Beh is just . . . wow. Every day, more amazingness.

Today he was saying words. Lots of them. :)

It started with "Jerrod." That's one of his habs, and one of his favorite people in the universe. Jerrod came to work with Nick and he was giving my son a wrestle-y hello hug when Nick said his name.

During hab he said "chip" and then when it was time for Jerrod to go he said "bye-bye."

Later in the day I brought out Nick's puzzle bin. I pulled each puzzle out, one by one, and lined them up on the floor. I pulled out the third one--a wooden puzzle of a locomotive--and Nick said "train." And then he said it about ten more times. (btw, the thing you MUST know about Beh is that he loves trains.)

Then we played with a puzzle with numbers and shapes. He said the name of every piece, all on his own: "zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, SE-en, eight, nine, ten, circle, triangle, star, square."

Heck ya.

I called my mom to tell her about it and he did it all again for her on the phone.

While he was playing with the puzzles, I got snacky. I snuck to the pantry and got a Little Debbie Snack Cake . . . and Nick caught me. "Cake, cake," he said. Of course I handed over Debbie right then!

The twentieth word happens to be his favorite word of the moment, "cat." He loves our stupid cat. He loves to pull her tail and hear the squeaking sound she makes. And she doesn't move, so he pulls over and over, and she squeaks over and over. And as he does it he says "cat" . . . and sometimes "meow."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't think I can really explain to you how astonishing it is to hear my son speak. He had his voice stolen from him, his ability to communicate swept away. And to hear him finding those words again, to have him communicate with me . . . it's just wow. We've lived four years with his silence--that's a long time to wait for words. So when I hear them now . . . well, there's nothing more beautiful.

So Noah is playing Lego Star Wars on Wii, and he's mid-attack on that sand barge thing Jaba was on in Episode VI.

He's fighting the bad guys and he says, "Nut attack! It's a nut attack!"

I'm like, "Um . . . huh? Did he really say what I think he said?"

Instead of reacting, I ask him what "nut attack" meant.

"That's when you throw nuts at someone."

I laugh. :)

I am doing everything in my power to help heal Nick's autism, as you well know if you've been reading any of my blogs. I'm doing all I can for him, but at the same time I sort of love the beauty of his autism. He's got this way of interacting with the world that is so unique, so free, so uninhibited by the social norms the rest of us constrict ourselves with. While we all focus on conformity, he doesn't. His habs try to get him to count or say the alphabet, and he'll interact with the letters and numbers--in his way. He'll count backward by odd numbers. He'll say his vowels. He does it his way, in between his karate-like hand stims, and it is beautiful.

I love autism.

Asperger's, not so much.

I was taking Noah to the bus stop today, and he told me about why his bus was late yesterday: "Bus 101 broke down yesterday, that's why I was late to school." Notice the "I" there--it wasn't about the others who were late, just about him. And then he got really upset, holding back angry tears in his big brown eyes. "That was mean of them to do that. They did it on purpose because they wanted me to miss morning recess. That was rude!" We were at the bus stop by then and I parked Nick's stroller then got down on my knees to look Noah in the eye. I cupped his face in my hands, the loving way that mommies do, and I explained that sometimes things like buses breaking down just happen, that it wasn't something someone did on purpose to him just so that he would be forced to miss playing on the playground before the school bell rang.

My gentle momminess didn't work. "It's true! They did it on purpose! They're mean!"

I tried again, a little more forcefully.

And Noah pretended to assert understanding, but his mutterings under his breath testified that he still believed he'd been deliberately wronged by the bus.

Mindblindness. People on the spectrum tend to only see the world from their perspective, blind to the ways others see it.

Noah shares it with his dad. I've watched him get angry at injustices against him over the years, listening and nodding all-the-while thinking, "But that's just how workplaces are. That's just how traffic is." And sometimes his anger was directed at me. Like when I got that little tattoo and I was bombarded with a flurry of anger because of what I had done to him. "Every time I think our marriage has a chance you go and do something stupid like this," he said. Curse words abounded. During the verbal attack I just sat there dumbfounded. What he was saying didn't make any sense. It wasn't something cruel I'd done to him. It was, in fact, something I'd done to me. So I just sat silently, in awe of the illogic, and wrote down the words he said afterward, still in awe of the illogic.

Mindblindness.

I worry about Noah. Today, as he was muttering under his breath, I think he was starting to learn something that his dad has learned and does sometimes. He was holding back his righteous anger, burying his indignation. Oh, he still feels it, but he might be learning to hide it. And that is not necessarily a good thing. Especially when those sorts of feelings tend to bubble over in a dangerous explosion. I think I spend a lot of my time treading carefully, waiting for his dad's next explosion.

I read "Parallel Play" again, prepping for the assignment I'll be giving my students in a couple of weeks, and I cried at that small section toward the end, the one that Page deliberately doesn't give too many words to, the one where he talks about the end of his marriage. He only gives us one sentence about its ending: "While it lasted, everything was enhanced; I just wish this were the time and place to write that first happy ending."

I cried because I thought about Noah. I thought about what mindblindness would do to his marriage; I cried at the thought of him losing someone he loves because of it.

I want him to be able to write happy endings. I hate Asperger's.

(To read Page's essay, visit the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_page?currentPage=1 )

On Friday we went to Jenna's and Nick loved going over to the sliding glass doors to look at the dogs on the porch. They're big-ass dogs--they're Pit Bulls. Nick looked out at those dogs and said, "Cat."

Tee hee.

Yes, his species was a little off, but he was looking at something and naming it. That rules.

On Saturday Nick and I were hanging out at home and he started saying, "Naas hans, Nick. Naas hans, Niki-yck." Nice hands. With the vowel sound in "nice" drawn out a bit like he was Southern, with the "d" in hands dropped. But the coolest thing was that he was saying his NAME. Nick and Nicholas. Okay, Nick and Niki-yck, but still.

It's the first time he's ever said his name. He's spelled it thousands of times over, but never said it.

My son knows his name.

(Fine, I have my doubts about Corder's idealism, but I can still steal my titles from him.)

It's nearing the end of spring break, and I'm good and exhausted.

I've spent the break just hanging out with the boys.

We went to the book festival.

We danced in the living room.

We played with shaving cream.

That kind of stuff.

Noah and I built this big-ass Lego Star Wars thing--an AT-TE Walker. It took two full days to build. The day after we finished it, Noah was so excited about his creation that he brought it out to show Jerrod. Then he sort of forgot that he had it out, started playing Wii . . . a little while later I looked over and Nick had already taken apart half of it.

Noah cried and cried.

How do you explain that sort of thing to a kid? "Hey, sorry about that thing you slaved over, but your baby brother has autism and doesn't get that he shouldn't take apart other people's Lego creations."

Anyway, the week is ending and I didn't have a chance to do anything I was supposed to do. Heck, I barely got my fall teaching request in today, forty-nine minutes before it was due. If Jenna hadn't told me today that it was due today, I wouldn't have gotten it in on time.

So, still left for me to do with all the "free" time I have for spring break:

-grade more annotated bibliographies
-finish an application for an award
-plan out the final unit for one of the classes I'm teaching

Yeah, not quite sure how I'm gonna find the time for all of that.

Maybe, when I go back to work, I'll be able to find some time to do all this stuff.

A judge ruled against the state's cuts to disabilities spending! But the state is fighting the decision, so we need to keep fighting back.


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/03/12/20090312politics-ddd0312.html

Disabled get budget reprieve from judge

5 comments by Mary Jo Pitzl - Mar. 12, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Last night was the open forum with the Democratic Caucus.

In case you missed it, Arizona is sucking financially right now. Years and years of fiscal mismanagement by politicians (who love to reduce taxes yet spend more than they bring in) has finally caught up with the state.

And so the legislature had to dice money from the budget, $585,000,000 (don't worry, that's not all--we'll get even deeper cuts next fiscal year). And that money was ripped from three major areas: education, health care and human services, and state agency reductions.

This sucks all around. But the part I just can't live with is that the state is making cuts to the most vulnerable. Yep, we have plenty of money for road construction, but we can't afford to take care of people with developmental disabilities.

Early intervention, continuing therapies--you name it, if it relates to people with disabilities, it's been trashed.

God bless Arizona.

Fortunately, scores of people are standing up to speak for those with the quietest voices. I was humbled by how many people spoke last night about protecting those with special needs.

I spoke too . . . and even though I spend a lot of time talking in front of groups--whether it be my students or scholars at a conference--I got a bit shaky during those three short minutes. It wasn't nervousness; it was emotion. Part of me wanted to cry.

Anyway, I feel kind of weird posting it here, but my mom wanted to know what I had to say. :) So here it is (I think I modified some as I talked, though):

I come to you tonight as a mother. I have two amazing boys who both happen to have forms of autism. I'd like to speak to you tonight about the state's unconscionable cuts to disability spending.

Studies conducted by the Children's Hospital of Ohio State University and The New England Center for Children clearly show that children with autism who receive early intervention can attain intellectual, academic, social, and daily living skills within the normal range. (I'd prefer the term "neurotypical" to normal, but that's the word the studies used.) With speech therapy, occupational therapy, and other interventions in the preschool years, these kids CAN have a regular life.

So explain to me--how can the state be so cruel as to rip early intervention from kids with developmental disabilities--and steal from them the chance for a future . . . especially when researchers find that early intervention leads to a SAVINGS for the state? One study indicates a $656,000 - $1,082,000 SAVINGS to the state PER CHILD if we help these kids now.

Let me say that again--we'll SAVE money if we help these kids now.

So where is the logic in cutting these essential services for such precious children?

I'm begging you, on behalf of my son's Noah and Nicholas, to go back to Phoenix and stand up and fight for special needs children. Give my kids a chance for a full future.


So that's what I said.

Please help our kids by calling Gov. Brewer to say cutting disabilities spending is NOT okay.

The Governor's Office is located in the
Executive Tower at the State Capitol

The full mailing address is:
The Honorable Jan Brewer
Governor of Arizona
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Telephone (602) 542-4331
Toll Free 1-(800) 253-0883
Fax (602) 542-1381

"You don't know how, do you?" she said with sympathy.

I'd spent the night before cramming for this test. I wanted it to go well, better than all the other times. I followed my homework instructions, did the things I was supposed to do.

But it didn't matter.

I'd found the one thing I totally suck at.

My chiropractor was pulling and nudging at me, telling me to relax my shoulder. The thing is, I really, really TRIED. I told my body to relax. It wouldn't, it couldn't. No amount of stretching or icing the night before an appointment could train my muscles to release and relax. My body just didn't know how to do it.

And it's not just my chiropractor telling me that my body is tense. My dentist says it, too. Apparently, I have a very tight, unrelaxed jaw. I've got tension in my teeth.

I want to learn this thing I don't know how to do. I want to find a way to just . . . release.

If for no other reason, so that I can pass the test next time I'm at the chiropractor.

Literally.

Budget times are tough . . . so the state finds it best to take money from those with the quietest voices, the ones who need the most help.

It breaks my heart.

You have people like John losing their jobs, countless families losing services . . .

And you have unspeakable cuts for people with developmental disabilities.

Fortunately, fortunately, I jumped through a lot of hoops to get Nick eligible for federal funds before he left the early intervention program. It is SO HARD to qualify for ALTCS, which is funded with federal dollars. THANK GOD I jumped through those hoops, though, or my autistic son would lose all the therapies he has.

You see, the state has cut its funding for those with developmental disabilities. Cut it. If you're not eligible for federal funds, you're SOL.

This applies to so many families I know.

But . . . we aren't out of trouble yet. Every service provider in the state got a letter saying, "Hey! We're slashing the amount of money we give you! Have a nice day!" So even the services Nick is eligible for we might lose because the service providers are stripped of funds and having to lay people off.

Let's look at how short-sighted and stupid this state is. We'll take away services from those with developmental disabilities so that they can't gain any independent skills and we'll have to spend millions upon millions of dollars to put them in institutions later on. So logical.

It makes me so fucking angry. I'm sorry, I can't get upset that only a handful of new grad students will get GAT-ships next year, or that some school districts may go back to half-day kindergarten--I'm too busy fighting for my son's future to care a whole lot about over-educated people who can find other ways besides assistantships to fund their PhD studies, or kids who will still get to go to kindergarten but just for fewer hours. My son--his entire life, his entire future is on the line.

This is his window. It's the same for all kids with autism. In the preschool years while the brain is still getting wired, that's when we have our greatest chance to make a positive, life-long change for children with autism. This is his window. And I see my state doing everything in its power to slam the window shut.

Nick started music therapy last year, and it's made such an impact on him. If you've read the studies, you know how positive music can be for children with disabilities--heck, any children, actually. Today I spoke to Nick's music therapist, and it looks like Nick will only have one more session because of budget cuts. I then got on the phone with Nick's support coordinator at DDD, and she said that even though Nick has state approval for another 13 sessions before the end of his service year, the budget cuts to the music therapy program have been so devastating that the provider can't maintain the service anymore . . . and there's no one else in town to provide the service. So even though federal and state governments say he's entitled to the service, he can't get it. Such bullshit.

Below is a letter from a group of music therapists. Please read it. Please write an angry letter to your representative. I know it probably won't make a difference at this point . . . I know. But if we let them take things away from innocent children without a fight, what kind of people are we?

February 16, 2009

Dear Parents,

                We have recently become aware of budget cuts to the Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) that will become effective March 1, 2009. Many provider rates are being reduced by 10% however  music Therapy (Habilitation with a Music Component or HAM) was reduced by approximately 55%. This budget cut effects Music Therapy clients statewide and will probably result in the elimination of the Music Therapy services provided by UCP of Southern Arizona and all other providers in Arizona. This could impact 8,000 children who receive Music Therapy services throughout the state. As a professional organization we are certainly willing to accept a 10% rate cut similar to the other services affected by this budget reduction. We are asking the families of our clients to help support the Music Therapy program by contacting your local representatives and senators as soon as possible. If you do not know who your representatives are, a link is provided below.

http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp

 

A template letter from the Arizona Music Therapy Association is attached. In this template we are asking that you include the benefits your child has received through the Music Therapy program and what the loss of the program would mean for you and your child. Some examples of what parents have said in the past are below:

·         We love music and find that our 5 year old daughter sings around the house and articulates more slowly and deliberately when she is “singing.” What a wonderful program!!!

 

·         My son has benefited greatly from the Music Therapy offered through the UCPSA. The therapists are caring and accepting of my son who has Down syndrome.  The music intervention he has received has addressed several key areas.  The therapy has given my son focus and has increased his attention span.  He has developed better motor movements, mainly hand-eye coordination. The greatest improvement, I have seen in my son, is in his communication skills.  He enjoys the variety of activities offered, at the same time enjoying the routine.  I believe this intervention has improved my son's cognitive ability as well.  I want to thank the therapists for their patience and hard work.  

 

·         Our son looks forward to his Music Therapy every week, if he could go every day he would. The therapist is always happy and fun.  He especially likes the bells.  In watching the process music has helped him with hand eye coordination, small motor skills, speech, general coordination, and self confidence. It touches on so many different areas in such a short time.  I am so glad he is able to participate in this program.

 

·         If I could only choose one “therapy” it would be “Music Therapy”. It addresses so many different areas of need in one session and my child thoroughly enjoys it. He doesn’t realize how hard he’s working!

 

·         My child hums and sings songs all week that he has learned in Music Therapy. What a wonderful way to work on communication skills. In addition, he is now sitting and attending to activities for a longer time at home.

 

·         My children both come home from their sessions much more relaxed and they are easier to work with the rest of the day!

 

·         Music Therapy has made a significant improvement in my child’s self esteem. To be able to play songs on the piano at school in front of other children and have them say how good it sounds makes him feel SO good! He now has a better attitude about trying new things because of your service.

 

·         The skills my daughter is learning in Music Therapy will help her for the rest of her life and hopefully she won’t need as many services when she is older. She is interacting with her therapists, family and teachers much better now that she is working on it through music.

 

·         My child is now able to finish one task before moving to the next one. This is a HUGE improvement for him. He didn’t even realize he was working on this; he was just having fun playing music with his therapist. He is even able to take turns now. I never thought that would be something he understood how to do.

 

Thank you for your help. This situation, in our opinion, is tragic; given that many of our families report that their children respond so much better to this service than many others and make gains in areas that are not really covered under other services, such as increased interaction, increased attending skills, decrease in auditory and tactile sensitivities, task completion, taking turns, increasing self esteem, decreasing anxiety, facilitating relaxation, increasing acceptance of limits and structure, increase ability to follow instructions, increase eye contact , and the stimulation of cognitive skills.

That, in addition to the sometimes tremendous gains in communication and motor skills!

Thank you for your support. It is our hope that they will listen to the families of children that this decision will impact and change the rate to an across the board 10% reduction instead of destroying Music Therapy by reducing its hourly rates approximately 55%.

Please call one of us at UCP if you have any questions or ideas on how to fight this decision by DES.

 

Sincerely,

The UCP Music Therapy Team

Pamela Ott, MT-BC, NMT

Stacy Williams, MT-BC

Amanda Minor, MT-BC

Jennifer Baldwin

Abbie Lechler, MM, MT-BC, NMT

520-795-3108

I went to pick up Nick from school today, and I walked across the classroom to where he was sitting on the floor. I kneeled down, said "Hi, Nick" . . . and he wrapped his arm around me and gave me a ginormous hug. :)

We gathered up his Valentines goodies then made our way home, where we sat at the table and went through his loot. He found a lollipop in his stash (one of his favorites), and he handed it to me, his way of saying, "Hey, Mom--can you help me open this?" I opened it, he ate it, all was good. Then he found another lollipop and asked me to open it. I did, but when I returned it to him, he gave it right back to me. He was giving me a gift; my sweet little boy wanted to give his mommy a lollipop.

I heart him. :)

So now I type, pink Jolly Rancher lollipop in my mouth, feeling really lucky to be blessed with the sweet little dude leaning up against me.

Autism is everywhere. I went on a short trip to Texas this week, and there it was.

The strange geologist guy who talked to me on my flight to Texas had someone close to him with autism.

I went to lunch with some old friends from high school and their daughter has sensory integration disorder.

The Guard guy named Lee who sat next to me on the flight back has a three-year-old with autism.

It's everywhere.

First, I'll make a disclosure--I'm having one of those days where my bullshit tolerance is zero. And any bullshit I see I'm calling out.

So here's one for all of you, just one bullshit thing that pisses me off:

Consumers Beware: Dangerous Levels of Arsenic Found in Non-Organic Chicken

From: Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

PRESS RELEASE April 5, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press contact
Ben Lilliston
(612) 870-3416 or blilliston@iatp.org

Arsenic Widespread in Chicken, Testing Finds
Avoidable arsenic commonly added to chicken feed; Arsenic-free chicken
available

Minneapolis ­ Brand name chicken products sold in American supermarkets and
fast food restaurants are widely contaminated with arsenic, according to
independent test results released today by the Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy (IATP).

Testing of 155 samples from uncooked supermarket chicken products found 55
percent carried detectable arsenic. Arsenic was more than twice as prevalent
in conventional brands of supermarket chicken as in certified organic and
other ³premium² brands. All 90 fast food chicken products tested by IATP
also contained detectable arsenic. The full report can be read at:
www.iatp.org.

Arsenic in chicken meat appears closely linked to the decades-old practice
of intentionally and routinely putting arsenic into chicken feed. At least
70 percent of U.S. broiler chickens have been fed arsenic, according to
estimates.

³Adding arsenic to chicken feed is a needless and ultimately avoidable
practice that only exposes more people to more of this ancient poison,² said
Dr. David Wallinga, a physician, author of Playing Chicken: Avoiding Arsenic
in Your Meat, and director of IATP¹s Food and Health program.

³There is good news. Consumers can limit or eliminate their arsenic intake
in chicken by making smart choices about which chicken to buy,² said
Wallinga. ³Our testing found plenty of supermarket chicken without any
detectable arsenic. Birds sold under organic labels can¹t legally be given
arsenic. For other chicken, your best bet is to directly ask for some
assurance from the producer, supermarket or restaurant that¹s selling it.²

The U.S. Department of Agriculture fails to test for arsenic in the chicken
breasts or thighs that Americans mostly eat, and does not make public
results of its testing of individual brands.

Brand name chicken products tested by IATP included Foster Farms, Trader
Joe¹s, Gold¹n Plump, Perdue, Smart Chicken, and Tyson Foods. Fast food
chains that had chicken products tested included McDonald¹s, Wendy¹s,
Arby¹s, Subway, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Church¹s and Popeyes. Chicken
products were purchased from supermarkets and fast food outlets in Minnesota
and California and were analyzed for arsenic by a private, independent
commercial laboratory.

Some specific findings from the report:
* Arsenic levels vary significantly. The most contaminated brands of
uncooked chicken breasts and thighs on average had arsenic levels around
ten-fold higher than did the brands found to be least contaminated with
arsenic;
* Plenty of the raw chicken tested had no or nearly no detectable
arsenic, including that from some organic companies and most chicken tested
from the world¹s largest chicken producer, Tyson Foods;
* Five packages of Gold¹n Plump livers contained an average of nearly 222
ppb arsenic, the highest of all the chicken samples;
* Prepared chicken thighs from Church¹s on average had 20 times the
arsenic levels of thighs from KFC. The chicken in sandwiches from Jack In
The Box on average had more than five times the arsenic than in Subway
sandwiches.
* An estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million pounds of roxarsone, a single arsenic
feed additive, are given each year to chickens. Much of this ends up in
chicken litter and the broader environment.
Arsenic causes cancer and contributes to other diseases including heart
disease, diabetes and declines in intellectual function. While none of the
chicken products tested had arsenic levels above federal standards, much has
changed since those standards were set. For one thing, Americans eat at
least two and a half times more chicken than they did 40 years ago.
Additionally, the latest science reports that some forms of arsenic are more
toxic than previously thought, and cumulative human exposures to arsenic,
including in chicken meat, are likely higher than previously thought.

³Smarter poultry companies, from the world¹s largest to some of the
smallest, no longer use routine arsenic,² says Dr. Wallinga. ³Europe has
banned the practice. It¹s long past the time to take arsenic out of U.S.
poultry feed.²

The report made several recommendations:
* Consumers should seek out chicken raised without arsenic in its feed,
including that sold as USDA-certified organic chicken, under which the
practice is prohibited;
* Poultry companies should voluntarily avoid the use of arsenic and
inform consumers of such;
* Restaurants, hospitals and schools should ask their poultry suppliers
to stop using arsenic in feed;
* Federal and state regulators should withdraw approval for meat and
poultry producers to add arsenic to our food chain and environment.
The full report can be found at: www.iatp.org

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy works globally to promote
resilient family farms, communities and ecosystems through research and
education, science and technology, and advocacy.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/arsenic060405.cfm

My NetID is recycled. I didn't know this, at first--my university didn't tell me that the email address I'd picked had been used by someone else before. But, yes, using my first initial and my last name was perhaps not the best plan because once there was a dude named Dustin to used the same strategy.

I've never met Dustin, but I've learned a lot about him over the years. I know some of the courses he was enrolled in because my NetID got me into his Caucus account. I know he was a frat boy because I get the networking emails from his frat. I know he had pets because he registered for a Petco Pals card. I know he liked to drink at Old Chicago because the bar sends him emails about their specials. But he wasn't just some drunken frat boy, no--he was a good Christian boy, too. He bought the Left Behind books on Amazon, and they frequently send him suggestions of other Christian books he might enjoy.

I feel kind of voyeuristic, getting this glimpse into the life of a person who I have nothing in common with but the same first initial and last name. And at the same time, it makes me wonder how much people would infer about me just from looking into my inbox. I mean, they might get that autism is an important part of my life . . . but then again, they might think I'm a little freaky when they, say, see some of the blog titles that roll in on my Honey and Lance email subscription.

And then there are all the personal emails on top of that . . . interesting what an electronic inbox might say about a person. ;)

I love that my seven-year-old son just asked me to define "rancor."

I actually had to look it up.

On the negative side, the disjunction between the spelling and the pronunciation led us back, once again, to our Great Vowel Shift discussion. Explaining the vowel shift process wasn't enough; he wanted to know WHY it happened. I talked about migration patterns, etc . . . but it just wasn't enough. He could get why people would change the way they pronounce things. ::sigh::

The other thing I love is that he was arguing with his homework this afternoon. He just did NOT buy that dinosaur extinction may have been caused by "a huge star [that] crashed into Earth, making it as hot as an oven." He described the devastating impacts such an event would have on the entire solar system and boldly asserted that it was an ASTEROID rather than a HUGE STAR. I agree. People who write second grade texts are dumb.

Noah came home from school and wanted to go outside.

He hadn't finished his homework yet and it was pretty chilly out, but he was asking to do something else besides playing Wii, so I was "woo hoo! let's do it!"

After a few minutes outside, Noah noticed all the fruit on the citrus trees. And he wanted to "harvest" it all.

I got him a basket to collect his crop and he eagerly began his task. He picked the grapefruit (which he called "giant grapes"). He picked the oranges. He picked the lemons. He asked me to reach one of the high fruits . . . and I realized that the tree that always grows so funky, the one that is short and fat in the front and tall and poofy in the back . . . is actually two trees--one lemon, one orange--twisted together. Yeah, you'd think that after almost three years of looking at that tree--or those trees, rather--that I'd have know that before now!

His basket was over-flowing with fruit. And once he had his fruit, that's when the plotting began.

He needed lumber. Lots of it. To build a stand. He was going sell the fruit. For $5 each. He was even going to sell the bruised fruit too, he said, "for decoration."

The lemons, of course, were for lemonade. Which he was going to sell for $5 a glass. And which we had to make RIGHT THAT SECOND.

So mom cut the lemons and helped Noah squeeze them. After squeezing the bejeebus out of five lemons, we had enough lemon juice to make about three shot-glasses worth of lemonade. Phew!

We drank the lemonade, but the fruit still waits in the basket. He's determined to set up his stand . . . but I talked him into waiting until Saturday.

That boy's gonna make us millionaires.

The White House web site got itself a new media makeover . . . as a scholar interested in new media rhetoric this made me get my geek on. One notable new feature is the White House blog. The first blog post hit at 12:01 pm, one minute after Obama became the President. Obama might be Blackberry-less, but his administration is tech savvy.

While I was on the site, I of course had to check out some policy things. Alright, I had to check out one policy thing. I clicked on the link for Disability. There was some cool stuff there. Right below the main section was an additional section on autism. No section on any other disability. Just autism. 

And, well, since this is the most important political issue in my world, I was psyched that the administration was giving so much prominence to it.

McCain's policy on autism was that we need to provide more federal funding to research the causes of autism. Sounds like a decent policy, I suppose, but under the hood it has so many problems. First of all, there's the question of who does the research and what is being researched. Currently big pharma is doing the research, and they have a pretty clear agenda--they want to make money by selling more drugs. Yay for them. Biomedical approaches get dismal funding. Sucky. Another problem with McCain's policy was that it didn't address ways to help the kids that have autism NOW. What about training, habilitation, and therapy for these kids? You know, so they won't be a big drain on the government when they get old and can't support themselves, if dollar signs are your issue.

Anyway, Obama's policy is better. He went into it in more detail in his World Autism Day speech than he does on the web site, but I didn't expect detailed policy there anyway (btw, that was during the primaries, and none of the other candidates paid much attention to World Autism Day at all). I'm just psyched to have a President who makes autism a high enough priority that he mentions it specifically on whitehouse.gov. That's all.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/disabilities/

Yep, I know you envy me--I've been collecting stool samples from Boo. Two down, three more to go. Yet another another lab test for my little guy. He's already done over two grand worth of labs in the past month. Woo.

I got myself lost in a rabbit hole. A giant labyrinth of a rabbit hole.

It started with an observation of the number of military families in the autism community. Seems like every autism group I'm a part of, both online and local, is filled with a surprising number of military families. So I started digging around . . . and was sickened to find that the DOD is the world's worst polluter. Apparently they are exempt from the Clean Water Act and can pollute your drinking water as much as they want to. It's worst on our overseas bases (I'll spare you the horrific details), but it happens here, too. Great. 

I came across an article that discussed thirty-something former military bases becoming Superfund sites, which led me deeper into the rabbit hole. I started looking up Superfund sites near the places where the boys have lived. There's one in our current town--the airport (which is on the opposite side of town from us).

But Nevada, where my boys were born, is a DAMN toxic state. The tiny town of Fallon, for instance, has six Superfund sites . . . and a horrific cancer cluster. Plus there's a giant military base there . . . gee, wonder if there's any connection?

In Reno/Sparks, where my boys were born and spent their earliest and most delicate years, there are many Superfund sites:

NEAR RENO                ROCKETDYNE NEVADA FIELD LABORATORY     RTE 33                                 NVD980637581

 RENO                     AEROLITE CHROME                        1000 TELEGRAPH ST                      NVD981964596

 RENO                     SUN CHEM                               7970 SECURITY AVE.                     NVD981694540

 RENO                     WASHOE DRUM SITE                       10 MI S OF RENO                        NVD981622798

 SPARK                    LAS VEGAS/TONOPAH/RENO STAGE LINE      1155 GLENDALE AVE.                     NVD986773257

 SPARKS                   ARCADIA AIR PRODUCTS                   TRACY CLARK STATION                    NVD008502890

 SPARKS                   GLENDALE                               NR I-5                                 NVD981622780

 SPARKS                   MONITE DYNAMITE SITE                   T 20 N, R 20 E, SEC 28, SW 1/4, MDW    NV0001093145

 SPARKS                   SPARKS SOLVENT/FUEL SITE               1 MILE FROM TRUCKEE RIVER              NVD986768778

 SPARKS                   TRIGON CORP.                           1175 GLENDALE AVE.                     NVD076105402

  

There were lots of others nearby, too, in Verdi and Stateline and Virginia City and Carson City and Zephyr Cove and . . . the list goes on.

Is it any wonder that I have a child filled with toxic levels of lead and cadmium and arsenic? I mean, it was in Nick's cradle. Some kids are fortunate enough to have strong enough systems to purge out a lot of those toxins, but not Nick. If we tested Noah, I'm sure we'd find high levels in him too. These poisons are neurotoxins. They cause neurological problems, like autism.

Yeah, I'm sure to some of you I sound like that crazy lady who just wants to find something to blame her kids' autism on. But I've seen the labs. These toxins are in my son--I'm not making this up. And he got them from his environment.

We need to green our world. And not just because it will help the poor polar bears who are drowning in the Arctic because all that ice melt means they have to swim further and further. No, we need to green our world because our children are being poisoned. Look at the ever-increasing rates of autism and juvenile cancers. These kids are the canaries in the mine, screaming at us that things are not safe.

We need to fucking listen to them and make some radical changes. NOW.

Do you think the parents paid the babysitter a few extra dollars to account for the gun trauma?

Angry 4-Yr.-Old Shot Babysitter For Stepping On His Foot: Cops

Source:  http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_30708.aspx

Once upon a time there was a darling little boy with a very, very sick tummy. He had a sick tummy for a very, very long time--ever since he was one year old and got the measles from his immunization.

The darling little boy with the very, very sick tummy found himself in a very precarious downward spiral. He didn't eat a whole lot because his tummy felt so sick, and what he did eat his body couldn't process well because his tummy was so sick. And so the darling little boy with a very, very sick tummy was lacking a lot of the good things his mind and body need to function right: minerals like calcium and selenium, and important amino acids like methionine, taurine, lysine, threonine, tryptophan, leucine, valine, cystine, tyrosine, and serine.

Those minerals and amino acids that the darling little boy with the very, very sick tummy was lacking caused some breakdowns in the processes that most of our bodies go through.

He was lacking the stuff that bodies use to make melatonin, the friendly hormone the pineal gland sends out to help us sleep, so the little boy did not sleep very well at all. Walking around exhausted all the time was not very fun for the little boy.

He was lacking the the stuff that bodies use to fight inflamation, putting him at risk for heart disease and other bad things.

He was lacking the stuff that helps the brain work well, creating a neurological disorder. We'll call it autism.

He was lacking the stuff bodies use to fight off bad things. And so the darling little boy with the very, very sick tummy had very, very bad poisons hiding in his body. The poisons are named arsenic, cadmium, and lead. They also hurt his brain, making his autism even worse.

But worst of all, the darling little boy with the very, very sick tummy was lacking the stuff that bodies use to make new cells. Tummies replace their old cells with new ones every three days, but the little boy wasn't making new cells like he should have been, which left the lining of his digestive system very raw . . .

Which made his tummy even more sick.

Which made him even less able to get the good things from food that would help his mind and body to work right.

And so a doctor came and prescribed lots of good things to help the darling little boy with the very, very sick tummy. To make his tummy get better, she gave him Diflucan, probiotics, and digestive enzymes. And since it would take awhile for the little boy's very, very sick tummy to start working well again, she gave him some things for helping his mind and body work right that his tummy wasn't able to get from his food. These were things like DHA, Seleno Met, MethylFolate, and Amino Support Powder. The little boy's mommy had to think of creative ways to get all of these medicines into the little boy's body.

And the doctor also said that the little boy with the very, very sick tummy needed to have shots of a special vitamin named B12 every other day. The little boy's older brother was very, very worried about the little boy having to have the shots.

The doctor decided the little boy with the very, very sick tummy should have these treatments for one month and then she would check again to see how the little boy was doing. She also ordered more tests to see if there were other bad things living the the boy's tummy.

The little boy's mommy hopes that all of these things will help the little boy's very, very sick tummy to get better . . . and his mind and body too.