Sundays...the WORST day!

Sundays seem to always be Caleb's worst behavior and mood day. I'm glad it's not during school, but it gets old having to have him sit by me during Sunday School because he's too moody to do well in his own class. For a LONG time, Sundays have been his worst day. I often wonder if there's some sort of cycle to moods/behavior for him. Does anyone else notice a day (especially Sunday) as being the worst?

Halloween is our annual Family Day where instead of celebrating Halloween (which we don't believe in) we go bowling and swimming. The kids LOVE it and look forward to their day off from school. Caleb especially loves it, and did wonderful this year! He took turns, knew to look at the screen and announce who's turn it is, and even called "Taco Bell" for lunch :) He does need a bit of help on his bowling technique though! We all appropriately named it "thunder ball"!

Methy B-12 (mb12) Shots are still Necessary for Us!

I wanted to post about the trend I'm seeing in Caleb, to see if others are experiencing this as well. It seems that about every 3 or 4 days, Caleb's mood starts to head south...meaning he starts getting obstinate and "tantrumy". This seems to be my cue for another mb12 injection. Then, after the injection at night, the next day is WONDERFUL! He is happy as a lark! I definitely think that both yeast, and mb12 are critical for us in handling obstinacy and bad mood. Also...probably a positive of the mb12....many people have been commenting on Caleb's increased vocabulary and speech. He still struggles with answering questions, but otherwise, he can generally say most of what he wants...in sentence form! I know mb12 is touted to help speech, but I wanted to show that I truly think it's a critical part of mood control as well.

Impetigo...our First and Hopefully ONLY Illness this Season!

Caleb is finally on the mend from his bout of impetigo! He was home from school all last week. However, it looks markedly improved from yesterday, so I think he'll definitely be attending school this week. Actually, all but 1 of the 5 children were sick this past week. Isaac, Elizabeth, and Andy all had Hand-Foot-Mouth disease which they picked up at school from another child who had it. Thankfully, Caleb didn't get this! Instead he had the impetigo. Andy also had impetigo too :( He was truly miserable this past week! We made TONS of shakes, puddings, icecream because that's all anyone could eat.

I wanted to also share what helped impetigo for Caleb. It was the homeopathic remedy Calc. Sulph. It helped immensely, and in fact is what I think finally took the big sores away. I gave it only when the sores appeared to be worsening. This last time of giving it (I gave it a total of 3 times) he got better over night! Just a thought for anyone that gets it this season :)

School Update--September

Hooray for more great days! Just talked to Caleb's teacher yesterday (of his autism class), and she talked how they see him as the "highest in the class". They see what I see...that he's smart! She said, "I see some behaviors, but I don't think they're a big deal". Whereas, our local school district views little behaviors as major problems. Just so happy with this new setup thus far!

Caleb's mood is doing great! We've stumbled upon something that's been working for him. Last time we went to the DAN doctor, he suggested that yeast was most likely still the culprit and that it was something called "biofilm" (where the yeast secretes it's own mucus to protect itself & thus is hard to kill). I researched a bit on biofilm, and the protocol for it. It sounds like first higher doses of Magnesium (such as oxypowder) or Vitamin C to get the kid to have a BM. Then a protease enzyme (such as mucostop) to get rid of the mucous, then a bunch of herbs known to kill yeast. Well...I didn't have all of these things, but I started with vitamin C and magnesium, then added in several proteases (later in the day) , then gave a 2 to 3 cap dose of a yeast herb blend (at bedtime). I did this for about a week. Now, we just maintain with 2 chewable vitamin C, and 2 caps of yeast herbs both in the morning before school. Voila! It works at maintaining his mood. It obviously WAS the yeast after all. It just needed a bit of a different tactic! No more screaming/screeching, and no more bad mood! Hooray!

Back to School! Hooray!

School has started again! Caleb is doing dual enrollment between an autistic classroom (for 3-5th grades; but he's in 2nd grade) and then aspecial ed. classroom at our local school. He's doing 3 days in the autism class, and 2 days here in special ed. The hope is that he will develop more "ready to learn" behaviors, and also that our local school will be able to work one-on-one with autism experts to best be able to meet Caleb's needs in later years. They were VERY clueless last year. Anyhow, the first day went well! I'm excited to see what each day brings.

We've managed to tame Caleb's moods again (for about the last month or so). It seems that a natural yeast fighter, as well as an enzyme twice a day, and a multivit/min are doing the trick. So glad his mood is improved for the start of school! That way all can get to know him and like him before mood issues arise. He seems to be VERY ready for the challenge of school again, and looks forward each morning to going. I hope this continues. Keep praying! God has been so good thus far!

**the picture is of him getting off his bus the first day**

Summertime..when the living is easy?

Not a lot new and exciting. Summer's winding down, and we're beginning to think about school. Caleb's summer school went very well at his new autism classroom. He'll be doing 3 days in this class and 2 days at our local school. The goal is that this asd teacher will help guide our school district on how to plan for him, as well as handle any behavior. The asd classroom is about an hour away (a 2 hour bus ride), otherwise we'd just do that every day. I love what I've seen so far though! He comes home saying, "If you get angry...take a time out." I smile when I hear that :) So many times I've said the same thing, but it takes a teacher to get it to stick! We also have adopted the asd teacher's tactic of taking his hat (which he MUST wear at all times...a bit of an ocd/sensory thing) when he screams. He avoids screaming now, so we won't take his hat. Now, why didn't I think of that before?! Anyhow...still sometimes a bit of a rollercoaster ride this autism, but we're getting somewhere.

Hope all are having a fun summer! Oh...the pic is of Caleb catching a fish. Afterwards, he got bored and just kept casting his line into the weeds and trees :) But...he caught his first fish!

Suffering and Special Needs

Recently I was blessed by 2 different sermons by 2 different individuals. They were both on dealing with special needs and how God uses suffering for good in our lives. Truly, I can't even begin to repeat them. Please take some time to hear them for yourself, especially if you are enduring some type of hardship in your life.

The links are:
http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2009/03/theology-of-suffering-by-joni-eareckson.html
http://www.insight.org/site/PageServer?pagename=topical_special_needs (click on the link for special needs featured audio "specially wrapped")

You will be blessed and refreshed as I was!