Paw Paw and MiMi got to go eat lunch with Andrew at his school, Doss Elementary. They also brought his birthday present with them, which was a Wii game. He is becoming quite good at the racing games and has come very far!!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Our first visitors!
We were so excited to have our first visitors to Austin! Doug's parents, Steve and Julie, came in around September 8th and were gracious enough to drive our other car here for us. This allowed Kristin and Kylie to fly to Austin instead of driving 17 long hours. They flew back to Nashville after a great week long stay! They also helped us with Kylie while we went up to NY for a doctor's appointment for Andrew. They babysat her while we were gone for 3-4 days. The doctor we saw was Dr. Ken Bock and is in integrative medicine; this means who uses some traditional medicine, but also some of the biomedical approaches, as well. He combines the two to have the best results with treating many diseases and problems, not just autism. But, he is on the fore front of treating autism using biomedical interventions. It was a great trip and we stayed in Poughkeepsie, with Kristin's aunt and uncle, Phyllis and Mike. They were so gracious to open their home to the 3 of us for those 3 nights. We had a great visit and went on a small walk overlooking the Hudson River. It was a beautiful day!
Paw Paw and MiMi got to go eat lunch with Andrew at his school, Doss Elementary. They also brought his birthday present with them, which was a Wii game. He is becoming quite good at the racing games and has come very far!!
Paw Paw and MiMi got to go eat lunch with Andrew at his school, Doss Elementary. They also brought his birthday present with them, which was a Wii game. He is becoming quite good at the racing games and has come very far!!
Our move to Austin
Well. . . starting a blog is a new thing for us! But, I think will be a great way to keep everyone informed of how we are doing, Andrew's progress, and keeping up with our family here in Austin! It's been a whirlwind the last 5 months or so for our family!
So, the seed was planted less than 6 months ago! We went to a conference put on by Autism Research Institute in Atlanta. This was at the end of April/first of May. At this conference, we learned there was much to be done still to help Andrew! We learned that diet/nutrition was a key to helping most autistic kids. We had already begun the gluten free/casein free (that's dairy)/soy free diet in the spring and seen some pretty dramatic changes in Andrew. Some of these changes were better sleep, a decrease in anxiety, a decrease in tantrums/melt downs, better focus and attention, less hyperactivity, and the list could go on and on. We also learned that starting some supplements would also be helpful. Most autistic kids are deficient in some vital nutrients that our bodies naturally make and we take in through our diet. Some of these kids don't absorb the nutrients they take in due to inflammation in the gut. So, giving them supplements to correct this has been helpful for most autistic kids. So, we have slowly been adding supplements to his diet and seen more dramatic changes. These supplements can be "parent directed" by doing a lot of research, but it's much better to see a physician that knows autism and can help with these treatments. The supplements are very safe, things like Vitamin B-12, Vitamin B-6, Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc, Fish oil, Vitamin D, etc. So, see. . . . nothing crazy here! Many of these actually help cognition, so check into them for yourself! (we can't afford to do it for our brains, since we focus on Andrew's brain right now!! LOL)
So, the diet and supplements are a piece of this recovery, but the third piece is why we are here! So, there is a very well known, large organization that was started close to 30 years ago. It is called CARD (Center for Autism Related Disorders) and they have offices all over the country and even 1 in New Zealand and Australia. Many of the offices are in California, since that was where it was founded. But, we didn't really want to move to California! There were some up north, as well. Again, we are wimpy when it comes to cold weather. Austin has some great things for our family. For Doug, it is a booming location for start up businesses, like ones he has interest in; for Andrew, of course, the therapy, but also very supportive for the gluten free lifestyle. It seems to be very family oriented and a great place to raise kids! What CARD does is ABA therapy; this stands for Applied Behavior Analysis. Many of us use it every day when raising kids; it's reward based learning. They help change behaviors and help teach him how to play and communicate appropriately. They reinforce academics that he is working on in school. You can learn more about CARD and what they do by going to their website: www.centerforautism.com
This therapy is very time consuming. It takes a lot of hours to mold these brains! So, it's been recommended that he receives 30 hours/week of therapy. We tried that, but it was too much when school started, and I think because he actually enjoys school, he was sad that he wasn't there as much as the other kids. So, we backed down to 20 hours/week right now. So, yes, he is a busy kid. But, if you know Andrew well, you know that he is excellent and "playing quietly by himself", but this doesn't do much for communication skills, or social skills. He ends up tuning out the world and that is exactly what he DOES NOT need! So, by filling almost his entire day with school or therapy, he is forced to interact with people. And, it's working!! We are already seeing changes!!
So, this is a summary of WHY we moved and so far, it has been a great decision!!
Because we made the decision to move so quickly, we are renting our house out in Knoxville. So far, it is working out pretty well. We also are renting our house here in Austin. Doug did a great job of house selection for us. For the particular school we wanted and was recommended, we were fairly limited on house choices. But, the one we got is great! It has a pool; it's old and needs some work, but functional! It's a perfect size for us and in a great area. It is so convenient to the therapy and to lots of things. We would be interested in buying this house, but don't think that's an option. Meanwhile, we will look for houses to buy in this area. They are scarce; probably because this is a desirable part of town. We have time! Most of the houses in this area are older. Ours is 1968, I think and because it's been a rental for 8 years, it needs some work.
Here is a picture of our house.
So, the seed was planted less than 6 months ago! We went to a conference put on by Autism Research Institute in Atlanta. This was at the end of April/first of May. At this conference, we learned there was much to be done still to help Andrew! We learned that diet/nutrition was a key to helping most autistic kids. We had already begun the gluten free/casein free (that's dairy)/soy free diet in the spring and seen some pretty dramatic changes in Andrew. Some of these changes were better sleep, a decrease in anxiety, a decrease in tantrums/melt downs, better focus and attention, less hyperactivity, and the list could go on and on. We also learned that starting some supplements would also be helpful. Most autistic kids are deficient in some vital nutrients that our bodies naturally make and we take in through our diet. Some of these kids don't absorb the nutrients they take in due to inflammation in the gut. So, giving them supplements to correct this has been helpful for most autistic kids. So, we have slowly been adding supplements to his diet and seen more dramatic changes. These supplements can be "parent directed" by doing a lot of research, but it's much better to see a physician that knows autism and can help with these treatments. The supplements are very safe, things like Vitamin B-12, Vitamin B-6, Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc, Fish oil, Vitamin D, etc. So, see. . . . nothing crazy here! Many of these actually help cognition, so check into them for yourself! (we can't afford to do it for our brains, since we focus on Andrew's brain right now!! LOL)
So, the diet and supplements are a piece of this recovery, but the third piece is why we are here! So, there is a very well known, large organization that was started close to 30 years ago. It is called CARD (Center for Autism Related Disorders) and they have offices all over the country and even 1 in New Zealand and Australia. Many of the offices are in California, since that was where it was founded. But, we didn't really want to move to California! There were some up north, as well. Again, we are wimpy when it comes to cold weather. Austin has some great things for our family. For Doug, it is a booming location for start up businesses, like ones he has interest in; for Andrew, of course, the therapy, but also very supportive for the gluten free lifestyle. It seems to be very family oriented and a great place to raise kids! What CARD does is ABA therapy; this stands for Applied Behavior Analysis. Many of us use it every day when raising kids; it's reward based learning. They help change behaviors and help teach him how to play and communicate appropriately. They reinforce academics that he is working on in school. You can learn more about CARD and what they do by going to their website: www.centerforautism.com
This therapy is very time consuming. It takes a lot of hours to mold these brains! So, it's been recommended that he receives 30 hours/week of therapy. We tried that, but it was too much when school started, and I think because he actually enjoys school, he was sad that he wasn't there as much as the other kids. So, we backed down to 20 hours/week right now. So, yes, he is a busy kid. But, if you know Andrew well, you know that he is excellent and "playing quietly by himself", but this doesn't do much for communication skills, or social skills. He ends up tuning out the world and that is exactly what he DOES NOT need! So, by filling almost his entire day with school or therapy, he is forced to interact with people. And, it's working!! We are already seeing changes!!
So, this is a summary of WHY we moved and so far, it has been a great decision!!
Because we made the decision to move so quickly, we are renting our house out in Knoxville. So far, it is working out pretty well. We also are renting our house here in Austin. Doug did a great job of house selection for us. For the particular school we wanted and was recommended, we were fairly limited on house choices. But, the one we got is great! It has a pool; it's old and needs some work, but functional! It's a perfect size for us and in a great area. It is so convenient to the therapy and to lots of things. We would be interested in buying this house, but don't think that's an option. Meanwhile, we will look for houses to buy in this area. They are scarce; probably because this is a desirable part of town. We have time! Most of the houses in this area are older. Ours is 1968, I think and because it's been a rental for 8 years, it needs some work.
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