I'm looking for brave moms willing to talk about parenting - the down and dirty, the nitty-gritty stuff we rarely boast, or even talk, about when it comes to parenting.

Why?

Us moms need to help and support each other, which is the mantra of Grassroots Mama and the reason behind all my work here on GRM and through Autism Connection.

The best way we can do this, in my opinion, is to shed the outer layer of ourselves and dig a little deeper, so we can share that which really matters.

I haven't told anyone, but for the past week myself and my two sons have been taking a handful of these pills a day, and the results are tremendous.

Ian's eye contact is near perfect and, when he makes eye contact, his eyes are very, very clear (but not glassy like they can often appear).  His skin is more pink, and the dark circles under his eyes are lighter.  Most of all- and I've been keeping track all week- he is using words never before used and is starting up conversations - appropriate conversations using new words!

A sickening statistic: children with autism and special needs are more likely to be abused; about 7 times more likely in fact. An even more sickening fact: numerous children are abused but, due to various reasons, there are no charges filed or the abuser is not successfully prosecuted.

The most common challenge pursuing these issues seems to be whether or not what 'took place' was really abuse - what do you think?  Is pinching, pushing or pulling abusive? Screaming, yelling, in-your-face, verbal threats - are these abusive acts?

In this recent post, I talked about providing your child with autism or epilepsy natural socialization opportunities by using theme parties and your child's interest, so they can make friends and build a typical childhood social life.

Today I'll tell you how to ensure other children attend and have fun too!

Okay, this is my final post on strategies used to deter parents and advocates. Today's timely topic: Confusion

I received an email today from a mother seemingly beside herself with confusion.  She didn't understand the technical differences between options offered to her by the school district regarding IEP's and 504 plans for her child.  She wasn't sure if what the district told her was 100% accurate (regarding alternate options she has). There's more to the story, but you see where I'm going... she was feeling very confused.

I think all children have difficulty focusing and concentrating at one time or another, but for those children who struggle with this day in and day out, the implications can be far reaching. 

When children enter the school system, especially if in main-stream classes, the expectations can be quite great and definitely include the ability to concentrate.  Special education classes, while more adept at understanding this ability is difficult to master, tend to use creative methods to teach concentration and focus.

Believe it or not the time to start preparing for your child's annual review at school is now.  If you haven't been keeping records and documentation throughout this year then it is imperative you start collecting data and information now.

Instead of providing a dissertation on the importance of record keeping, I want to give you  letters of request and a step by step plan of action.

You don't have to be an advocate or attorney.  You don't even have to interpret all the information you get back. 

You only need to determine:

A comment posted on this site really got under my skin this morning; so much in fact, I decided to blog about it, because information and attitudes like the one I'm referencing can spread negativity and inaccurate information like wildfire! There are two issues I have with this comment and they are equally important.

It happened again. 

Standing in the hallway of my daughter's elementary school, my 12 year old son with autism began screaming, yelling, and banging his head. Let's just say it drew a lot of attention from the other parents and, for the first time in a long time, I felt really embarrassed.

It isn't something I like to think about too much or I begin to feel sad, overwhelmed and anxious.  Despite my hesitancy to linger in the realm of 'what if', I need to be realistic and understand that my son might not have an adult life simliar to mine.  When it comes to autism the biggest indicator of how well a child will do as an adult (by way of how far they will progress developmentally) is verbal communication.  This is why everyday, and I'm not kidding, I work on communication with my two boys.