Election and Post election day excitement!

These are some pictures from yesterday afternoon as we celebrated our vote for Barack Obama and John Yarmuth. Later last night Adam watched election coverage with us before bed and then Chris and I of course celebrated greatly when they both won!

Baby ... girl!

We had another opportunity to go to the doctor on Wednesday for an ultrasound. This one was a little more special than all the others because we found out we're having a girl! We were also able to find out that everything with the pregnancy is normal and there's nothing to worry about at this point.

We've had some fairly concerning complications with pregnancy this past year. First with the miscarriage in May and then with this pregnancy at 6 weeks with the blood clot in the uterus. This turned out to be a minor setback but when I was going through it and still even now I'm having a hard time realizing that everything is ok and we can actually plan for her to come in April.

Here's a picture of our little acrobat.

Grad School

One thing I've been thinking about since I graduated college is going back to grad school. I've put it off this long because I've had a job that has been extremely fulfilling and another degree won't change the status of my job any. Also there aren't any programs near us that offer what I want and Chris has been in school full time the majority of our marriage and I really didn't want to go back with him in school too.

Now things are changing. In January I'll be required to be supervised by a BCBA monthly which I can understand why the board would do this and I think it's a good idea I just don't want to do this long term. A Master of Arts in ABA program is starting the fall of 2009 at Spalding University, a university very close to our house and it's a very short program. Plus Chris will be graduating in May and wants to take a little time before starting his PhD.

I was excited about this at first because I now have an opportunity to get a masters and the opportunity to learn even more in my field but... I'm not usually good with change, I like similar things and if prepared am ok with some change but this is pretty substantial. As I started looking into what I would need to do to get into the program I've become a little overwhelmed with needing to take the GRE (uh, almost 10 years out of college and a little rusty in most of the areas they'll test) and all of the other things I'll need to prepare with my admission packet (a professional writing sample...can I send in a behavior plan? =)

It will be a great opportunity, now I just need to organize myself, my family, and finances to do this.

Pumpkin Patch!

Both Chris and I love this time of year. The smell of fall, how it's cool but not too cold, and the colors! One of my favorite family outings that we starting doing last year with Adam is going to a pumpkin patch. In Southern Indiana Huber's family farm is not far from us and it's fun to do the hay ride out to the field and pick out a pumpkin.

Growing up in Oldham County hay rides and picking pumpkins, strawberries, potatoes, blackberries, and various other crops my family grew are all part of my memories from growing up. Now that we live in Louisville and haven't found the time and energy to grow my own garden yet I love to expose Adam to some of the same memories through events like this one.

These are a few of our pictures from the day!

Hilarious Cat Video!

Chris wanted me to title this "I Can Has Funnycats" but I don't speak Lolcats.

It's time for a change - NOW

I ran across this story about how an oil slick killed more than 200 penguins and it really disturbed me. In the last paragraph of the article it says:

Some biologists believe stronger-than-usual ocean currents or colder-than-usual ocean temperatures have pulled the birds north. Others suggest overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica has forced the penguins to swim farther in search of food.

After reading this last paragraph I automatically think - stronger-than-usual ocean currents or colder-than-usual ocean temperatures, aren't those caused by climate change? After years of hearing about climate change you'd think we'd start to do something more than we have done. There is lots of information on the web and even a cable channel devoted to eco-friendly living but I can't say with any certainty that, other than a few things here and there, I have seen big changes by people around me, businesses around me, or myself.

I definately do not want to hold myself up as the person who knows all when it comes to changing the environment because I know I have a lot to learn and a lot to put into practice myself but I do believe there are things we could do that are not being done. One thing we can do is cut down on our use of gas. This is possible with hybrids and electric cars but they are both expensive (at least to my family) and until lately electric cars have not been widely available. Or that's what we think unless we've had the opportunity to watch Who Killed the Electric Car. I only hope that these cars will be widely available soon and we wake up to our problem of 1) needing gas and 2) coming up with more ways of getting gas. Which leads me to my point of it is time for a change - NOW.

Awesome Olympic Mom

After reading a post from Heather on Olympic moms I linked to this awesome story of a weightlifter who has 3 children, one diagnosed with autism.
I need to read this story each time I think life is too difficult because Melanie's story shows me that life can be hard but don't give up, get through it together.

Laughter is the best medicine

Chris' mom likes to take Adam for a weekend every once and a while and this past week she took him from Wed. evening until Friday. That allowed Chris and I to do something we haven't had a chance to do in a while, go out on a date. We decided to go to Comedy Caravan because we had some tickets from one of the youth at church and we needed to laugh. I didn't realize how much we needed to laugh until we got there and until our conversation following the great comedian we saw.

I realized we had not done anything with just the two of us since the miscarriage in May. Because of this we really haven't had the opportunity to realize that we are both still grieving a lot. It's difficult to understand why one would still be grieving a little person you've never met, but you do. You grieve the thought of their birthday, if they were a boy or a girl, what Adam would be saying now that I would be 5 months pregnant, the pictures we would take, making a new room for Adam and a place for the baby, the excitement when Adam would take the magnets on the fridge and say "Look mama, it's our family" then he'd point out all 4 magnets saying "Daddy, Mama, Adam, and a baby!" We still have the video of the first time he ever did that, I still have my pregnancy journal and I just can't get rid of them because it's like saying it never happened because there's nothing to show for it other than those things.

I realized that Chris and I haven't laughed much since May and laughing was the best medicine for both of us. It got us to think about being funny and enjoying each other, remembering that we are still grieving and allowing that but also looking to the future for new things to come. The grief is still there, it will be there for as long as there are children to be thought of but each day it gets a little easier to do and think about the things that weren't difficult before.

So the comedian we saw, Mary Mack was sent there just for us. Not that she really was but out of all of the comics we could have and did see that evening she is the only one that spoke to me, got me to laugh, and who I thought "I could hang out with this person." So if you get a chance check out her website and listen to her stuff.

Health Insurance

I find that whenever I'm thinking about something and it is brought up in the media it is everywhere.

Saturday Chris led me to Michael Savage's statement, Sunday I read a post at Womanist Musings where someone commented on and I replied regarding insurance. This morning I received an e-mail that led me to a link for the Courier Journal, Louisville's newspaper.

The Courier did an article that featured families struggling with the rising cost of health care. I thought they did a good job of conveying what many families are dealing with. I was able to relate to it on a personal and professional level.

Personally our family has struggled to pay for private insurance for years as well as the cost of going to the doctor if we do end up going. Professionally, the article speaks about a family struggling to pay for therapy for their son who has autism (click on the "Haysley family" link under videos at the bottom of the page) because their insurance company will no longer pay for it.

Check it out, I'm hoping that with more articles like this one something will change regarding insurance payment for Applied Behavior Analysis as a therapy for children with autism and for insurance as a whole.

Disturbing events...

There have been several media occurrances lately that have dumbfounded me about autism. The first was a family asked to leave a restaurant because their young child with autism was disturbing others in the restaurant. The second was a statement from Michael Savage and his thoughts on autism.

We all have different experiences and thoughts about various subjects and some people have not had the opportunity to come in contact with anyone with a disability. I feel as though those who make statements and choices such as those noted above should be informed about what autism is and how it effects a family.

I have not run across any feedback from others about Michael Savage but I did see many remarks regarding the family and they were quite disturbing. Autism is not a choice, it is not something that allows a family to do anything they like, and it is not something that people can fully understand. It is also not something that telling a child to "cut the act out" will help. In fact, being a behaviorist and a mom I can say that that type of disciple is the worst. It doesn't address why the child is doing what they are doing and it doesn't give them voice to what they tried to communicate with the behavior in the first place.

The following websites are just a few of many out there with information about autism. Unfortunately the numbers of children diagnosed with autism are on the rise. I hope that people will learn about and learn from those with autism instead of criticizing something they may not understand.

CDC

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Autism Society of America

Autism Speaks - they have a statement on Michael Savage's remarks

Adam's New Bike!!

It's really hard for me to believe that Adam is 3 and a half years old! It really does seem like he just started talking and walking. He's had a lot of "big boy" changes these past couple weeks. He's stopped using his paci, he's started dropping naps, and he got a big bike. He's so proud of his bike that he's been riding in the park across our street every morning and he took it out to Meme's (my mom's) house to show her too. Isn't he so big!!

An Oreo lesson

The other day Chris and Adam were having a treat in the dining room and Chris was teaching Adam the all important lesson of how to dunk an Oreo into milk. I quickly decided that this moment should be captured forever in the life of our digital camera.



After partaking in the Oreos Chris then taught Adam how to begin weight lifting to burn off all of those extra calories.



If only it were that easy. :)

A Few Children Were Left Behind

This is the video that finally got me to set up a blog for myself.

Chris and I love to watch Keith Olberman in the evenings and last night after watching one of my favorite parts of the show (World's Worst) I immediately turned to Chris and said, "I have to share that with people!"

Please pay particular attention to the "worser" person section of the following clip.



There has been some news lately about autistic children left out of various environments. The school system that made the "worser person" astounded me when I heard this on Keith Olberman last night. I can't believe that there would be a school system that would leave out children and teachers from a yearbook.

A yearbook is a very social thing even for second graders. Social skills are one of the main skills that teachers and administrators should be focusing on when they are teaching children with autism and special needs because decreased social and communication skills are two of the main signs of autism.

Just by being different than the other children it makes it difficult for them to try and learn socialization skills with their peers. When they are left out of a very social event it hinders the learning process even more.

Children with autism and other developmental disabilities learn through many teaching techniques. One of the most widely used techniques is the use of visuals. Yearbooks are obviously something visual. For the children with special needs in this school system they are being left out of a very useful tool that they could learn from for years to come.

The least I hope the school system does is to correct this missed opportunity for learning. These are children, it does not matter if they have needs that are different from other children. They still enjoy many of the same things all of the other children do, they may just enjoy them a little differently.

As a behaviorist who works each day with children with autism I love every picture we take of all of our children and will cherish them for a long time. It is a great joy we have to not only teach the children new skills and to love on them but to show their parents the pictures we take of their children since these children are often difficult to capture in a photograph. I know that each one of the teachers of the special needs classes and the parents would cherish the pictures in the yearbook as well.

First Thoughts

I've been thinking of doing a blog for some time as a way to connect with friends, get out thoughts, and share life. As Chris and I were watching Keith Olberman tonight I finally decided I needed to set one up. I have found many things that I'd love to share with others and I hope this will be a good place to do that. These things could be anything from behavioralism, family, fitness, art, music, politics, or whatever happens to strike me as meaningful for the day.
Here's to something new!