Negotiating? Well - that's one word for it...

This is one of those good news/bad news scenarios...  The good news is that I finally heard back from the district after my latest letter... The bad news is that they are not (yet) doing anything to satisfy me.  I received a letter responding to my questions - sadly the responses were a bunch of platitudes and a refusal to act.


My first issue was with their response to the training/screening question I posed... I received a copy of a powerpoint used for training of transportation staff for transporting kids with special needs.  The section on autism was woefully inadequate, to the point of being counterproductive.  One bullet point states that the kids with autism don't understand what they (drivers and monitors) are saying to them.  This is so far from reality, as those of us living with autism can attest.  Giving the staff inaccurate information like of this sort does both the students and the staff a huge disservice.  If this is the sort of training materials being used to prep staff to work with special needs kids, I can see why there are issues.


Second, the response letter stated that due to some of the staff not being native english speakers, they do not interact with parents as easily as native English speakers.  (True)  Next it stated that this does not mean they do not communicate - this is where one of the major problems is - some of these staff members DO NOT communicate with parents.  Case in point, the staff of the route that we removed Corey from.  Even after you district management met with them, even after my child's teacher tried a communication notebook to make things easier, there was still no communication from them to me.  The communication difficulty was clearly evident the day of the incident when the monitor could not effectively communicate to me that my son had vomited - she came to the bus steps and told me he had "throwed out" - I had no idea what she meant - my first thought was that she meant he had removed and discarded his new glasses (it was the first day he wore them to school).  I didn't understand that he had vomited until I was on the bus and saw him myself.  Clearly, she was not capable of communicating effectively.  It seems obvious to me that someone in this position MUST be able to communicate effectively with parents and school staff, especially when they are charged with transporting children with communication disabilities.


My final point of concern is the district's refusal to inspect the surveillance equipment on the buses.  For all I know, ALL the cameras/recording devices are broken.  One of the reason's the district gave me to give the driver/monitor team another chance earlier this school year was the reassurance that there were cameras on the buses, and surveillance footage could be pulled in the event of an incident, etc.  The letter I received states that the district can't afford to check the footage daily, which I never suggested - I understand that this is unrealistic.  I simply requested that each bus be checked asap for functioning equipment.  I would even volunteer to do so, at no charge to the district.  If all is in working order, a regular schedule for inspection should be workable, though once a year seems far too lax for a safety measure of this sort.


Well - the input above is basically what I sent back to the district Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent.  Let's see what they have to say next... Stay tuned!
  

Does Dietary Intervention Really Work? Yep!

Many, perhaps even most, children with autism have some degree of food intolerances and/or allergies.  The offending foods create an immune response in the body, which can wreak havoc in the GI tract, and everywhere else, including the brain.  Kids who don't exhibit any outward GI symptoms (or can't communicate them) may have still have issues with mental acuity, processing, hyperactivity, aggression, sleep issues, and so on.  Many mainstream doctors dismiss dietary intervention in kids with autism, even though there is plenty of evidence out there to show that it can be very effective.

Corey has been on the GFCF (gluten free/casein(dairy) free diet for 3 years now.  In this time, he has made tremendous strides, not only developmentally, but also in his overall health.  He is eating a healthy, well rounded diet, has energy, sleeps well and is all around a happier and healthier kid.  With the addition of Dr. Kendal Stewart's (http://www.drkendalstewart.com/) protocol of antivirals (for a while) and nutritional supplementation, we are seeing even more changes for the better.  Last year, we did a fresh, more comprehensive allergy panel on Corey and found that he had a number of additional food allergies/intolerances that needed addressing.  It wasn't easy, but we cut out a bunch of offending foods for a solid year - soy, yeast, eggs, berries, citrus, turkey, peanut and many more...  Baking was tricky, but I worked through it, reinventing many recipes.  I am thrilled to report that we just did a new comprehensive allergy panel and got the results back today - and they show HUGE progress.  Corey's body is healing and along with his healthier, stronger body, comes his developmental progress.  We are now able to add a bunch of things back in, and can see that others will come along in time, as their reactive levels are coming way down.  It is really amazing.  When the body is working better, the brain can function better, too, thus leading to more and more developmental progress.

We still have a long road ahead of us with Corey and his autism, but we are on our way.  

Winter Wonderland

One of the fun things about living in Teravista is the Winter Wonderland Event that happens each year.  The association brings in a truck to make a bunch of snow onto a hill for sledding and snow play fun.  Since we don't generally get much in the way of natural snow here, it is a special day for the kids, and much anticipated each year.  As always, the kids had a wonderful time.  Mia even did some sledding solo this year, and also some runs with school friends.  Corey isn't much for going down solo, but he has a blast hitting the hill with mom and dad.  A great time was had by all.