Camp Update....

Dominic is really shining this year in camp. I've been ridiculously pleased.  This was my facebook update yesterday in one of my groups

"When I dropped my 11 year old at camp this morning i bumped into a long time friend of mine whose girls go to the same program. She told me about interactions D has had with both her girls - one where he and her older daughter were reading together and the other where her younger daughter was jealous of his lunch (cracked me up, to be honest because i have to get really creative to avoid all the food allergies. he had mini homemade gfcfsf organic cornd dogs, nitrate free bacon wrapped asparagus, and mango chunks).
We are doing camp specifically to boost social skills, and I have to say that this summer has been his best yet"

Then said friend sent me this text last night after I'd gone to sleep - it absolutely made my day.  She and I will be nurturing this relationship and attempting to do camp carryover get togethers in the fall to keep the friendships blossoming.

"An Evening Y report from   She and Dominic played and played and played chase, made a slinky and ninja's with pipe cleaners (apparently she gave one to him and showed him how to make his own), and she said he's such and sweet and fun kid"

Absolutely made my morning. 

Almost every time I pick Dominic up, the staff tells me he's had a great day.  They've told me his swimming skills are getting better, and the only rough days seem to be around losing his little fidgets.  We try to not allow that to happen.

Awww

So Dominic is having OT today.
I was downstairs while he worked with Mr Jonny.  I came upstairs and was shown this. 

He wrote it.  Its LEGIBLE

by star wars, he means the star wars legos.

Don't tell me this child cannot read, write, or communicate.  He's finding a way. 

And yes, he is currently putting together legos because if thats how he's going to ask, he's going to get them.

Imaginative Play!!

Dont' tell me our kids have no imaginative play....

That "cheese" is part of a dog toy.  In case anyone is wondering.

Circus, year 4

Dominic has been talking about going to the circus to see the tigers for weeks.  He was so excited Saturday morning that he found last years (very stretched out) clown nose and we played with it before we went.

As usual, we wandered around the animals before we went to get in line.  This is from us watching the camels.  Ringling Brothers has stopped touring their elephants, but they still brought camels, horses, tigers, and poodles along.   Dominic was sad there were no elephants.

Silliness before we got in line.

Silliness IN line.

Just clowning around.  We got a picture with the same female clown last year.   Dominic quite likes her hair bow.

He LOVED having popcorn.  ADORED it.

OF all the acts, my favorites are the danger ones - the dude who does the rings of doom (i have no idea their real name), the tight rope walkers and the trapeze.  Dominic seemed to like the animal acts and the lady who got shot out of a cannon.

Seriously he just aged 5 years.

Yesterday Daddy and Dominic went to get haircuts. 

Over his life, Haircuts have ranged from horrible experiences where we had to hold him down to make sure he (and the stylist) didn't get cut to refusing the electric clippers because the vibration was awful, to screams, to insensitive jerks (thats the PG version) who insulted us.  They've been getting better and better. I told ya'll the first month we did the IonCleanse by AMD that he was finally able to sit for a haircut (no electric clippers tho), so we thought that was HUGE. 

In March, I told you guys he finally had a whole haircut with clippers.  

Today, He had a whole haircut with clippers where he didn't need Daddy to hold him still.  He sat compliantly and calmly The Entire Time she used the clippers.

I am ECSTATIC!!! OVER THE MOON!!!  This is amazing to me. 

Here're Daddy and Dominic pre Haircut

And here they are Post-Haircut.

And seriously, the haircut aged him ridiculously. 

Camp, week 2

We have achieved Routine, people!!!  Camp is now routine.  When I picked Dominic up from camp yesterday, another little boy came running over to give him "knuckles" before he left and the counselors told me he had had a Very happy Day.


This afternoon will be our 4th annual trip to the Circus, so look for pictures and blog tomorrow!!!!

Tales from Home Based Therapy - "Hooooray"!!!

I'm just going to let the video tell the story.

Went to the Pediatrician's office today...

No, not for Dominic.  We see a family practitioner for Dominic.  She's very reasonable, NEVER has pushed me once about vaccines, and I adore her.  Pediatricians ... well, they're pretty much owned by the AAP, and they have monetary incentives tied to how many vaccines they give a baby by the time they are 2.  Its nauseating.

We have somewhat adopted a younger couple (early 20's), who have a baby.  They did some initial vaccines, but were bullied and stopped.  She asked me to with her today to a new doctor (their second visit) because she was concerned about being bullied about vaccines.  At her first visit, this doctor apparently presented her with a book from the CDC about vaccines. (yes, i will do my best to get my hands on it).

First words out of Mom's mouth when I picked her up and asked were, i don't want him to get shots today.  I said "Then he won't".

Appointment went like this.

MA brings us back to the room, we strip the baby, they weigh and measure.  Then she comes back in and starts talking about vaccines this time.  To which I said "She will be exercising her right to a philosophical exemption today".   MA Said "you're kidding, right".  I gave her what is known as the Joy Death Stare.  I was not kidding.

The doctor took longer than usual to come in.  I suspect the MA was briefing her on the crazy woman wearing a Thinking Moms Revolution shirt in the room with the young mom.

The doc came in, really wanted to know who I was.  I'm the ride, and the mentor.  She proceeded to talk food, weight, measurements, listened to the baby, and then brought up shots.   As she was going through the paperwork these words came out of her mouth "In order to go to school, he's required to have all of these except Hep A".  I piped up from the corner "Actually, that's not true, in the state of Colorado, the law says that all the school needs is a signed philosophical  exemption for whichever she chooses not to do"

I got a really dirty look.  And then she said "well, yes, i guess they are only required if you don't have an exemption"

When it was all said and done, I did leave the doctor with a copy of this document that the VaxXed legal team has created. I didn't ask her to sign it because she didn't threaten to fire this family for choosing to delay / space out / pick and choose shots.  But I left it with her as something to think about.  She made the statement that she personally believes in vaccines and has vaccinated her children and I could not help but flash back to this moment at A1 during the Q and A where Del made his statement about how belief in something makes it a religion, not a science.

He's Back!!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that our favorite OT student from last summer, Jonny, had decided to take a job back in Colorado and would be coming out once he finished his OT national certification process.  He came back last week.  While it will be a few weeks before he’s official and working with Dominic, we had him over for dinner last Thursday to catch up and visit.

 

Dominic RAN out the door to greet him, he was that excited.  

Jonny was blown away. Remember, he left last fall, in September, so we’ve had 8 months of AMAZING progress since then.  Dominic was initiating play with the dogs (which Jonny’d never seen) and talking up a storm. I showed Jonny some of the OT related exercises we’ve done regularly.  The one that blew his mind is the one where I turn the BOSU upside down, make Dominic  balance on the teetering top, on one foot and do a cross body hand slapping kind of exercise.   Apparently we were way further along with some of the things Jonny wants to do with Dominic than he could’ve guessed.

The other moment that absolutely knocked Jonny’s socks off was when Dominic went to his room, got a lego kit that I brought home from Autism One for him.  (one that’s for ages 6-12, so its age appropriate), told us “Want to open it”, then proceeded to sit down at the table and complete the lego kit while following its pictorial directions.  He needed help a couple of times, but HE DID IT HIMSELF.  The level of executive functioning, self-initiation, and FOCUS on an activity astonished Jonny.    We concurred that I’m probably going to go broke buying lego kits.  I’m okay with that.

So, once he’s official and all, we have high hopes for Jonny and Dominic this summer.  Jonny’s comment was that you could see the speech and cognition and its like there’s just  a wall between us and them right now.  That wall is the brain injury that we are finally ready to address.   And you know what  my feelings about walls are – we go around them, we go over them, or we go through them.  So here we go!

Our Story, #VaxXed

A few days ago, I shared with you that one of the action items coming out of Autism One for me was to video our story.  Here it is.  You may share this far and wide.  And please, please, please - tell your own story on video. The time has come, we are United For VaxXed and we stand together.

Tales from Home Based Therapy - Transition week

Dominic is always pretty tired the first week of summer camp.  Its because they are ACTIVE all day, as opposed to sitting and working like at school.  So we always know that the first week is going to be rough for after-camp therapies because he's just cooked.

On Wednesday, he had speech therapy after camp.  He was not loving it.  I also was in the room because I was doing my own footbath and thats where the footbath chair is.   He does better without me in the room because he's forever looking at me to gauge my reaction to what he's doing as opposed to focusing on what he's supposed to do.

Miss Sarah has a cool 2 part system that works very well in motivating Dominic to stay on task and to follow directions.  The first part is the visual schedule - 3 activities and a reward.  They cross each activity off as it completes, then he gets a 3 minute reward that usually he chooses to watch Finding Nemo on her laptop.    The second piece is a laminated paper with 10 circles on it. If he doesn't follow direction, is non compliants, etc, he gets a sad face.  10 sad faces and he doesn't get his reward.

Wednesday he got the most sad faces ever - 5.   The hysterical part is that every time Sarah's back was turned, Dominic licked his finger and erased sad faces.  The other hilarious thing is he turned off the timer that was limiting his time with Nemo.   The higher level executive function (and downright mischievousness) that shows gives me so much hope.

Here's a quick video from what was not a great speech session.  And Look how good it is.

Summer Camp!!!

So we have just finished week 1 of Summer camp, and with all the stuff I needed to post last week about Autism One, activism, the Grandparents book, etc - I didn't do my annual post of the letter I send in with Dominic.

This years has changed a bit... he's tying his own shoes so is entirely independent in dressing now.
He's much more verbal.  He's much more social.

Couple of Highlights from week 1
~on day 2, the counselor told me that he did his own art project, entirely independently.  (this is huge), and that he created a game where he runs up and down the hill and the other kids yell "ready, set, go" and give him high fives.  The whole reason we are doing Y camp is for social interaction.

~ on day 4, they told me that he made friends with a younger child and they "read" together, looking at pictures and talking about them.  He also made his art project, which is not a preferred activity

So here's the letter that I sent in....

Things that The Y Camp counselors need to know about Dominic.

~  Dominic has an Autism diagnosis, and his primary area of trouble is speech. He is verbal and is starting to become conversational.   He CAN speak and you SHOULD encourage him to use his words to ask for things.  This may mean you have to slow down and perhaps ask a question twice before he will answer, but he is able to give you a yes/no, answer his name, say "Good Morning", etc.  He may need prompting to say that he is 11 years old and will be going to Galileo Middle school. 

He has a deep love of animals and is fascinated by all things sciencey.  He also loves heavy gross motor play (climbing wall, jumping, swimming) and will catch on quickly to games.  We expect his participation in group activities this year.   If questions are being asked (eg, in a group introduction time) – he’ll need some prompting to say things.  For gross motor stuff (structured outside play), he’ll catch on quick, but will need some patience.

~ Dominic is allergic to Gluten, Dairy, Soy, and artificial colors.  You are NOT to allow him to eat anything that we did not send from home. In his lunch box, you’ll find snacks (2) and lunch. It is iced and will be fine without refrigeration, and does not need to be heated up.   He can drink water, please do not give him juice / milk / soda / sports drinks.  If you plan to do something like ice cream with the group, please tell us the day before and we will send in an allergy free equivalent so that he can participate.  we are happy to send in additional non perishable snacks, just grab one of us and let us know.

~ Last summer there were a few times that he went inside the lobby and sat down, with counselors not noticing.  This is unacceptable because we really want you all making sure he is included in the activities.  He does not elope in the sense of running away / hiding, but just in case we are putting a GPS tracker on him. It will be in his pocket when we get it sorted out.

~ Regarding Swimming:   Dominic loves the water and will probably BEG to go swimming as soon as he realizes it’s a regular part of the program.   Being that water is very calming for him, and he does not like to get out.  He has some rudimentary water ability and we would love to have him actually learn to swim this summer so he can hang out in the deep end.

~  Dominic has absolutely blossomed the past year cognitively and socially so we expect that he will have a fantastic summer.  Should you have ANY questions or concerns about how to best interact with him and keep him safe, please ask either Mom or Dad at pick up or drop off.

******************

Due to private speech and occupational therapy schedule we will be picking up Dominic Early on Thursday each week. On Thursday, we will pick him up at 4pm.  Please ensure that if you plan to be gone later than this time on a field trip that you tell us at least 2 days before so we can cancel his private therapy.

It's Happening.

I'm still reflecting back on my weekend at Autism one, and there's one phrase that we kept saying to each other.  Generally through tears - it was one of the most emotionally cathartic weekends of my life:

It's Happening!!!!!

By it, we mean the exposure of the fraud at the CDC, the realization by many parents that vaccines are not what they think they are, the truth that in some children, yes, vaccines do cause regressive, isolated autism.

The documentary VaxXed is taking the world by storm.  It is being translated into multiple other languages right now.  Ty Bollinger (the guy who did the Truth about Cancer series) was there filming The Truth about Vaccines.  A French film crew was there filming.  Everyone is now paying attention!!!!  Its changing!!! I am a part of a social movement that is going to change the world and experiencing it is absolutely mind blowing and humbling at the same time.

We have reached the tipping point we've been trying to get to and now the media is starting to take us seriously.

Everything is snowballing rapidly.  VaxXed is selling out across the country - please go see it.  If money is an issue, I will buy your ticket, just contact me via the blog comments.  I want the WORLD to know what happened.  That I am Not Crazy. I watched Dominic regress after a toxic insult to his system.

I also want you all to question anything that a doctor wants to inject into your body - get the package insert, read the label and don't do it if its full of aluminum,  formaldehyde and aborted fetal cells.  Don't do it.  Doesn't matter if its a flu or pneumonia shot your grandmothers doc wants her to get or the vitamin K injection at birth. Its toxic. End of story.  We were designed for our immune systems to WORK, and injecting something past the immune system is incredibly dangerous.


Del Bigtree, producer from the Doctors and now producer of VaxXed is an amazing human being.  When someone who is not personally affected by vaccine injury joins our charge, and takes the torch to lead it - its an incredible thing.  He's not burnt out and exhausted from the day to day grind of living with autism.  He's got energy.

This is the Moment Where he apologized to us.  I am personally in the row of sobbing TMR's, in full on ugly-cry because THEY KNEW.  They didn't listen to us, they called us crazy, but THEY KNEW that vaccines cause autism.  We finally have validation and support.  We have known for years, but now we know that THEY know and we know that this story will not go away.  They cannot bury a movement and they cannot shut us up.

Del promised us that if the CDC re-releases the data from the fraudulent study and tries to write off the racial connection as socio-economic that He. Will. Bury. Them.  And I believe him.   (I totally chased him down in the hotel lobby for this photo)

Everywhere I go, I see affected children. I see toe walkers, I see rheumy red cheeks, I see 4 year olds in diapers not speaking, I see parents doing the wrist hold while crossing streets, I see unfocused eyes, and flapping, and stimming.  I see the classic hand curl that our kids have from the damage to their nervous system.   Therefore everywhere I go, I share our story.

I have a couple of action Items from the conference, and I'm inviting all of you to take part.

First - TELL your story.  Video it. I'll be doing this within the week. Then share it.  The VaxXed team will be amending their webpage for our stories soon. Put it there, put it on facebook - SHARE IT.  We will not be silenced, and there is so much power in sharing our stories.

Second - Email William Thompson and thank him for coming forward with the data.  After the screening of Vaxxed at  Autism One, an audience member asked if it was true that CDC whistleblower William Thompson is going to recant on any of his statements about CDC fraud. Brian Hooker, the scientist to whom Thompson confessed, answered that Thompson is collaborating on a paper he's planning to publish. He stated that Thompson will supposedly say that the data showing a higher risk of autism for African American boy babies is, on reanalysis, not a result of vaccination, but an artifact of socioeconomic conditions.  Hooker went on to say that he believes Thompson is being "handled" and that this is yet another instance of the CDC massaging data to get a result they want. He then called upon the audience to email William Thompson and thank him for his outing the CDC, but implore him not to publish this paper, which will only put children in harm's way. He gave out Thompson's address, which is in the public domain, as wct2@cdc.gov.  Del Bigtree then emphasized that Thompson did not renege on the CDC fraud, including the falsification and destruction of data and its subsequent cover-up, nor his statement that the CDC and HHS are not qualified to make vaccine policy.

Third - contact your congressperson.  Request they subpoena William Thompson as soon as possible.  Ask that they read the data that Congressman Posey has.

Finally -  when you see those kids who are melting down, those moms who are on their last nerve, the child who is toe walking, with red cheeks and lining toys up - you TELL THEM them about The Thinking Moms Revolution, tell them about Generation Rescue and tell them about TACA.  That we can help. That its not normal and they need intervention. Don't bite your tongue, that mama may not know there are resources for her, she may actually have believed the pediatrician who made her think her child is just developing slower or she didn't read to him enough. 

Zoo pics!!

We went to the Zoo for Memorial day - fun times all around.

I want to find out who exactly permitted this child to grow.  I did NOT bend my knees for this picture.  6 more inches and he will pass me up.

New feature at the zoo - a herd of baby dairy goats on loan from a farmer who breeds them.  They were on their second day on exhibition and the cutest things ever.  Dominic loved petting them.

And this is the first time he's actually held the snake.  Normally he touches it and freaks out.  This time we held it no problem

I really enjoy that our Zoo has an interactive loft.  Dominic got asked by the Zoo Intern to help her spray down the frogs.  That was fun. 

we had all the normal stops too - Giraffes, Lions, Elephants, Rhino, Bears, monkey, Hippo's and Gorilla's.  We generally just follow Dominic around and let him go where he wants.

Revolutionary grandparents - a review

It’s never a good sign when you are trying to read a book to write a review on it and you cannot see through the tears.   Every time I pick up one of the Thinking Moms Revolution family of books, I am moved beyond belief.  There is power in sharing our stories with each other. 

For most Grandparents, it comes as a complete shock to realize the difference in the vaccine schedule from when their kids were babies to now.  I know I had 5 vaccines, and my parents had even fewer.  Because you don’t see in mainstream media the changes that have come about in the vaccine schedule, aside from the constant barrage of fear based advertising, most grandparents assume that the vaccine program has stayed similar.  After all, in 30ish years, the human immune system shouldn’t have changed that much.  Evolution takes time.  The realization for a generation of people who have been so conditioned to worship the white coat -  that the white coat is not the be all end all –  can create some major cognitive dissonance.  

 

The 19 Grandparents who submitted stories to this collection have all jumped in to help their children heal their grandchildren from this thing called Autism.  They’ve had to recalibrate their concepts of what a healthy child looks like and of what appropriate parenting looks like.  They’ve moved in with their kids, they’ve emptied their retirements, they’ve been supportive beyond belief.   Their stories about their grandchildren’s journey with autism, told through the lens of the grandparent provide hope.  Hope that there can be a multigenerational community taking the role of the proverbial village.  Hope that cooler heads – who remember that measles is not a death sentence (my own mother had it every year of school and she’s still around at age 70) can ask the common sense questions about why as a species our immune systems are suddenly so weak that we need this artificial immunity. Hope that our own families will agree to support our wacky research and treatments. 

And when it all comes down to it, the biggest gift any grandparent can give their child who has just been given a diagnosis of autism for their child is Hope and Love.   And the occasional date night. 

To purchase the book, Revolutionary Grandparents, please click here.