This is some what how our grandson acts. He does a lot of the hand flapping motion and gets all excited. Sometimes he gets so excited it's next to impossible to calm him down.
This is another of what he is like. Keep in mind, C. is 7 and does the same behaviors, hands in the mouth, always wiping/picking his nose, hands going, stomping his feet, goes from smiling to whining in a split second, druels a lot.
Some information/video about autism and how they are human beings and should be treated that way, not treated differently.
This is what eating can be like, but with a younger child, it can become very messy.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Apology
I'd like to apologize for not having kept up with this blog. Life has been unusual to say the least. Jay has been struggling for a few weeks now. I had to take a short trip, and well, it's just been a tough time. I know this all is an important subject to tackle. I promise to try hard to get on her by Wednesday. Hope this finds everyone doing well.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Message on Abilify
Our son had started about three weeks ago on a different drug to replace Zyprexa. He had been gaining a lot of weight and started feeling out of control again. His doctor put him on Abilify. The first week he started to feel great, then a week later felt out of sorts again and went back in. His medication needed to be raised. He was back on track. Then it hit, he hit a very high peak and then dropped. He was having thoughts again. He wasn't hearing sounds and voices any more though. That is a blessing.
Of course the doctor couldn't tell him before it happened, as it doesn't always happen this way, plus you don't want to tell a patient ahead of time as they may start thinking they are having that experience.
Note: Those who may be schizophrenic and reading this, remember if you are just starting out on Abilify, this does not always happen, so please don't start looking for things. I was hesitant for writing this for that very reason, but also wanted to help others that live with someone or know of someone with this disorder to be aware and know what's going on.
Thankfully Jay knew something wasn't right and called his doctor. Come to find out, this is a normal reaction for some to experience when first starting out. He knew that he was possibly be going to head to the "Whacky Shack" as he fondly jokes about it. He was worried about that, as he hates being there. She was impressed that he was aware of the fact that there was a good chance of this happening.
Anyway, when a person is starting out on Abilify, there is a chance of them reaching a very high peak. It's important to get in when this is happening, as all that needs to happen is have the dose raised a little more to bring them back down and level off. And of course we need to keep a close eye on him. But, Praise the Lord, he is almost back to normal. We just pray this is the only adjustments he will need and will be good to go.
Of course the doctor couldn't tell him before it happened, as it doesn't always happen this way, plus you don't want to tell a patient ahead of time as they may start thinking they are having that experience.
Note: Those who may be schizophrenic and reading this, remember if you are just starting out on Abilify, this does not always happen, so please don't start looking for things. I was hesitant for writing this for that very reason, but also wanted to help others that live with someone or know of someone with this disorder to be aware and know what's going on.
Thankfully Jay knew something wasn't right and called his doctor. Come to find out, this is a normal reaction for some to experience when first starting out. He knew that he was possibly be going to head to the "Whacky Shack" as he fondly jokes about it. He was worried about that, as he hates being there. She was impressed that he was aware of the fact that there was a good chance of this happening.
Anyway, when a person is starting out on Abilify, there is a chance of them reaching a very high peak. It's important to get in when this is happening, as all that needs to happen is have the dose raised a little more to bring them back down and level off. And of course we need to keep a close eye on him. But, Praise the Lord, he is almost back to normal. We just pray this is the only adjustments he will need and will be good to go.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
From the Beginning
Well, I have to admit, I've come to a standstill on what to write and how to go about this whole blog. Perhaps I rushed into it without out planning it. But was led to write this blog. So I've decided to start from the very beginning with Jay, and go from there. Perhaps this will help some see something they took for granted in their loved one and be able to get help before it gets too out of hand.
Jay was born a happy child on Christmas Eve none the less. When he was born, I thought wow, He's a Christmas baby, God must have special plans for him. What a delight! He was bald for quite some time but had the pretties blue eyes. Then his blond hair grew in. What a handsome little boy he was. Always full of smiles. I don't remember him fussing or crying much at all. In fact his delivery was very easy. I can still see his sweet smile when he was little with his fine blond hair and blues eyes smiling. How lucky we were.
He went to preschool at Grand Forks AFB. He was loved by his teachers. He had such a great attitude and personality. Oh and he had a little sister with red hair and hazel eyes that came along 15 months later. She was a bit different, hard delivery, colicky, and fussy the first couple of months, then turned into a happy go lucky little girl as well. Although she did have the red headed temper. :)
Jason then went on into kindergarten at the base. He was doing well. His teacher loved him and talked about how helpful he was and well mannered! Yeah! We had a wonderful son that we were so proud of. We were so blessed to have two beautiful children; a boy and a girl. Life didn't get much better than this. They both were happy, well adjusted, well behaved all around good kids.
Then we moved to Germany. That is when things started to change. Just a few months after moving there, Jay started to change. He became a bit irritable. I became frustrated. One night he decided to take off on me. His dad was working 24 hour shifts out at the base. We were living in an apartment on the economy. I was scared to death. It was dark, and we didn't know anyone there, nor spoke the language. I called my husband and he came home and found him.
Thank God nothing happened, although it could have turned out a lot worse, as he told me recently that there was guy under the bridge where he had ran to. The Lord was definitely looking out for him. This is when he joined the cub scouts. We were praying this was the ticket to happiness for him once again.
After almost a year in the apartment, we moved on base. Jay went to school on base. We started getting calls from his teachers that Jay was being a disturbance during classes and was not getting his home work done. They told us that he was a good boy, and smart, but was just hanging out with the wrong kids.
This continued on through 4th grade. He did have one teacher that loved him and felt there was something going on but couldn't put her finger on it. She tried hard with him. The rest of them eventually labeled him a bad child with parents that didn't care. Believe me, this was very frustrating. No one had any advice. No one suggested a possible disorder with him, nope, he was simply a bad kid that needed disciplining and a dad that was home more. What??? We spent a lot of family time together while there. We done a lot of family camping trips and always had a great time. So what was the deal with school.
Oh, and a big thing in school. It drove the teachers nuts, as it would take him forever to complete an assignment, and he would write so small that it was hard for them to read it. He was very, very articulate. This is quite common in bipolar people. Plus his dad is a huge perfectionist as well.
So here we were with a boy that was struggling through school, was starting to become a handful at home towards the end of our 4 years there. Was not well accepted in scouts after awhile because of his behavior problems. Thankfully his den leader was very supportive and tried hard with him. We were blessed with that fact.
We did however start to worry about our parenting skills, or should I say, I did. I thought, my gosh, what are we doing wrong? We have a girl who is doing outstanding in school, well behaved, involved in church--mind you the rest of us weren't at that time--and was not a problem at all. How could we have a child that is doing good if we are bad parents.
I will end it here now and do the next segment on our return to the states. This is where things really took off, but...not right away. This segment here is a warning signal to parents or of friends even. If you see someone starting to struggle and there is no real logical reason for it happening, this is a time to get that person into a psychologist. Get them checked and help then. What do you have to lose? Hopefully there is nothing wrong and they are just going through an adjustment phase. But it is worth checking into to make sure rather than putting that person and others involved through the torment that follows if you don't do anything about it. Not to mention that during this beginning phase, it is very frustrating to them as well.
Jay was born a happy child on Christmas Eve none the less. When he was born, I thought wow, He's a Christmas baby, God must have special plans for him. What a delight! He was bald for quite some time but had the pretties blue eyes. Then his blond hair grew in. What a handsome little boy he was. Always full of smiles. I don't remember him fussing or crying much at all. In fact his delivery was very easy. I can still see his sweet smile when he was little with his fine blond hair and blues eyes smiling. How lucky we were.
He went to preschool at Grand Forks AFB. He was loved by his teachers. He had such a great attitude and personality. Oh and he had a little sister with red hair and hazel eyes that came along 15 months later. She was a bit different, hard delivery, colicky, and fussy the first couple of months, then turned into a happy go lucky little girl as well. Although she did have the red headed temper. :)
Jason then went on into kindergarten at the base. He was doing well. His teacher loved him and talked about how helpful he was and well mannered! Yeah! We had a wonderful son that we were so proud of. We were so blessed to have two beautiful children; a boy and a girl. Life didn't get much better than this. They both were happy, well adjusted, well behaved all around good kids.
Then we moved to Germany. That is when things started to change. Just a few months after moving there, Jay started to change. He became a bit irritable. I became frustrated. One night he decided to take off on me. His dad was working 24 hour shifts out at the base. We were living in an apartment on the economy. I was scared to death. It was dark, and we didn't know anyone there, nor spoke the language. I called my husband and he came home and found him.
Thank God nothing happened, although it could have turned out a lot worse, as he told me recently that there was guy under the bridge where he had ran to. The Lord was definitely looking out for him. This is when he joined the cub scouts. We were praying this was the ticket to happiness for him once again.
After almost a year in the apartment, we moved on base. Jay went to school on base. We started getting calls from his teachers that Jay was being a disturbance during classes and was not getting his home work done. They told us that he was a good boy, and smart, but was just hanging out with the wrong kids.
This continued on through 4th grade. He did have one teacher that loved him and felt there was something going on but couldn't put her finger on it. She tried hard with him. The rest of them eventually labeled him a bad child with parents that didn't care. Believe me, this was very frustrating. No one had any advice. No one suggested a possible disorder with him, nope, he was simply a bad kid that needed disciplining and a dad that was home more. What??? We spent a lot of family time together while there. We done a lot of family camping trips and always had a great time. So what was the deal with school.
Oh, and a big thing in school. It drove the teachers nuts, as it would take him forever to complete an assignment, and he would write so small that it was hard for them to read it. He was very, very articulate. This is quite common in bipolar people. Plus his dad is a huge perfectionist as well.
So here we were with a boy that was struggling through school, was starting to become a handful at home towards the end of our 4 years there. Was not well accepted in scouts after awhile because of his behavior problems. Thankfully his den leader was very supportive and tried hard with him. We were blessed with that fact.
We did however start to worry about our parenting skills, or should I say, I did. I thought, my gosh, what are we doing wrong? We have a girl who is doing outstanding in school, well behaved, involved in church--mind you the rest of us weren't at that time--and was not a problem at all. How could we have a child that is doing good if we are bad parents.
I will end it here now and do the next segment on our return to the states. This is where things really took off, but...not right away. This segment here is a warning signal to parents or of friends even. If you see someone starting to struggle and there is no real logical reason for it happening, this is a time to get that person into a psychologist. Get them checked and help then. What do you have to lose? Hopefully there is nothing wrong and they are just going through an adjustment phase. But it is worth checking into to make sure rather than putting that person and others involved through the torment that follows if you don't do anything about it. Not to mention that during this beginning phase, it is very frustrating to them as well.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Autism Information
My husband just sent me a very interesting site on autism. It really depicts what my grandson has started doing. You can read the information here and click on links to watch videos. There are other links as well.
This was an eye opener for me. I had no idea that aspergers meant pretty much autism. When picking him up from school yesterday, I was greeted by a one of his teachers. Unfortunately, there school is not set up to deal with this type of behavior. His main teacher has been rude towards him and us. Now this one is the same way. There is only one that has the patience with him. Believe me, I'm not putting the teachers down, as I know they have a tough job. What I do mean is, if you can't handle it, then let the parents know so they can get him into classes that can.
Anyway, the teacher was frustrated and irritated. She told me that Cee refused to do his work again and proceeded to yell, "I'm not doing it," getting louder each time until he had a full blown temper tantrum. She said it was the worst she had seen him yet. I just stood there and didn't know what to say, other than the parents are finally looking into the situation and he will hopefully get the help he needs soon. She then told me that they would be discussing that at their meeting with the parents today. He's failing once again.
So, his attitude continued on home. He likes to wear sports jackets with shirt and tie. When we arrived at home, he wanted to go outside. I told him to take his jacket off and wear his coat. He tried to argue, but this time I won with patience. Whew! But a little later, he had come in, snuck his jacket and went outside and put it on taking off his coat. He came back in to talk to his dad and I caught him. When I approached him, he took off. I finally talked him into coming back to me. I wasn't about to chase him. He started to stomp his feet, thrash his arms and scream at me. The whole way back to the house. I grabbed a hold of his hand and led him into the house and calmly told him that he could not wear it outside. He proceeded to throw a fit saying, I want to wear it." Finally with his dad standing there, I said, then it's up to your dad. His dad thankfully backed me up. He proceeded to get angry. I finally got it off him, and then quickly changed the subject and made it a game. He stopped throwing his fit, started giggling and we solved the problem.
An important lesson was learned here. It's very important to stay calm no matter what. Change the subject as quickly as possible and usually this will get their attention. It doesn't always work, but usually. They need a distraction when upset. It does take a lot of patience when working with an autistic child. I'm beginning to realize that my youngest grand daughter probably has the same problem. I'm hoping not, but she throws some horrible, horrible tantrums. Dealing with two of them in one household can really prove challenging.
So anyone with more information on how they work with this type of disability would be greatly appreciated. The more we share with one another the better the outcome for all. Especially since it cost $20,000 a week for a therapist! Now days, who can afford that? Insurance does not cover it. How are people suppose to get their children help at those costs unless they are rich? Okay, this is another subject, sorry.
This was an eye opener for me. I had no idea that aspergers meant pretty much autism. When picking him up from school yesterday, I was greeted by a one of his teachers. Unfortunately, there school is not set up to deal with this type of behavior. His main teacher has been rude towards him and us. Now this one is the same way. There is only one that has the patience with him. Believe me, I'm not putting the teachers down, as I know they have a tough job. What I do mean is, if you can't handle it, then let the parents know so they can get him into classes that can.
Anyway, the teacher was frustrated and irritated. She told me that Cee refused to do his work again and proceeded to yell, "I'm not doing it," getting louder each time until he had a full blown temper tantrum. She said it was the worst she had seen him yet. I just stood there and didn't know what to say, other than the parents are finally looking into the situation and he will hopefully get the help he needs soon. She then told me that they would be discussing that at their meeting with the parents today. He's failing once again.
So, his attitude continued on home. He likes to wear sports jackets with shirt and tie. When we arrived at home, he wanted to go outside. I told him to take his jacket off and wear his coat. He tried to argue, but this time I won with patience. Whew! But a little later, he had come in, snuck his jacket and went outside and put it on taking off his coat. He came back in to talk to his dad and I caught him. When I approached him, he took off. I finally talked him into coming back to me. I wasn't about to chase him. He started to stomp his feet, thrash his arms and scream at me. The whole way back to the house. I grabbed a hold of his hand and led him into the house and calmly told him that he could not wear it outside. He proceeded to throw a fit saying, I want to wear it." Finally with his dad standing there, I said, then it's up to your dad. His dad thankfully backed me up. He proceeded to get angry. I finally got it off him, and then quickly changed the subject and made it a game. He stopped throwing his fit, started giggling and we solved the problem.
An important lesson was learned here. It's very important to stay calm no matter what. Change the subject as quickly as possible and usually this will get their attention. It doesn't always work, but usually. They need a distraction when upset. It does take a lot of patience when working with an autistic child. I'm beginning to realize that my youngest grand daughter probably has the same problem. I'm hoping not, but she throws some horrible, horrible tantrums. Dealing with two of them in one household can really prove challenging.
So anyone with more information on how they work with this type of disability would be greatly appreciated. The more we share with one another the better the outcome for all. Especially since it cost $20,000 a week for a therapist! Now days, who can afford that? Insurance does not cover it. How are people suppose to get their children help at those costs unless they are rich? Okay, this is another subject, sorry.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Update
Jay will be offering his input on here after all! Yeah. Although he's started his own blog on this subject, he will also post on here as well. Which will be a big help coming from someone that actually is schizophrenic. Hopefully he will be posting something soon. It is hard for him to do, so please be patient and keep checking back.
Aspergers Information Site
Recently I had asked for information on Aspergers Disorder. Heather had told me about Don. I went to his blog and asked if he had any information and he was so nice to respond and wrote an article on his blog here that explains some about how a child perceives his world around him. It is very good for anyone wanting information on this.
As Don explains, it only touches the surface, but...it is very helpful and a great start. It helps to understand how they see things. It also helps to know what their needs are. I would highly suggest taking the time to read his article. Anyone else having information to share would be greatly appreciate.
Don is a special education teacher. Those children are very lucky to have someone like him that is so interested in giving them what they need. If only there were many more like this.
As Don explains, it only touches the surface, but...it is very helpful and a great start. It helps to understand how they see things. It also helps to know what their needs are. I would highly suggest taking the time to read his article. Anyone else having information to share would be greatly appreciate.
Don is a special education teacher. Those children are very lucky to have someone like him that is so interested in giving them what they need. If only there were many more like this.
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