Tuesday, April 16, 2019

New Food: Sweet Cinnamon Mini Crescent Rolls

Like many teens, James likes donuts (glazed, occasional treats) and cinnamon rolls (Starbucks, when on vacation and special weekend treats) for breakfast.

Unfortunately, he is growing fast and will only eat some of the foods some of the time, and those babies are sugar overloads and empty carbs galore. So I look for a happy medium to balance coaxing him to expand his list of foods he will eat and getting in as much of a healthy diet as possible.


Solution: Trader Joe's refrigerated pop and bake mini crescent rolls. Plussed. I add a little butter and small sprinkling of a cinnamon & sugar mixture before rolling the triangles and baking.


Voila! Better for him and fresh from the oven. First time he refused. Second time he tried some and took some to school. This morning, I had to work fast to snag a couple before he wolfed them down.

I will need to get some more. Luckily, a can of 8 mini crescents costs less than one morning bun or cinnamon roll from Starbucks. Oh, and they're Vegan too.


Sunday, April 14, 2019

Unique Peek At Language Skills

James scripts. Sometimes it's a conversation that incorporates YouTube videos and memories from 6 years back. His inner dialogue can come right out his mouth for multiple people - kind of like my brother and I each re-enacting entire Monty Python skits at the breakfast table, but much more mysterious and Dada-esque.

And lately, James has started mixing Spanish into his scripting. Appropriate use of words too.



It started when he was walking from the car to the apartment, and someone let their dog run around the property behind our parking space. It made James very nervous, to hear it racing around, barking. I heard about the darned perro running around afuera.

He will also try and drop numbers in Spanish into a conversation. He is fascinated with the teen numbers. Even though he asks me every time, he knows the proper name for the proper number.

Every now and then I will drop a few phrases in French. He likes to practice Bon Jour and Mercie.

I love this guy.


Sunday, April 07, 2019

Self Care Refocus

So, after a period of falling off the self care wagon, I am doing better at psyching myself up and mentally organizing getting James to practice more self care skills.

He's been really good about taking out garbage and getting himself ready for school (as in dressed and lunch made in time to meet the school bus).

Today we were able to hit a double header out of the park: Laundry and a bath. And when James punched the dryer bottom for the bottom dryer with his clothes in the top unit, he was able to come back upstairs to tell me right away and we fixed it together.

The bath water was warmer than usual - I think he needs warmer water to relax more in the bath. He seemed to appreciate it. He even stayed in a few minutes longer than the agreed-to 10 minutes of soaking. l think this bath broke a record for smoothness in operation and start to finish was very close to the 20 minutes I told him it was take (as opposed to a memorable bath that took about an hour just to get him sitting in the water in the tub. Amazing!).

I have secret hopes of hair washing tomorrow.

Saturday, April 06, 2019

Declarations and Life Goals

We are finally getting rolling with ABA intake, and hope to have services starting next month.

The last question was addressed to James: "What do you hope to get out of these sessions?"

His answer blew us all away: "I want to feel self-confident."

First: I love how James was engaged and made a crucial partner in this process.

Second: The honesty of his answer. This guy has a huge piece of my heart. I am cheering for him all the way, because this has to feel huge - especially at the start of his teen years.


Third: I'm not crying, you are!

Thursday, April 04, 2019

Fighting to Protect Endangered IDEA


What Is IDEA?

From Wikipedia: "The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a four-part (A-D) piece of American legislation that ensures students with a disability are provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. IDEA was previously known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) from 1975 to 1990. In 1990, the United States Congress reauthorized EHA and changed the title to IDEA (Public Law No. 94-142). Overall, the goal of IDEA is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability."


What's Happening with IDEA?

The promised 40% funding from Congress has not delivered, and decreases as levels stay stagnant (or are cut) and the need for services covered under IDEA skyrocket in public schools. I have seen the struggle to retain and train qualified educators and paraeducators in our local public school districts. It's become harder after fire destroyed a significant chunk of housing and increased cost of living in our area.

Our current head of education, Betsy DeVos, has been consistently trying to weaken or defund IDEA ever since she took office. Not only is she grossly unqualified to make decisions about education due to a lack of experience with the public, schools, and education, she doesn't care about the kids in public schools - especially the costly ones with special needs. She pushes charter schools, which may sound like a good idea at first but upon closer inspection basically shifts any responsibility for enforcement of IDEA off the shoulders of the federal government and leaves you at the mercy of people trying to make money off education. It's sneaky, and a huge leap backwards, widening the cracks our kids fall into between supports and services into something more like the Grand Canyon.

What can I do?

Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to fund and protect IDEA. Show you understand it and that you consider it's enactment important for you and your community.

In March 2018 a Bill was introduced to increase funding and support for IDEA, S.2542 IDEA Full Funding Law. It has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (that's Betsy DeVos, incase you were wondering). In March 2019 an amendment bill to the IDEA Act introduced, S. 866 IDEA Full Funding Act. Write and urge your representatives to support these bills.

Not sure who is your Congressional rep? Here's a website to locate your congressional representatives.

Why is IDEA Important?

  • Programs that benefit all students are likely to be cut.  Each year that Congress fails to meet its 40% promise, districts are forced to pay a higher proportion of the special education cost. Schools and districts have been facing budget cuts for years and there is a scarcity of resources in many of our nation’s schools.  As a result, districts are forced to make hard decisions about which programs to fund. Schools and districts are sometimes forced to divert funds from programs that serve all students (including students with disabilities) into IDEA. This should not be a choice schools and districts are forced to make.
     
  • It becomes harder to recruit and retain qualified teachers.  Over time, as districts are forced to put more funds into IDEA, they are unable to use those funds to increase teacher salary, decrease class size, or update classroom resources. The continual funding crisis makes it hard for schools to invest in the types of activities that will bring in and retain the best teachers.
      
  • Our schools cannot thrive until students with disabilities succeed.  It has long been proven that including students with disabilities in our general education classrooms benefits all students — those with and without disabilities. When schools focus on the success of students with disabilities, the school as a whole thrives. Until they have the resources they need from the federal government to fully fund IDEA, schools will continue to struggle to provide the comprehensive and high-quality services that students with disabilities deserve.
(from National Center for Learning Disabilities)

Wednesday, April 03, 2019

Call to Advocacy

Today in Sacramento a rally will be held at the Capitol for the purpose of highlighting the need for continued support of the Lanternman Act and a call to action for State Legislators to sign a letter that request $290 M to keep supports and services in place.

I know why this is important, because James and I have benefitted from services that came out of this law. For those of you who are wondering why this Act needs support, here is a good site: The Lanternman Coalition.

If you've ever wondered what you could do to help James or I, or someone like us, or if you just love to engage in political/social activism, I invite you to send a message to your CA State Legislators ASAP to show at the rally and sign a letter to fund services under this important law. The rally is this morning, 4/3 from 10 until around Noon.

I know time is short - so here are some links to make it easy:

Dear Assemblyman ___________:  I am writing you today to ask you to attend today's Keep the Promise rally at the Capitol to support the Lanternman Act. As a single parent of a child with developmental disabilities I appreciate how crucial it is to have access to services supported by this law. I am asking that you sign the letter sponsored by Assemblymembers Chris Holden and Jim Frazier, along with Senator Stern, to increase funding by $209 million to help retain workers who provide crucial services for thousands of families such as ours, and keep the organizations that provide these services open.

I have personally experienced the loss of several great people who could no longer afford to work at low wages for such services as respite care, behaviorists, classroom aides, and teachers. Living in a fire devastated area that is experiencing soaring housing costs puts hardship on us all. Having your support of the Lanterman Act is very important to us all who live here and will continue to be strong support for so many of us who live in not only Santa Rosa but Sonoma County.

If you would like to know more about why I ask for your support of the Lanternman Act, I invite you to contact me.

Yours Sincerely,

For more about what the Lanternman Act means to people and the community, the video below is great!

Thank you!

Tuesday, April 02, 2019

Inclusion Benefits Us All

From the time we started to discuss James' transition from an SDC Preschool to Kindergarten, I pushed for Inclusion. The school was against it. I can understand why - James would need a one-on-one aide, which is expensive, in addition to speech, O/T, and Adaptive PE.

But this is my kids and I had been reading about the benefits of early intervention since James was a toddler. I had also seen him be successful and really benefit when he was with typically developing peers.

In preschool, I enrolled him in our town's Parks & Rec preschool summer camp sessions. He'd been able to receive his SHAPE services one year at a private preschool his a regular class. He participated in group Swim lessons and later youth summer camp morning sessions (again through our Parks & Rec).

For all these classes, I first met with the program directors, introduced myself and James, told them why I wanted to try this and explained what I thought some obstacles might be. It helped that James was shy, cute as a button, liked people, and never bit or hit others. We always agreed that if there were problems, we would stop. We never had to, thank goodness.

What did James get out of this? Well, it help make him less isolated. People fell in love with him. Kids got used to him. He learned from his peers, and began to model more typical behaviours. His speech improved! I like to think it helped him develop some confidence.

The farther along the process I've come, the more I've noticed the flip side of Inclusion - society gets to know and become comfortable - even a little bit more - with autism, special needs, and disabilities. They become part of their daily lives.

And the kids? Let me just quote this PBS Kids article:

  • "Children develop a positive understanding of themselves and others.

"When children attend classes that reflect the similarities and differences of people in the real world, they learn to appreciate diversity. Respect and understanding grow when children of differing abilities and cultures play and learn together."
...
Given today's trend towards division and our government's attack on services and protections for those with disabilities, this is so important. We all need to remember and understand that we, us, humanity comes in all shapes, sizes, beliefs, and abilities.