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. 

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 . 

"El Dia de Felicidad de una Madre" (Spanish Version)

 

¿Qué significa ser una mamá de una hija de "necesidades especiales" ...

 

 

     Desde que mi hija fue diagnosticada con autismo hace varios años, pasé por varias etapas "pensar que no era cierto, tristeza y luego el modo de acción". Mi hija Angelina tiene autismo y yo lo sé y lo acepto, pero sentí que tenía que probar varias cosas para ayudar a mi hija. Como pueden leer mis posts anteriores he intentado varias cosas, pero al final he intentado "medicina alternativa". Creo en mi corazón que era la mejor decisión que he tomado con Angelina. No es algo que "el seguro médico" cubre, por lo que en realidad tengo que gastar de mi bolsillo, pero valio la pena porque mi hija ha progresado mucho. No estoy diciendo que ella esta 100% perfectamente bien, porque nunca hay un 100% en la vida. Si usteds ven mi hija ahora y comparar cómo era antes, puedo decir honestamente que para mí es una gran diferencia.

 

      Angelina está con "Medicina Alternativa", en la que ella está completamente "libre de gluten", también acompañando de su "Terapia de Comportamiento Aplicado Análisis" (Terapia ABA), además de la terapia del habla privada y terapia del habla y terapia ocupacional en la escuela también. Una gran cantidad de personas y cosas juegan un factor en el progreso de mi hija, pero desde que ella ha sido totalmente no comiendo nada de gluten (que es la levadura y harina), su comportamiento ha cambiado y también a cambiado muchas cosas con ella. Con su "Doctor de Medicina Alternativa", como muchos llaman "DAN Doctor", también le estoy dando sus vitaminas también.

 

       Todo esto es lo que estoy pasando con mi hija y sé que es un proceso que no se progresa en un dia nada mas.

 

      Pero, hoy día cuando llegué a casa y me fui a mi habitación, mi hija Angelina dejo en mi almohada un sobre que ella hizo que decía "Angelina" con un corazón en el centro, y "mamá", si usteds ven la imagen que dibujó es una cinta amarilla en el medio y se ve como un regalo. Cuando lo abrí, ella tenía otro papel doblado en el interior con una imagen de SpongeBob y todos los personajes de los dibujos animados de ese personaje.

 

      Al ver esto me hizo reír con una gran sonrisa en mi cara y tan orgullosa como madre. Tan orgullosa porque puedo ver que mi hija está progresando mucho y eso complete mi día y queria que todos lo vean.

 

      Ahora Angelina incluso me pide que le lea cuentos antes de dormir, pero al final ella lo lee y le ayudo con algunas palabras que no entiende. "Ella puede leer"!

 

     Eso me hace muy feliz y se que es un proceso que lo tengo que tomar "dia por dia" de Angelina, pero me siento muy orgullosa de verla hacer todas estas cosas positivas. Simplemente me hace muy orgullosa y muy feliz, completa mi mundo.

 

     Yo amo a todos mis tres hijos en igualmente, pero quiero expresar mi felicidad con Angelina porque ella es una niña con "autismo", y sólo viendo su progreso me hace tan feliz. Es la misma felicidad si veo a mis dos hijos hombrecitos, Jean-Pierre y Philippe progresar en sus colegios o en sus vidas.