Knowledge

 

Knowledge

When my child was diagnosed with autism; I went thru so much anxiety and trying to look for resources on the web to see what I can do to help her. Called several places and was put on several waiting list for ABA therapy and for speech therapy and occupational therapy; in one of those evaluations my daughter needed physical therapy for a short period of time because of her balance. I can honestly say these waiting list were so long that I literally called every single day to see if there were any cancellations and had a paper list of all of them that she was put on their list. 

There was a point in my life that my daughter's diagnosis affected me terribly; I went to being a happy person to being mad at the world because I saw that my child was struggling and I could not do anything to make it go away or make her progress faster. I was a medium to overweight person in that time, but I turned to overeating because of the anxiety I went thru. 

I passed thru a lot of emotions and things in my life; I had my child 9 months in my stomach and I was her mother and I was doing this all alone. I thank my parents for helping me as in me living with them; but I was the one making the phone calls to several places, searching the web to find different types of things to help my child, going against the clock because I was told by the developmental pediatrician in Philadelphia that when your child is diagnosed with autism; you have a short window because their brain is like a sponge and once the years pass it is not anymore and the therapies will help but it will just be more difficult or longer. 

Knowing of her diagnosis made me thru the years a stronger person and an advocate for my child, because no one else was going to fight for her in the school system or in her IEP meetings or in general in her everyday life. I do not say I am the perfect mom but I always try to do the best for her and make her future better. I do always try to keep communication with her teachers thru email or phone and they know I am always available if there is a problem with my daughter in school that needs a plan change. The school does know that she is gluten free and I always offer to bring gluten free snacks or cupcakes to the classroom if in case there are any parties in school.

My point is that us as parents with children with autism or any type of diagnosis go thru a tremendous amount of anxiety and the need to help their child. 

There are people in this world that do not know what we go thru and why we might see a therapist or see a psychiatrist and judge us as being crazy or mentally ill. They should be under our skin and know our past and see what we as parents go thru and then judge.  

I became this shy girl in high school in my young age who did not want to speak that much because I stuttered a lot in school; to being a mom who had no choice than to talk even if I stuttered because I had a child who needed a voice and help; which had to be me because I am her parent. 

Ups and downs

It has been a while since I have not published anything in my Blog, but a lot of things have happened these past years. I have my daughter who has autism and more than a year ago she was diagnosed with OCD too. My daughter still remains Gluten Free for several years and everything is separated in the house to make sure there is no cross contaminated with our food and hers. She drinks Lactaid milk and not regular milk, but the only thing I still remain is on her Gluten Free life. 

I have always been a believer that I did not want to child to be on medication for no reason before more than a year ago because when she was first diagnosed with autism they told me she had also ADHD; which in the end was a misdiagnose in that point of her age and the medication that she was on made her worse than better. There are times in life you have to see what is important for your child health and when she was diagnosed with OCD; I knew that going biomedical in that portion of her life was not going to resolve her condition. The Gluten Free made her autism better as in changes and results I saw when she was GF, but with OCD it is a different condition that I decided after talking to the psychiatrist in her school and my husband and I decided it was best for her to be on medication. 

I thank my husband who is her step-father, but a big part of my kids life because for my little ones he is the only father figure that they have seen for years; I thank him because in that stage of my life I had his support; both emotional and as a mom too. I was honestly scared because I did not know what was going to happen after she was put on medication for her OCD diagnosis. 

It did work out as she lowered her OCD; I am not going to lie to you guys as in there are times she has her moments but they are less not than they were before years ago. Just today I had a situation with my daughter as in she had an episode with her OCD and it was very difficult because we always want the best for our children and want them to be better in life. Nothing is perfect in life and we just have to be strong and never give up on them. 

Just like when she was diagnosed with autism; several physicians told me she was not going to get better and that they were sorry for that, but I never gave up on my daughter and now I see the best in her. I searched the internet, found different alternatives for the autism; which I am not a doctor but I am an advocate for my child and I am not going to never just stand there and give up on her or none of my kids if they ever have anything. 

Now we are in the waiting list for her to go back to private speech therapy and hopefully she can get in before October so she has speech therapy in her school which she does already and in a private facility as well. I am not a perfect parent, but I try very much to be the best I can be and as long as they are doing great; then I know I did my job as a parent. 

I even found out a gluten free cosmetic website that sells lipsticks and foundations and also a shampoo that is Gluten Free that I currently bought for myself and my daughter now uses the shampoo, but the cosmetics not yet because she still is a teenager but when she does in years to come at least I know what things she can use. 

Additonal biomedical vitamins 

She has taken these before, but I had to order them because she ran our of these vitamins. 

They cost money but are worth it. I go all the way natural with my daughter and refuse to give

her medications. With her ABA Therapy services at home, private speech therapy weekly that we take her with my husband and her Summer ESY program that she loves and they told me that her speech improved more and I told them because she has private speech therapy now. 

I felt so happy to hear my child improves; I don't expect a cure ... I just want to hear that he is better and that makes me feel proud that I am doing a great job in all these years and my husband is helping and learning how to deal with my daughter as in her gluten-free diet and no dairy and plus accompanies me to all her speech therapies and is involved in her health care which makes me happy to know that I have someone who is not her father, but that wants to know how to learn about Autism and everything. 

Chiropractic care also helps too; which I take her weekly because it makes her feel good. 

"Stepping Stones for my Daughter with Autism": What the future will hold....

What the future will hold

The happiness you feel when you hear "great news"; just like if I won the lottery or the biggest prize in the world because that is what us parents feel when we hear advancements or improvements with our child life.

What the future will hold....

What the future will hold

You know the happiness you feel when you hear "great news"; just like if I won the lottery or something like that. Today my daughter's ESY program called me (I am not going to lie I panicked because I thought she was acting out or had a meltdown in school). The teacher noticed my voice and he knows me for months; all the teachers and assistant aides know me which I love because I want to hear their feedback on how things are or what happened with my daughter. Well, long story short... he told me what I have done with my daughter that she is using more words now and she can express herself more than a month and a half ago.

I told him that she is going to private speech therapy and she is of course going to start with a new company ABA services because I just felt the other company wasn't doing their job. The behavioral specialist for the summer who is working with my daughter and other kids told me, she can go to the district school and be in an autistic school classroom and not where she was before.

You can't imagine how happy and content that made me feel. I have read the internet, doing gluten-free, low sugar, 5% on Gluten Free cookies per week. I have read everything and am not doing medications at all on her; only strict vitamins and her vitamin D that she is low on.

Her pediatrician tested her to see if she has gluten in her system and he said that; I am doing a good job because there is no gluten at all in her body by her blood work.

If it works for my daughter I would do the impossible so I can make her future a better one; my goal is for her to communicate more with people and be able to be understood. I don't expect miracles I just expect little steps and then we will see what the future holds.

I am not the mother of the year, but I try my best to make her better in any way. She has so much love and is affectionate to me and her siblings. She does have her mood swings, but that I was told my her teacher that it's a puberty thing and a girl mood swing; not the autism.

I go every week to her speech therapy and feel joy inside when I hear from afar that she says more words and tries to make her self understood. That is what I know that I am doing the best I can.

I am a parent of a child with Autism 

I have a daughter who has autism; it's difficult because for years I blamed myself for her diagnosis and thought I did something wrong. Going to therapy I have learned that it's not my fault and have to let go of that blame that I have. 

I have done the impossible to go in Autism mom chat groups and talk to her teachers and now she is finally starting her 2nd session of private speech therapy weekly. I'm gluten - free with her and refuse to medicate my child. I take her to the chiropractic weekly and always keep communication via phone and email with her school and attend all her meetings. What my daughter was before she has changed a lot and is not as worse as before when she first had her diagnosis of autism (ASD).

With her gluten Free I make sure there is no contamination with the foods we eat and I read all labels and several websites on what contains gluten. I give her Omega capsules and vitamin D plus multivitamins that are gluten Free and buy them from her biomedical doctor. I'm trying as a parent to be the best I can be for my child and of course take care of my other child who is okay and talks too much . 

All I wish is for her words to come out more and for her to express herself more. I know there is no cure but I just baby steps then we will see how it goes. 

My worry is that she won't be able to express herself and half a life on her own later on. I want to improve and I'm doing the best I can . These vitamins and thins are costly but money will never be a issue for my child . I also give her probiotic that are expensive but the best. 

She is going to be 12 years old soon and I just know she can and I believe she can more with this private speech therapy plus school and plus summer school they have for autism kids here. 

Any moms that have ideas or stuff that they want to share are welcomed to let me know and I am a person that is not a doctor but can share my experience with my child. I did cut dairy from her and no sweets or sugar stuff . 

I will share more in the days . 

Almost first week on her biomedical treatments

I totally refuse to listen to the school or any hospital to tell me that my daughter needs to be on medication. It works in the beginning, but then it has bad side effects and makes her autism worse and it makes me as a mom question : Why did I do this to my child?

I have started on giving her the vitamins from her DAN doctor and mb12 injections; it is a lot to give her but they are good for her and I totally stopped temporarly the apple juice and no junk food. I am 80 percent dairy free but I am getting there.

It has been difficult for my child because she is the one that has this diagnosis, but then again it has been difficult and tough on me that I am her mother and it makes me sad and have a lot of anxiety watching my daughter struggle.

She is calm now and it has been like 4 days with this, I see her less stressed and very calm which is great for me. I did take her yesterday to the chiropractic to have her adjusted which I am going to be taking her 3 times per week after I finish working.

Let's see how the week goes with my daughter and my goal is not perfection but just better.