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!!!