Eating Issues For Autistic Teen

Sometimes as parents of children, teens or adults on the autism spectrum we hope to find someone who has experienced something similar to what we currently are dealing with in our own homes. It helps to know we are not the only ones with a kid who is doing that or having said difficulty or not being able to break a habit that should have happened years earlier.

What I am about to share is not easy to publicly state, but if this could help one other parent know they are not alone with this dilemma or situation than it is worth the embarrassment. Several years ago I read an article in a magazine that had the same effect on me. I was able to locate through some research the Father in the article to contact him to seek some advice. A few years later I followed up as we were still dealing with the same issue and found out his son had been placed in a group home.

My nonverbal son Matthew is fourteen and turning fifteen in a few months. From 2003 to 2008 he received Feeding Therapy from a Medical Group. The Feeding Team consisted of a Dietitian, Occupational Therapist, Marriage and Family Therapist and a Developmental Pediatrician. This was funded through the Regional Center. For a few years therapy was at their location, which housed a few kitchens and therapy rooms.

This is where Matthew started on his anti-psychotic medication. They also visited at school through the years and then I requested the visits to be at our home where it was needed the most.

For the past four months we have received ABA in the home four nights a week. What the Feeding Team could not tackle in a five year period was finally mastered in a few months with the help of some behavior therapists.

Matthew can now drink a variety of liquids from a cup, utilize a fork, eat a variety of foods and no longer drinks from a bottle. For fourteen years my son has been getting the bulk of his nutrition from a baby bottle. He went from milk to ensure plus to a soy alternative drink to soymilk to ricemilk.

He would consume up to six bottles a day. Most often the only way to stop the screaming and wall banging was to let him have a bottle. At last count prior to the start of behavior therapy there were 21 holes in walls throughout the house we have rented for twelve years.

Two years ago summer camp stopped when the couple that ran it moved up north without any prior notice to families. Matthew spent eight summers going there. The classrooms had small refrigerators and there was always a bottle there for when Matthew might need it when they came back from a walking trip. He would drink one on the way home in the car. One summer I had jury duty which meant he spent two hours after camp supervised with access to bottles for one week.

He took his medication in the bottles. At one point he was drinking from a reusable squeeze type bottle that had a little straw inside. We ended up tossing the straw and he drank from the opening. This would be sent to school with soymilk and he liked soy yogurt. His food repertoire was string cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and bacon. He did learn to like chicken noodle soup, tomato soup and squash soup from feeding therapy visits.

There were many food jags where one day he would stop eating a food item and never want it again. The foods offered through the Feeding Therapy were all finger type foods. I requested utilizing utensils so that Matthew could sit at the dinner table instead of pacing through the house with a bottle attached to him.

Five years ago when we took a trip to San Diego for three days to visit Sea World we had a supply of bottles and soymilk. We made sure our room at the Holiday Inn had a refrigerator and microwave.

The article I mentioned earlier that I related to had a picture of a Dad with his son at a park and he had a bottle that contained apple juice with his medicine. It was the first time I had heard of another family that had an older kid drinking a bottle.

I had inquired to the Medical Group if they could put me in contact with other families receiving Feeding Therapy, but that never materialized. The reports from Feeding Therapy looked organized, but that was not how the sessions went. We were left on our own without ever mastering the goals.

The whole experience with them is still hard to put into words, but through ABA the end result is that Matthew is eating turkey burgers, porkchops, macaroni and cheese, tacos, burritos, spaghetti, ravioli, peanut butter and jelly, chicken strips. He drinks orange juice, cran-raspberry juice, water from water bottles and in cups, yogurt drinks and ricemilk in a cup.

He even requests the juice and easily opens the refrigerator to open a water bottle and walks around with one in his hand. He does the same thing with water bottles at school, except he picks up the ones from the adult aides and drinks them.

This past summer there were a few weeks of vacation between the extended school year (ESY) due to furloughs. I spent those weeks at the drive through at Burger King everyday to buy chicken fries and french fries for Matthew at a cost of $50 each week. As I would place an order the guy inside would always say - "Oh, its you".

The ABA therapy started Dec 1st. Over the course of the three week holiday break I took Matthew with me to the laundromat Sunday mornings. One Sunday morning we went to Burger King and I ordered french toast sticks for Matthew. When I drove up to pay and get the order the guy who used to know my order and voice was very surprised to see me and asked where I had been. I pointed to Matthew in the back and said he changed his eating habits!

In January the Supervisor and Director for the ABA company came out to discuss the bottle and toilet training. That day we stopped the bottle. Matthew's Dad comes over on weekends for a few hours and I go out to do errands and workout at the gym. Matthew knew there was still a bottle in the cabinet and was drinking two during these times both Saturday and Sunday. We saw a difference in his behaviors on Mondays.

I was worried the Dad would not be able to handle Matthew's behaviors if he did not get the bottle, but it was hindering the progress we made and I tossed it in the garbage in front of Matthew last Saturday and they all survived the few hours I was out on Sunday.

The wall hitting has ceased so now the holes can be patched, except we might wait on the bathroom since April 1st is the start of Toilet Training.

Matt is also utilizing his Go Talk communication device more often in the home and is no longer attacking me. He washes his hands on his own and we are currently working with ABA therapists on tooth brushing.

We should have started ABA years ago.

New ABA Skills for New Year

A year has been completed in the home for ABA with much success in the eating areas. Matthew now knows how to use a fork and spoon and has increased his food choices to anything and everything. The issue of eating slower and taking bites instead of just inhaling food is still being worked on.

He regularly eats fruits like pears, melons, apple slices, bananas and grapes. Next step is to expand his vegetable picks from carrots to other options. He is eating cereals, but does prefer cinnamon and peanut butter varieties. Drinks include rice milk, V8 strawberry and banana light fusion drink, orange juice and yogurt drinks.

Matthew is a big meat eater as well, with turkey burgers being his favorite. Pancakes and macaroni cheese round out his favorite meals. Steak, chicken, meatloaf, pastas, porkchops and ham steaks are consumed with no hesitation. Gone are the mozzarella sticks and finger foods that he would snack on. A favorite snack now is peanuts.

Progress reports are done on a six month basis. Behaviors have changed over the course of time from banging walls and stomping feet to grabbing my arms. Holes in walls and broken windows hopefully are in the past. The rigid behaviors have all but ceased where before they were a daily constant.

I've been given choices on what adaptive living skills to work on and have added some that I find needing assistance with. At this point in time I prefer to focus on self help skills than on social or play skills. Because tying shoes is the goal on the IEP for Occupational Therapy I wanted to add that to our ABA in-home program. This has just started in the past week.

We have been working on Matthew not trying to bite me when I clip his fingernails. We now soak his hands in a container at the sink to soften them before I attempt a few clips on each hand. I always have to end the session with the emory board. Many days before the bus we are at the door with me filing his fingers. I decided it would make more sense to have Matthew learn to use the emory board on himself instead of all the steps and drama associated with cutting his fingernails. This was well received by the supervisor of our program, so we started this last week as well.

Tooth brushing is working quite well with Matthew able to do this with prompting, but the task of teaching him to spit is not working out. I have searched online for suggestions.

For years now I have been opening a capsule and putting it in his drink twice a day for his medication dosage. I asked about trying to teach Matthew how to swallow a capsule. We have started this but it is quite confusing to Matthew as he does see me break the capsule and has chewed vitamin capsules, caplets and opened them up. I am also looking online for guidance on this task.

I can always tell when Matthew has eaten his school lunch by looking at his pants upon exiting the bus. He has the habit of wiping his hands on his pants so this goal is being worked on in the ABA program to get him to use a wet napkin or towel to clean his hands. I think the food at school is a lot messier.

For tying shoe laces in the program they are using backward chaining. Matthew is able to remove and put on his shoes independently. He can put on his jacket and zipper it plus he is now comfortable wearing the hood in cold weather or when raining. He prefers that to holding an umbrella. Whenever he wears a jacket it needs to be zipped all the way up. This is something we may tackle at another time once the shoes has been mastered.

In the last year Matthew has met the goal for cup drinking, hand washing, putting his shirt on, his pants on and expanding his independent leisure skills by coloring for ten minutes. I did have to remove the crayons and pencils to a cabinet since he was drawing on furniture and walls.

I declined when asked by the ABA program supervisor if I wanted them to teach Matthew how to use the microwave. I suggested teaching him how to wash the dishes would be more appropriate for his level. We are now working on him doing his plate after eating and he is rinsing his cups and silverware before putting them in the sink bin.

We are still in the throes of toilet training with Matthew wearing boxers during session and sitting on the toilet for 5 minutes every 20 minutes. There were many accidents when we moved the time to 25 minute intervals three different times, so twenty minutes is his threshold. This is only being done three times a week during the 2.5 hours of ABA. This has not expanded beyond the program for home or school. It is a long process.

Once the toileting has been accomplished the next step will be learning to swim and hopefully go to a summer day camp.

Update on Autismfamily Adventures

It is time to get back into the blogging routine. Both teen sons are now in high school. Matthew turned 15 this past June and Nicholas turns 17 in March. Since Dec 1st of 2010 Matthew has been funded by the State of California through the Regional Center for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which was for the behavior of putting holes in the walls (last count it was 21) with his pounding on the wall as he walked by.

Life skills are also part of the therapy - teach tooth brushing and toilet training. We have four nights a week for 2.5 hrs. One therapist for three nights and another therapist for one night. I will post another blog on the revolving door of therapists and supervisors we have had in less than one year. Another blog post will be on how Matthew went from being a poor picky eater to now consuming everything in sight, similar to a typical teenager. Toilet training is a slow process but will be covered in a blog as well.

Matthew's teacher has an adult son in a group home - this was the selling point for me for this high school and class - which is a CBI - Community Based Instruction with MRS students - Mental Retardation Severe. His two elective classes are JROTC - his uniform is sharp and I am waiting for the day he has to wear it to school so I can take a picture. His class is after lunch so might have him change his shirt with his aide prior to lunch.

The other elective class is drawing. I met the teacher at back to school night, where he mentioned his son has PDD. The bus that takes Matt and his aide to school also goes to another High school. On the bus are two students that Matthew went to elementary school with and they were all in the same Kindergarten. One of the aides was also in the First grade class Nicholas attended.

The good news is that LAUSD starts school three weeks earlier next year. They get out still at the end of June. There was one incident with Matthew getting out of the house via the backdoor when I was at the gym one Saturday and their Father was here watching them. A neighbor spotted Matthew coming out of the gate and dashing around the corner. She knocked on the door and had the Dad drive his car down the hill to catch up to Matthew - who was running in his socks down the middle of the street.

After learning of this escape and the first of its kind, I stopped going out on weekends and the Dad just comes for a quick visit on Sundays. I am not sure where Matthew was going - but he was on pure adrenaline. The neighbor ran all the way down to find him until the car got to him.

The lake that we used to walk laps around is being drained and under construction for two years so we found a park that is closer and Matthew enjoys walking at a fast pace around and it is filled with trees and shade.

Nicholas is still doing online schooling - taking Biology, Spanish, Modern World Studies, Literature and some other courses. There are some online clubs he is enjoying. I think I will send him to a camp next summer to work on social, life and community skills.

A Free Premium Membership Weekend to Find Help at Care.com

I have been spending the last few days at Care.com checking out the free premium membership offerings that are available this weekend. It starts off at midnight pacific time Friday, April 24th and goes through this weekend.

I had heard of www.care.com but honestly I never really knew what the site was about. I am glad I had the opportunity to explore this site in detail because what I found was very organized search options for finding special needs care.

As the parent to two teens on the autism spectrum I require someone with related experience pertaining to behavior, feeding, communication, stimming, bathing/grooming and hygiene. I prefer them to have their own transportation and to be a non-smoker.

Your search can be limited to availability on short notice, various age groups, individual or company, hourly rate, age of caregiver, mileage from the home, disability and key words.

The initial search for someone to care for special needs has a drop down box with disabilities that include:

ADHD
Aspergers
Asthma
Autism
Blindness/Visual Impairment
Celiac
Cerebral Palsy
Down Syndrome
Epilepsy
Food Allergies
Fragile X
Seizure Disorder
Sensory Integration Disorder
Speech Delay
Tourette Syndrome


The next step is to input your zipcode and choose the mileage in five mile increments from 1-50. There will be a list in the middle of the page with results showing ten possible caregivers per page. This list can be changed according to age, name, city, experience, distance, membership length and refine the search. I have done this several times, changing the distance and the care service experience.

In all honesty it can be a bit overwhelming to see all the options to find someone to assist in the care of the special needs child. The profile pages of the caregivers contains all sorts of data at your fingertips.

I searched using "autism" in the keyword and also wanted to only see profiles of members with a photo and who had logged in within the last two weeks. This can also be last week or last month. I specified wanting experience with teens. This has the age range of 12-17. Another option here is if they are comfortable with pets. This I did not check off since we only have a cat.

The general information in this refined search has drop down boxes for the provider's age, gender, language and hourly rate. I left the default "any" for provider age, gender and hourly rate on all my special needs searches. I specified for housekeeping female only.

Some of the options for care service experience you can search include:

Assistive Technology/AAC
Behavior - Applied Behavior Analysis
Brushing Protocol
Epi Pen Injections
G Tubes
Respiratory Care
Sign Language
Stimming Attendance

There is also a willing to learn section - if that box is checked the caregiver is open to learning new skills. Under other services the options cover - medical transport, errands, shopping, laundry, meal preparation and housekeeping. There is another box for choosing part or full time plus live-in or out.

I really limited my results when I chose AAC and stimming, which left me with no one. Once I changed my search choices I found 6 caregivers within my categories. Their profiles had some interesting information for me to limit my choices even further.

At the profile of the caregivers I saw the last time they logged in, their reviews if any, their certifications, their background check - which is a verification of their social security number and a national criminal records search. You need to apply to obtain this information if it is readily available at their profile. The reviews are also available in audio. I found one profile that had one waiting for approval.

The profile has their name, age, years of experience, hourly rate, availability, response to messages, ratings, diagnosis experience, specific care experience, additional options, qualifications, education, language. There is a check mark indicating experience. The chart lists all days of the week and time frames with checks for openings.

What really caught my eye was not responding to all messages as I found some that had 50% listed there. I was quite interested in the blurb the caregivers used to describe themselves. I would think of this like the opening paragraph of a resume. The remarks by some had nothing to do with caring for special needs or their terms used were not appropriate.

I would prefer someone with CPR, First Aid for their qualifications. One of the choices in my search had let these expire but was willing to take them. I was surprised at this statement as I would rather someone want to do this on their own to speed up the hiring process.

There are green tabs at the top of each profile so you can switch over to child care, tutoring, pet care, housekeeping and senior care. These are all dependant on what the specified caregiver is interested in providing at www.care.com. One profile I read had housekeeping and tutoring while some others just had child care and special needs.

The other options in the green tabs is the contact to send a message, reviews to read, background check, videos and your notes on this profile. The notes are for your eyes only.

I like that there is a page for me that shows my messages, my stats, care exchanges, my jobs, my favorites and my profile and settings. When I logged back into the site my messages were at the home page for me to review. My stats showed that I sent 3 messages and received 1 reply, plus that I had logged in five times. I have two profiles in my favorites and two emails. When the background check was approved by the caregiver for me to access I received an email.

The care exchange is a way for caregivers to get service from other members/caregivers. I uploaded a profile picture and my settings allowed for me to receive listings of new members in my area and for weekly care tips and advice.

While in the special needs section at the main page for the initial search I noticed this was also an area for articles. I did not see anything pertaining to autism at the present time.

I received an email with profiles showing all new members in my location. I contacted two for special needs with specifics for summer help to go to a conference. The one reply said she is a college student and not sure her summer schedule yet. I also contacted one person in regard to Housekeeping. That is also an extensive search. I utilized bathroom, kitchen, windows and refrigerator cleaning for my housekeeping search.

They also have oven cleaning, attic or basement cleaning, pet cleanup, plant care, house sitting, laundry, dishes, cabinet cleaning. Too bad they did not have painting, but they did have wall cleaning, which is something a family with a child on the autism spectrum can surely use.

I rent the stove and refrigerator and would like to get my own refrigerator, so this is something of interest. I asked in my email how long it would take to do this type of job and what it entailed.

The hourly rates for special needs varied from $10-15 all the way to almost $50 per hour. The housekeeping was less expensive. I am looking forward to finding someone to meet my two search requests. The summer camp wants parents to go to a group orientation in June and children are not allowed. I need to find someone for a few hours one evening. Also every August is an autism conference on a Saturday and Sunday. I am waiting to see the schedule and considering going if I can find someone to watch my sons for about 6 hours one day.

I do have respite care through the Regional Center here in California, they pay very low and there is a revolving door. I have a problem with them not speaking English clearly and am hoping the results will be rewarding through Care.com.

I hope these details are helpful to other autism families, as well as other special needs so that you will sign up for the free premium membership this weekend to find care. We all need to take care of ourselves, an evening out for dinner, the movies, a concert, a day spa are all something to consider when you find the right caregiver at www.care.com.

Mother's Day is a few weeks away while summer is just around the corner. Maybe you need the house cleaned up, the dog taken for walks while away for a few days or at work long hours, or someone to assist with some light chores or child care.

I suggest taking advantage of the FREE Premium Weekend at www.care.com. I liked the layout and options so much that I am considering offering services in the fall to other families of special needs kids for mornings or senior care to help out another caregiver that may need a few hours break.

I hope to see you at www.Care.com

Twiter Notes From Autism Webinar on Multi-Treatments

I belong to the Spectrum Gold Club through www.momsfightingautism.com at the cost of $14.95 per month via paypal. Through the club I get advanced notice of the free webinars, that are moderated by author Chantal Sicile-Kira and transcripts from the webinars at a later date.

This webinar took place on Monday April 20, 2009 with Jonathan Alderson in Canada as the guest. He specializes in merging best-practice strategies and techniques into cohesive customizes Multi-Treatment Interventions. His website is Intensive Multi-Treatment Intervention.

The following are the tweets I posted on my twitter page that I was able to gather. My son was in the kitchen at the same time so it was hard to get all the information.

After the introduction Jonathan gave some background information on himself. He went on to mention the principles for choosing a treatment plan.

1st principle to choose treatment program is to start with idea that dx of autism is multifaceted and multi factorial, not just 1 modality

physical health of child needs to be a priority

child has bowel issues, distended stomach, diet intervention working in conjunction with medical Drs within 2-4 months kid did play therapy

principle # 3 each indiv treatment/strategy (slp, ot, music) chosen & brought into an indication that are pre conditioned and timing

try behavior or swimming with other programs you are doing, ask W questions to therapists - what is this specifically for?

be wary if they say the product helps everything, which symptoms does it address and doesn't address, when (HBOT) is best time/age?

don't start HBOT first, do other Biomedical treatments first, this one company turned parents away, principle - which area does it work on

multi treatment does not mean doing them all at the same time or at once, review program that is happening already, might be able eliminate

service providers need to talk to one another, tell a parent if the treatment is not the right one, maybe try this one first

where do all the treatments fit in the map, now taking questions that were sent in, first from Puerto Rico asking about RDI and floortime

both programs fit under a play based model plus social and maybe even use pieces of both to address social dev and social communication

can start with play therapy and move on to behavioral therapy, might have better eye contact spontaneously,now structured adult led learning

son is 6 & does not speak, speech therapy is useless, what can I do. He says consider physical help, high # of kids have chronic ear infect

it is possible that certain sounds they are sensitive too, only one example, not for all nonverbal children, a health concern related?

go beyond hearing tests, speech therapy is low frequency & he says not enough, make sure the SLPs are teaching parents techniques to do home

parent needs to be included or switch therapists with someone who includes you the parent,also make language and talking a game rather than

an exercise that is controlled, be playful with words, mom pours juice, next time sing orange song in a playful way, make language engaging

the child may tug on parent to let them know they want song to sing again, also Chantal says might be motor problem, they need alternative

means of communication, many scared that they will not learn to speak if have a device to communicate, this is not true, will help speech

the focus could than be on the inappropriate behaviors instead of teaching to communicate, don't isolate out language, look at bigger picture

question now on stimming 4 yr old with classic autism likes air conditioners and fans, some say stop them from self stimulating, he is not

investigate - maybe biochemical - beta carotene someone named Mary M published papers on - peripheral vision, hand clapping

Dr in NY Kaplan specializes in vision a therapy not the colored ones but this is lenses that are designed to help depth perception

I typed biochemical, mistake he said bio medical both times

I just submitted a question about my sons vocal tics - burping and then asked about brushing protocol

other callers said the other kid could have yeast over growth

learn how to ask questions if the therapist cannot answer maybe find another one his website is www.imti.ca

next question about B12 shots, he is not a med Dr - personal opinion says there is good research on the B12 shot comparing to creams/spray

he has started four DAN conferences, last one in San Diego, he started long time ago, in Washington, NJ he was invited to Physician training

what does he think of the gfcf diet - what to do and when, specifically to eliminate the proteins in wheat and milk, families in conj w/Dr

a peptide test will tell them if the child needs those eliminated, determine if child needs it or not, dont jump in, others say just try it

at least close to a yr to get results, cannot determine in a few months, make sure full range of nutrition they are getting, SDC appropriate

gfcf does not address a yeast issue where SDC is, Chantal gets responses on trying the gfcf diet for a few months, at least 8 months

gfcf does not address a yeast issue where SDC is, Chantal gets responses on trying the gfcf diet for a few months, at least 8 months

autism can be co morbid with other disorders, can have aspergers and depression

In this brief presentation he will share his insights into how to effectively combine treatments

paying specific attention to phases of development, the order and timing of treatments.

GRASP is good advocacy program, 50% of the board are on the spectrum, also cognitive therapy is good to learn from #asd #autism

Brenda Smith Myles book and Chantal 's book on life skills are both recommended, she touted her own book, but it is good I have it

a teen with aspergers needs to have fun social experiences need a balance not only interact with just therapists #aspergers #asd

Chantal talking about her son who is 20 and he wants to have more friends and a girl friend, he is practicing at various locales, beach

next question about natural healing - oil of oregano, he runs a program with families following DAN protocol

dont do protocols under your own direction, find someone with state certification need right dose, etc.

they have not asked my question, this one is 12 yr old boy with PDD-NOS, tested for mercury levels, he has high levels,

now on vaccine schedule he said the Mom should go to a DAN conference, now about chelation - he has worked with kids with IV chelation

kids had other therapies so not scientific studies to see if was specific to chelation when memory improved

can adults benefit with auditory and music therapy, what about HBOT for adults, maybe higher functioning, they need to be participating

include the adults in the decision process for their own therapies, caregivers supporting the person, helpers believe help is possible, be +

auditory therapy - analyze what can help for them her son Jeremy has written a lot down and is publishing it,. he started vision therapy 19

the treatment map evolves with each new strength, clear up one issue like hyperactivity use play therapy first, by third phase better

isolate on other distractions to get their language

in the first instance make trial in ABA make more varied, opposite of how ABA is applied, a bit of reconstruction of ABA model,

don't prescribe the interactions, in a strict ABA each therapist is strict to give same verbal inst, he allows therapists to instruct dif way

kids can function in this way, all with autism dont need instruction the same way, change up where therapists sits or change their tone

Chantal says generalization to start with changing one thing at a time, good at ABA change tone but not stimuli, keep same tone & then chng

use puppets to practice scripts, play around and testing boundaries

get a session of therapy recorded and try to implement it, not an extra burden for parent to become therapist, use strategies at home

treatment effect speeds up as consistency across the environment and teach other therapists to do it too, ABA and speech, etc connect

a conduit for generalizing therapists, next question from CAIRO asking about homeschooling and HBOT for autistic infant at 2 yrs old

HBOT are used throughout North America in hospitals, for an infant need to speak to a Dr, not going to do an opinion

lets list what are your financial resources, family support, time, professional, do an inventory to see if comfortable to do homeschool

socializing is to be placed with other children and adults, research child can benefit from socializing in peer groups and play,

low eye contact, close to no language, more intensive adult led program best to begin with

toileting methods with severely autistic children, his method is - consider biomedical, autism correlated with gut issues, if kid has gut

seal up the gut issues of constip, diar, etc before trying toileting, kid could be in pain, no tug of war or effort until gut is resolved

if child is fairly regular, make toilet/washroom a place where the child has control - not an area to forced to sit on toilet -user friendly

keep consistent - associate bathroom with diaper changes 99% of time get them into the bathroom and do it beside toilet, yoga mat to use

keep all the supplies stocked in the bathroom, diapers, wipes, step one, two is how you respond & react with facial expressions, attitude

parents in gest and fun and the parents make comments about the diaper, the msg child gets that this is something they are not happy about

the presentation is to take off diaper, look at child even if not looking back, and voice is calm, enthusiastic, you did a ---- this is good

give the message that he did the pppp and the attitude is really important, empty contents into the toilet, make association - visual behav

pretend if not able to get into toilet and verbalize, once they are wiped, clothes on and they get to flush, he encourages use tp so kid

can see the process of taking the toilet paper off the roll and putting in toilet, than use the wipes to clean them up better,no force flush

empower the child to take control of their own body, encourage rather than force

child might not be ready due to hypotonia, an accessory is a foot stool for child to have feet flat and supported, can relax muscles

some books say take kids once an hr, he says no get more blanks and false negatives, no person on the planet goes once an hour

kids have a hard time feeling their body, this girl sets an alarm to remind herself to go to bathroom every few hrs when out in public

adults have told Chantal that they cannot tell the difference between a full stomach and having to go to the bathroom, timer helps them

if your child holds bowel movements until they come home - theory is that school overwhelmed they are more comfortable at home, so can go

some children with sensory issues modify bathroom with a rug - could have auditory challenges, bathrooms are super echoy & the flush

if a kid talks softly, covers ears often than use the rug and do not have them flush, paent can flush for them, tiles and seats cold, warmup

best way to find therapists in your area - he says parents ahead of you are beating the path, dont recreate the wheel with research

save parents hours of finding stuff, local support groups, list at ARI of DAN Dr's, the list is for Canada and other countries, TACA

TACA has real time chat now, local ASA chapters (I always say this)

they never did my question about brushing protocol

interview the professional - open to work with team members, do not engage in contract with someone not willing to engage with others

are they personable to you, your the child's advocate, how do they respond to you, parent friendly therapist

Panel Members for Autism Twitter Day

Autism Twitter Day is Tuesday, December 16, 2008, taking place on www.twitter.com. More details are available here. Please do RSVP with your twitter ID and follow the other RSVP members to keep up with the tweets.

The panel members will be specifically addressing their topic and your questions at the following times - 9:00AM, 12:30PM and 8:00PM Pacific Standard Time.

I advise having a window open at www.summize.com to follow the conversation at set times and throughout the day using #ASD and then refresh as needed. Speakers and other tweeters will need to have another window open in www.twitter.com to do their initial tweets and then hit reply at the summize page to respond to questions. This will open another window in twitter when you hit reply to answer a tweet. Simply close that window when done so you don't have too many open.

You may also want to collect links and have them in a word document so that you can post them during the day. It would be best for speakers to have a window open to their website as well. I highly recommend going to summize now and seeing how previous conversations with hashtags flow to get a feel for it.

I will be tweeting the prizes throughout the day and linking to the blog post so members can know what they are tweeting for as a prize. Please also note the prizes that are only open to US members of twitter and then those that can be shipped to Canada, as well as the ones available for International users.

The times listed are the starting times for the panel, since there are several for each timeslot and I have numerous prizes to give away the time is longer than one hour for them. The morning and evening time will be the longest time periods.


9AM PST

http://www.twitter.com/modelmekids - Sue on social skills, video modeling
http://www.modelmekids.com
http://modelmekids.ning.com

http://www.twitter.com/swingsetmamas - Marlowe on music, Nat'l Inclusion
http://www.swingsetmamas.com
facebook group

http://www.twitter.com/CARDtherapy - Sue will be discussing therapeutic riding
http://www.card.ca/
Community Association for Riding for the Disabled - Toronto


10AM PST

http://twitter.com/susangiurleo - Susan on executive functioning, parent coaching
http://www.childdevelopmentpartners.com/

12:30PM PST

http://twitter.com/AdvancedBrain - Auditory Processing
http://twitter.com/AlexDoman - (CEO of Co.) brain training, memory
http://www.advancedbrain.com/
http://www.abtmedia.com/

http://twitter.com/childrenscare - Jeff on ABA, w/Bd Certified therapists
http://cchs.org/blog/

http://www.twitter.com/specialedsolved - Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed, - on special education and IEP issues
http://www.precisioneducation.com/


8:00PM PST

http://twitter.com/nbeurkens - Nicole is an Autism Specialist
http://www.horizonsdrc.com/

http://twitter.com/Dianne_ - Dianne on Early Intervention, location Australia
http://www.aspireearlyintervention.com/

http://twitter.com/MMiller20910 - Mark on Therapy Dogs
http://specialneeds08.blogspot.com/
facebook page