Well, ya know I was thinking
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Well, ya know I was thinking
| Tue, 08-02-2005 - 11:32pm |
We have no cl and we have lots of newbies, lots of oldies and maybe some lurkers. How bout a roll call and update. I personally would like to know where some folks have gone and what is up with everyone else.
So how bouts, your name, your family, and what you've been up too lately. How is stuff going? Chelsea, how is the Dog and kids? Sio, where the heck did you go girl? Val, haven't heard from you lately? Paula, did you ever move girl? What happened with the job? etc etc etc. I could go on and on.
Renee
Edited 8/2/2005 11:33 pm ET ET by rbear4


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Hey, all! Betsy w/ Dh Michael. We've been married almost 16 years.
children: Warren, 13 almost 14 going into the 8th grade. He's quirky. He doesn't fit the ADHD or ADD testing, but has lots of spacing out and is REALLY SLOW moving, he does have attention problems but it's more that he's hyper-attentive and not inattentive. anyway, he's now got an IEP for what they're calling ADHD for lack of any other Dx that could help him and will go to resource for organizational and planning help during his "homeroom" 2-3x a week. He has difficulties writing. He has some social difficulties as well, mostly he's "little professorish" and has a very high IQ.
Amelia, 11, going into the 6th grade, NT and doing just fine. She's having attitude problems that I'm told is developmentally appropriate-- but I don't like it.
Weston, 8 he'll be 9 in 19 days, going into the 4th grade, HFA. We met all the teachers yesterday. I was talking to another mom today and she said that the students won't move for LA and reading just the teachers-- wish they would have made that more clear. Once school starts we're going to get some additional speach therapy in the works. Weston made some progress last year but then services stopped over the summer so we're playing catch up again. I need to address this in his IEP. Stimming is constant again here. Summer w/o a set schedule is really hard on him. He's starting to have more anger and rage melt downs. I'm going to sign him up for soccer at a church in our area that calls their program "leagues of encouragement", wish us luck! Need to get his "circle of friends" or some other social skills and peer helper group started at school.
Martha, 6, 1st grade. She's working on sight words, she does not understand the connection w/ letters and sounds, so we're expecting some real work for her to learn to read.
Owen, 3 1/2, no dx, but man, does he show all signs of ADHD!! I'm freaking out when he does lots of delayed echolalia (I think he just can memorize anything he's heard and gets a kick out of repeating whole tv shows or videos), because he has perfect comversational skills and speech and a huge vocabulary for a child his age. He has some melt downs but I can usually get him to calm ifI can reason w/ him and get him to tell me what he's angry about-- his melt downs are not at all like Weston's-- I think they're probably developmentally appropriate for a 3 yr old. He has decided he can do anything Martha can do and is memorizing the same word cards we're working on w/ Martha.
I'm not doing much-- almost finished w/ my redecorating and renovation projects for the summer, we're out of money for more home improvements right now anyway. I just joined the children's ministry committee for our church and am helping to plan children's fellowship outings for the school year. I'll also get to help plan VBS for next year.
Betsy
Oooo, I love updates, esp. to read about everyone again and help me remember when I read their posts in future!
Lessee, we live in NYC proper and have a gorgeous, smart, funny, charming (opinionated mom) 8 year old son Malcolm with hard-to-tell PDD-NOS, enrolled in private ASD school as public school here bites the big wazoo when it comes to any spectrum.... Married to sweet husband and great dad Cliff 10 years this Fall, together lots longer, he designs computer programs for yucky Wall Street firms which pay well and allow for flexible hours, thank Gawd.
I was an working actor and theatre producer for many many years, currently and sadly now only working as personal trainer and exercise instructor to make the big money needed for Malcolm's endless, expensive, incredibly effective and not-covered-by insurance therapies. No time for auditioning and all the unpaid hours a theatre career entails, also, I can make my hours when Malcolm is in school and be home in evenings and weekends --- but I do find I am dealing with loads more depression these days since closing down my theatre business. I am part of a writing team on a new musical, though, and that little bit of involvement with my passion does help ...
Malcolm is in regular NT day camp along with his best friend this summer for first time (usually in ESY at ASD private school), he has been doing just fantastic until this week (week # 6) which has been real hard as little incidents have sent him off repeatedly --- however, he loves camp and doesn't want to quit, so today we kept him home for a rest day. Two and a half more weeks to go, I hope and pray he can make it through 'cuz he wants to, also he has learned so much and been a real trouper. I love watching him and his entire camp group dance choreographed numbers together and then hug and clap each other on the backs after.
This Fall he will be back to ASD school, where he is 2, 3 and 4 years ahead of grade level academically and has a healthy, happy social life. We are looking into Afterschool programs where he could now continue to mingle with NT kids, with adult supervision. He is excelling at Tae Kwondo and swimming, also now discovered a love of chess and baseball, hates soccer and other super-fast moving games as he gets too overstimulated, plays the piano very well without lessons. Malcolm also loves to write stories and plans to be a real author when he grows up.
This board is a great source of information that is real hard to get, particularly how people in other places meet the needs of spectrum kids!
Sara
ilovemalcolm
OK,
Deirdre or Dee,(30), Dh JT (40), Liam(5-bp/pdd-nos?/sid), Cian(2) speech delay
I have been lurking on and off here for about a year. We finally had ds#1 dx with bipolar disorder last month although he has had a mood disorder-nos dx since December-meds are really helping at present. I had always suspected a pdd or even aspergers dx for him as it is very much in the family and he brings quirky and obsessive to a whole d level, lol. He also has significant social deficits and seems to have difficulty holding onto guy friends in particular. His therapist agrees he is pdd but the developmental ped said adhd. I really don't see the adhd that much, especially since the bp aggresion and rages are under control with meds. So we don't really count that dx.
Liam begins kindergarden and will be fully mainstreamed in the Fall. We will definitely have a 504 plan as he does not receive spec ed services from the county; his OT and social skills group are through private therapy and the Kennedy Krieger institute in Baltimore. Like Paula I am off the boat and am Irish. Been in the States for 8 years and will probably never go back, although I still have family there. Dh is yank all the way.
Ds #2 has a speech delay but does not really give us too much cause for alarm as he is my social butterfly and so far seems ok, but we are still monitoring him closely.
So there you have it, if anyone actually made it this far, lol.
-Dee
I'm Jackie (34) married to DH Aaron (37) for seven but lived in sin for about 5 of the 12 years. My boys are Jacob (4)ASD/Mood Disorder , Dylan (4)HFA , Tyler(4) Cp/ASD/Apraxia/seizures/BCH. I mostly lurk on the boards but check them everyday
The boys are just finishing up their first year in a sped preschool program that I established here and they have adjusted well to the school enviroment and I think finally now the entire staff has adjusted to me.
I have enjoyed a little free time for the first time in 4 years and now I have bored housewife syndrome. I have been working on some projects and have done some public speaking engagements this year regarding EI and CPSE which I have really enjoyed.
I have joined the omrdd/ddso council in my community and because I live where willowbrook was it is a very strong organization in my community. I also have joined some other committe's and am now the parlimentarian(SP) on the PTA.I am working with an agency from NYC to establish new recreational programs in my community with a program called options for people through services ( there is an 80mil.dollar budget for this in NYS). I am also embarking on a transition year which always makes me nervous and have spent some of the summer making appointments for next year when my cse review begins. I am also hoping to get a job as an advocate.
I am looking forward to a few weeks off when the boys end school on the 12th. We are going to Woodstock for several days and then maybe to visit my sister in Tampa. I am also going to have to have surgery but I am trying to put it off for as long as possible. Due to thefact that no one will watch my kids for 5 minutes let alone longer than that.
I also started two of the boys on meds this summer and for Dylan it has worked great and with the Jake I am about to embark on yet another medication trial. I also have begun using RDI along with verbal behavior and I am enjoying the combination of these methods together.
Jackie~
Jackie~ Jacob , Dylan-James, &
Melissa (34), DH Paul (36), in NJ. Kids are Andrew (6) recently dx with AS, ADHD?, BP?, Jacob (4) NT, and Abbey (9 mos).
I am just beginning this journey with ASDs and find myself some days saying Andrew isn't on the spectrum at all, but there's definately something going on with him. We've got conflicting reports from psychiatrists (2) and neurologist, are in the process of completing all the testing necessary for development of an IEP (and fighting with the district already), and just trying to get through the days. Our biggest problems have been his social inability with peers, rage and agressiveness (usually with his younger brother), and total lack of complience with authority figures (myself included). In my mind, I go back and forth between AS, BP, ADHD, ODD, and anything else you might want to throw in there. He is a puzzle and the more doctors I see, the more I think they're all just taking their best guess, but no one knows for sure what's going on.
This summer he's been enrolled in a camp for kids with ASDs and communication difficulties. We have seen some improvements in the four weeks he's been there. They use the DIR model (Greenspan), and I am currently reading his book. My greatest fear is that as he enters 1st grade this fall, we won't know enough about what's really going on with him to provide him with the best support services... and I know it will be a challenge to get what he needs from the district... whatever that might be.
I'm Amanda with my oldest ds 11 just diagnosed with Aspergers. I have two other children ages 5 and 8 who are developing normally. I try to check board as much as possible but things have been really busy lately not finding much computer time, so I have been lurking more than responding as much as I would like to. But I'm really glad this board is here it's very active and filled with info. Hopefully as the kids get back to school I can become a more active part of this group.
Amanda
Hi I'm Shelley...from NJ moving to Wilmington, NC Sept.15. I have a 4 year old DS, Vaughn, with Aspergers dx'd last year. A wonderful DH of 13 years, a huge slobbery dog and sweet cat complete the family.
I've been posting on and off for about 2 years now but I always lurk. The support here is awesome.
DS is in sped preschool doing great except for some behavioral outbursts occasionally. He is funny, stubborn and very bright. Lately he can tell amazingly creative stories and I know he'll be a great writer someday (brag, brag). He learned how to ride a big boy bike with training wheels this summer as well as swim (underwater, too!). He loves Thomas the Tank Engine, Tonka Trucks and bugs.
I'm a SAHM who freelances graphic design when I can. I do Floortime with Vaughn and basically try to keep him having fun and enjoying childhood as much as I can. We love the outdoors and the water (boating, fishing, swimming).
Wow, it is really cool reading up on everyones updates. I love seeing a few new names and some names I hadn't seen in a while. Oh and hearing what all our regulars are up to presently. How very cool.
I would love to say hi to everyone in specific, but my ADHD brain just won't let me tonight so please accept a group hug
(((((HUGS)))))))
Renee
ps, I brought the wine for this party, What did you bring?
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