Fabulous Friday

Such a nice day today.  Mark was so excited when he woke up remembering he could go to the library program today.  He just seems so thrilled about it – I mean, I’m glad, but I never imagined it would be that big of a fun deal for him!  He loves that he gets to eat lunch at the program – a free lunch (and try new foods…just not like at home ya know).  And having some friends there is also pretty exciting! So, I’m very happy for him.  It is good for him to attend such things – rather therapeutic in many ways including sensory, social and behavioral.  And he does love books – his autistic super power being reading. So all in all, I’m glad that he’s glad for every Friday!

Right now I’m re-evaluating his diet.  Diet comes up a lot with autism.  It can be a very touchy subject, but one that needs to be addressed.  When we visited the neurologist nearly two years ago and got Mark evaluated and started on therapies, she mentioned diet.  And diet fads with autism.  She said, keep it real.  While some people do notice a marked difference in their children due to diet, she said, be sensible in a diet approach.  Do keep him on a healthy well balanced diet, and watch his weight.  He was already pretty chunky.  This does not alarm me because my last really chunky boy, is anything but chunky now.  Still, I do watch diet choices and try to make good low cal balanced choices.

Omega-3 we are using Nature Sunshine’s Heroes for Kids brand:

I have added some recent supplements to Mark’s diet (and a few of the same to Michael’s).  Honestly, I don’t know if it’s just my imagination that Omega-3 seems to bring about clarity of mind, but once I started giving it to Mark, I noticed a difference.  He seemed more connected, more of the time. I also haven’t given him his Zrytec for a couple days – ran out actually and just haven’t replaced it.  But he seems to be doing okay in the allergy area – it’s calmed down at least.  But because he has such pronounced seasonal allergies, I’ll definitely be re-stocking his allergy meds today. 

I have also added a pro-biotic – the ones I have are a fruit flavored chew, from the Sustenex line; I am giving Mark the digestive and immune system one.  His bowels are not very regulated these days, I’m not sure what happened.  But it is important to target the intestines of the autistic, so I’m trying to help his body biology over all and this area can not be overlooked.  Good elimination is so important.  I am probably going to add some kind of  fiber and I have already added a digestive aid such as this one from Nature’s Sunshine Heroes line also as they seem agreeable enough to take.  I wish I could do more with wheat and whole grains, but in regard to autism, it’s kind of the no-no area.  It’s either the Specific-Carbohydrate diet, or Gluten-Free-Casein Free diet.  I’m leaning more towards the SCdiet as I think I could manage it better.  Michael’s the one that has to watch his gluten and milk!  Maybe Mark does too and it’s just creeping up on us.  At any rate, targeting a few areas is certainly worth trying and all it could lead to is better healthy eating and hopefully a clearer more connected mind and reactions.

And finally I am reading this book.  I downloaded it to my NOOK with a gift card I received and I’m so pleased I did.  It is a good start to unraveling much of the mystery of autism interventions.  Having the initial diagnosis, and going to therapies are a great start and then furthering the help by doing as much in the home as possible with more resources like this book.

Healing and Preventing Autism, a Complete Guide by Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Jerry Kartzinel