Musings and What-not

Don't you just love the wonderful world of acronyms (or made up abbreviations)? I came across a blog today that brought a concern of mine back to the foreground.  It's the issue of the autism health coverage laws. Many states have adopted a partial law.  Meaning, if a ND (neurological disorder) is already covered by health insurance (HI), then a person with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) cannot be denied coverage. Other states, have ignored even hearing the legislature (i.e OKLAHOMA). I remember when I voiced my disdain in a local newspaper over my state legislators pushing Nick's Law aside.  As I read one reader's comment, I couldn't help but wonder if this person would feel the same way... had the child needing health insurance been theirs? With the rise in autism diagnoses every year, I don't understand why some people choose to turn a deaf ear to the issue.  I refuse to believe that these people are egoists. I refuse to believe that. What will it take to...

I befriended an amazing woman today over at Families of Autistic Kids . While reading her comments, the tune, that is my subject line, filled my mind.  It wasn't until we spoke, did I discover just how hard her road on this path, also known as autism, has been, and how fitting the song was. She's a single mother.  I've been there, I know what all that entails.  However, her situation is far different than mine. She knew much earlier than me that there was something "different" about her son.  She knew during pregnancy which I found fascinating. Her son is HFA like Nicholas, but there are significant differences between the two (don'tcha just love the spectrum?).  One of those differences is her son has been mainstreamed since pre-school, whereas, Nicholas would still require one-on-one attention. She's fortunate that she knew enough to fight with her son's doctors when they said "nothing was wrong". She's fortunate that her son can commun...

As I gaze at the curl-haired, handsome, brown-eyed boy that is my prince, I wonder where the time has gone. It seems like the past 7 years and 7 months have been an absolute blur.  His baby years seem as if they never existed. Don't think me silly.  Of course, I remember his baby years.  How could I forget them?  After all, I was the one raising him... alone.  I'm the one who has the treasured memories.  I'm the one who's been there for all of the tears... and for the laughter as well. He was a beautiful baby.  Often mistaken as a girl.  Those curly locks.  Those ridiculously long and eviable lashes.  That smile. {sigh} I remember how serious Nicholas used to be.  He could stare down the most feared mobster and not even blink.  He wasn't transfixed.  Meaning, if you moved, he'd continue staring forward.  Not Nicholas. He would actually follow you with the hardest stare.  I used to joke that it was the Sicilian-half in him showing off.  Basically, letting you kno...

It's the law of nature, I suppose.  You write about something, and next thing you know, the exact opposite occurs. Yesterday, I wrote about how my son doesn't experience many meltdowns.  Well, today wasn't that day.  The storm clouds rolled in, shortly after we left home, and it took nearly 40 minutes for them to roll on out. Of course, my husband and I are to blame for the meltdown. You see, we were at Home Depot, shopping for potters.  We found one, and noticed there was a second (and last one) situated deep on the shelf that only my prince could retrieve. Now, I made the attempt to get it, but my hips got the best of me. My husband tried, but he's bigger than I am, and didn't make it far. He was the skinniest of the crew.  We didn't think much about it. So, the only one left was little man.  We pointed to what we wanted, and he went for it.  I think the confusion set in when we told him to bring it out with him. Once he was out... the tears started. Our enthu...

Why is it that practically every site I come across tells me that my son needs to be cured?  I'm so confused as to what to do for my son, because of all the "mixed" information I read. I know my son has autism.  I know I need to do my best so that he's able to function in a non-autistic world.  I just don't know sometimes. Chelation?  ABA? GFCF? OT?  ST?  This therapy, that therapy.  I feel like a bobble-head. (bobble, bobble, bobble)  Actually, I feel like my son's a science project, and everybody wants to add their formula to his petri dish. Allow me to digress a moment... In early 2007, I participated in some research that ASU (Arizona State University) was doing for ASD.  I gave them one of my son's baby teeth and the results were very interesting. I expected to see a VERY HIGH concentration of Mercury, but too my surprise, it wasn't even a blip on the graph.  There were other metals that were a little high, but nothing outrageous. Actually, my m...

Today was a good day.  The sun beamed bright in the sky, and filled our day with warmth.  It was hard to believe that it was autumn. Although, the weather was nice that isn't the reason for my opening statement. Today was a good day, because we didn't experience any meltdowns.  Of course, meltdowns aren't something we experience very often. There was something else magical about the day.  Nicholas didn't bring his Doodle Pro when we left home.  You already know that he takes it everywhere . So, here we were venturing from one hot spot to another, and he did very well.  I was very proud of him. My first gift was the beautiful smile that lit up my son's face when he looked at me and said, "Good morning, Mommy". My second gift was the laughter that left his precious body and filled the air around us. The gifts that followed were priceless. I don't wonder what tomorrow will bring... for I am still relishing in the gifts I received today. Today was a good ...

Whenever I publish a post, I update various sites with the following line, "blogging for autism".  Imagine my 'mock' surprise when I saw a button on a fellow bloggers' site using the same phrase.  Actually, the button read, "Blogging for autism awareness".  So cool. It's amazing what sites you find once you enter the world of blogging.  I've only been in it for a week, and I've discovered so many. "We conceived and built BlogNetNews.com to help magnify and expand what's best about the blogosphere by growing the audience for local blogs. Our goal is to make the blogosphere more useful by making it easier for readers to find just the information they want quickly and easily while helping bloggers get better at what they do by providing them the information to more efficiently engage with their fellow bloggers and readers." I clicked on this ribbon because it correlates with what I'm doing.  It was also great to see a blogroll...