Re: Reintroducing myself too

[Guest guest]

I've been on the list for many years. I have two daughters and a step

daughter. The youngest is 11 and shows no sign of autism or PDD. My step

daughter

is 22 and is extremly ADD as is my spouse. My 13 year old was diagnosed with

PDD nine years ago. She was mainstreamed into a regular classroom in

Kindergarten and is now in the 7th grade in a parochial school that offers some

special ed services. She is considered extrememly high functioning, with most

of

her symptoms disappearing each year. She has social akwardness, but is very

social at home and with her girlfriends. She has a large group of friends at

her school and is active in Girl Scouts and every sport offered in the area.

Today she is singing with her Girl Scout troop at a local nursing home and is

serving punch and cookies to the residents. She dog sits for neighbors to earn

her own spending money and shops just like her mother!

We've spent countless hours with different doctors, therapists and

specialists looking for answers and treatments and thousands of out of pocket

dollars

paying for things not covered by insurance. I can't really tell you if any of

it is what really made her life easier or if it was a waste of money. We've

watched her grow up into a teenager and she's gone through puberty just fine. I

think it may have helped her socially. Her grades are not the best, but she

tries really hard. She has her own way of studying that works for her and

she does her homework immediately after school. She never turns in her homework

late. She likes the structure of her school (very regimented) and likes

knowing that things stay the same at school. She adjusts to change more easily

now and understands the explanation for the changes.

We never looked into chelating Mercury, but sometimes I think we should look

into it for health reasons. She does take the Fish Oil capsules, vitamin b-6,

vitamin C and a multivitamin. She also takes Pepcid Ac for her milk and

wheat allergy because her stomach is very acidic. Other than that, the other

meds

we've tried never worked, like Ritalin. She was on something to help her

sleep at night, but that passed after she started going to school, and she

sleeps

better than her little sister. She now sleeps in on the weekends and

vacations. Just like a teenager.

This morning it's just the two of us at home. Everyone else is either

working or spent the night at a friends house, so we are going in search of Big

Lots, which we saw on tv recently, and have got to go look at bargains. Like I

said, she likes to shop!