The w/o April 13th : In which I realise once again that the R is the human Prozac

Monday

Uber stressful day at work

When I come home - I am forced to put the day away - as  R tugs at my hand insistently demanding - Wii Sports -

Somehow I am able to switch the day off and simply be in the moment with R.

I used to think compartmentalizing was impossible - but now I realise its the best way to function

We jump swing and have a great time

I am reading before bed "Raising a Sensory Smart child " which my online friend at therextras recommended

 Its very interesing -

"Sensory Modulation" problems describe R to perfectly and I believe is the cause of  of most of his Autsim I think

 All development ( NT AND Autie ) is the result the way in which the sensory system of the individual interacts with their environment . Think about the experiment in the way baby birds become blind if kept in the dark


In an article that therextras sends me and my fellow blogger Joy mama - the author  says

"We believe that the visual and auditory cortical thickness increases may be related to enhanced visual and auditory perception in autism" -

What if this was at the heart of the sleep problems that many Auties have -

Autie parents often say that their kids cannot sleep because "they cannot shut their brains down "

What if they cannot shut their brains down because they are hearing too much ?

DH and I often say that good sleep is the best biomedical intervention for R!

I recently read that the brain's neuroplasticity is affected by sleep

I am also reading Careless in red - by Elizabeth george ( psychological thriller  based in London)

I am such an anglophile - which is interesting  -considering I grew up in India where a lot of our school books dealt with how terrible the Colonial Era( British Rule in Indai )  was for Indians

Still a country like India is so old that the 200 years of British rule are a relatively small blip and even though there is much drama in the stories - there is also a general sense of shrugged shoulders from the people

The other book I am listening in the kitchen to "Poirot Investigates"Short stories by Agatha Christie

Does everyone read multiple books at the same time ?

I do and I end up finishing all of them - Just finished "Lost Symbol" ( Robert Langdon of the DaVinci Code Fame - not worth reading )

Tuesday

Another tiring day -

Nowadays I feel everyone I meet has a I-expect-something-that-you-did-not-give

I think the reason I am so tired at work is that I am not getting much sleep and I think that adds an edge to everything

I am listening( on my car's CD player)  to a story called "The Horse Boy" -

 its about a Dad who has a severely Autistic child  -

The child's name sounds exactly like R's( the two R's have a completely different sensory profile though )  and I startle every time I hear his name- really enjoying it -

Unusual and wonderful Dad and Mum with a good sense of humor

He senses a connection between his son and horses - his child is extremely hyper except when on a horse

Horses also obey this child

Its not the usual formula of Autistic Child + Dedicated Mother + 40 hours ABA = Recovered Child+ bestselling story

Anyway the Dad living  in Austin Texas - goes off to Mongolia - land of horses and Shamans - to seek Shamanic healing.

The Shamans tell the mom that black energy entered her womb when she was pregnant

Some of the ceremenies make me laugh out loud as the involve the mum and dad being whipped by the Shamans and they ask mum to go and wash out her C-section scar with milk

I will let you know how it ends -

I always find it very interesting to read these differnt perspectives on the road that parents take - there is so much to be learned from each story


a wide spectrum of mix of Autism stories from parents  is as follows

1. Son Rise ( Raun Kauffman's story - how his parents invented the Son rise program and completely recovered their severely autistic son )
2. Let me hear your voice ( Catherine Maurice and the way she recovers her kids through ABA )
3. The Boy who loved Windows ( wonderful story about a mom who uses Floortime-  )
4. Gift from my son : Autism Redefined  ( really nice book about a mom who comes up with a new theory of left-right brain dominance and also finds her son to have many gifts from his Autism )
5. Child of Ethernity ( mother who finds her daughter to be a messiah - interesting read but a little hard to swallow )
6. Unraveling the mystery of Autism and other Pervasive Development Disorders by Karyn Seroussi ( who uses DAN and the Gluten Free diet )
7. Horse Boy - Shamanic Healing
8. The Mind Tree - written by Tito Mukherjee  - his mum's very unique method called "Rapid Prompting"

The warrior mom archetype is talked about a lot in the autism world

But what I personally see is the pioneer archetype  - as the spectrum is sooo wide that each child is still unchartered territory - our kiddos all respond to things differently and we all need to find our own way


Once again - as soon as I get home R wants to play and once again the worries of the day are gone .

DH is off to play Golf and MIL has cleaned and cooked dinner so I do not have much work to do

E comes to do her therapy session .

I think she is sad these days -

R holds her face in his hands and kisses her cheeks gently.

I sense some of her stress slipping away - ( like mine did earlier this evening )

Really there is something  so comforting in the gentle ways of this child -

How this puny little child centers me I cannot explain - but he does

 I thank God for him everyday

We watch How I met your mother and Big Bang Theory ( both losing their edge but still funny ) and now I am off to sleep

Tomorrow I get no time at home as we are to do a team building exercise at work  rambling around the country side in the hot sun  looking for clues