Good Golly, a New Lolly

Methyl B12 is so important for so many kids on the spectrum. Biologically, it is a critical piece in the methylation cycle. For Henry, MB12 brought on so many speech and socialization gains -- a real miracle for us. In fact, here we are on Doctor Neubrander's website talking about it. Henry started MB12 injections at 4.5 and got them, mostly daily, until recently. We have since discontinued the injections -- everyone thinks that, for now, he no longer needs the intense B12 dosing - though he still gets some orally.





Stan Kurtz, who has done so much for his own son and many other children (through Generation Rescue and elsewhere) -- recently launched a new MB12 lollipop: RevitaPop. I could not resist trying them. They are made with natural ingredients and are even GFCF. It remains to be seen if Henry will use them -- he is not a big sweets eater at all -- but I can attest to the fact that these pops work -- I get a nice energy and focus burst from them. They were very nice to have around during all our appendix trials and tribulations, when I needed a little pick up. I also think they are delish -- and would imagine that most kids will love them (and we will keep trying with Henry!) In the meantime -- I am keeping them for myself (and will definitely reorder!!!).

The Tale Of a Ruptured Appendix and Burst Vacation Plans

Alas, right now I should be poolside in Provence. Instead, I am in my living room. Not a bad place, just not where I planned to be. A few weeks ago, our annual vacation plans went awry.

Actually, my DH's appendix went awry and everything cascaded from there. I was enjoying the annual cocktail party for Henry's school -- chatting with old friends and meeting many parents who would be coming to the school in September. Because I am a nervous Nelly and Cliff had not been feeling well, I was checking my phone pretty regularly and even had suggested to him that Henry's nanny stay until bedtime to help him. I did not check from about 8:40 and 9:10 and then I discovered I missed 11 -- yup 11 -- calls in that time -- starting with "call as soon as you can" and ending with "at Mt. Sinai, get here ASAP"! I did not even know who was at the hospital...or why. I ran out of the party and jumped in a cab. In the cab, I got through to our nanny who was in the ER with Cliff. Her 14 and 12 year old daughters were with Henry (thank goodness they were there and he did not have to go to the ER too!). Everyone seemed pretty sure that it was Cliff's appendix and I was so impressed with the ER at Mt. Sinai, they were really attentive. Cliff's internist was contacted and identified the surgeon he wanted -- and he showed up in the ER at about midnight to see Cliff. Cliff had a CT scan at 4am and was then moved to a room. He went into surgery that morning and was there for about 3.5 hours -- apparently one of the messiest ruptures his experienced surgeon has seen. Long story short... after a week in the hospital (with Henry visiting and asking hysterical questions about who the surgeon was, what medications were administered etc.), Cliff was released, and it was only after about two weeks at home that there is any semblance of normalcy returning (and he is still far from being himself).

Many thanks to all our friends who really stepped up to help us out and offer support and assistance -- I could not have done it without you guys!!!

Oh, and somewhere in there, Henry caught the flu (regular type A not the swine flu) and missed almost the entire last week of school (made it to the end of year party the last day). He improved and then relapsed this Thurs.

The internist told us there was no way we were leaving for France on June 19 as planned nor could we leave a few days later (my pipe dream). So on June 18 I had the sad task of unwinding all our plans. The folks at FlyOpenSkies -- our carrier over the Atlantic -- could not have been nicer, I had emailed vouchers for our full fares within literally 10 minutes (and a personal email telling me how sorry they were that Cliff was sick and hoped our next trip was great -- way to build customer loyalty guys!!!). Our flights down to Marseilles were not refundable and not even a credit was offered but I will still fight that battle (different airline).

Henry had plans of his own -- first he said, "Why can't we just leave him here." Good question, but I behaved like an adult and explained that we were a family and we take care of each other. His Plan B -- "Why can't his own mom come and take care of him." (Ummm . . . because she is in France waiting for us, but Henry did not want to hear that!). In the end, Henry has been pretty good about it -- though he suddenly has shown a hitherto unseen interest in speaking French. He has had lots of playdates the past week and hopefully will this coming week as well if he shakes his flu bug (cough and fever only).

Camp starts on July 6 --and Henry is really excited about it (we went to pick up his t-shirt and other gear because he was sick on the welcome to camp night so he could check it out). This is an exciting and nerve-wracking adventure for me -- Henry is going to a typical camp without an aide, all day every day! Fingers crossed...

Henry Loves The Bubbly

One of Henry's OTs -- the fabulous Jodi Jennings -- shared this photo a few weeks ago of Henry after an OT exercise.

Jodi described it like this:

"Henry created a huge tub of bubbles by blowing through a long strip of tubing. Henry called the tubing his elephant trunk. What began as dishsoap and water in a large bin turned into bubbles overflowing like a volcano. Henry was very motivated to keep steady synchronized breathing and had great breath support to endure this activity for several minutes at a time. He was very goal oriented and would only stop if the bubbles reached the top. This activity strengthens not only our facial muscles but also requires core activation. This was a great activity to share with a peer [he was doing this with another child at the OT gym] because of the nice regulation created by breathing. And then, it turned into a great pallet for expansion of his imagination and pretend play!!"

One of the most amazing things about Jodi is that she really combines so many modalities in a treatment session. She is always changing theses up and building social goals into her OT sessions, often using Floortime principles. The best thing is that Henry loves to go to see her -- who wouldn't if you got to do stuff like this! BTW, She is also a terrific cranio-sacral therapist. Is there anything she can't do (oh yeah, she took these photos too)???

Another Belt

Henry earned his purple belt in tae kwon do on May 30 . . . and received his belt during his class on June 5, 2009. He was so proud of his accomplishment -- as you can see in the picture to the right. He worked very hard to learn the new forms needed to earn his purple belt, and learned them more quickly than we had anticipated.



The morning of Henry's test, we hopped in the car and drove up to Muscoot Farm in Katonah, NY for the National Autism Association - NY Metro Chapter's Family picnic. We saw (and petted) lots of animal babies, took a hayride, and hung out with friends old and new. We had beautiful weather and many families in our chapter came out to enjoy a beautiful Spring day on the farm. We had to leave right after our picnic lunch to get back to NYC in time for Henry's purple belt test -- but would have loved to have stayed longer. On the left is a picture of Henry and Cliff meeting a friendly goat.

AutismOne - Legal and Advocacy Training

I leave bright and early Thursday morning for Chicago with my dear friend Susan. I am so excited to be attending, for at least a few days, the AutismOne Conference. For those unfamiliar with AutismOne, it is a great event, held annually, and is one of the most comprehensive conferences out there.

On Thursday and Friday, we will be in sessions with the newly-established Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy. This training should further my knowledge of legal and advocacy issues relevant to ASD and help me to help our community. I serve on the Advocacy Committee of NAA-NY Metro and expanding our knowledge base will help us further our mission. I also recently did a full day continuing legal education seminar on school law, which focused largely on NYS issues, so I am hoping that I can expand on what I learned there. Thanks so much to Mary Holland for helping to make this opportunity happen!

I also am looking forward to the chance to catch up, however briefly, with friends from around the country. Unfortunately, I cannot stay for the whole conference and will head home on Saturday morning.

I will report more upon my return.

Let the Blogging (Re)Commence!

Okay, okay… after being gently hounded by several friends for not blogging in almost two months, I’m back! (Hopefully not in Poltergeist/“They’re baaaack” sort of way!) I have pulled out my calendar to see what I have been up to and I have to admit, I have been a busy girl – my DH would say too busy, but not me. Rather than one boring long post that will put all of you asleep, I wanted to do a quick recap and you can click on my specific posts about:

• Reflex Repatterning and Brain Gym
• Neurofeedback
• Spring Allergies
  
• The NAA-NY Metro
• Autism Awareness Month Candlelighting Ceremony
  
• AutismOne Legal and Advocacy Training
  

A quick update on Henry . . . In a nutshell – Henry seems to be doing well. He is incredibly chatty these days, much more outgoing, and school work seems to be more readily clicking (though still a challenge!). On Friday, Henry sang in his school spring concert and he proudly displayed his really cool artwork in the art show that preceded the concert. His class sang a reworked (age appropriate!) version of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Monty Python’s Spamalot. It was really cute and all the classes performed with such gusto and talent it was a joy to watch all of them.

Henry also gave a great science presentation at school recently. He had the choice of doing a poster or actually demonstrating an experiment and, to my surprise, chose to demonstrate for the entire class. His experiment involved using a lemon, two forks, some zinc plates and wire to activate a small digital clock – pretty cool stuff. He impressed all of us with his knowledge and understanding of the experiment and he was so proud when he successfully demonstrated it!

In the category of “Hey, you never know…” Henry asked to take his NintendoDS to school recently to play while we wait for the lobby doors to open at 8:15am. I held off letting him do this because I feared he would isolate himself from the other kids and just play his game in a corner. Was I wrong!!! The darned thing has turned into a great tool for socializing. Every morning, Henry is surrounded by other children and they are all talking about the games and sharing thoughts and ideas. Who knew??? And Henry has been great about leaving it in his backpack during the day (a condition of being allowed to bring it). A great, and surprising, result (or maybe I am too old to realize that these games actually can be social?)

And me? I continue to work with Dr. Kellman to get my thyroid in order and we seem to be making good progress (Henry seems to be in a really good place with his thyroid right now). Henry and I also continue our sequential homeopathy and Heilkunst work with Rudi Verspoor and we both continue to see benefits from this treatment. Henry seems to be the somewhat more unusual patient who reacts almost immediately to homeopathic remedies, if he reacts at all. In a way, I like this because it shows me that something is going on.

I love being involved at school, and in addition to serving as the co-chair of the Parents Association Communications Committee, I have done a number of projects this spring at school. I worked with Henry's fabulous music teacher, Sarah, to develop and make cute, simple costumes for Henry and his classmates for the spring concert that evoked the “Spamalot” medieval spirit. I also have been working on the school yearbook with Henry's amazing art teacher, Peter, and a dedicated group of other parents. I took on the parent dedication pages – so many of our families supported the yearbook by purchasing dedication pages -- I was amazed and a bit overwhelmed by the response but the extra work was worth it -- I am hoping our final product looks fabulous -- we all put in lots of time and effort and -- more than once -- the great parents with design training on our committee saved me with technical assistance. We are producing the book through Entourage Yearbooks. This is the school's first year using a professional yearbook company and Entourage has been very patient with all of our newbie questions. The one great unanswered question is my husband’s: “What are you doing up at 1 a.m. working on the yearbook???” Sorry honey.

Allergies Be Gone - Thanks Geri!

I had to give a quick shout out to nutritionist Geri Brewster, Henry's NAET practitioner. Geri treated Henry for spring allergies, grasses in particular, a little more than a month ago -- right before allergy season hit its stride. I know so many kids (and adults) suffering from horrible spring allergies this year, and in past years Henry was frequently among the sufferers, but Geri's treatment (knock wood) has allowed Henry to avoid spring allergies this year. Henry even told Geri last week that he does not have allergies (and his behavior, sleeping through the night, and lack of horrible allergic shiners bear him out). Yeah Geri -- you ROCK!!!