Archive for the Autism Category
Autism: The Roller Coaster
Any parent on the spectrum can tell you that when your child has a good day its a great day, but when they have a bad day its hell. And so your life is made of these peaks and valleys. Right now we’re in a bit of a valley. For the past couple weeks Tristan has been starting to tantrum.
Gluten Free Casein Free Recipes
To give you an idea of what a gluten free casein free life is like I wanted to give you an idea of what my kiddos eat in a day, or at least what I offer. Wether Tristan eats it or not is another post!
The Gluten Free Casein Free Diet
Many people ask me how difficult it was to cut out the gluten and casein from Tristan’s diet. It really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. And judging from Maya’s gigantic smile in the picture its yummy too! The first month is difficult because you have to get used to reading the label on everything and finding alternatives. But once you get over the learning curve its pretty easy. We try really hard to eat a clean diet: no processed foods, no artificial flavors or colours, organic when we can and not a lot of sugar so that definitely made the transition easier. Luckily I stay home with the kids and I have the time to make almost everything for them from scratch. Odum and I still eat gluten and dairy as its a bit expensive right now for us to all eat this way.
Our Autism Treatment Plan
I’ve never actually sat down and made a post about Tristan’s treatment plan, and I thought it may be a useful post. In terms of a treatment for autism I believe that treatment needs to be multi-pronged. I don’t think one treatment type is sufficient to help kids with autism. Tristan receives speech therapy to help his speech along, occupational therapy in an effort to help with sensory processing and the cadillac of therapies for autism: intensive behavioral intervention (IBI) also known as applied behavioral analysis. We also have Tristan under the care of a naturopath to address his physical problems, to heal his gastrointestinal system.
Autism: Disability, Disease or Difference?
There is a lot of discussion in the autism community about a cure for autism and treatments for autism. And the autism community is definitely divided over this issue. Many people see autism as just a difference and not a disability or disease and refer to those who would treat their child as “curebies”. On the other side of the fence there are people who feel autism is a disease that needs to be treated and one day cured. People on both sides are obviously very passionate about their position.
Tristan’s Screening for Intensive Behavioural Intervention
Here in Ontario the only service for autism is intensive behavioural intervention (IBI). I’ve talked a bit about it before: it’s a really intensive type of therapy that is usually one on one. Some might also know it as ABA, applied behavioural analysis. It breaks down tasks into very simple and small steps and rewards the child with positive reinforcement when a task is completed. It’s usually at least 20 hours per week. This is the only treatment the Ontario government pays for.
Vaccines and Autism Part II: Timing of Vaccines
In Part One I looked at the ingredients in vaccines and what the connection was to autism. In this part I’ll look at the timing of vaccines and vaccine safety studies and how it relates to the autism debate.
Here is a brief refresher on this series:
- Vaccine Ingredients (Part I)
- Timing of Vaccines (Part II)
- Vaccine Safety Studies (Part III)
A Moment in the Life of an Autism Mom
Today was a gorgeous fall day so we took the kids for a walk in the wagon. On our walk we came across a mom and her son on their way to the playground. As soon as the boy caught sight of the wagon he came running over. He crouched real low walking behind the wagon and watched the wheels as they turned. And when Odum stopped to say hi the boy started to push the wagon to keep it going and didn’t make any effort to say hi.
Vaccines And Autism Part I: Vaccine Ingredients
Since Tristan’s diagnosis of autism I’ve had a few people ask what my feelings where about the whole vaccine – autism controversy. They wondered if I thought vaccines caused Tristan’s autism and if we choose to vaccinate Maya differently as a result. Since I have a degree in biology and loved immunology I thought I’d do a little series on vaccines. What they are and how they work, what the controversy is about and what we’ve chosen to do with our kids.
The Autism Diagnosis Part II: The Follow Up Appointment
I was actually excited for our follow up appointment with the pediatrician. Tristan’s progress since June has been incredible. And I was interested to see what the doctor would have to say given his opposition to biomedical intervention for autism and our obvious success with it.
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