FooteSteps

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about financial help for parents of autistic children. I’m striking out. Tried going to our mortgage lender (Countrywide) and they were not helpful. You have to be behind in your payments to get any help at all. And even then it sounds like you’d only get a payment plan. Yeah, thanks. I guess we’ll call you when we’re ready to go into foreclosure. I had hoped maybe they’d give us a loan with a lower interest rate, but I guess that was pretty naive on my part.

Why should a big corporation help us out when our own government won’t even step up to help? I shouldn’t complain too much because as stressful as my life is, I know other families have it much harder than we do. We will make it. But it’s just another example of how much pressure is put on families in this culture. When you have a special needs child, that pressure is incredibly intense.

I’m too frustrated to write anything eloquent right now, but here’s a quote from patientcenters.com that really resonates with me:

“The US stands alone in the civilized world as the only country that would rather pay strangers or an institution to care for a child than provide support for parents to do so themselves. While all Western European nations (and many others) provide family support allowances to encourage one parent to stay home with all young children, the US government has cut support even to single parents, and provides extraordinarily low allowances when they are available.“

That site provides a country-by-country summary of government support programs for people with Autism and other developmental disorders. Check it out here:
http://www.oreilly.com/medical/autism/news/financial.html

We have been juicing fresh fruits and veggies for about five months. So far we have tried two different juicers, the Omega O2 and the Juiceman Pro JM503. I thought I’d pass along a few quick product reviews for anyone who might be in the market for an inexpensive juicer.

The Omega O2 and the Juiceman Pro are both at the low-end of the market, so they are very easy on the wallet. Both products are pulp-extracting juicers, which was a requirement for us (we didn’t think our kids would drink juice with pulp in it). We’ve also found both juicers very easy to set up and use. Finally, all of the juice-touching parts of these products are stainless steel, so there’s never any plastic or aluminum that could leech into your juice.

Omega O2
This was the first juicer we used, and we are still using this product today. The biggest advantages of this juicer are its price, size, and ease of use/cleaning. Also, Omega really backs up their products. They’ve been very responsive and helpful when we’ve had questions or problems.

The good:

• Very inexpensive ($99.00 from Juicers for Less)
• Stainless steel filter, blade and basket
• Pulp extracting
• This product is very compact – perfect for a small kitchen
• Very easy to use
• Very easy to clean
• Great customer service from manufacturer: One very small part (the screw cap that holds the blade down) fell down our sink into the disposal and got mangled. The manufacturer sent us a new part within about 3-4 days. Later when the motor burned out, they picked up the broken juicer and sent us a new unit.
• Five year warranty
• Safety feature: this unit will not run unless it’s covered and clamped

The not-so-good

• This juicer is pretty loud. Not lawnmower loud, but loud.
• No juice catching pitcher (we use a large Pyrex glass measuring cup like this one. It would be nice to have a covered pitcher that fits under the juice nozzle and prevents splattering. I’ve stained a few shirts with veggie juice!
• Durability may be a question: our motor burned out after two months of heavy use. Omega replaced the unit, no questions asked.
• Power is good, but not great. You may not notice the lack of power until you use another juicer, but it does help to have a little more horsepower.

Manufacturer’s web site: http://www.omegajuicers.com/
Retailer’s web site: http://www.juicersforless.com/

Note: When the motor burned out on our O2 model, Omega replaced the unit at no charge. We were very impressed with their responsiveness. They had FedEx pick up the broken machine and we had a brand new juicer within ten days.

Juiceman Pro JM503
This is a really nice juicer. It runs quiet, it’s durable and powerful, and it’s easy to clean. The only drawback for us has been that it’s a little large for our kitchen. But for $149, I think it’s well worth the price. I cannot comment on the manufacturer’s customer service as I have not had occasion to contact them.

The good

• Inexpensive ($149 at Macy’s and Fern’s Nutrition)
• Powerful 1000 watt motor
• 3 speeds for different kinds of foods
• Relatively quiet
• Easy to use
• Easy to clean
• Comes with a pitcher (pitcher also has a cover, which prevents juice from splattering on shirts and ties!)
• Stainless steel filter and basket
• Large feed chute allows you to put in whole fruits and veggies (less time spent cutting)
• Safety feature: The unit will not run unless it’s covered and clamped
• Convenience feature: The unit will not run unless the pulp-catching basket is aligned properly – this prevents you from inadvertently shooting pulp all over the counter-top!
• One year warranty

The not-so-good

• The Juiceman Pro is large and tall, which can be problematic in the following ways:
  • Difficult to fit under kitchen cabinets
  • Somewhat awkward to use in a small space

Manufacturer’s web site: http://www.juiceman.com/
Retailer’s web site: http://www.fernsnutrition.com/juiceman_503_juicer.html

Based on my experience, I would recommend both of these juicers. For the Omega juicer, it might be worthwhile to look at a slightly higher-end product if you can afford it. Like the O2, Omega’s higher-end models look very compact and easy-to-use.

The Omega O2 juicer might be a good model for you if:

• you have limited space
• you have a limited budget
• you want something that’s easy to use and easy to clean
• you prefer a pulp-extracting juicer

If, on the other hand you have ample space in your kitchen and you’d prefer the convenience of being able to put whole fruits and veggies into your juicer, consider trying the Juiceman Pro JM503.

Obviously, these reviews are based on our very limited experience with juicers. Please feel free to comment on your experience with these or other juicers. I haven’t found a lot of good reviews out on the web so maybe we can generate some reviews here!

A short while ago, I wrote an entry about my famous Trojan Horse popsicles. One problem with just about any kind of dietary intervention is that it can be very time consuming. Those popsicles are no exception. You have to juice all the vegetables, blend them together with fruit, and then blend in the other ingredients.

I’m still making those popsicles because they are so healthy, but we’ve also been experimenting with a simpler version that takes a fraction of the time and still gets some nutrition into our kids.

This very simple recipe has been a hit with our two boys:

Orange Mango Carrot popsicles:

1. Juice about four medium-sized carrots (about 3/4-1 cup of fresh carrot juice).
2. Add an equal amount of Orange Mango juice. (Tropicana is the brand we’ve used).
3. Pour into dixie cups and drop in a popsicle stick, then freeze.

For added color and nutritional benefits, juice 1/2 of a fresh beet and add that to the mix.

Why carrots and beets? According to “The World’s Healthiest Foods” (www.whfoods.com):

On carrots: “Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and the richest vegetable source of the pro-vitamin A carotenes. Carrots’ antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer and also promote good vision, especially night vision. “

On beets: “These colorful root vegetables contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer…Beets are an excellent source of the B vitamin, folate, and a very good source of manganese and potassium. Beets are a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus.”

These popsicles are sweet enough that we haven’t had to add any additional sweeteners. Quick, easy, and delicious!

If you are implementing RDI with a young child, you’re probably getting accustomed to the need to modify the environment in your home. If you’re new to RDI, the reason for this is to remove distractions that might prevent your child from engaging with you in coregulatory activities. In our case, for example, we cover or turn off all the digital clocks in the house. Otherwise, our little guy will fixate on the clock rather than joining us in an activity.

Another modification we’ve made is to get rid of - or limit access to - toys that he plays with in a very static way. At the moment, our son is fixated on a little digital alarm clock. If it were up to him, he might spend hours pushing the buttons on the clock to change the time. One of our goals is to engage him in more dynamic, shared activities that help him learn to navigate and enjoy relationships. We still give him a little time in the morning to play with his clock, but we no longer let him play with it for long periods of time. We’ve also put away, or gotten rid of, many other toys that either lend themselves to very static play or were just creating unnecessary clutter. If your child has sensory or attentional issues, this can be helpful.

As we’ve phased out some of these static toys, we’ve begun replacing them with toys and games that require some kind of coordination with a partner, such as turn taking, as in a board game, or cooperation, say for building a tower with Legos.

Here are a few of the RDI-friendly toys and games we’ve found particularly enjoyable for experience-sharing and coregulation. Our RDI consultant suggested several of these toys and they’ve proven to be great!

Chutes and Ladders. This little board game is great for turn taking and experience sharing. There are many opportunities - like when you slide down one of the chutes - for non-verbal emotion sharing through facial expressions. We’ve found an opportunity for coregulation as well: The game uses a spinner, rather than dice to determine how many steps a player takes for each turn. We take turns holding the spinner for each other. In other words, my son holds the spinner for me when it’s my turn and I hold it for him when it’s his turn. He had a raucous game of Chutes and Ladders with his grandmother the other night. She kept landing on one of the chutes and sliding down. As she became more (playfully) frustrated, he was squealing with laughter. Ahh…social laughter from our son. Pure joy.

Variations are also important so as to keep the activity dynamic. You might try replacing the spinner with dice, or play or in different part of the house, for example.

Other board games we’ve enjoyed include Arthur and Friends and Candyland. Both are great for experience sharing and declarative language: “Ooh, I love chocolate!” (RDI emphasizes the use of declarative language with ASD children. Instead of asking the child questions, try to make comments. This encourages thinking rather than just spitting out a stock answer.)

Lincoln Logs. Another classic that’s been forgotten in these days of X-Box and Wii, Lincoln Logs are great because they require cooperation. While you are building, you can hand the pieces to your child, indicating where to put them. Here, you’re establishing roles: “I’m the giver, you’re the builder.”

Ideally, you should try to use as little verbal language as possible and vary the way in which you present each Lincoln Log piece. You might hold it up high once, then make him guess which hand it’s in next time. Try to create situations wherein he/she will have to look at you to get the object. Another great way to create eye contact is to present it, but then hold it and not let go when your child attempts to take it from you. This introduces the unexpected into the back-and-forth pattern, which makes it more dynamic.

Other toys that offer similar opportunities for back-and-forth, cooperative play and problem solving include Legos, Dado Cubes and Tinker Toys. Another building toy that we really love is called Tall Stacker Building Pegs. Any of these toys can be played with siblings since they also lend themselves to turn-taking, another important relationship skill.

Zimbos, Coocoo the Clown, and Honey Bee Tree. These toys combine the best aspects of rule-based games with the coordination of building toys. With all three games, you’re stacking, building or balancing. With each turn, you risk causing the structure to fall, or in the case of Honey Bee Tree, waking up the bees! The beauty of each of these games is the opportunity for great experience sharing - suspense, surprise, excitement, laughter.

You can find Zimbos and Coocoo the Clown at www.mindwareonline.com. Honey Bee Tree is available on Amazon.com.

These are just a few toys that we’ve introduced at home to supplement the daily interactions that are the core of our RDI program - unloading the dishwasher, folding laundry, setting the table, etc.

Drs. Gutstein and Sheeley have compiled a book of RDI activities for young children, which we’ve found very helpful. They have a similar book for adolescents and adults.

It’s not always easy to find GF/CF alternatives to traditional holiday fare. Thanksgiving dinner was very different for us this year. No stuffing, no butter, no rolls, no FUN! Actually, the meal was very good. It just wasn’t the same coma-inducing taste-orgy we’re accustomed to.

It got me thinking about other holidays – like Valentine’s Day. Now I know Valentine’s Day is not a top-tier eating holiday like Thanksgiving, but still, you want to have something special. If you’re on a gluten-free diet, you can still have a fun breakfast the whole family will enjoy with these super healthy, and very yummy pancakes.

Before I go on, I should say that you have to have a juicer to make this recipe.

We start with Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free Pancake Mix. This mix is delicious without any modification, but we like to add a few surprises to make the pancakes sweeter, more nutritious, and…pink! I imagine any GF mix would do, but having tried a few others, this is by far our favorite.

Start by following the recipe on the bag:
1 Cup Arrowhead Mills GF Pancake Mix
1 Tbsp oil (we use sunflower oil)
1 Tbsp honey
1 egg, beaten or egg substitute (yummy either way!)
¼ cup plus one Tbsp Milk (we use rice milk or almond milk, since we don’t eat dairy)

Now add:
Freshly extracted juice of one large carrot
Freshly extracted juice of ½ of a beet
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ banana, mashed

Optional:
½ cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Optional fiber boosters:
¼ cup ground flax seeds
¼ cup ground almonds

Now fry those babies up and you’ve got yourself a very sweet, super healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free Valentine’s Day breakfast treat.

And, yes the pancakes come out pink!

Our family has been gluten-and casein-free for about four months. We made the decision to try the diet based on our research about the apparent connection between the digestive system and various psychological and neurological conditions, including autism.

Like most of the interventions we’ve tried, I have some very positive things to say about GF/CF, but nothing conclusive. What I can say about the diet is this – as part of a broad group of interventions, it’s been great.

A couple unexpected surprises from this diet:

• My wife and I feel great on this diet. We never feel bloated or gassy after a meal and we’ve lost a lot of weight. My wife has also come to realize that she is very sensitive to dairy and refined sugars. She never would have known this if we hadn’t tried the diet.
• Much to our surprise, our then 18-month old son (neurotypical) became much healthier and heavier after we went GF/CF. I don’t think most doctors would recommend going off dairy, but it’s been great for our baby. (He is also breast fed though).

Anyway, our four-year old son had been suffering from chronic constipation for over a year. He would hold the poop for 3-5 days and then, well…you can imagine the pain. As any parent in this situation knows, the constipation is a self-reinforcing cycle: it builds on itself as the child increasingly associates pain with pooping. By last May, we we’re really getting worried. The constipation was getting worse and our attempts to address it were mostly ineffective.

We initially tried to resolve the issue by adding fiber to his diet, but he refused to eat most of what we served. The best we could do was to force cooked prunes down him at every meal, which was about the only fiber-containing food he liked. We had to be vigilant to have any effect at all.

On the advice of doctors, we tried three different interventions over a period of several months. First, our pediatrician recommended Benefiber, a powdered supplement that mixes with food or drink. This did not help. Next they told us to use MiraLax, which was a complete disaster. Our son was doubled over in pain for about two weeks. In spite of the pain, the pediatrician insisted that we keep him on this stuff. Needless to say, we ignored their advice.

Instead, we went to a Pediatric GI specialist. She told us to get more fiber into our son’s diet (wow, thanks) and put him on Enulose. Neither of these strategies worked. That was when realized that our son needed something conventional medicine could not provide.

First, we went to an all-organic diet, hoping that healthier, less processed foods would make a difference. This decision was partly influenced by Marion Nestle’s amazing book What To Eat. A real eye-opener if you haven’t read it.

Well, my wife and I certainly felt better on the organic diet, and our son’s behavior seemed to level out a bit. (Although, as I mentioned in an earlier post, this may have been due to the fact that school ended about that same time.) Unfortunately, the constipation did not improve much.

I think it was late September when, after reading Healing the New Childhood Epidemics by Kenneth Bock, and Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Campbell-McBride, we decided to take the GF/CF plunge. I should also mention Children with Starving Brains, by Jacqueline McCandless, which, I believe was a groundbreaking book in the area of biomedical interventions for autism.

Since going GF/CF, our son’s constipation has improved slowly and steadily. First he started going every three to four days. After a month on the diet, it was more like every two to three days, then every other day. Finally, after three months on the diet, he was going almost every day.

In addition to the dietary intervention, my son needed a lot of coaching and encouraging from us to get him past his fear during this time. We had to keep reminding him that pooping more often would keep the poop small and less painful. We also had to find ways to introduce more fiber into his diet, which took some creativity. We still catch him holding the poop sometimes, and we have to tell him to go to the bathroom. But to go from pooping every five days to almost every day is just amazing.

Also, we’ve had a few setbacks. For example, when the weather got cold and dry, the constipation returned for a few days. At that point, we introduced a mega-fiber cookie, which we eat almost every day. We also do a mega-fiber pancake on weekends, which is a big hit. I’ll share both of those recipes soon.

As you probably already know, it can be difficult to assess the effectiveness of any single autism treatment since we often have multiple interventions running simultaneously, and because young children are developing and changing all the time.

In the case of my son’s constipation, however, I really feel strongly that GF/CF was crucial to his becoming regular.

I think, ultimately, the formula that worked for us was as follows:

• keeping him off gluten and dairy
• increasing his fiber intake
• dramatically reducing his intake of refined sugars and processed foods
• coaching him and encouraging him to push out the poop even when he was afraid

I have talked to some parents who have found the GF/CF diet totally ineffective. I don’t know if that’s because the diet wasn’t right for their child, or if they didnt’ stick to it strictly enough. It is not an easy thing to implement. I have also heard widely varying opinions on how long you have to stay with the diet to know whether or not it’s working. Some people say you’ll know almost immediately, others say you have to give it three months and still others say six-eight months.

I also understand that there are some kids who do better on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet or Sara’s no-Lutein diet. I’m surprised at how little information exists on the web about those diets. In any case, it’s unfortunate that there’s no intervention that works for everyone. We all have to feel our way around this dark room until we find a light switch.

In our case, GF/CF has been great, not just for my son, but for the whole family.

We have so many things we want to share about nutrition. In the past year we’ve gone from eating an okay diet to eating almost all organic, and now to GF/CF. It’s been a major challenge, both financially and in terms of time, but we are all much healthier than we were this time last year. Since we went off gluten and dairy, my wife and I have both lost a substantial amount of weight, while our two boys have both gained needed weight and strength.

We hope to add a lot more information about nutrition, including recipes and shopping lists, to this blog in the coming months. For now, I just want to share one little tip for anyone who is having trouble getting an autistic child to eat vegetables and fruit: Homemade fruit /veggie popsicles. They’ve been a Trojan horse for us - the perfect way to sneak fresh, raw veggies into our son!

Just to give you a little background, our little man eats a pretty restricted diet. He prefers very bland food, like pasta without red sauce, cold cereal and chicken nuggets. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to get him to knowingly eat a vegetable. Even fruit is a challenge. He does eat frozen blueberries, and sometimes he’ll go for peeled apple slices, but that’s about it.

Last fall, my wife hired a holistic health counselor to help us change our diet, manage stress and incorporate exercise into our daily regimen. One of the many great things we learned about was juicing. At that time, we were deeply concerned about our son’s nutrition, his constipation, his physical health in general. Since he liked smoothies, we were hopeful that we could get a lot of good stuff into him by juicing. We purchased an Omega 02 Juicer online for about $100, stocked up on organic veggies and fruits, and we were on our way. Delicious juice, full of vitamins, made fresh every morning.

Well, our son went along with the new juice routine for about two weeks before he started fighting us. We were torn because we felt so much pressure to get the fruits and vegetables into him, but we didn’t like the idea of forcing food down his throat. For a while, we made him drink the juice. But eventually, the battles became so unpleasant that we realized we needed a different strategy. (Our 2-year old, who is not on the spectrum, still loves the juice and drinks it every morning with us.)

We came up with the idea of freezing the juice as popsicles. My wife suggested pouring the juice into Dixie cups, then freezing them with a popsicle stick for a handle. The Dixie cups were easy enough to find, but I had to go to a craft store for the popsicle sticks.

Anyway, I started making the popsicles about three months ago, and so far, the kids have never balked at eating them. Each of our kids has at least one popsicle each day, and they really seem to enjoy them. Here’s how I make them:

1. Juice 2 carrots, 1 celery stalk, 1 apple and a leaf of kale
2. Pour the juice into a mini blender and add ½ cup frozen fruit
3. Add 1 tbsp flax seed oil
4. Add 1 tsp “Perfect Food” or other powdered greens (optional)
5. Add 1 tbsp Blue Agave Nectar
6. Blend it all up and pour into Dixie cups
7. Freeze ‘em!

Each batch makes about 8-10 popsicles. Sometimes I also add about ¼ cup of a boxed juice called Vruit (a blend of vegetable and fruit juices), which can be found at most health food stores. You could probably substitute any fruit juice. I do this to mask the taste of the powdered greens, which can be pretty strong.

Freeze the popsicles for a couple of hours and your good to go. I hope this deceptive little recipe works as well for you as it has for us!

What is the role of the grandparents of an autistic child? In some families, grandparents are the primary caregivers. In other families, grandparents might be around on weekends. Or grandparents may be thousands of miles away, only spending time with their grandchildren from time to time.

Regardless of your relationship with your kids and grandkids, and with all due respect for our elders, this open letter comes to you from the perspective of the parents of an autistic child. My wife and I strongly believe that the love and support of extended family is critical to the success of any family. That kind of support is even more critical when the family is in crisis and dealing with a child who has special needs.

With that said, here is a short list of Do’s and Don’ts based on our experiences and observations.

Do…

• Do pray for our family. Prayer and meditation have the power to heal.
• Do praise us for the heroic efforts we make every single day on behalf of your grandchild (or grandchildren).
• Do ask us how things are going. This gives us the space to pause and assess our situation, which we sometimes forget to do.
• Do read about your grandchild’s diagnosis. The diagnoses and descriptions of these conditions can be very frightening. It makes us feel less alone to know that you have taken the time to educate yourself about our child’s condition.
• Do give us the space to unload about how bad things are. Try to take a deep breath and really listen. Sometimes listening is the best gift you can give.
• Do offer to baby-sit!
• Do call or e-mail regularly just to check in. It makes us feel loved.
• Do offer to help out financially, if you can afford it. Even a few dollars here or there make a difference.

Don’t…

• Don’t deny that there is a problem. This is a biggie. There is nothing more enraging than dealing with family that refuses to acknowledge our situation. Especially our own parents.
• Don’t criticize the treatment decisions we’ve made without understanding the complexity of the situation.
• Don’t take it personally if you don’t hear from us as often as you would like. We’re doing our best.
• Don’t make any surprise visits. We’re overwhelmed as it is. (Often our kids don’t respond well to surprises anyway!)
• Don’t inundate us with more autism information than we can handle. It’s wonderful if you educate yourself, but you don’t need to send us every article you find.
• Don’t try to make us feel better by telling us how much worse other people have it. Not helpful!

So where is all this coming from? In our family, and in the families of our friends with children on the spectrum, we’ve seen varying reactions from grandparents. In our case, we are blessed with parents that are extremely generous with their time and money, in spite of their very limited means. They’ve consistently and respectfully asked how things are going. They share their observations and concerns in a respectful way. It makes us feel good when they say things like, “You are amazing parents, we don’t know how you do it.” We are very fortunate to have them close-by.

Unfortunately we have other family members who are unable to accept the fact that our son is Autstic. Although we’re over a year into this process, they still say things like, “Everything seems fine to me!” That kind of statement really hurts because we know it’s not true and it makes us feel like they don’t respect our assessment of the situation. They seem to feel as though we are making things out to be worse than they are. When we express our frustrations or fears, they feel overwhelmed and ambushed.

Denial is so frustrating. Obviously, if a family member doesn’t perceive a problem, they will be unable to see how difficult the situation is for you. They certainly won’t be able to offer any meaningful support. Everyone is different and some people are more able to give than others. We understand that.

Sometimes we still want things from our parents that they can’t give, and these feelings are often magnified when we are in crisis. Still, as parents of a child with special needs, we need to be as strong and present as we possibly can. If a family member cannot accept the reality of the situation or if they are unable to respect our decisions, we may have to cut conversation off and make the decision not to talk about the challenges, fears, complications and setbacks that go along with rasing a child with special needs.

That doesn’t mean we have to cut that person out entirely and it doesn’t mean we don’t love them, we just don’t have the time or the energy to convince them that there is a problem or that we are doing the right things on behalf of our kids. And it means that we have to surround ourselves with people who build us up, not those who tear us down.

We want to thank those special grandparents and family members who consistently give their love and support to their children and their autistic grandchildren. Thank you for sharing the ups and downs of this journey with us. Our bond with you is sacred and can only grow stronger through this shared experience.

When I first became aware that my son was having some developmental problems, I went through a long period of insomnia and loss of appetite. I was too worried (okay, panicked) to sleep, and my stomach was churning all the time. (Not a sound approach to weight loss, but I did drop about 15 lbs in six months!)

If you are having problems sleeping due to the fear, grief, worry and anger that can accompany an autism diagnosis, I feel for you. I thought I’d share some of the things that helped me get some shut-eye during those first several months of adjusting to this new, unwelcome reality. I started out using over-the-counter medications, but I never considered those a long-term solution. Fortunately, I found some alternatives that I am much more comfortable with.

I should preface this by saying that the biggest factor in my return to normal sleep patterns has been time. After a while, I began to feel more accepting of our situation and better able to compartmentalize my emotions. Now I go through brief phases when I have trouble sleeping, but generally, I am more at peace than I was several months ago and therefore better able to fall asleep and stay asleep. So part of my message is that it will get better, so please hang in there.

In the meantime, if you’re in a situation where you’re just unable to settle down and sleep well, here are a few things that worked for me:

1. I’ve always heard people say that you should stay in bed if you can’t sleep. I disagree. I can’t tell you how many nights I lay in bed hour after hour, getting more frustrated as dawn drew closer. I always found that I did much better if I got out of bed and walked downstairs. I especially had success sleeping on the couch. For some reason, the change of location would help me fall asleep. Usually, I’d wake up a few hours later and then go back up to sleep in my bedroom. Sometimes I would turn on the TV, which, again, seems like a bad idea if your goal is to sleep, but I found that it sometimes helped me switch off my mind enough to let sleep take over.
2. If you’re not already aware of essential oils, this might sound like a load of crap. I never even knew what essential oils were until recently. I honestly thought they were just for aroma – like an alternative to lighting a scented candle. Well, my wife, who was working with a holistic health counselor, came across Young Living Essential Oils. They have an oil called “Peace and Calming” which is amazing. It was, for me, almost as effective as Tylenol PM, but didn’t create the same feeling of being completely knocked out. Young Living Oils are sold through multi-level marketing, which always makes me a little suspicious, but I have to say I’ve been really pleasantly surprised by this oil. I gave it to someone at work, just to see if I was crazy and she had the same experience. I highly recommend it.
3. People also say you shouldn’t read in bed. I don’t understand that at all. I find reading to be one of the best ways to relax and fall asleep. A good book can also be a great escape from anxiety, and there are usually no side effects!
4. I tried to avoid taking medicine, but sometimes I just had to take something. I tried Benadryl, Tylenol PM and NyQuil. Benadryl was okay, but sometimes it seemed to rev me up rather than relaxing me. Tylenol PM was reliable, but not something I wanted to take regularly. NyQuil worked well too, but again, there’s all kinds of stuff in there that probably shouldn’t be part of your daily diet. Both Tylenol PM and NyQuil made me sleep so deeply that I felt as though I’d been hit over the head with a two by four. It’s good to sleep, but I always woke up with the feeling that I’d missed something.
5. Exercise. I tried taking walks whenever possible and I thought this would work better than it did. Maybe I needed more vigorous exercise. Unfortunately, exercise can be hard to fit in.

So there are a few ideas if you haven’t already tried them. The other thing I’ve been trying to incorporate is meditation. I can’t say for sure whether it’s helped with sleep or not, but I say anything that can help you get “out of your head” so to speak will help you sleep. Quiet the mind and sleep will follow. Easier said than done sometimes, I know.

Good luck. Sweet dreams.

This is another installment in the “Our Experience With…” series. We visited a DAN! doctor back in June and, although we ultimately decided not to work with her (awful bedside manner, poorly managed practice, unclear billing practices), some good did come from the visit. We ended up putting our four year old son (PDD-NOS) on probiotics and, for a time, zinc. One of the things he was really struggling with at that time was terrible constipation. He was also getting sick a lot, and he was physically weak.

Fast forward seven months, and he’s significantly healthier, much stronger and his constipation has been resolved. So what caused the positive changes?

As so many parents know, it’s incredibly difficult to assess the effectiveness of any single autism treatment given that:

• young children are developing and changing all the time and,
• If you do see a change, positive or negative, so many other variables may be at play, including food sensitivities, the effect of other treatments, and so on.

So it is with Probiotics. We started probiotics at about the same time we switched to a primarily organic diet. We did notice some very positive changes at that time, particularly in terms of behavior and impulse control. Initially we assumed it was the organic food, but in retrospect, I’m not so sure.

The more I look at my son in a social context, the more I realize how stressful school is for him. It just so happens that we introduced probiotics and the organic diet around the same time that school ended last June. So, while we’re still committed to the healthier diet (now we also do GF/CF) and probiotics, I think the behavior changes are more likely attributable to his being out of school.

So why continue with the probiotics? Well, one other major change has occurred since we started probiotics: He NEVER gets sick any more. Last fall, this child was sick almost every single day. This fall and winter, he’s been sick once – a cold that lasted about two days.

So is it the probiotics?

Here, I have go back to my earlier point about child development. I think it’s likely that my son’s dramatically improved health is due, in large part, to a more mature immune system. But there are some other factors as well, the most important of which, I think, is our resolution of his constipation problem. This is where I think the probiotics, in combination with healthy foods, and the more recent removal of gluten and casein from his diet, have been very helpful.

I guess what I’m saying is that I think probiotics have been helpful, but only as part of a broader set of interventions. We’re sticking with them because they are part of the combination that seems to have made our son much healthier, stronger, and more regular, not because we can say with certainty that they’ve helped him. It sounds crazy to spend the money if we’re not sure, but such is life on the spectrum.

I mentioned zinc early on in this post. We were giving him zinc at bedtime up until about a month ago. It was just one more thing we (and he) had to deal with every night. Given how healthy he’s been, we just decided to stop. We haven’t noticed any negative changes since that time.

By the way, if you’re interested, we buy the Pro-Bio Gold capsules from Kirkman Labs. We open one capsule and pour the powder on to a waffle or a piece of toast at snack time. That seems to work just fine for him. It’s now a well-ingrained part of his afternoon routine. Kirkman has very good customer service and a huge selection of products. Their web site is not the greatest, but otherwise, no complaints.

Having done so much reading on the connection between the intestines and the immune system, my wife and I have decided to take probiotics as well. We’ve both been very healthy this fall and winter. But again, it’s hard to tell what’s attributable to the probiotics, and what’s attributable to the healthy diet. We’ve also been exercising almost every day, which can’t hurt!

So there you have it. My very wishy-washy, non-committal review of probiotics. Sorry I can’t be more definitive. I guess one lesson to take from this, if you’re new to autism treatments, is to introduce one intervention at a time. Give it a month or so before you try something else. It’s hard enough to tell what works when kids are growing and changing so much.

Try to take it slow. Give yourself and your child time to adapt to any new intervention. See if you think it helps. See if you can really commit to it. Take it easy on yourself.