Check out this article in its entirety: The Last Resort.

I’d like to report that the information in this article was “news” to me, but sadly it is NOT. Working with the Attachment Disorder Network (ADN) for the last few years, I have met families who were forced into similar situations as the families in this article. They made the hard decision to relinquish custody of their troubled child to the state system in order for the child to obtain mental health services.

It happens at a shocking... more

We put LuLu in a mild hyperbaric oxygen (mHBOT) chamber this spring for 40 one-hour sessions. Why? Because some doctors have researched and are now hypothesizing that HBOT will improve symptoms in autistic individuals, much like it has done in people with cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, closed head injuries and stroke. Ok, so, in “parentese” what’s the theory behind the how and why?

Well, first you have to know that autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that, at least in some individuals, has been found to... more

Here's the rest of those great "tips for teachers" from the SPD Network site:

Children Who Need Sensory Input to Stay on Task Some children are "sensory seekers" and become more organized and attend better to a task if they receive periodic movement input. Some ideas: -- Allow a child to sit on a baffled camping pillow filled with a small amount of air. This allows for movement without leaving the desk. -- Suggest five minutes of swinging... more

Hey all you brainiac moms, I just found another cool website: ScienCentral News. And I found a great article entitled: A Mother’s Touch. The researchers in this study were out to prove (or not) that mothering styles are passed from mothers to children and to figure out if it was a genetic or environmental thing. Guess what they discovered? (Nature or nurture?)

Well, they used rats, not humans.... more

I’ve created a new category on Sensory Integration/Processing Disorders. Some folks call the disability of being able to regulate your senses sensory integration dysfunction (SID), some call it sensory processing disorder (SPD), others call it Dysfunction of Sensory Integration (DSI). Regardless, it’s often a crucial, but overlooked, component to a child’s behaviors, emotions and the mysteries of why they do certain things. Children with autism, ADHD and other childhood disorders often also have SID. Processing disorders, such as auditory processing (sometimes referred to as central auditory processing disorder or CAPD) and visual processing disorder are common in children with many... more

About a year ago, our psychiatrist suggested that LuLu start taking SAM-e, a natural supplement that we buy inexpensively at Sam's Club (you can get it at any pharmacy, but the price at Sam's is reasonable.) It is often promoted for joint health. But it is even more than that. The Amen Clinic website recommends SAM-e for "limbic hyperactivity".

The limbic system is the emotional center of our brains. It lies behind the prefrontal cortex and underneath the frontal cortex. Overactive limbic systems manifest... more

Check out the latest issue of Readers' Digest (August 2006) for an article called Boy Wonder by Cammie McGovern. It is a heart-wrenching/heart-warming account of coming to grips with her son's PDD-NOS diagnosis (pervasive developmental delay - not otherwise specified, a variant of autism).

The article is brief, but does cover a variety of ground, mentioning the Thimerosal/CDC vaccine controversy, Gluten/Casein-free diets, and ABA therapy.... more

Sometimes I feel so dumb. Sometimes I wonder how I could have overlooked the significance of something so obvious. Yet...I can't kick myself too hard when it comes to parenting LuLu. After all, she is one complex little kid.

We have been doing The Listening Program for 4 weeks now. And I have blogged extensively about how it addresses auditory processing deficits. We are seeing good things.

On Thursday, LuLu was riding with me in the car.... more

Third part of three.

TLP has become my introduction into a whole new area of intervention -- pyschoacoustics. The TLP Guidebook talks about how and why they developed this "intentional music". One of the things I found fascinating is what they had to say about why they have included nature sounds integrated with the music:

"The sounds of nature are primal. Bypassing our intellectual filters, these sounds go directly to the oldest part of our nervous system, the reptilian brain."

That's it! That's why an intervention... more

Second part of three

So what is The Listening Program (TLP) and who should use it? The Listening Program is a sound stimulation auditory training method that has specially developed CDs, each with four 15-minute segments where the classical music and nature sounds have been specially engineered to awaken your auditory system. The guidebook that comes with the CD set lists the following factors related to auditory problems:

-- difficulty following directions -- difficulty processing or retaining auditory information -- articulation problems... more