Potty Training For Autism

I have a 7 year old son (Tanner) that is diagnosed with moderate autism. He is still not fully potty trained. I have done everything I know to do. I have asked the doctors, not much help there. I don't even think they really care! I have talked with family and friends and gotten lots of ideas but none have helped. I am at the end of my rope with this one! Am I the only one with this problem?! When Tanner was 4 I started training my then 2 year old and would reward him with M&M"s. I Involved Tanner in this as well. They got two M&M's if they peed and 5 if they pooped. It worked for my 2 year old and I got Tanner peeing in the potty  though he has some accidents he for the most part does very well. However he still wets at night and he will pee in his paints if he is wearing a pull up. Because of this I keep him in underwear but this make cleaning poopy paints harder and messier. He has only pooped on the potty 2 times in his whole life. One time I caught him in the middle of it and made sit on the potty. The other I started using a sticker chart and that worked one time. I make him pull his own underwear off and dump it in the potty. I have to wipe him though or it gets pretty ugly. I thought this would help but I think it makes it worse because he will dump it in the potty and then say "I poop in the potty". He used to put a pull up on when he had to poop but I stopped that thinking he would go in the potty...no luck! I don't know what else to do and I am very frustrated and sad that I can't get Tanner potty trained. I have trained my other 3 boys so I know it's not something I can't do. I could really use some help and/or advice.

Letters Or Numbers?!

Stupid Yellow Candle!

Do You Beleave?!

Five years ago today (9/10/10) my brother-in-law called us. It was Saturday evening and he and his wife had been drinking. They told us they had been talking about he and my husbands dad (who died in ‘91) when his empty drinking cup started spinning in circles and then flew from the end table into his lap. They were freaked out about the whole thing! Now you can believe that happened or you can blame it on imagination and alcohol either way that is their story. At the time I was VERY pregnant with my 4th and last baby. My husband and I told them to tell his father to come this way and make the baby come out. 24 hours later I started contracting and on 9/12/10 at 7:02am I had our 4th baby boy.

However this is not the end of the story….my diseased father-in-laws birthday was 9/12. His name was Wayne. My husband is Wayne Jr. and his birthday is 7/2. Did you make the connection? My baby was born on his grandfathers birthday 9/12 at 7:02am, his daddy’s birthday (7/2). So, we named our baby Trevor Wayne =). Did I make a believer out of you?

Stuffed Hot Dogs

I have a family of 6 and this is loved by all...

Ingredients

*8 hotdogs, split long ways to butterfly
*2 cups mashed potatoes (real or instant)
*4 slices of cheese
*8 slices of bacon or (real) bacon bits

Directions

Arrange hotdogs on cookie sheet, put 1/4 cup mashed potatoes on top of hotdog. Place 1/2 slice cheese on potatoes and top with bacon. bake at 375 degrees for 30 minute until bacon is cooked ...if using bacon bits cook until cheese is melted good and hotdog looks done.

Dreams

I beleave dreams are God's way of communicating with us. We just don't always open our minds to remember or understand the dream. I always try to make since of a dream like last night...I had a very bad dream. It seemed to go on and on getting worse as it went. I woke up a few time and felt as if my heart was frozen. When I went back to sleep the dream would keep going incorporating the wake up into it. As I woke up this morning and relized it was all just a dream I thanked God. I thanked him because it WAS just a dream and I thanked him for the dream because I learned a valuable leason from it. Life is short and you don't know what will happen minute to minute so love yourself and the ones who love you. Let them know how important they are and when your patients runs thin with a loved one remember before you act you may not have them tomorrow. KEEP DREAMING =)

Falling and Staying

A successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person, but deeper and deeper every time. Each time you fall in love it’s on a whole new level. You together discover the truth, there is no limit to the beauty of your love. If you think you've reached the end, stop generalizing.

                                                             
A relationship is not all fun, it requires work, dedication, honesty, truth and compassion. If you want it bad enough you will work as hard as you can on it, never giving up. Love grows and sometimes it feels as if it grows the wrong way but just like a flower it must grow ugly to bloom again.

Above It All

On top of the world

Things look better from this view

Super Teen

                                                                                                                        

Is There A Place For Autism?

My 7 year old son was diagnosed with PDD at 2 ½ and moderate autism at 5 ½. Since he was 3 he has been in special needs classes. This year he started 2nd and we have decided to put him in regular classes. He needs to be around children of his age for the social skills he lacks. He also needs a challenge, he is very smart and wizs right through the work given in special education. Well day 4 and I was getting a call from the teacher that Tanner was not listening. So I go down to the school and pick him up, the whole time thinking what kind of year I was in for. If I have to pick him up every time he has a bad day then what will he learn?! So I went and talk with the vise principle about placing him back in special education classes. I was heart broke and told him I did not really want to give up that easy. He called the teacher from last year and the special ed teacher for 2nd grade in and after an hour of talking we come up with a plan that I hope works. Tanner will remain in his regular class being pulled out for his therapies. If he has a bad day and is a distraction to the class his teacher is to call the special ed teacher. She will come get him and his work and take him back to her class. Once he is calmed down or the problem is solved he will return to his regular class. I pray this works! I some time wonder “is there a place for Tanner”. He such a sweet, loving, smart, kind little boy. I have a song for him…I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack. “In the song there is a part that says I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean.” I have this picture of him looking out in the ocean and it fits so nice with how I look at Tanner.

Off With His Head

My lil man loves bugs! In this video he bites off more than he can chew.

Raising a Child with Autism

Raising a child with autism is interesting to say the least. When your child is not verbal or has little verbal skills, it can be very hard to meet their needs. Finding different methods to communicate can be complicated as all children do not learn the same way. The melt downs are really hard to deal with but 10 times worse in public! There are always people out there who give the "look" like you are a bad parent or your child is just a brat or better yet the ones who have to put their 2 cents in. At first the "look" is bothersome, but then you just get used to it, and at times tell the "looker" your child is autistic. Then you get to the point of why should I have to explain. Don't even try and explain autism cause you normaly get people who don't understand. Tell you kids will be kids or how to dicipline them. Untill you live with it or are around it there is a lot you just can't understand. Sensory issues are hard to cope with at times, too. It took a couple years to get a simple hug from my son. When a child is fixated on something such as books, puzzles, or blocks, it can be rather hard to redirect them to something else. Discipline is hard because when they don't talk or talk much, you don't know what they know and what they don't know. Finding an appropriate education for a child on the spectrum can be exhausting as some schools don't appear to have enough resources to deal with all these special needs children coming aboard...nor do they want to fork out any more money to send the child to a place that is more appropriate for him/her. My son is smarter than the average child his age but because he has special needs can not excel to his full potential because he is in special need classes with children of all kinds of special needs and with many different learning levels.

Back-To-School

Ahhh...Back to school! It is so biter sweet for me ). My days can be so hectic when the kids are in school and I do miss them. However I get the house clean (and it stays that way) and I get a break. When the kids are home the house is always a mess and things are loud but I have them safe with me. I don't have to worry about what time it is, homework and bedtimes. I think it is nice to have a little of both. Just when you get tired of the hectic scedule it's the weekend, summer break or a holiday and just when you get a headache school starts again. It's kind of like the seasons, just when it's to hot fall comes and just when it's to cold spring comes.

Sick Child

Day five of school and I already have a child home sick with a sore throat and fever. I’m sure the other three will soon follow and just when I am exhausted from taking care of four sick kids for three or four weeks straight it will be the biggest baby of them alls turn…my husband. Then when I think I in the clean and I get the house to myself again it will be my turn and there will be no one here to take care of me. Oh well! Guess I can’t win them all!

The News Dog

This morning as I loaded my kids in the van to take them to school, I noticed a dog watching us. The dog just stood there and watched. A few minutes later as I was backing out of the drive, the newspaper man came by. The dog watched him as he through a newspaper into the neighbors driveway. Then he watched the man til he rounded the corner then grabed the newspaper and headed back to his house (next door to my neighbors). Now that is one way to get a free paper LOL!

Stop Signs

Everyday when I bring my kids to school and pick them up I come to the same 2 way stop. I have to make a left across traffic at this stop. All the cars on the other side always stop and go or roll and go, never paying me any mind. This morning I sat there while 10 car just rolled and went. I was taught that the first car to get to the stop sign goes first. Keeping in mind if I am makinfg a left across traffic there could be times someone (on the other side) is making a right with traffic and may be able to safely go before me. To me it just makes since and is fair. Why is everyone always in such a hurry! If I was not a patient person this could easily turn into road rage.