autism up till now

Movie Season & Life Ahead

2010-06-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ok,Ok, i failed the blogging pledge & i have a mouth full of dirt at this very moment. ( if your confused read previous blog post ) I am really trying my best, but man i got alot goin on. Summer is almost here and that means kids movie season has begun. We have already been to Shrek & Marmaduke both relativley funny movies but really the whole movie season revolves around Toy Story 3. We have bought endless mini figures @ $10.00 a pair - while at the movie theatre the past two weeks i have bought kids combos @ $10.00 a piece - they come with a free voucher for ToysRus to get exclusive Toy Story wind up toys . This is MY LIFE people MOVIES & MOVIE TOYS ! Aaaaaaaah ! Some days i could blow a gasket if it were not for the little man with the cute face who can't live without them. No really i have created the monster - i know it, i know it... sigh I do have to say out of all the movies playing this summer Toy Story is one i look forward to. Besides movies we have been muddling through on the homeschool thing - man i am not cut out to be a teacher - do i have RESPECT for the good ones out there. As for me - I'm working hard on my book, and may start teaching some seminars the end of this month. All in All Life is moving on.

The Life I Was Dealt

2010-04-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Obviously i don't get this blogging thing - i believe your supposed to blog regularly - but can you give me a break? I was just new to it all and i didn't know. I promise to take the blogging pledge - Raise your right hand and say - " I Bridget will try to blog at least 3 times a week or eat dirt" - what? NO that doesn't sound good... Alright seriously now - LIfe has taken me over and i have honestly been trying to figure it all out. Ryeder started grade 2 and let me tell ya that was hell from 1-10.
He was attending a Private School because the classroom size was small and i felt it would be a better fit for him than the public school system - only 11 kids to 1 teacher. It worked okay for grade 1, we had a few bullying issues but he liked it and he was learning and growing into this crazy World we all accept as normal.
Grade 2 has been a whole different story - started out with the same kid bullying him again, a teacher administration that didn't want to address it as bullying, the teacher not communicating with me on any level, meetings with teacher, meetings with administration, till their answer was put him back into grade 1. I was blown away!
He is a brilliant child but definitely wasn't getting the time and attention he needed. So here i am homeschooling him until the end of the year trying to write a book and keep our heads above water - ya know? He is doing great and learning to read - something they struggled with teaching him. Through it all i have grown as a mother and a person and i believe the Universe is directing me down the path i need to be on. For this is the life i was dealt and I"M gonna make the BESTof it.

NYC or Bust

2009-08-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

well we finally made it to the Big Apple & Ryeder couldn't have been more excited 2 see his beloved "Statue of Liberty" aka "Lady Liberty". It was a long & tiring day but it was definitely worth the 2 hr wait 2 see his face "smiling" through it all. He got 2 go 2 ToysRus in Times Square: saw the mechanical TRex - Ferris wheel - bought a new talkin Woody ( Toy Story 3 comin out next summer) Went 2 FAO Swartz : danced on the big floor piano (felt like Tom Hanks in "Big") went through a mini Hurricane while at the Bronx Zoo - that was fun! Rode the subways & took lots of Yellow Taxis - that was another must do 4 Rye. All in All had a great trip - going back 4 Macy Day Parade in November & of course a few Broadway plays. I was a little concerned about how he would react 2 all the people & noise in NYC but 2 my surprise the excitement of all the new things 2 see & do seem 2 over rule all that. He decided we should move 2 NYC because "it's not boring here at all" & there was just so much we still need 2 see "so it would B better if we just move here". That's my guy always thinkin ! LOL

the "Horse Boy"

2009-05-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

sorry i haven't been blogging lately, i have been sooo tired and Twitter has been taking up my time - it can be sooo addictive! i have been reading a new book or two (ten) The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson is wonderful and heartwarming. The love and devotion of a father trying to find a way to heal his Autistic son; the journey they take half way across the world becomes a journey of true Love - it is absolutely beautiful - a must read. Back on my home front: Ryeder is anticipating the end of grade 1 with true excitement of not having to wake up sooo early for a few months; and grade 1 being finished forever! we are taking him to NYC this summer so he can finally see his beloved "Lady Liberty" he has been anticipating this for three yrs now - it will be great to see him light up when he see's her. more to come on that trip in about a month. anyway i have to go - you can catch me on Twitter @birdb anyday of the week and i will be back here soon - hopefully with something interesting to relay.

Doc 'walk a mile in our shoes"

2009-05-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

I watched Jenny McCarthy, DR. Jerry Kartzinel and J.B. Handley on The Doctors show yesterday and it was sooo hard to watch without tears. J.B. Handley got very heated in the discussion, then one of the Doctors got heated back, because he took it as an attack on him personally. How i see it is this: Handley gets frustrated when he hears Doctors say that the studies have been done on Vaccines. When anyone can Google vaccine studies and see that clearly not enough has been done to rule out the link between Autism and Vaccines. Most importantly J. B. Handley is a parent who lives with Autism daily, hourly, by the minute so if you don't live with it Doc you really can't feel the frustration we all feel about this subject. I think that Doctors have to start listening to the parents; when you've got so many of them telling you the same story day in and day out. Their child was speaking and after X amount of vaccines they woke up to a silent child... It's not rocket science Doc - just listen and learn - there has got to be something there that you all are missing. Jenny, Jerry, and J.B. are not saying that vaccines are causing Autism - what they are saying is: vaccines could be a one important factor that is affecting our children, they are saying : clean out the toxic preservatives in them, reduce the amount given, stretch out the schedule, do more thorough studies; so that we can either connect them or remove them from the equation. As a mother of a child living with Autism, I can't tell you just how much the RESPECT i have for Jenny McCarthy. She is a Warrior for all of us living with Autism in our lives. She cares about our children and wants what all of us want - healthy happy children. I believe she wants to awaken everyone to look more carefully at everything related to Autism and what could be causing it - and that to me is "above and beyond"what we could ask for. To all the Doctors out there who feel as though we are attacking you - you could not be farther from the truth- we are trying to make you be "the best that you can be" by opening your eyes and your minds - so please hear our call.

the Big Guy speaks

2009-04-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on this story by a week but if you haven't read it yet - here it is: Jim Carrey ROCKS!!!

ryeders month

2009-04-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

hello i'm back to blogging and this is a short one but check out these links for autism awareness month: Larry King Live Tonight: Jenny Mc Carthy & Jim Carey, from movie Greece, Didi Conn

trip cancelled - kung foo panda

2008-06-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

i couldn't make it to the green the vaccines rally on June 4th in washington dc, sooooo dissapointed but things happen. anyway i did add a couple of links to Jim Carey and Jenny McCarthy videos so you could check it out. looks like it was a turnout of about 8 thousand people and hopefully a success, time will tell. ryeder wasn't too dissapointed, i bought him a wonder pets toy for the trip and so that kinda diverted the one hundred questions. tonight we ventured out to see kung foo panda at the theatre. he was quite hesitant about this movie because it is very loud but i couldn't talk him out of going. he sat on my knee with his ears covered and eyes closed for the first fifteen minutes but moved on to his own seat after that. i'm sure i covered his eyes for at least half of the movie- at his request of course but by the end he said he enjoyed it - go figure? i'd have to say i wasn't overly impressed with it; there could have been a little less fighting in it. i find something like that leaves an impression on rye and he then will come home and want to reenact the movie and does take on some the aggression- think i'll pass on seeing that one again. 2:30 am off to bed!

even the celebrities

2008-05-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

there are people who would criticize the famous, say they don't care about anyone but themselves but i think "the times they are a changin". i really believe the stars are becoming a voice for the people and i am happy about that. if you have a stage on which you can bring attention too a cause or a movement, i say "by all means use it". I just found out Ernie Els ( the championship golfer) has a five year old son with autism. i added a link to a video clip from cnn, check it out. it's great to see a father express his feelings about autism. i think the more people can speak out the more our governments may realise there is a need for help. i look at my family and how we struggle to find the funds to get ryeder all the help he needs. (treatments, doctors etc.) then i think about all the people who have a lower income than we do and who are maybe less informed than we are and that even with knowledge of all thats out there; would not be able to afford the services needed to make a difference in their childs life. autism is on the rise 1 in 150 now and i wonder what it will take for our governments to notice. many children diagnosed 10-15 years ago are now young adults and many have needs beyond treatment - maybe assisted living or job assistance or disability payments and it is only going to grow! we need research LOTS and LOTS of research. in the meantime you get by and you go about your day trying to make your child (children) happy - until there is some other answer out there. i say speak out if you are a celebrity or if you are able to reach a wider demographic because frankly, we need all the help we can get!

speak out

2008-04-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

i'm starting to get the hang of this blogging thing and i finally figured out how to add a link! i know, i know i really should have my picture on the cover of "blogging for dummies". anyway, go to my link taca and you"ll see a video for the "green the vaccines" rally being held in Washington, DC. June 4th! Come everyone! even if you don't have a child with autism but you still believe our vaccines are contaminated with toxins that we shouldn't be putting into our ONE month old babies or if you just believe that vaccines are okay but your not 100% sure about them- then this is the rally to be at. i'm not someone who believes vaccines CAUSE autism but i do believe they could be a trigger for a genetic disposition as well as environmental polutants and god knows what else. when ryeder was about eleven-twelve months of age he could say words like kittycat and grandpa and by the time he was fourteen-fifteen months of age he lost those words. this was after five or six vaccines - i don't know - you tell me? is there a connection? i know there are many parents out there who have this same story or worse but i tell ya, it's time somebody starts to listen. i was lucky to have met a woman in a laundromat who informed me her daughter- who was yelling out and grunting- spoke fully until the age of three and just woke up one day and didn't talk anymore. she was diagnosed with autism two months later and has not spoken since- she was seven years of age. at that point i never gave ryeder another vaccine and started to become more informed! i had already had my suspicions anyway so that just reconfirmed things for me. so the rally is an opportunity for me to be a part of the change i want to see happen. if anyone ever reads my blog before June 4 and you can make it to the rally then click on my link to taca and all the information is there.

energizer bunny - no sleep

2008-04-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

weekends that ryeders brother brett and sister emi come are always so enjoyable for us because he is so excited to see them. it is a time for him to be a typical child. rough house with his brother and be silly with his sister. he thoroughly enjoys the time he spends with them and it's great to see. i have a slow down period for him and i try to create some quiet play a few hours before bed but the problem i struggle with, is keeping him from being over stimulated, without me becoming the big bad witch. rye slow down, rye you have to share, rye too loud, rye, rye, rye... you get the big ugly picture. then we hit bedtime and he has been so over excited and over stimulated, that his little brain doesn't shut down over night. he tosses, he turns, he whines, he whimpers, and he sometimes screams out from nightmares. i truly feel for my poor guy, but he doesn't even remember his restless sleep. i on the other hand, get a very unsettled sleep, or no sleep at all. during the week when it is just he and i at home he sleeps quite peacefully. although ryeder didn't become a peaceful sleeper until maybe a year ago at the age of five, needless to say i was sleep deprived for four years. when his siblings visit - nights are anything BUT peaceful for me. there are many mothers of autistic children who have related their stories of sleepless nights, so it's good to know i'm not in the boat all alone. but i really need to find out if there is a way to deal with autistic children and over stimulation. if anyone out there has a piece of advice for me in that area it would be well appreciated.

living in the "now"

2008-04-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

im following along on oprahs "a new earth" webcasts, if you havent checked it out you might want to, it is a phenomenal experience. Eckhart Tolle (the author of the book) talks about living in the present, removing the illusion that anything exists beyond the present; and it really made me think of children with autism. i have often observed present moment thinking in ryeder . like today for example - it's spring (thank the lord! or whoever is responsible for that.) all kinds of little bugs are hatching and flying around: well, that sends ryeder into oblivion! then i thought - hey maybe that is a "present moment" thing. i can go outside and i notice the bugs but i move onto some other thought and it's forgotten; he can't move on - he is always there in the "now". autistic children have what is labelled as sensory disorders but i've often thought that it isn't really a disorder at all. the senses are something that keep us in the "present moment". the only thing is - autistic childrens senses can keep them in the present moment but they can get stuck in that moment through fear (as in ryes case with the bugs.) i've always struggled with the label of autism, (even though i use it myself) because as we know labels can create a such a stain on your character. i want to live in a world where people who are so called "different" are woven into the fabric of life. i don't know? maybe i'm too idealistic. but i believe if we all could just search for the truth within ourselves maybe we could create a world where everyone is accepted.

why do movie theaters have to be so LOUD?

2008-04-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

tonight we saw Nims Island for the second time in a week and i'll probably see it again a couple more times before it is available on DVD. ryeder is an avid movie watcher and loves to go to the theater when a new childrens movie is released. each time we have to go over the same delivery - " Are we going to the movie theater? but the previews are so loud. I'll just cover my ears, that's what i'll do, i'll just cover my ears when it's too loud." recently, i considered buying him ear plugs, you know the foamy ones you can squish but then what a fiasco that would be in the dark! for those of you who don't know, many autistic children have sensory disorders; ryeders hearing is one he struggles with. loud noises are VERY stressful for him, but through it all he still asks "when can we come again" the second the movie ends. i hope the day will come when loud noises are not frighteng to him and a routine trip to the theater doesn't cause anxiety. he loved the island in the movie and of course Nims house. he talks sometimes for days about all the places in the world he wants to see and Nims island makes him think of Hawaii. mostly the Statue of Liberty and New York City are his focus but there's also Paris, New Orleans, Africa, Australia and of course Greenland, cause its all green on the map. well, time to get the "midnight man" off to bed. ya, he usually cant get to sleep before midnight. another autistic thing -not great sleepers! thats a subject for another entry, the whole bedtime thing...

tomorrows a new day

2008-04-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

this is all so new to me . blogging that is. so bear with me until i get the hang of it. i needed a way to voice my feelings about mothering a child with autism. my son ryeder is high functioning and to many people he doesn't appear autistic. that's the thing about autism, there are so many different levels and each child is so individual. every day he is a joy to be with but that doesn't mean it isn't exausting! as mothers we all wonder if our parenting is at all beneficial to our children, but as a mother of a child with autism parenting becomes a whole new ball game. i wonder (on a daily basis) if i'm doing enough to help him learn and grow, and i know there has got to be more i can do. then other days i think "what is it i'm trying to do ?" i waiver between teaching him how to fit into this world and how to just let him exist in his own reality. today when i try to teach letter recognition and he shows no interest (because its so frustrating for him) i question our society and and the whole idea that "we need to conform"- "we need to fit in"- but that is something i have struggled with my entire life, so nothin new, still complicated all the same. Children on the spectrum are a gift in our lives and we learn so much through them, if we would only slow down enough to observe. i welcome any comments or information on letter recognition for autistics and if i can offer any solace to a mother out there, than this is my sole purpose of finally venturing out into the blogasphere!