Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Music Therapy, Vitamins, and a little about myself

Now, if that wasn't the catchiest title ever, then I don't know what is! Now to throw all you OCD people off, I'm not going in that order. I wonder how many followers I just lost? :)

Who am I? I ask myself that everyday. I'm 32, and still not sure, but I'll do the best I can. I am married to a nerd (I'm being serious, stop laughing) named Alan. He knows it, I know it, everyone that knows him knows he is a nerd. I love him to death though, he is my rock. He has helped me keep my sanity (what's left of it) through this entire diagnosis. Who am I kidding, he has helped me LONG before we had the diagnosis. We have two boys, as you already know. Gavin will be three July 26th and Keegan is almost ten months. I love those 2 boys more than anything. If you followed my other blog (don't even worry about finding it, it's so depressing) you'll know I wasn't happy with my life. Even though I may talk about autism, and how scary it is, this blog will be happy, chaotic (if you spend 30 minutes in my house you'll definitely understand) and (hopefully) funny. It will probably be more cheesy than funny, but, hey, I am doing the best I can. I work with special needs children. I am SO thankful I was given that opportunity. It has helped me learn a little about autism before Gavin's diagnosis, and I also have some awesome teachers that want to see Gavin succeed.

 That's us, just your average working family raising two boys. I really should have thought this through. This should have been the last paragraph because we are really boring. Hopefully, you're still reading. I'll show you some pictures! Everyone loves pictures, right?!?

 Gavin


  Alan and me (Horrible picture, but I HATE pictures and this is the only one we have together)


Keegan

Today Gavin had his first music therapy lesson. Music therapy is suppose to help ASD children with social behaviors, increase attention, increase communication, reduce anxiety, and improve coordination. I have to admit I was really nervous. We were going to someones house. You put Gavin in a new environment, and he goes wild! He gets so excited that he just runs, bounces, and skips around the house exploring everything. He is a little "active" (who am I kidding, he could be the poster child for ADHD) when in his normal environment. You put him in a strange environment, and he is like a bull in a china shop. If it is breakable, you better believe that is the first thing he will go for in your house, and he WILL throw it. We started off just by dancing. When I say "we" I mean his teacher and myself. Gavin was too busy looking around her house. Then she gave him some sticks to bang. The thing with Gavin, he can't just take 2 and bang them together. If there are 350 sticks in the room, he is going to try his hardest to carry them all. Luckily, she only had about 10, but he took every stick and walked around with them. If he moved, the sticks went with him. He can't count, but he knew if one was missing. I don't know how he knew, so don't ask me, somehow he knew. I was sitting on one, and he would not get off the couch until he had it in his hands. I was just happy he wasn't running wild. He did make a few noises with them. For instance, they were really loud when he threw them on the hardwood floor.

 Then it happened.....she has a big window in her dining room. Outside that window is a pool. He walked by the window, did a double take, and instantly music therapy was over in Gavinland.  He sat in that window staring at the pool. He would look at the pool, then me, pool, me. He loves water! I mean LOVES it!!! Every time he looked at me he gave me the, "Are you that dumb? Don't you know I want to go swimming?!?" look. So here is the picture I have from his first music therapy class:

That's right, Mother of the Year didn't take ANY pictures of him carrying his 10 sticks, looking at every area of her house, or him trying to break the record for fast pitch stick throwing on a hardwood floor. 

Let me go ahead and warn you, this last paragraph *might* be controversial. If you don't like it, don't comment. Simple as that. I am in several autism groups on FB. Today someone mentioned vitamins, and how a lot of autism children have vitamin deficiencies. I did my research. Okay, I searched on Google and read reviews. That totally counts as research though! B12, B6, and magnesium can improve communication skills, social skills, behavior, mood, and sleep in children with autism. I've heard a lot of success stories. Does it cure autism? Well, duh, of course not, but it is suppose to help with some of the autism symptoms. No, it doesn't make the symptoms disappear, just not as severe. We will see if it helps. If it doesn't? Well at least I can say we tried. Just PRAY that the B12 doesn't jack him up even more. The magnesium is suppose to calm the B12 energy. We shall see. As already stated, he could be the poster child for ADHD. He does NOT need anymore energy!!!
 
I meant to say this in my first post, but I forgot.  This post has taken me HOURS to complete.  I type a little, play with kids, type a little, feed kids, type some more, listen to kids scream and cry. I have reread this a hundred times. My house is wild though (like I said, just stop by and see. If you can make it 30 minutes, I'll cook you dinner. Okay, Alan will cook. I don't cook.) I guess what I am trying to say if you are an English teacher, the grammar police, or bad grammar makes you physically ill, this probably isn't the blog for you. I do proofread it several times, BUT I have a 10 month old, who is cutting 7 teeth at once, and the ADHD king in the same room. I'm just proud of myself if it makes sense. Which I don't promise that either. Plus, I live in Alabama. You might read a "y'all" (and other southern slang words) occasionally. Oh, and I ramble a lot, in case you didn't notice. This wouldn't have taken HOURS to type, if I would just shut up and get to the point....alright I am done. ROLL TIDE Y'ALL!!!

1 comment:

  1. Pretty Good. I know what you are going through Bridge, having been on the child side of that parent child experience, what you're going through right now, Literally being the child with Hyperactivity, Dyslexia, and Learning disorders. I was called "Hyper" "Stupid", and pretty much every other name you could think of. I was pretty much in special classes up until around 13 or 14 just before I got sick. My mother went through it all and loved me all the same.

    Tim.

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