Re: What direction do I take?...for pecanbread list this is OT

[Guest guest]

Penny,Well, I know that it's hard work,but thankfully when we first

found out that our son was asd someone told me that you have to work

very hard for a long time.There went life as we knew it.The rewards

have been well worth the effort.I admit,I am a homeschool mom and I

have four children,but we hired someone to do the ABA therapy so that

I could school my other children and take care of the baby.I couldn't

do the ABA myself(we started out that way)because it was hard and I

would get very down,because I could see that my son was so far behind

and it discouraged me.I do great following up with ABA and bringing

out what he has learned in his surroundings,and I also do the diet

and supplements.Then,I just like to love him and appreciate the son

that God has given me to help mold into the beautiful butterfly that

is emerging.I'll be praying for you.Your son is a wonderful

treasure,just enjoy him and the steps that he makes.

DeAnn,mom to 3.9 asd,scd 7+ weeks

[Guest guest]

Thanks so much for your reply. I will check out their website and see if they

can help me.

Penny

Re: What direction do I take?...for pecanbread list this

is OT

Hi,

you might want to check out the National Association for Child Development

(NACD). They do individual evaluations assessing all areas of development and

education and behavior and design a home program to stimulate development,

increase processing and normalize sensory channels. I have been homeschooling

my 5 year old daughter for the past two years with them and am very happy with

her progress developmentally and academically - it of course takes time and

effort to implement her program, but they seem to know better than anyone else

what her brain is doing and what she needs to move on. The physiologic issues

are a challenge, and can lead to periods of plateaus and regressions, so

addressing both developmental needs and physiologic needs is important for

optimum development. Despite all the physiologic challenges, my daughter is

doing well with NACD. I have also talked with other NACD families who have

found that doing a very personalized progra m that meets our kids needs and

doing it consistently over time makes the biggest changes. NACD is a

neurodevelopmental approach and their website is www.nacd.org . hope this is

helpful to you.

love,

Vidya

Penny Galloup wrote:

I can't seem to stop myself from going in a million different directions. I

think it will be imprinted on my headstone that I am the queen of inconsistency.

I tend to go off on different things and never really focus. I have been so

entranced in Kenzie's diet over the last several months that everything else has

gone by the wayside. Mostly I'm thinking about his learning. I've always felt

that he is a very sick little boy. It's been proven by medical tests, stools

and his behavior. I felt that in order for him to learn in the most optimum way

that he needed to be healthy first. That seems to be something that we will be

working on forever. He's getting healthier but we still have a long ways to go.

I've been reading post from all my different list. The glaring problem for

me seems to be lack of education. I had asked recently on the me-list what

people that about his educational program at school. I think they are doing a

great job of priming him for lst grade in the respect of being with other kids

and being able to handle all that comes with being the in the classroom. What I

think that is being missed is the actual educational piece of the puzzle.

However maybe the priming needs to come before the learning. I get so

frustrated and discouraged that he is so far behind. He's not even remotely at

preschool level and he'll be eight this summer. This is where I think my

responsibility lies. I feel that I should work with him a lot but it just never

seems to happen. He doesn't like to do table work or DTT, never has. He

probably gets way too many videos so why would he want to come to the table to

do things that doesn't interest him. I think the impedance for this

post was reading on the me-list teaching interverbals and RFFC's. We started

that four years ago and never got anywhere. His consultant says she feels he

should really understand for example, what a ball is before you teach all the

components of it. She feels confident with the progress he has made and I have

a lot of faith in her. It's just never enough for me. At this rate I don't see

him as ever getting even close to catching up with his peers, ever. So why all

this bitching you say...why not just, as Nike says " do it. " Honestly, I'm

really bad at it. Just like everything else I flounder. What I'm asking is

what would you do if you were in my situation? I have three small children. We

run our own business so I have to have that involvement, especially in the

summer. I live in the mountains of rural Montana with no people around to hire

even if I had the money. No family here, no church invol vement. I'm not

complaining because we did this willingly but what would you

do? How would you maintain the needed time he needs in educating him? I am

not nor will I ever be a good homeschool person. I think I would do him, the

rest of my family and myself a disservice by trying to do so. I would just

freak out. So, based upon that, what would you do if you were in my shoes? I

just recently attempted to do RDI with him thinking that would be a good program

for after school next year when he is gone from 6:45am to 5pm. Haven't been

doing well with that either. I've also been looking at and doing some

alternative biomedical things like SCD and homeopathy. I can't seem to stay

focused in one direction. Please help.

The forever and always lost mom.

Penny

Kenzie ASD 7 y.o.

[Guest guest]

Doreen:

Another mom wrote me about making simple daily lists. That goes along with what

you said about prioritizing daily challenges. That makes a lot of sense to me.

Because as you said the big picture is just too hard. Thank you for your kind

words. If I didn't beat myself up once in a while, I wouldn't know who I was.

Nothing like a little self abuse.

Thank you again for your support.

Penny

What direction do I take?...for pecanbread list this

is OT

I can't seem to stop myself from going in a million different directions. I

think it will be imprinted on my headstone that I am the queen of inconsistency.

I tend to go off on different things and never really focus. I have been so

entranced in Kenzie's diet over the last several months that everything else has

gone by the wayside. Mostly I'm thinking about his learning. I've always felt

that he is a very sick little boy. It's been proven by medical tests, stools

and his behavior. I felt that in order for him to learn in the most optimum way

that he needed to be healthy first. That seems to be something that we will be

working on forever. He's getting healthier but we still have a long ways to go.

I've been reading post from all my different list. The glaring problem

for me seems to be lack of education. I had asked recently on the me-list what

people that about his educational program at school. I think they are doing a

great job of priming him for lst grade in the respect of being with other kids

and being able to handle all that comes with being the in the classroom. What I

think that is being missed is the actual educational piece of the puzzle.

However maybe the priming needs to come before the learning. I get so

frustrated and discouraged that he is so far behind. He's not even remotely at

preschool level and he'll be eight this summer. This is where I think my

responsibility lies. I feel that I should work with him a lot but it just never

seems to happen. He doesn't like to do table work or DTT, never has. He

probably gets way too many videos so why would he want to come to the table to

do things that doesn't interest him. I think the impedance for this post was

reading on the me-list teaching interverbals and RFFC's. We started that four

years ago and never got anywhere. His consultant says she feels he should

really understand for example, what a ball is before you teach all the

components of it. She feels confident with the progress he has made and I have

a lot of faith in her. It's just never enough for me. At this rate I don't see

him as ever getting even close to catching up with his peers, ever. So why all

this bitching you say...why not just, as Nike says " do it. " Honestly, I'm

really bad at it. Just like everything else I flounder. What I'm asking is

what would you do if you were in my situation? I have three small children. We

run our own business so I have to have that involvement, especially in the

summer. I live in the mountains of rural Montana with no p eople around to hire

even if I had the money. No family here, no c! hurch in volvement. I'm not

complaining because we did this willingly but what would you do? How would you

maintain the needed time he needs in educating him? I am not nor will I ever be

a good homeschool person. I think I would do him, the rest of my family and

myself a disservice by trying to do so. I would just freak out. So, based upon

that, what would you do if you were in my shoes? I just recently attempted to

do RDI with him thinking that would be a good program for after school next year

when he is gone from 6:45am to 5pm. Haven't been doing well with that either.

I've also been looking at and doing some alternative biomedical things like SCD

and homeopathy. I can't seem to stay focused in one direction. Please help.

The forever and always lost mom.

Penny

Kenzie ASD 7 y.o.

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your words of support and encouragement.

Penny

Re: What direction do I take?...for pecanbread list this

is OT

Penny,Well, I know that it's hard work,but thankfully when we first

found out that our son was asd someone told me that you have to work

very hard for a long time.There went life as we knew it.The rewards

have been well worth the effort.I admit,I am a homeschool mom and I

have four children,but we hired someone to do the ABA therapy so that

I could school my other children and take care of the baby.I couldn't

do the ABA myself(we started out that way)because it was hard and I

would get very down,because I could see that my son was so far behind

and it discouraged me.I do great following up with ABA and bringing

out what he has learned in his surroundings,and I also do the diet

and supplements.Then,I just like to love him and appreciate the son

that God has given me to help mold into the beautiful butterfly that

is emerging.I'll be praying for you.Your son is a wonderful

treasure,just enjoy him and the steps that he makes.

DeAnn,mom to 3.9 asd,scd 7+ weeks

For information on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, please read the book

_Breaking the Vicious Cycle_ by Elaine Gottschall and read the following

websites:

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

and

http://www.pecanbread.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Dear Penny:

I know that I have felt exactly the same way many times and I do not

know a mom of a special needs child who has not. It sounds like you

have in fact focused quite intensely on Kenzie's diet and should

congratulate yourself for all of your hard work rather than punish

yourself. Listening to your situation, I had two reactions. First,

it sounds like you do not have many sources of assistance around you

and that the school is one of the few places where you can get some

outside assistance. That doesn't mean you have to rely on them

solely, but I wouldn't rush to home school if I were in your shoes.

Second, I think you have to consider what you are best at as well. I

feel I work tirelessly on my son's behalf, but I know that if I tried

to homeschool him I would go right over the edge - yup - right over.

On the education front I am better at encouraging others - okay,

pushing maybe - to look for and try new ways of reaching and

educating my son. I ask, I question, I research but I know that if I

was trying to educate him myself, I would be a complete failure.

Try not to be too hard on yourself. None of us are good at

everything - but we are all doing a heroic job in our own ways of

raising our special children. Just my 2 cents. Hugs to you. .

> I can't seem to stop myself from going in a million different

directions. I think it will be imprinted on my headstone that I am

the queen of inconsistency. I tend to go off on different things and

never really focus. I have been so entranced in Kenzie's diet over

the last several months that everything else has gone by the

wayside. Mostly I'm thinking about his learning. I've always felt

that he is a very sick little boy. It's been proven by medical

tests, stools and his behavior. I felt that in order for him to

learn in the most optimum way that he needed to be healthy first.

That seems to be something that we will be working on forever. He's

getting healthier but we still have a long ways to go.

>

> I've been reading post from all my different list. The glaring

problem for me seems to be lack of education. I had asked recently

on the me-list what people that about his educational program at

school. I think they are doing a great job of priming him for lst

grade in the respect of being with other kids and being able to

handle all that comes with being the in the classroom. What I think

that is being missed is the actual educational piece of the puzzle.

However maybe the priming needs to come before the learning. I get

so frustrated and discouraged that he is so far behind. He's not

even remotely at preschool level and he'll be eight this summer.

This is where I think my responsibility lies. I feel that I should

work with him a lot but it just never seems to happen. He doesn't

like to do table work or DTT, never has. He probably gets way too

many videos so why would he want to come to the table to do things

that doesn't interest him. I think the impedance for this post was

reading on the me-list teaching interverbals and RFFC's. We started

that four years ago and never got anywhere. His consultant says she

feels he should really understand for example, what a ball is before

you teach all the components of it. She feels confident with the

progress he has made and I have a lot of faith in her. It's just

never enough for me. At this rate I don't see him as ever getting

even close to catching up with his peers, ever. So why all this

bitching you say...why not just, as Nike says " do it. " Honestly, I'm

really bad at it. Just like everything else I flounder. What I'm

asking is what would you do if you were in my situation? I have

three small children. We run our own business so I have to have that

involvement, especially in the summer. I live in the mountains of

rural Montana with no people around to hire even if I had the money.

No family here, no church involvement. I'm not complaining because

we did this willingly but what would you do? How would you maintain

the needed time he needs in educating him? I am not nor will I ever

be a good homeschool person. I think I would do him, the rest of my

family and myself a disservice by trying to do so. I would just

freak out. So, based upon that, what would you do if you were in my

shoes? I just recently attempted to do RDI with him thinking that

would be a good program for after school next year when he is gone

from 6:45am to 5pm. Haven't been doing well with that either. I've

also been looking at and doing some alternative biomedical things

like SCD and homeopathy. I can't seem to stay focused in one

direction. Please help.

>

> The forever and always lost mom.

>

> Penny

> Kenzie ASD 7 y.o.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Re: What direction do I take?...for pecanbread list this

is OT

Dear Penny:

I know that I have felt exactly the same way many times and I do not

know a mom of a special needs child who has not. It sounds like you

have in fact focused quite intensely on Kenzie's diet and should

congratulate yourself for all of your hard work rather than punish

yourself. Listening to your situation, I had two reactions. First,

it sounds like you do not have many sources of assistance around you

and that the school is one of the few places where you can get some

outside assistance. That doesn't mean you have to rely on them

solely, but I wouldn't rush to home school if I were in your shoes.

Second, I think you have to consider what you are best at as well. I

feel I work tirelessly on my son's behalf, but I know that if I tried

to homeschool him I would go right over the edge - yup - right over.

On the education front I am better at encouraging others - okay,

pushing maybe - to look for and try new ways of reaching and

educating my son. I ask, I question, I research but I know that if I

was trying to educate him myself, I would be a complete failure.

Try not to be too hard on yourself. None of us are good at

everything - but we are all doing a heroic job in our own ways of

raising our special children. Just my 2 cents. Hugs to you. .

> I can't seem to stop myself from going in a million different

directions. I think it will be imprinted on my headstone that I am

the queen of inconsistency. I tend to go off on different things and

never really focus. I have been so entranced in Kenzie's diet over

the last several months that everything else has gone by the

wayside. Mostly I'm thinking about his learning. I've always felt

that he is a very sick little boy. It's been proven by medical

tests, stools and his behavior. I felt that in order for him to

learn in the most optimum way that he needed to be healthy first.

That seems to be something that we will be working on forever. He's

getting healthier but we still have a long ways to go.

>

> I've been reading post from all my different list. The glaring

problem for me seems to be lack of education. I had asked recently

on the me-list what people that about his educational program at

school. I think they are doing a great job of priming him for lst

grade in the respect of being with other kids and being able to

handle all that comes with being the in the classroom. What I think

that is being missed is the actual educational piece of the puzzle.

However maybe the priming needs to come before the learning. I get

so frustrated and discouraged that he is so far behind. He's not

even remotely at preschool level and he'll be eight this summer.

This is where I think my responsibility lies. I feel that I should

work with him a lot but it just never seems to happen. He doesn't

like to do table work or DTT, never has. He probably gets way too

many videos so why would he want to come to the table to do things

that doesn't interest him. I think the impedance for this post was

reading on the me-list teaching interverbals and RFFC's. We started

that four years ago and never got anywhere. His consultant says she

feels he should really understand for example, what a ball is before

you teach all the components of it. She feels confident with the

progress he has made and I have a lot of faith in her. It's just

never enough for me. At this rate I don't see him as ever getting

even close to catching up with his peers, ever. So why all this

bitching you say...why not just, as Nike says " do it. " Honestly, I'm

really bad at it. Just like everything else I flounder. What I'm

asking is what would you do if you were in my situation? I have

three small children. We run our own business so I have to have that

involvement, especially in the summer. I live in the mountains of

rural Montana with no people around to hire even if I had the money.

No family here, no church involvement. I'm not complaining because

we did this willingly but what would you do? How would you maintain

the needed time he needs in educating him? I am not nor will I ever

be a good homeschool person. I think I would do him, the rest of my

family and myself a disservice by trying to do so. I would just

freak out. So, based upon that, what would you do if you were in my

shoes? I just recently attempted to do RDI with him thinking that

would be a good program for after school next year when he is gone

from 6:45am to 5pm. Haven't been doing well with that either. I've

also been looking at and doing some alternative biomedical things

like SCD and homeopathy. I can't seem to stay focused in one

direction. Please help.

>

> The forever and always lost mom.

>

> Penny

> Kenzie ASD 7 y.o.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I completely agree, my thoughts on this EXACTLY!!!

Re: What direction do I take?...for pecanbread list

this is OT

Dear Penny:

I know that I have felt exactly the same way many times and I do not

know a mom of a special needs child who has not. It sounds like you

have in fact focused quite intensely on Kenzie's diet and should

congratulate yourself for all of your hard work rather than punish

yourself. Listening to your situation, I had two reactions. First,

it sounds like you do not have many sources of assistance around you

and that the school is one of the few places where you can get some

outside assistance. That doesn't mean you have to rely on them

solely, but I wouldn't rush to home school if I were in your shoes.

Second, I think you have to consider what you are best at as well. I

feel I work tirelessly on my son's behalf, but I know that if I tried

to homeschool him I would go right over the edge - yup - right over.

On the education front I am better at encouraging others - okay,

pushing maybe - to look for and try new ways of reaching and

educating my son. I ask, I question, I research but I know that if I

was trying to educate him myself, I would be a complete failure.

Try not to be too hard on yourself. None of us are good at

everything - but we are all doing a heroic job in our own ways of

raising our special children. Just my 2 cents. Hugs to you. .

> I can't seem to stop myself from going in a million different

directions. I think it will be imprinted on my headstone that I am

the queen of inconsistency. I tend to go off on different things and

never really focus. I have been so entranced in Kenzie's diet over

the last several months that everything else has gone by the

wayside. Mostly I'm thinking about his learning. I've always felt

that he is a very sick little boy. It's been proven by medical

tests, stools and his behavior. I felt that in order for him to

learn in the most optimum way that he needed to be healthy first.

That seems to be something that we will be working on forever. He's

getting healthier but we still have a long ways to go.

>

> I've been reading post from all my different list. The glaring

problem for me seems to be lack of education. I had asked recently

on the me-list what people that about his educational program at

school. I think they are doing a great job of priming him for lst

grade in the respect of being with other kids and being able to

handle all that comes with being the in the classroom. What I think

that is being missed is the actual educational piece of the puzzle.

However maybe the priming needs to come before the learning. I get

so frustrated and discouraged that he is so far behind. He's not

even remotely at preschool level and he'll be eight this summer.

This is where I think my responsibility lies. I feel that I should

work with him a lot but it just never seems to happen. He doesn't

like to do table work or DTT, never has. He probably gets way too

many videos so why would he want to come to the table to do things

that doesn't interest him. I think the impedance for this post was

reading on the me-list teaching interverbals and RFFC's. We started

that four years ago and never got anywhere. His consultant says she

feels he should really understand for example, what a ball is before

you teach all the components of it. She feels confident with the

progress he has made and I have a lot of faith in her. It's just

never enough for me. At this rate I don't see him as ever getting

even close to catching up with his peers, ever. So why all this

bitching you say...why not just, as Nike says " do it. " Honestly, I'm

really bad at it. Just like everything else I flounder. What I'm

asking is what would you do if you were in my situation? I have

three small children. We run our own business so I have to have that

involvement, especially in the summer. I live in the mountains of

rural Montana with no people around to hire even if I had the money.

No family here, no church involvement. I'm not complaining because

we did this willingly but what would you do? How would you maintain

the needed time he needs in educating him? I am not nor will I ever

be a good homeschool person. I think I would do him, the rest of my

family and myself a disservice by trying to do so. I would just

freak out. So, based upon that, what would you do if you were in my

shoes? I just recently attempted to do RDI with him thinking that

would be a good program for after school next year when he is gone

from 6:45am to 5pm. Haven't been doing well with that either. I've

also been looking at and doing some alternative biomedical things

like SCD and homeopathy. I can't seem to stay focused in one

direction. Please help.

>

> The forever and always lost mom.

>

> Penny

> Kenzie ASD 7 y.o.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Penny,

You sound very much like me. I have a tendency to go one direction

and give it my all while neglecting other areas. Diet has taken much

of my time and energy so I have not been able to spend the time I

would like with my son. I also work full-time and homeschool my

older two kids. I have a few comments about your post.

First, don't think that focusing on diet is neglecting his

education. I know for my son most of the therapy he has had has been

a waste of time because he was not physically ready to learn. I like

to decribe it this way: Picture yourself taking a college course.

Imagine you have a splitting headache every day during the teacher's

lecture. Would you get much out of it? Maybe if you had a very

interesting teacher or one that was funny you may get a little more

out of it but still your focus would be on yourself. Knowing you

cannot really concentrate you decide to attend another session of the

same lecture so you can spend more time trying to learn the

material. Since you still have that headache while you listen again

you just get a little more out of it but because your time there is

longer you may get more agitated and even tune it out. Now imagine

your headache is reduced to an annoyance. Now you will get more out

of the lecture - possibly to the point that you will learn more in 10

minutes than you did before in 2 hours. This is what diet is like

for our kids. Some lists will tend to focus on how many hours of ABA

their child has but for what purpose? Quantity is not more important

than quality.

As I mentioned, I homeschool my older 2 kids. Initially I had

intended on homeschooling my autistic son but decided to put him in

public school. Why? Do I really think they can do a better job? I

think in some ways they do a better job since they have more

experience dealing with diabilities but I would do a better job since

I know my son best. I came to the realization that I cannot spend

the whole day with him and it is good for him to not vegetate. I

came to the decision that I will teach him at home but will also send

him to school. Even if he does not learn much academics at school at

least he has been engaged for a period of time instead of watching

videos while giving me the chance to do other things I need to do so

when he gets home I can focus on academics. I admit I have not done

much in the way of academics but the little I do seems to make a

difference.

Lastly you mentioned you have other little ones. In my opinion,

siblings are the best therapists around. I don't know how old they

are but put on your thinking cap to try to figure out how they can

help. I know my 3 year old know the signs and will do things such as

withhold a toy until his brother will point to it or do the

appropriate sign. It is so cute to see him in action. My older kids

read to him and try to get him to do things such as color and play

ball. Use the resources around you well. You don't have to do the

job alone and don't ever think your son would be further along if

only he had 60+ hours ABA.

> I can't seem to stop myself from going in a million different

directions. I think it will be imprinted on my headstone that I am

the queen of inconsistency. I tend to go off on different things and

never really focus. I have been so entranced in Kenzie's diet over

the last several months that everything else has gone by the

wayside. Mostly I'm thinking about his learning. I've always felt

that he is a very sick little boy. It's been proven by medical

tests, stools and his behavior. I felt that in order for him to

learn in the most optimum way that he needed to be healthy first.

That seems to be something that we will be working on forever. He's

getting healthier but we still have a long ways to go.

>

> I've been reading post from all my different list. The glaring

problem for me seems to be lack of education. I had asked recently

on the me-list what people that about his educational program at

school. I think they are doing a great job of priming him for lst

grade in the respect of being with other kids and being able to

handle all that comes with being the in the classroom. What I think

that is being missed is the actual educational piece of the puzzle.

However maybe the priming needs to come before the learning. I get

so frustrated and discouraged that he is so far behind. He's not

even remotely at preschool level and he'll be eight this summer.

This is where I think my responsibility lies. I feel that I should

work with him a lot but it just never seems to happen. He doesn't

like to do table work or DTT, never has. He probably gets way too

many videos so why would he want to come to the table to do things

that doesn't interest him. I think the impedance for this post was

reading on the me-list teaching interverbals and RFFC's. We started

that four years ago and never got anywhere. His consultant says she

feels he should really understand for example, what a ball is before

you teach all the components of it. She feels confident with the

progress he has made and I have a lot of faith in her. It's just

never enough for me. At this rate I don't see him as ever getting

even close to catching up with his peers, ever. So why all this

bitching you say...why not just, as Nike says " do it. " Honestly, I'm

really bad at it. Just like everything else I flounder. What I'm

asking is what would you do if you were in my situation? I have

three small children. We run our own business so I have to have that

involvement, especially in the summer. I live in the mountains of

rural Montana with no people around to hire even if I had the money.

No family here, no church involvement. I'm not complaining because

we did this willingly but what would you do? How would you maintain

the needed time he needs in educating him? I am not nor will I ever

be a good homeschool person. I think I would do him, the rest of my

family and myself a disservice by trying to do so. I would just

freak out. So, based upon that, what would you do if you were in my

shoes? I just recently attempted to do RDI with him thinking that

would be a good program for after school next year when he is gone

from 6:45am to 5pm. Haven't been doing well with that either. I've

also been looking at and doing some alternative biomedical things

like SCD and homeopathy. I can't seem to stay focused in one

direction. Please help.

>

> The forever and always lost mom.

>

> Penny

> Kenzie ASD 7 y.o.

>

>