" each other, but we walked together in the march in DC and we just have a common bond with our cause in life and our children, but I feel like I know her better since reading her blogs, ya know? I think she is really cool and I think if we lived closer, we could totally be friends. But, to my point of this whole post...she recently blogged about something and challenged her readers to it as well.

She asked if you can think of 50 things like about yourself. She posted her list and asked her readers to do the same. So, here goes, here is my list and I ask the same of you, make your list, and post the link to your blog in a reply, so we can all see what you like about yourself as well. Good luck, clear your minds and get to typing. I know you can find 50 things if you try hard enough. Every now and then, I think it's good to reminds ourselves, why we love ourselves.

50 Things I Like About Myself

1. I am funny

2. I can take a joke and make one too

3. I love life and all it has to offer

4. I love traveling and love to see the world

5. I like that I am able to see past color, race or sexual orientation in people

6. I love children and think I connect well with them

7. I love music and how it can affect my mood

8. I love God and considered myself one of his "girls"

9. I am crafty when I have time

10. I have good decorating skills

11. I like my sense of style in clothes

12. I am a loyal person

13. I am a good friend

14. I am a good mom to both Jade and Ivy

15. I am a good sibling and look out for them and play the mother hen roll well

16. I am a hard worker

17. I am a good employee and you'll get your money's worth out of me always

18. I love to read and learn new things

19. I am always open minded

20. I am willing to try new things, twice if I like them

21. People fascinate me and I love to meet new people

22. I am a collector of friends, old and young both

23. I am a cat lover

24. I am pretty knowledgeable about autism

25. I am a good advocate for my daughter with ASD

26. I am willing to fight for her

27. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make her life better

28. I am willing to do without so we can have money to treat her

29. I always try to see the good in people

30. I am a pretty positive person and try to spread that around

31. I like the color of my eyes

32. I think I have good taste in men, (ie my husband)

33. I am eccentric and I like being that way

34. I am computer knowledgeable

35. I love living green and am willing to share tips and resources, etc with others

36. I like living simply whenever possible without all the fluff

37. I am content most of the time

38. I would stand up for you if someone was bad mouthing you

39. I despise gossip and usually walk away rather than participate

40. I love taking pictures of my family and do it often

41. I can dance fairly well and I wanted to be a professional dancer when I was in high school.

42. I am compassionate towards others

43. I have passion for a cause and will go to the ends of the earth to see it through

44. I have really good intuition and use it my advantage

45. I have really good mommy instincts

46. I don't worry about what other's think of me or what the neighbors say

47. I know life is short, I get that

48. I live my life like there is no tomorrow most days

49. I love easily

50. I am not just any Lisa

~Super Sexy Swingin' Saturdays~

Saturdays ROCK. There is just no other way to describe them. They are my most favorite day of the week, with Friday's trailing a close second place. I live for the weekends.

I just love Saturdays and here are some of the reason's why:

~Sleeping in
~I actually sometimes eat breakfast on Saturday mornings
~Can be used as as excuse to stay in your jammies all day
~Can be used as a NO shower day (come'on admit it, you've done that too)
~HGTV marathon days (and I mean ALL DAY LONG)
~Catching up on the mail from all week (b-o-r-i-n-g)
~Putzing around the house doing nothing
~Cooking out and having friends over
~Swimming at my brother's house
~ Laundry catch-up day
~Yard work and gardening (one of my fave's)
~Honey Do List day (altho my hubby HATES these kind of Saturday's, heh...heh...)
~Project Day (usually something I learned from HGTV marathon day..wink, wink)
~Ordering out for dinner
~Blockbuster Movie Marathon's


Oh heck, I could go on forever, but I think you will agree with me that Saturday's are the most, bestest day of the week!

Hope you enjoy your Super Sexy Swingin' Saturday yourself. We are off the St Michael's Parish Festival where Ed is painting faces, and I am manning the corn on the cob booth! The kids have plenty of carnival tickets to blow...it should be fun for all!

I love JUNK SALES!!!

I am a professed junk sale junkie. You know what they say, right? One man's trash is another man's treasure? Well, I love to go to trash sales. Love it, love it, love it!! I went today and got lots of goodies to put on eBay. I will be loading my store all next week and I am starting to get excited about it. I think it's the thrill of the hunt that makes me so giddy. I spent $50.00 today and got stuff that will generate about $300.00 - $400.00 in sales. You can beat that people.

So, while I am having trouble focusing on THIS week, I have a clear cut plan for next week. I will be getting my eBay stuff ready this weekend, my postage machine set up, boxes out, etc and I'll create my templates this weekend too and then I will be ready on Monday to shoot photos, upload and send to eBay. By Friday or Saturday, I will be rolling in the Jefferson's. :)

I went to dinner with a girl friend last night. I took her for her birthday, we went to Ritter's after and had something called a Monkey in the Middle. I highly recommend the little Monkey...it was like a little tiny banana split. One scoop of Vanilla or Chocolate ice cream, covered in strawberry syrup, with a slice of banana and whip cream on top if you like. It was yummmmmy!!

I recently became reacquainted with Facebook and I am so addicted to it. I need to step away from the computer and stop playing around on there. Look at this little pretty thing I made while there:



Okay, Happy Thursday to you! Sorry I have nothing more exciting to share with you today.

Now What?!?!?!?!?

Well, I have to admit, that since we got back from DC, I have found myself extremely restless and I have been pacing the floors not quite sure what to do with myself yet. I know it's summer vacation and I know I need to get busy and get some stuff listed in my eBay store, but I find myself unable to start anything. I thought maybe I would clean house today, or go to the grocery and get some food, but I accomplished neither today.

What I did do, was call an old friend and went and visited with him. He has been ill for a few years and he just recently moved back into the area and we used to be roomies once upon a time. He recently lost his partner of 13 years and he has been really depressed. I have to say that at times, when you are so full of yourself that you can't stand it, talking to someone else and just listening to them, really helps a lot...it can really get you outside of yourself I mean. You can't be focused on yourself if you are giving someone else 100% of your attention. He needed that today and so did I. I am so glad we were able to catch up and laugh about old times too.

So, I keep pacing, my feet keeping moving and my brain is unable to catch up. I am not sure why I am so restless. I feel like I am doing nothing but walking in circles today. Maybe it's just coming down off the high of being in DC. All, I know is that I need to get focused again and get back on track. I just feel like I am in some sort of funk. Mental exhaustion maybe? I keep going back to YouTube and watching the Rally speeches and trying to decide what I can do to help...to really make a difference. I hate to think that we went through THAT much getting there and spent all that money to go and be a part of it and now it's just over. I feel like I need to do more. Now what????? Hopefully, the universe or God will reveal my purpose in the whole thing to me soon. I don't like not knowing what I should be working on.

I need to thank everyone again that donated to the cause no matter how little you gave or if you gave lots, it was so very much appreciated and I will never forget your generosity. Also, thanks to all who continually prayed for us and kept us in your daily thoughts...also appreciated.

Peace,
Lisa

Doing the Happy Dance we are home!!

After a very hot Saturday morning spent with a friend at the Zoo, we headed to the airport and back to sweet home Indiana. Ivy had the grand daddy of them all meltdowns at BWI Airport before boarding the plane. I had people looking at me and her and staring and for the first time in years I felt the need to explain her behavior. I was mortified. She kicked the poor man sitting directly to our left and the poor lady to my right, just kept looking at her like she was a real brat and the couple behind us was also staring and saying things like, "can you believe the way she is talking" and "omg, what a brat". So, really LOUD, I say, "I'm sorry everyone, she really isn't being bad, she has autism and she has just had a really long and loud week here in DC and she is on system overload, please excuse us". Everyone just shut up and quit staring after that. I think I embarrassed Ed when I did that, but I hate it when people stare at us and assume my child is misbehaving when she can't really help it. Makes my blood boil. I can't NOT say something.

I then proceeded to the counter and begged for a special pre-board pass which they quickly honored. So, we got home in a little over an hours' flight and when we were exiting the plane, Ivy began hopping and flapping like a birdie and dancing and skipping and smiling from ear to ear. She was more than ecstatic to be home. Yeah for you little Ivy, it's so good to see you smile!

Happy Ivy, Happy Jade

The Happy Dance