2nd Annual World Autism Awareness Day photo montage:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/I5_aw8XBdDI“>
Last year’s montage is available here: https://youtu.be/9V51KVuGAr4
My family’s journey: https://youtu.be/siP4DLOm-YU
Please leave any questions you have below. I will answer them as best I can. 🙂
A little photo montage of some of the activities we did during March Break:
A bit late because I was sick for a week with step throat (stay tuned for the blog post about that!), but here’s my son’s Autism class’ calendar for February:
Son’s School Calendar Feb 2015
His class is an Autism-specific class offered through our school board. They follow a Monday through Friday schedule rather than a Day 1 through Day 5 schedule like the rest of the school does.
Report cards were also sent home last Thursday so I decided to film how my kids’ report cards are different from other report cards that go home. My daughter’s report card is the same structure as mainstream school because she’s in mainstream schooling, but has a couple of accommodations for her IEP (Individualized Education Plan). My son’s report card however is very different from mainstream school, seeing as he’s in an Autism-specific class.
Canadian Thanksgiving was a couple of weekends ago and I was sssooooo happy to receive this turkey made by my son:
My son’s teacher wrote down words that all the kids in his class may choose to be thankful for. My son chose the following words:
Made my day! Will be going in the tote for future Thanksgivings, to decorate the house.
(See yesterday’s post to read about my son’s pre-op appointment for his dental surgery)
The night before his surgery, my daughter spent the night at their dad’s as we had to be at the hospital by 6:30 the next morning. Eek! Of course, as I’m sure it’s stated in some “law” of some kind, my son slept in that morning, so I had to wake him up at 5:30am for us to get there.
My little man wasn’t happy with the hospital gown. I tried talking him through it while my man put it on him.
He seemed ok, until he sat down and had to wait until it was our turn to go in. Honestly, I gave up the fight. He didn’t “need” to be in the hospital gown for tooth surgery (the staff told me that) so I gave in…he wanted his special Spiderman shirt on. Honestly, he was stressed enough with everything going on, that I didn’t want to put him through a meltdown too.
As we all know, there is NOTHING stronger than Autism-panic. Because of this, both my man and I “suited up” in outfits to wear into the operating room, in case my son panicked and I needed to tag-team my man in because he’s stronger than I am. Thankfully, it was also the same anesthesiologist as my daughter had a few months prior for her dental surgery so he already “knew” us. He was great at calmly saying “It’s ok, Uncle Bruno (Dr Bruno to me!) is here” while I was straddled on top of my son’s core and a medical staff person was trying to hold down his arm so my son couldn’t pull the mask off. I kept telling him “It’s ok. Mommy’s here. You’re safe. I love you”. Between Dr Bruno and I, we didn’t need to tag-in my man, but he was watching through the glass window in the door into the operating room, just in case.
During the surgery, my man and I walked across the street for a Starbucks for me (shocking, I know). We barely got back, settled in the surgery wait room and started drinking my chai when the surgery was over. I went into the recovery area and as soon as I saw him, I told the nurses “How much time until he wakes up? I told you not to have the IV in when…” and he started stirring, then bolted straight up in the bed, tried climbing out, headbutted a nurse in the nose (she went down quickly!) while everyone else tried holding him down.
I immediately jumped on top of the gurney and straddled him down, holding him in the way that we’ve all figured out how to manage through our child’s Autistic meltdown. Then I heard staff say “go get dad”…not the time to correct them when one nurse is down, 4 others are trying to hold him and keep the IV from ripping out, and I’m on him. They went and got my man…by the time he came in, I had my son controlled under me, telling them to “put him under again NOW”, my man held down my son’s feet because um, well, my son was “squaring” me (ouch!), and the medical staff were trying to figure out what dosage to give my son. As it turned out, they gave him meds that are equivalent to 2 margaritas…yup, they made my 9 year old “drunk”. He fought it but eventually, I felt him go limp under me, and he was out again. By the time I figured he was actually out, I told them “I told you not to let him wake up with an IV attached”, then started asking how the nurse was. Apparently I was the only one who saw him take her out. She came back in later and was sore, but fine. Nothing broken. Phew!
He looked so peaceful when he was knocked out the 2nd time:
They removed his IV while he was asleep the 2nd time, and about 15 mins later, he started stirring awake, but I was ready to jump in again, including having my brace on my wrist (it wasn’t on before – ouch!). My right wrist has been injured so many times now (including a fracture a couple of years ago) that I’m a proud “owner” of a wrist with arthritis…in my late 30s! 😉
It was a much more peaceful wake up, so I crawled in beside him for cuddles. When he woke up enough, he checked to see if the IV was still there. It was out, so it all was right in the world.
For my daughter’s surgery, we had to go to an observation room after this wake-up room but, because my son has Autism, they kept him in the wake-up room longer than usual. After determining he was ok and didn’t have any reactions, we were discharged and sent home with a list of things to keep an eye out for. He fell asleep sitting up in the car a few times and, when we got home, he lay under his weighted blanket on the couch for about an hour, then started VERY slowly doing his circuits around the house, stimming his way through the stress of the day. By mid-afternoon, he was eating solid foods and drinking lemonaid. The next day, you wouldn’t even know that he had dental surgery the day before.
Other than the meltdown that happened when he woke up, he was an awesome superstar through the whole thing. I’m so proud!
A couple of weeks before school started, my son had dental surgery. He needed one tooth removed to make space for grown-up teeth that were growing but the baby tooth wasn’t coming out; and he also needed a molar removed because, as with many children with Autism, it had rotted from the inside out since he won’t use toothpaste when brushing his teeth. You would think by now, with stats like 1 in 68, the toothpaste industry would have started making toothpaste that isn’t so strong tasting, and bubble so much…but I digress.
My daughter had dental surgery before the end of last school year, and she was an absolute superstar! She needed to have some baby teeth removed because the grown up teeth had grown in behind the baby teeth and was causing too much crowding in her wee mouth. (Sensing a theme here with my twins? 😉 ).
I took my son for his pre-op appointment the week prior to his surgery. He cuddled up under his weighted blanket during registration:
He drew lots on his whiteboard while we were in the waitroom:
He even tried stealing the nurse’s stethoscope while she and I were chatting. Of course, seeing as they specialize in surgeries for children, she had another one on hand for him to use while we took all his measurements (height, weight, blood pressure, etc).
He loved getting his blood pressure taken too…in fact, he tried going for that FIRST, before anything else. The nurse thought it was so cute.
Tomorrow…tales of the actual surgery…stay tuned…. 😉
Excited to announce the first of a new workshop series being held in Hamilton, ON called “Financial & Family Support for Families Affected by Autism”. It’s being held on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at St. John United Church, Hamilton ON, doors opening at 6:30pm.
The first workshop is called “Getting Ready For Back To School, and Finances“. More information: 2014 August – Financial & Family Support – online rsvp.
Speakers will discuss:
Please join the Facebook group created specifically for this workshop series: Autism – Family & Financial Workshops.
After our drive into Toronto, which was relatively painless I might add, the kids got really excited when we finally pulled into the parking lot at the Ontario Science Centre. My daughter is CRAZY about science so she was really looking forward to this excursion all week, telling everyone we were going.
Entering into the exhibit park of the Ontario Science Centre was a HUGE ruler that represented a ton of time, with fossils and rocks that were discovered to be about each time frame. My daughter literally mauled the dinosaur fossil along this ruler.
We weaved through various areas until we found the Science of Rock exhibit.
We checked out the different displays that went through recent decades of music, which included the popular and new instruments and bands for each era.
Then we found the interactive areas and had LOTS of fun!
The kids even let me “play” too…my daughter insisted on taking the photo (sorry it’s a bit fuzzy but my daughter is still learning how to take photos):
Considering how much “video mixing” my son does on Youtube, it’s not surprising he gravitated towards the music mixing board.
We also found an exhibit that was all about the human body. My daughter was so excited to see all the skeletons.
There is an exhibit all about electricity too. My son gravitated towards the train (what is it about kids with Autism and trains?!).
My daughter was chosen from the audience for the electricity demonstration…mainly because she has the PERFECT hair for the demonstration.
They also found a static ball, which they were fascinated with…until they went to hold hands afterwards and my son got quite the shock (he was fine…just surprised).
We had lunch there. I was impressed that there were different “stations”, which reduced the line ups. The food prices were comparable to movie theatre prices so it cost about $20 to feed the three of us. My daughter felt the macaroni was a bit dry, but my son and I enjoyed the pizza. It even took my daughter a while to eat the MONSTER-sized cookie! It was the size of her head!
She even wanted a picture of our hands, with the entrance stamps:
My daughter asked me to quote her about going to the Ontario Science Centre:
“It was awesome! I really liked the skeleton. It was really cool and fun. I even got to rock climb. I loved playing the drums and singing, and I really liked the cookies and garlic bread.”
When I asked my (limited verbal) son if he had fun that day, he proudly said “yes!”. I asked if he wanted to go back and he said “yes!”.
We had such a great day that the kids can’t wait to go back again. Four hours went by in a flash, and I was able to keep my son on task or within easy reach, without being worried about him taking off. There was so much cuteness throughout the day, starting in the parking lot just to get inside. 😉
Meghan and her children were given free admission in exchange for this review. All opinions are her own.
About a month before the end of school, a Special Olympics day was held in town. I didn’t know what to expect but I was really excited…probably more than I should have been, but it was the first time my son and I got to attend with his class because he had been in IBI therapy for previous years.
I was amazed at the sheer number of children and schools that were in attendance. My son is fortunate to be in an Autism-specific class so my man and I met them at the school that was hosting the event. It was hard to find parking! None of the spots in the school’s parking lot were available so we had to park a few blocks away. We found my son’s class, under a little pop-up sunshade. Apparently all other students were gathered in the school’s auditorium for Opening Ceremonies. With the hundreds of children, personally, I think my son’s class was smart NOT going in there!
Soon, we heard bagpipes as all the students were starting to file out of the school to the field.
Each of the children had “passports” to get stickers at each activity. Needless to say, the kids loved choosing stickers for each one!
One of the activities was a race for each class. The volunteers overseeing the race lined all my son’s class and explained that they will count to three then everyone run. They counted down, and all the kids ran…past the finish line and all the staff and parents started chuckling…no one had told our kiddos to stop at the finish line, so they just kept on running! LOL! The volunteers ran after them and told them all to stop. It was so cute!
There was also beanbag toss, “javelin” (with a pool noodle) and ball throw:
I was amazed at the shear numbers of children, and everyone’s different abilities, both visible and invisible to the eye. It was wonderful to see all the helpers (both school staff and volunteers for the day) supporting all these children to have fun for the day.
A quick shout out to my son’s amazing teacher…I LOVE this picture of her with one of my son’s friends. I think it perfectly shows how much she loves her job, and her kindness towards our kiddos. I wish I could clone her for EVERY single one of our kiddos on the Autism Spectrum!
Last week, my son was *supposed* to have a molar removed and xrays of his mouth done while he was asleep. Years ago, going to the dentist was VERY stressful for him but then I discovered that bringing along his Spiderman weighted blanket really helped with his stress levels. I would also prep him by reading a social story about doing to the dentist. We were referred to a dentist in town who understands how to work with kids with Autism so his staff would also schedule the appointment for when there weren’t many other kids in the office at that time.
A few months ago, my son kept sticking his fingers into his mouth, which is odd behaviour for him. I got him to open his mouth so I could look inside…one of his molars was black, on the inside part of it. Eek! I told him we would go to the dentist and that the dentist could help. It was the easiest appointment at the dentist…forever now known as the “tooth doctor”‘ as my son says. He gave us a prescription for antibiotics (THAT was interesting to get in my son three times per day!), and referred us to a sleep dentist to have the molar removed.
We met with that dentist. He’s an elderly gentleman with a very calm voice, so my son really liked him. The molar removal was booked for a month later…which was last week. I explained what I could to my son for a few days leading up to it and every morning, he would ask “tooth doctor today?”. “No hunny, it’s on Thursday”. He was excited to go!
I had to get some patches from the pharmacy to numb the back of his hands so they could put an IV in. He was sssoooooo good at not playing with them or trying to remove them.
He was so happy to see the tooth doctor that he actually ran from the car into the building! We waited in the reception area for about 15 minutes, and he was surprisingly still with these patches on. I was so proud of him!
We went into the room and got him all set up with his Spiderman weighted blanket on his lap. All the ladies thought he was so cute in his Spiderman hat, tshirt and blanket. 🙂
Then they started attaching sticky things with wires coming out of them to three parts of his chest. He didn’t like these. They also put a blood pressure cuff on him to try to get his blood pressure. He did that the initial appointment and squirmed a bit but having the other items on him this time too, he wouldn’t stay still…and one of the new staff members had the guts to tell me “you know, it’ll go faster if he sits still”. By then, I’ve been wrestling with him, trying to keep him still and stopping him from pulling all the wires off of him that I snapped at her…and I won’t apologize for it. I had already reminded them all that he has Autism, so this time I looked her squarely in face and told her “if you are planning on staying in this type of a job, you are going to have to figure this one out…it’s Autism. You’re lucky he’s even sitting. You had better learn something”. I’ll admit I paid no attention to her the rest of the time.
The tooth doctor came in and although my son was stressed a bit, he calmed down and moved the tooth doctor’s hand towards his mouth. Thankfully, the tooth doctor acknowledged “yes, we’re going to pull that yucky tooth out”. My son calmed down a bit…until the tooth doctor tried putting an IV in my son’s hand. All hell broke loose! The five staff tried holding my son down, while I was literally on top of him, trying to keep him on the chair, and trying to help keep his arm still, while calmly telling him over and over again that he was ok, the tooth doctor needed to do this to pull his tooth, mommy is here, that I love him, etc. The whole time, I was thinking “please don’t knock the dentist over and break his hip!”.
The tooth doctor gave up on that hand and went to the other. Same thing. Then he tried moving towards the inside of my son’s elbow…my son freaked out even more. After that, the tooth doctor gave up. My son now has a referral to the local university, where they can give him the sleep gas first, then do the IV that’s needed. I’ll have to tell them though that it’ll have to be out of him before he wakes up, or he’ll just pull it out.
He saw the tooth doctor in the hallway when we were back at reception for me to sign some paperwork…and he ran over and gave the tooth doctor a hug! Apparently, no hard feelings! 🙂 In the car, he said “school please” so we went home, had some breakfast (he had to fast beforehand) while I packed a lunch for him, and before taking him to school, he said “bandaid please”…Spiderman, of course. 🙂
When he got to school, he was a bit confused because he thought we were there to pick his sister up, not understanding that it was only 11:30. The teachers and helpers were very kind and let him have his choice of activity to help ease him into being at school…he chose the indoor swing they have. So slipped out, telling them to call me if he was too disruptive…and the next time I saw him was at the end of school.
I'm A Mom Too 