New Autism Numbers 1 in 68

This news is heartbreaking and enlightening BECAUSE there is still nothing being done and the general public needs to know this. Autism is the fastest growing disability there is, across the board there is a lack of services for these children they are getting diagnosed faster than individuals can get a degree to work with them.

Autism changed our life FOREVER nothing is ever gonna be as it should be.  Looking at my beautiful baby boy when he was born NEVER did I think for 1 minute there was anything wrong with him.....and that spilled over as he aged I was the REASON Noah was not diagnosed early on and it is guilt that I live with EVERYDAY.   With the increase of 29% in two years that in itself is frightening!! I hate it when people ask me what do I think causes autism, if you are an autism parent you have been asked.  This is strictly my opinion only. I think autism comes from the vaccines AND the environment AND our faulty genes we pass to our kids due to the environment.  This is NOT the world that God created for us WE (human race) have destroyed that planet and now we are paying the price.

I posted this to Facebook earlier:
I am in a pessimistic frame of mind right now after the release of the new autism numbers from the CDC I have given it some thought, so here is what I think.  Anyone that knows me knows I was the biggest advocate for Light it up Blue campaign there is but after 4 years NOTHING has changed!!!  SO whether we Light it up Blue or whatever color our community is arguing about does it matter I mean really.  My porch light is blue year around do I think it made a difference I DOUBT IT!!  With 1 in 68 kids being diagnosed with autism the only ones who seem to care are those directly affected by it.  So those of you that are not affected GUESS WHAT you will be with autism prevalence increasing 29% in two years eventually everyone in this country will be touched by autism in some way.  Maybe then that will foster acceptance and understanding along with support for those individuals and their families!!

what does "broke" mean!

Noah asked for in app purchase this morning and I said, "I am broke sweetie."  He looked confused and asked, "who broke you??"   That is a valid question right??  I had to explain the different meaning of the term!!  LOL

I'm Back.....to Blogging!

WOW I have not written in a while, things went from WILD to WILDER in our world in May when the STX209 study was cancelled, our miracle pill was GONE!  We have been through a lot since that day in Mid-May, BUT we are now on another regimen of meds and it seems to be working, for now anyway.

We are still home schooling him & his sister this year, I have 2 more semesters (if all goes well) before I graduate with my Psychology degree YIPEE!!!   I am gonna do my best to post at least weekly to recap the craziness for you all!!

Noah & I were working on time the other day and the clocks hands were both on 12 so the answer should have been 12:00  his response was 00:00  LOL!!  I just love there is NEVER a dull moment in our lives!  Today he is "pretending" the thing that measures the electricity we are using (don't know the name of that) is his Time Machine!  Alrighty then!!

Have a great day & weekend!!

AWARENESS for Autism......Facebook Going Blue!

What does awareness mean??   To me it means to educate and create the right perception of something.  In my case it is to educate and create a better understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder,  this is what is important to me.

April being Autism Awareness month is an excellent opportunity to create more awareness for autism, I shared the Light Bulb for Light It Up Blue with LOT'S of pages that WWOA is fans of.  What was different about the pages I shared with was they were all pet pages, therapy dog pages and even a rat!  The response I received was incredible not only did they share the light bulb they changed profile pictures and cover photos.  Some dressed their pet in something blue.  I am going to attempt to list all the pages you can like them ALL on Facebook links are provided for every page.  I am going to share some of their pictures as well (consent was received by every owner to use their pets photo).

The first week in April my WWOA Facebook page with it's little 3,000+ like reached over 76,000 people!!!
Our very dear friend Little Miss Missy was the first to get in the LIUB spirit Link to FB page

Look who's Lighting It Up Blue!!

Is she not adorable???

We shared with page after page we have a friend Shimi from Shimi's World (she is a rat) she posted the bulb for the WHOLE month of April!!  Link to FB page

Here is Surf Dog Ricochet lighting it up blue for autism awareness FB link,

 Parker Pup Cancer Sucks Parker raises money and awareness for cancer FB page,   

 PatchO Therapy Pits  FB page fans this is Bodacious she is a therapy dog.

Bodacious is an incredible dog she is a therapy
dog that really makes a difference!

Gabe Hero Dog 2012 joined in to support link to FB page,  We had so much support there is no way I can name all the pages that helped make this the "BEST" autism awareness day & month EVER!!  

Here is Skyler the Therapy Dog FB Page

This is Skyler he is AMAZING!!!

Jamanglers Creations Jamaica & Wrangler supported us too FB page

You have to check out their page they are great!!!

  

This is Zoey Says Stick it to Canine Cancer FB page link

                 

Is Zoey not beautiful????

                    

These are some more of our friends Bella and Chloe FB page link

Check out their page they are quite a pair!!

Bella and Chloe human sister has a page Drawing's for Pitbulls and those who love 'em FB page link

It is a great page she is very talented!!

Mr Buddy Rose FB page link  discovered us through another page I can't remember which one, it made me so happy that we were touching a community that might not have known alot about autism.  

How handsome is Mr buddy???

We also found another fur-friend his name is Earnest FB page link 

LOVE this bulb!!!

Another friend at Milo's World FB link to page sporting his Autism Awareness collar!  WOW au-some!!

He looks like a SWEETHEART!!  Loves
you Milo!!!!

The Gremlin's page on FB joined the autism community's celebration FB page link

Did I mention that he is a retired therapy dog
he has MANY amazing sisters & brothers too!
OH don't forget his awesome dad & mom!

Jake the Tripawd Therapy Dog's page

The support and awareness we, together, raised for autism was truly AMAZING!!  The Facebook pet community is HUGE we have met so many people & pets that have truly touched our lives.  I have also been made aware of issues facing this community just as we have issues we face in the autism community.  Once again it is passionate pet owners that bring these issues to the forefront.  For example in the autism community we have alphabet soup we have SO many terms ASD, IEP, ESY, ABA, OT, FAPE and so on.  In the pet community there is BSL, you will have to check out one our these pages to find out what that is!!! Spay/neuter, puppy mills, adopt don't shop!!  Also canine cancer affects 1 in 4 dogs I had no idea that canine cancer is so prevalent.  There are also dogs with disabilities as well!

I am going to attempt to list more pages that supported our awareness efforts, again I am sorry if I left a page out, please let me know!!!

Twister is TOTALLY Awesome he LOVES to spin like our kids with autism  Twister's World FB page link

Dozer the Therapy Dog in a BIG way he is a great dane FB page link

Isis head of the itty bitty pitty committee FB page link

Lucy's World FB page link 

Cora the Wobbly Pittie girl her momma works with kids that have autism!! fb page link

Frankie I'm a lover not a fighter FB page link 

The Hawk FB page link also joined in the LIUB awareness campaign on FB!!
Everest Out of a Pit FB page link he is a rescue dog that is now a therapy dog, AMAZING!!!
Kandie the Therapy Pittie FB page link

        I saved something super special for last

This really turned out to be a great WAAD we have some other friends that we met through Facebook the TN Safety Spotters FB page link we actually met Izzy with her mom Patricia at the reading of the Proclamation here in Memphis!! The TN Spotters (Izzy & Lottie Dot) also received the Jefferson Award in the Mid-South for outstanding volunteerism.  When Noah and Izzy met it was if they had always known one another!!  

Izzy & Noah at City Hall!

Look at her eyes she is deaf but she hears with her
heart!!!  

Noah fell in love with her!!  So did I!!

We Love You
Spotters!!

Facebook went blue on April 2, 2013 I love each and everyone of these pages PLEASE check them out they all something very unique to offer!!

Wild World of Autism Visits Disney World

Let me first say I was apprehensive about this trip the closer the time came because it seemed as if Noah's behavior had regressed, however after much planning and realizing that he needed frequent breaks our trip was INCREDIBLE.  KUDOS to Disney World for making every detail amazing of our vacation the Guest Assistance Card is a must for an individual with autism or with any disability.  Disney has the "fast pass lane" that is the line that we were allowed to access to at every ride the wait was shorter and not as many people.  No doubt Noah touched EVERY surface on the way to the ride, ran his hand down every rail,wall, and any other surface there was.  He absolutely loved EVERY thrill ride, I mean every one he went on.

Savannah our daughter is not exactly the "thrill" ride type, but she surprised us as the week progressed she really came out of her shell and rode rides and had a great time.  She is usually very reserved and shy, she does not respond well when out of her element.  Not uncommon for teenagers!!  She made the trip so much more enjoyable for her brother. We traveled at one of the lowest attendance week there was during the year which I highly recommend if you are able too.  Savannah would take Noah's hand and lead him to the different rides or to a bench to take a rest, she was really incredible in the way she helped him get around and looked after him!

I thought I would recap Disney through a few different posts so that I can include pictures in each post!!

We made it!!!

Magic Kingdom 

"Boneyard" playground at our resort!!

                     

Noah & Savannah at Boneyard!!

He is SO talented.....

Have you ever wondered what your kid with autism will grow up to be??  I do Noah has unusual talents he is not a math wiz and he talented in his own way.

Noah absolutely LOVES the Powerpuff Girls, Teen Titans, Spongebob and few others I can't think of at the moment.  Here is his special talent.....he gets the "jail" on his computer (from Teen Titans) and then he goes to clips of the shows listed above and finds the characters from the PPG, TT and Spongbob in jail.

There are quite a few episodes where main characters are in jail, anyway he opens the tabs BEHIND the jail tab so "they are all in there because they are behind it"  Makes perfect sense to me.  It is  quite interesting that he is able to do that.  So will he be a film editor, a jailer LOL, a cartoonist, hmmmm the possibilities!! they are endless........

Friends?? Why I DON"T have any!

OK it's Saturday afternoon and really cold outside.  An old friend stopped by the house this afternoon SURPRISE......how well do surprises go over at your house....they are great AS LONG as it doesn't mess up Noah's  schedule.  Things were progressing alright Dad had the kids playing Play-Doh in the dining room so I could work on my research paper, I was on a roll and Savannah comes to tell me Mr. A is here. WOW I haven't seen or talked to him in months!

So I head downstairs to see my friend, we met when I worked for Cracker Barrel many moons ago, he was a regular guest and we developed a friendship he is old enough to be my dad!  He NEVER gives up on me, he is there if I EVER need ANYTHING!!  So we are visiting and catching up, laughing and crying together, and the clock strikes 2:00 p.m. well that's time for the Teen Titans EVERY Saturday.

Like I said I can have a life as ling as it does not interfere with Noah's schedule.  Noah informs me that it is 2 o'clock, I tell him I will be there in a minute, well thank God Mr.A is a sensitive person, he gets ready to leave well I have to walk him to the door get a couple of more hugs....well Noah has spoken and I am not coming so he runs into Meme's room and SLAMS the door, screaming, "I don't need you!"

Thank you Mr. A for being my friend no matter what!!  I just wish there were more people int he world who loved our kids just because of who they are!!

Our Neuropsychology Appointment

So we had our neuropsych appointment today and OMG this was incredible.  The doctor came out and get this our appointment was at 2:00 pm guess how many people were in the waiting area, just guess?  US that was it imagine that a doctor who only schedules one patient for an appointment. WOW!  She (the doctor) comes out and calls Noah and she is super excited to see us.

We get up and head back to her office and Noah plops in one chair and me in the other, she starts off by saying how exciting it is being in the study at Vanderbilt for STX209. Before I could say anything she proceeded to tell me that she was a participating doctor at the same study here in Memphis.  She said this is he first time she has seen an individual outside the study on the medicine so we discussed how awesome we thought the medicine was and how many people will benefit from it.

Let's continue to Noah's Q & A with her it went like this:
Dr: I am going to ask you some questions ok??
Noah: OK

Dr:  Do you know what the year is?
Noah: 2013
BAM got that one!!

Dr: Do you know what month it is?
Noah: February
BAM another one I didn't dare tell her he was obsessed with the calendar!! LOL

Dr: Do you the date, the number?
Noah: 28
BAM I am super impressed and beaming!!!

Dr: Is today the last day of the month?
Noah:  Yes
BAM she thought she could trick him not my calendar obsessed boy.

Dr: What is the next month?
Noah: March
BAM I was a little worried about that one!

Dr: What is this?  Pointing to her watch.
Noah: It's how you check the time.
Good job!!

Dr: What state do you live in?
Noah: The United Sates
CLOSE....she prompted with the "T" and he got Tennessee

Dr: I am going to hold this paper up read the words and do what it says. (it read Close your eyes)
Noah: Close your eyes and he did!!

We were finishing up and Noah spotted a model brain behind her desk and asked her, "Can I see your brain?" she looked a bit puzzled and Noah said, "that brain" pointing to the model brain behind her desk on a shelf.  She said OK, it had a card with it and he checked out the brain and was looking at the card and looking at the brain.  He turned the card over and held it next to the brain, I am thinking what is he doing I look over he was matching the card to the brain the parts of the brain were color coded the card had the areas of the brain listed.  The doctor said, "Noah can you read any of those words?" Noah replied, "Normal brain" (that was at the top of the card) and then he said "pretend" I looked at the card he was trying to say prefrontal I thought that was a great try!!

Overall I was impressed with my little man this child NEVER ceases to amaze me!!  Thank you God for choosing me to be his mom!

Noah's Urine Sample...He Peed in WHAT??

Yesterday we are at Vanderbilt for Noah's appointment, so we get to the hospital and get up to the right floor, we are getting settled and Noah needs to use the restroom. So he goes into the bathroom. So I waited for a minute and decided maybe I should go in there and see what going on.

I walk into the bathroom and Noah is peeing in the lid of an aerosol can. OMG he says, "here give this to them" I said, "no and poured it into the toilet and said they will get you a cup if they need your pee." Noah responds, "go get the cup". I said, "they will give us a cup if you need to do that."

So I go to throw away the lid that had been peed in he screams, "NO!" I stop "What's wrong??" He grabs it from me and says, "don't throw it away" and puts it back on the aerosol can that it came off of! I just left it there. LOL never a dull moment!

We Had A Play Date

I don't think I have combined those two words PLAY & DATE when talking about Noah....well I can now, a friend of ours we don't see much she has a child with autism two years younger than Noah, she asked us over Saturday and we went.  We were there a little over 2 hours and she & I sat in the living room having coffee while the boys played TOGETHER!!  It was fabulous, I have NEVER experienced that before I was always on pins and needles when we were anywhere visiting.

I was so proud of BOTH of them, after about an hour they came down and played separately for about 20  minutes we figured they needed a break from being social.  Then they started up again it was GREAT!!

Life is good.....

How Do You Light It Up Blue??

April is just around the corner and we know it's Autism Awareness month. Do you have plans to Light It Up Blue?? We keep our light on our porch blue all year.

Have you considered contacting your mayor, city council or other city offices to request that they LIUB?? Here in Memphis I worked with the Mayor's staff & city council and we are proclaiming April 2 Autism Awareness Day in Memphis. I did it ALL by email. So you have a landmark or historic monument in your city?? Contact them and see if they will LIUB! How about your zoo "Let's go Blue at the zoo".

I am copying the email to our mayor & council members you can use that as an example to email your city officials.

 Dear City Council Members,
I wanted to let you know that autism is the fastest growing disability in the world 1 in 88 kids are being diagnosed that's one child EVERY 11 minutes! That's frightening. I understand first hand the affects that autism has my son Noah is 10 and he has autism. Autism affects communication skills, social skills and behavior, it varies with each child.

Autism Speaks has a yearly campaign to Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness it has grown buildings across the world are participating. http://lightitupblue.org/Markslist/home.do. Last year I was successful in a campaign to light Graceland up blue. I also participated in the Light It Up Blue ceremony in Hernando MS, the mayor there declared April 2 to be Autism Awareness Day in Hernando. I ask you as the City Council & Mayor Wharton to consider proclaiming April 2 to be Autism Awareness Day in Memphis. Would you also consider Lighting City Hall Blue for Autism Awareness? I would love to discuss this with you all, I know that you are extremely busy but I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks so much for your time,

Please do a little brainstorming and get your neighborhood to LIUB, local businesses, schools, colleges the possibilities are ENDLESS!!!

AUTISM STRONG - The Autism Parent, the Hopeful Parent

An Autism Parent is the most hopeful of individuals in the world, when your kid was diagnosed you were probably told a number of things they wouldn't be able to do.....maybe they still can't do some of those things but do we give up hope NO, NEVER.  Do our kids give up on us??  NO, NEVER.  Even in the midst of a meltdown over his stuffed Bowser loosing an eyebrow, you deal with it and move on!

We never stop hoping we never give up...we may feel and appear defeated at times with the bite marks, the bruises and handfuls of hair we are not defeated we are AUTISM STRONG!!   There are some misconceptions about who we are, WE ARE NOT VICTIMS of this disorder we are moms, dads, sisters, & brothers who just need a little more understanding & compassion.  We are a stronger family BECAUSE of autism.   We are not victims we just want what is best for our child just like other parents.

Just remember we are AUTISM STRONG, we take more in one day than most parents handle in a week or more!!  We were given this position because God believes we can do it!!

1st Anniversary Giveaway for WWOA Fans

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Tote Giveaway from "31 Gifts"!!

Divas With A Purpose, Dorinda's Diva Shoppe and a host of wonderful bloggers and entreprenerial divas are excited to bring you this great giveaway to officially kick-off the giving season here at Divas With A Purpose!

One lucky reader will win a pair of Thirty One Gifts Utility Totes - one large and one medium!  The medium utility totes are a new product introduced this month and can only be ordered through November 26th! 

This prize is sponsored by Michelle, an Independent Consultant with Thirty One Gifts and the diva behind Divas With A Purpose.

The utility totes are great organizational items and have tons of uses. Michelle's favorites - organizing toys and clothing in her children's rooms; the guest room as a welcome basket for out of town visitors; and a toy bin for each of her children.

These totes and the entire Thirty One Gifts product line are a great, and affordable, way to transport your products and advertise your business.

You can enter up until 12:01 AM, Saturday, November 17th.

 Good Luck and thanks for your support!

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Social Media & the Autism Mom

I know most of you have seen or heard something to the effect "I love my computer-My friends live in there". Some may think this unfortunate, to ONLY have friends in your computer....well not to me. You see I am an autism-mom, my life revolves around BOTH my kids. The "typical" one and the "not so typical" one.....we are also a home school family so we seem to always be together. So my "computer friends" are some of the closest friends I have.

The majority of my friends are autism moms too and they "understand" me. They understand the significance of Noah snapping his pants for the first time.....they understand what it's like to have an awesome dentist appointment for the 1st time (without the kicking and screaming!)......they understand and rejoice with me when Savannah & Noah are caught playing together!! My friends understand what the word "meltdown" means.

 As the parent of a child with autism by NO MEANS makes me an authority BUT as autism parents SOMETIMES we know more than the doctors & nurses who are seeing our kids. "Typical" parents don't get it. They can try to understand but in their mind Noah is 10 what's the big deal about snapping his pants, their kid did that at 4 years old. I have yet to encounter the support that I receive from my Facebook friends in the "typical world".

One of the first Facebook page I came across was Grape Jelly on Pizza and it stuck I loved the name and my list of autism page likes grew & grew & grew and is STILL GROWING! I am excited to read about other kids that have the same struggles as Noah but I especially love to rejoice with them when milestones are hit.

As parents of a child with autism we are truly BLESSED that we get to see the world through the eyes of our beautiful child there are SO many things that Noah has taught me & shown me that I would have missed without him!! Thank you God for giving me this exceptional child that will open the hearts of each person who is privileged enough to know him!!

When Things get Overwhelming

This is not a post about Noah or anything funny related to autism it's about feeling overwhelmed as a parent. How do we keep on keeping on?? I read parents with children with autism suffer from PTSD like a soldier?? Why is everything so hard? Why do I always feel like I should be doing MORE?? Why all the guilt?? Just as things are going good uh-oh roadblock!! This is just life happening but sometimes things just suck. I have always heard when one door closes another opens....please open a new door quickly for our family!! I am a firm believer in prayer so thatis where I will be the next few days!

Who's Shoes ID Kit Giveaway

These are great for writing your child's information on, these are also included in the NAA Big Red Safety box that they giveaway periodically. Please enter you must like 4 Facebook pages to be entered. Thanks and Good luck!! a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Leader & Noah

Here are some pictures of the soccer practice the other day.....Noah is the small one in the purple shirt!

Noah and "the leader" that is the coach's title....The Leader.  Who else is talented enough to play soccer with his hands behind his back? Hmmmm Nobody I know.

Huddle Up!!!  Looks who is in the middle giving directions....who is the smallest on there?  All the guys make a big fuss over him he LOVES it!

Wow personal instruction from "the Leader"  he won't kick the ball very hard, however KUDOS to him he did make a GOAL!!

UH OH~ what now.... here comes "The Leader" for some more 1 on 1 time with the boy!!
All in all Noah LOVES it he doesn't know that he one of two little guys, he doesn't see size, color or disability! I WISH WE COULD ALL SEE THE WORLD THAT WAY!

Center of Attention.....

After we finished soccer practice last night from 6-7, one of our local colleges has a Special Olympics night where their students work with the athletes...after soccer we drove there most everyone who was at soccer went.  We get there the college's volleyball teams are there our athletes are working on volleyball tonight.  When we get in one of the moms had already picked out Noah's "personal assistant" they hit it off well.  I got to sit with two more parents and chit chat YES chit chat I didn't know I still knew how.....seems like I am ALWAYS explaining autism, sensory processing disorder, ADHD you know!!  the usual stuff!!

One of the parents said, "look Noah has an audience" I turned to look he was sitting on the bleachers with 6 college guys standing there looking at him and he was just talking up a storm....when I looked closer I saw about 6 volleyballs where your feet go on the bleachers...he was telling those guys something about all the balls.  A few minutes later a look up again and one of the guys is carrying Noah around on his shoulders WOW this kid was eating up all this attention!!  Because you know I NEVER pay any attention to him LOL!

I got to be time to leave the social butterfly wants to go around the entire gym and hug everyone, I know I need to work on appropriate behaviors some more, so I limited him to the 10 people by the door.  So with that being said we finally got to leave............but not before his announcement he said LOUDLY, "I will see you all next week!" they laughed and were all saying bye Noah.

Wonder What He Was Saying.....

Soccer practice number 2 in the books.....he did pretty good~still likes that hole to sit in and look for bugs! LOL Today there were quite a few more people than the last practice!! There is a man that comes, Andy and his nephew,the brown boy (he's 4 & typical).

Andy is deaf and uses sign language to communicate his 4 year old nephew knows sign language too. Anyway Noah is just talking Andy's head off and Andy starts to sign Noah's not sure whats he's doing. The brown boy sees what's happening and get between them and is translating for Noah AWESOME. So the players head over for a break to get some water I am explaining to Noah that Andy is deaf that means he can't hear, and he uses his hands to speak. Noah says, "he cannot speak" I reply, "no he speaks with his hands".

So the players head back to the soccer field, Noah is being Noah socializing instead of playing, he is over with Andy he starts signing to Noah, the brown boy was at the other end of the field so Noah starts "signing" back he was just moving his hands and fingers.....wonder what he was saying. I was SO funny. Guess what?? We are going to start learning sign language next week.