"We didn't know when we started this movement that it was going to
turn into a bowel movement."
Sent from my iPhone
Friday, April 9, 2010
Overheard at the DAN conference
Sidney Baker, MD, on gut issues and the founding of DAN:
Friday, April 2, 2010
TACA in the OC Register
Check out TACA's special insert in the Orange County Register. It appeared yesterday, 4/1, in honor of April, which TACA has dubbed Autism Action Month.
I think it's safe to assume we're all aware, as well as our friends, families, and neighbors. This month, TACA is working to translate awareness into action. Sharing this insert is a great way to highlight the actions parents can take to help their children progress.
April also kicks off TACA's three-month Family and Friends campaign. This is TACA's major annual fundraising effort. Lisa Ackerman and the rest of the executive staff at TACA feel strongly that the families TACA serves should spend their money on their children. That's why there's no membership fee to join TACA, and why 95% of TACA's programs are free to families. Once a year, TACA offers its members the opportunity to help TACA help more families through the online Family and Friends campaign. It's run through Firstgiving, which offers a secure place for visitors to your page to donate online. The pages can be personalized, which gives you the opportunity to tell your family's story.
Family and Friends has become my family's major annual fundraising effort. Quite simply, until there's a cure, we need TACA. My family's page took about 10 or 15 minutes to complete. If you'd like to see some examples, check out pages by:
Our thanks to all who support TACA by coming to meetings, participating in our Yahoo discussion group, and generally spreading the word about what we offer. We look forward to continuing to grow our community in Maryland.
I think it's safe to assume we're all aware, as well as our friends, families, and neighbors. This month, TACA is working to translate awareness into action. Sharing this insert is a great way to highlight the actions parents can take to help their children progress.
April also kicks off TACA's three-month Family and Friends campaign. This is TACA's major annual fundraising effort. Lisa Ackerman and the rest of the executive staff at TACA feel strongly that the families TACA serves should spend their money on their children. That's why there's no membership fee to join TACA, and why 95% of TACA's programs are free to families. Once a year, TACA offers its members the opportunity to help TACA help more families through the online Family and Friends campaign. It's run through Firstgiving, which offers a secure place for visitors to your page to donate online. The pages can be personalized, which gives you the opportunity to tell your family's story.
Family and Friends has become my family's major annual fundraising effort. Quite simply, until there's a cure, we need TACA. My family's page took about 10 or 15 minutes to complete. If you'd like to see some examples, check out pages by:
Our thanks to all who support TACA by coming to meetings, participating in our Yahoo discussion group, and generally spreading the word about what we offer. We look forward to continuing to grow our community in Maryland.
-- Alison Hamilton
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sunday's cookie recipe
Sunday's gfcf offerings included Skippy Truffles (so named because they originated from the Skippy web site), a very easy recipe that uses a short list of ingredients, all of which are available anywhere. No out-of-the way trips to specialty markets for flours, shortenings, etc.
Skippy Truffles
1c. peanut butter
1c. light brown sugar
1tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Ghirardelli's semi-sweet are our favorite)
Preheat oven to 350. Mix first four ingredients, then stir in chips. Bake for nine minutes; allow to set for at least 5 minutes before removing to wire rack. It's not a huge recipe -- if you're feeding a crowd, you'll want to double it.
Skippy Truffles
1c. peanut butter
1c. light brown sugar
1tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Ghirardelli's semi-sweet are our favorite)
Preheat oven to 350. Mix first four ingredients, then stir in chips. Bake for nine minutes; allow to set for at least 5 minutes before removing to wire rack. It's not a huge recipe -- if you're feeding a crowd, you'll want to double it.
Monday, March 15, 2010
A mother's perspective on autism
Check out this really poignant piece from Age of Autism about raising a child on the spectrum.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Food for thought
I routinely avoided calls from our insurance agent, until I needed something from her. When I couldn't find our current auto insurance card in the crumb-strewn abyss of my minivan, I had to call for a new copy. I was really hoping I could sneak in and out of her office without anyone realizing I've never scheduled an appointment to review our family's insurance status. I had been successfully avoiding those for years. I was pretty sure the conversation would be about the hundreds of thousands of dollars in life insurance that we still need, and the fact that any spare cash we might have had for premiums is already spoken for by OTs, speech pathologists, out-of-network doctors, and the like. (And let's face it, some of them are vying for the same money ...)
No luck. I was cornered by our agent herself. And was reluctantly impressed when she knew who I was and remembered last summer's Capital article about TACA. When she mentioned that the new Women's Chamber of Commerce in our town was looking for some charitable causes, she had me. I would go, review our insurance, and leave some TACA information behind. And then I could quit dodging State Farm calls for awhile.
"We are not buying any new insurance," I told my husband. He agreed to show up on his way home from work. By then I think we were both viewing this as a necessary evil. Kind of like dental cleanings. Endure it, and forget about it for awhile.
I was pleasantly surprised by our agent. She was not pushy. She was conversant in college football, important since Mike's Longhorns just played for the national title. She accepted our explanation about limited funds for more insurance. But she did talk about an umbrella policy. And after a couple of minutes, she had our attention.
The umbrella policy covers gaps left by policies like home and auto, she explained. If a tree from our yard falls onto a neighbor's car, or a repair person trips in our garage (if you've ever been in there, you know that's a possibility), the policy picks up where our home or auto coverage leaves off. In my experience, insurance usually leaves off a lot of the important stuff. The umbrella policy covers every member of our family.
Mike was a bit quicker on the draw than I was. He asked, "So, if Leah does something, we're covered?" The lightbulb went on for both of us.
I look back at that paragraph and wonder whether I just made my daughter sound like a monster. She's not. She's a kid with pragmatic language delays who still communicates quite a bit through behaviors. She's the girl with the curl. And when our insurance agent explained umbrella policies to us in January, it didn't take us long to consider that, like a lot of kids, Leah goes through good and bad cycles of behavior. Her most recent 'down cycle' (as I call them) happened in December. Bad behavior can include tipping chairs, throwing shoes, and if she still hasn't gotten her point across, the occasional whack in the direction of a classmate. When she lashes out, she's focused on communicating her rage to the adults in her way. A chair, a pair of shoes, or the arm of a classmate are means to an end, unfortunately.
In her special ed classroom, all the kids have behavior issues of some kind. Her neurotypical classmates have been very supportive of her up to this point. We're also helped by the fact that she isn't strong. But I couldn't help but think about what might happen if a tossed shoe connects with the wrong kid sometime. A child of parents who think a shoe print on a kid's forearm is grounds for a lawsuit.
Rates were about $30-40 a month for coverage that also supplements my professional liability insurance (I resumed my career as a social worker not long ago). ASD kids don't always interact easily with the rest of the world. The last thing I wanted was to add attorney's fees or someone else's medical expenses to a family budget already dominated by autism. So I went back on my word. At the risk of sounding like a shill for insurance agents, I think umbrella policies are worth a look, especially if you think your kid could harm other people or other things, however unintentionally. (Of course, that could describe just about any teenager with a learner's permit.)
We bought the insurance. It's one policy I will be very glad not to need. But we left the life insurance the way it was. I choose to see that as a victory.
No luck. I was cornered by our agent herself. And was reluctantly impressed when she knew who I was and remembered last summer's Capital article about TACA. When she mentioned that the new Women's Chamber of Commerce in our town was looking for some charitable causes, she had me. I would go, review our insurance, and leave some TACA information behind. And then I could quit dodging State Farm calls for awhile.
"We are not buying any new insurance," I told my husband. He agreed to show up on his way home from work. By then I think we were both viewing this as a necessary evil. Kind of like dental cleanings. Endure it, and forget about it for awhile.
I was pleasantly surprised by our agent. She was not pushy. She was conversant in college football, important since Mike's Longhorns just played for the national title. She accepted our explanation about limited funds for more insurance. But she did talk about an umbrella policy. And after a couple of minutes, she had our attention.
The umbrella policy covers gaps left by policies like home and auto, she explained. If a tree from our yard falls onto a neighbor's car, or a repair person trips in our garage (if you've ever been in there, you know that's a possibility), the policy picks up where our home or auto coverage leaves off. In my experience, insurance usually leaves off a lot of the important stuff. The umbrella policy covers every member of our family.
Mike was a bit quicker on the draw than I was. He asked, "So, if Leah does something, we're covered?" The lightbulb went on for both of us.
I look back at that paragraph and wonder whether I just made my daughter sound like a monster. She's not. She's a kid with pragmatic language delays who still communicates quite a bit through behaviors. She's the girl with the curl. And when our insurance agent explained umbrella policies to us in January, it didn't take us long to consider that, like a lot of kids, Leah goes through good and bad cycles of behavior. Her most recent 'down cycle' (as I call them) happened in December. Bad behavior can include tipping chairs, throwing shoes, and if she still hasn't gotten her point across, the occasional whack in the direction of a classmate. When she lashes out, she's focused on communicating her rage to the adults in her way. A chair, a pair of shoes, or the arm of a classmate are means to an end, unfortunately.
In her special ed classroom, all the kids have behavior issues of some kind. Her neurotypical classmates have been very supportive of her up to this point. We're also helped by the fact that she isn't strong. But I couldn't help but think about what might happen if a tossed shoe connects with the wrong kid sometime. A child of parents who think a shoe print on a kid's forearm is grounds for a lawsuit.
Rates were about $30-40 a month for coverage that also supplements my professional liability insurance (I resumed my career as a social worker not long ago). ASD kids don't always interact easily with the rest of the world. The last thing I wanted was to add attorney's fees or someone else's medical expenses to a family budget already dominated by autism. So I went back on my word. At the risk of sounding like a shill for insurance agents, I think umbrella policies are worth a look, especially if you think your kid could harm other people or other things, however unintentionally. (Of course, that could describe just about any teenager with a learner's permit.)
We bought the insurance. It's one policy I will be very glad not to need. But we left the life insurance the way it was. I choose to see that as a victory.
-- Alison Hamilton
Monday, January 25, 2010
There's an app for that
Anyone who knows me well knows that a) I've never met a gadget I don't like, and b) as far as I'm concerned, God must have created the iPhone.
I've found a couple of great autism-related apps at the iTunes store, and was pleased to see that quite a few more are available. I've had some fun playing with Behavior Tracker Pro, which I got on sale for $10. It's also available for the BlackBerry and the Google Android. If you need to keep behavior data on your kid, this is a pretty cool way to do it. I can track frequency and duration of behaviors, or do a full ABC workup, with just a few taps. But again, I'm a gadget junkie.
I also bought Is That Gluten Free?, which is exactly what it appears to be -- a database of gluten-free foods that includes national brands and some grocery store brands. It's not a perfect fit for our community -- what many of us really need is 'Is That GFCF and Maybe SF?' -- but I've always found it most challenging to ferret out all the potential sources of gluten from an ingredient list. Casein is a bit more straightforward. Also, Leah has celiac disease, which means that cheating on special occasions and compensating with a good enzyme (which I know some people do from time to time) is not an option. Although we've been doing the celiac thing for awhile, I still have to make the occasional call to manufacturers. I'm hoping this app will save me some time.
I also saw a lot of ABA flash cards in the app store. I have no experience with them, but it was nice to see them there. The flip side to the flash cards is, if you use them, you have to let your kid know what the iPhone can do. Which is sort of like opening Pandora's box. I speak from experience. Leah is quite adept at stealing my iPhone when I'm not looking and using the You Tube app to find her favorite Guinness commercials and Phineas and Ferb bits.
In fact, I think I hear her coming. Time to secure the gadget.
I've found a couple of great autism-related apps at the iTunes store, and was pleased to see that quite a few more are available. I've had some fun playing with Behavior Tracker Pro, which I got on sale for $10. It's also available for the BlackBerry and the Google Android. If you need to keep behavior data on your kid, this is a pretty cool way to do it. I can track frequency and duration of behaviors, or do a full ABC workup, with just a few taps. But again, I'm a gadget junkie.
I also bought Is That Gluten Free?, which is exactly what it appears to be -- a database of gluten-free foods that includes national brands and some grocery store brands. It's not a perfect fit for our community -- what many of us really need is 'Is That GFCF and Maybe SF?' -- but I've always found it most challenging to ferret out all the potential sources of gluten from an ingredient list. Casein is a bit more straightforward. Also, Leah has celiac disease, which means that cheating on special occasions and compensating with a good enzyme (which I know some people do from time to time) is not an option. Although we've been doing the celiac thing for awhile, I still have to make the occasional call to manufacturers. I'm hoping this app will save me some time.
I also saw a lot of ABA flash cards in the app store. I have no experience with them, but it was nice to see them there. The flip side to the flash cards is, if you use them, you have to let your kid know what the iPhone can do. Which is sort of like opening Pandora's box. I speak from experience. Leah is quite adept at stealing my iPhone when I'm not looking and using the You Tube app to find her favorite Guinness commercials and Phineas and Ferb bits.
In fact, I think I hear her coming. Time to secure the gadget.
--Alison Hamilton
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