Picture Schedules

Our schedule has always been very important to Honeybunches. In my reading of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders I see that is a common trend and one of the most important things in helping them remain stable.  I copy and pasted this from my old blog because I figured it would be beneficial to many...

Here is what our picture schedule used to look like:


We had our morning routine which stayed the same each day. This includes getting up, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, bathing and getting dressed. This is on paper just taped to the wall. Then I have the words "Morning Activities" and an arrow pointing down. I put the sticky side of several pieces of velcro under this for morning activities, and the same on the other side of the wall under Afternoon activities.


On the right side is Honeybunches' daily chores which he picks to do. He picks usually two out of about ten choices of things that are easy for him such as feeding the dog, giving the cats water, cleaning the table, emptying little trashes, etc. Under this is his evening routine which stays the same every day. This includes grace and dinner, meds, pajamas, story, time with mom/dad.






These are the little hanging envelopes I made to store his pictures that we are not using for the day in. It keeps them organized. I have one for No school day activities. On no school days we have extra choices of things that he would normally do at school like computer, weather, days of the week, alphabet, lunch, snack time, and more. In outings and Appointments I took pictures or found them off the internet of all the places we go for his appointments, grocery shopping, other stores, playground, airport, etc. In active activities I have pictures such as walking the dog, excercising, playing ball, riding bike, etc. I have him pick atleast 1-2 activities out of here each day. We also have our chore envelope, and our daily activity envelope. In daily activities I have pictures of anything we possibly do in a day including school, outside play, arts and crafts, story time, free play, sensory, and more.

To begin our daily schedule I first made a list of everything we possibly do in a day. Then I organized it into categories. I was amazed how many of the pictures I needed we found online at business websites or through Google. This especially helps children who can't read yet or are visual learners.  That is why for us it works best to have bigger pictures, with a 1-2 word explanation written underneath. Most nights before he goes to bed we will do his schedule for the next day.  There are days I think that although he can read now, it would be helpful to get back into doing this type of thing again.  It worked well for him and I believe helped him visualize his days more than the written schedule does.

The Case of the Missing Vacuum

So the case of the missing vacuum has been semi-solved.  It was weird how it all happened.  I've been very mad at DH for weeks because I know he was lying.  The night before last I was praying for God to please give me a sign if Dh and I belong together or not.  If not then please let us part, but if so then just give me a sign.  Well yesterday DH finally admitted that he did have something to do with the vacuum that disappeared several weeks ago.  He told me that it broke while he was vacuuming his rug.  He sucked up something on accident and the belt broke off it.  He didn't want to tell me because I'd be mad at him.  IDK if that's true or not because he's been lying so much but it was the sign that I guess we do belong staying together.  Being married to him sure is not easy.  He mentioned today that his "Brain has just not been right" and that he's seriously thinking about going to the hospital later in the week.  We shall see if he changes his mind or not.  It's a great time for a vacation.  That's what we call his phosp stays lol.  It's my vacation away from him and his out of this world as we know it into the stability and safety of the hospital.  He said things will be different when he comes home.  I do believe that, but the question is for how long.  Every time he gets hospitalized he comes home happy.  That's the only time he is happy and smiling.  Then after a few weeks he goes to see his pdoc.  The pdocs always changes his meds for this reason or that reason.  DH does not know how to advocate well for himself and that frustrates me a lot sometimes too.  I've told him many times that he has the right to refuse the med changes, but he doesn't listen to me.  Still I look forward to the peace while he is gone and the couple weeks of happiness and him being "Better" that happen upon his return from the "Vacation".  I hope he really does go.  I told him how I was so mad at him and actually thinking about leaving.  He did not have much to say about that, but has been more loving today. 

I had the much dreaded, anxiety anticipated appointment at Social Security for Honeybunches.  That went just fine.  I brought his big 3'' binder with me, but didn't even need it.  It was just to verify that we were still income eligible, not that he was medically eligible.  Phew!  That was much easier then I thought.  I was all worried for nothing.  Oh well.... not the first time LOL.  This week off from school is going better than I expected.  I had school today and was worried about how DH and Honeybunches would do with eachother.  Things went fine though.  Honeybunches is doing well these days... KNOCKING ON WOOD.  I hope it continues.  I brought another type of protein drink for him because it was a much bigger container.  It didn't meet his approval so it looks like Mommy will have a $30 protein drink all for herself because this one does not have any animal products in it at all.  It's okay because I probably need it.  It will make some good smoothies for breakfast.  Tomorrow I will pick him up some more of the Spiru-tein one which is the only one that he will drink.  (It is not Vegan because it has bee pectin...)

BP, Autism, and Vegan... Valentine's Day Night Out...

On Saturday I began Honeybunches on the Vegan diet again.  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and today went down without any issues at all.  He did "Awesome" at school and very good at home too!  Today I kept him home from school because he had the dentist appointment I had been dreading where he had to get the "Space gas" aka Nitrous Oxide.  That dentist truly is amazing.  Pediatric dentists seem so much better than general dentists... at least this one is!  Thankfully he did great and doesn't seem to have any lasting effects.  He was not hyper or anything today. Poor little man bit up his lip pretty bad though.  Bad Mommy gave him a hash brown after the appointment while his mouth was still numb from Novacaine but he was hungry.  While we were in that town, I went to the health food store and picked up a few things.  I bought some soy yogurt and Lite Life Smart Deli Pepperoni (Vegan) for me.  I bought him some Spiru-tein mix that is a Vegetarian, nondairy but not Vegan because it has bee pollen in the ingredients.  It is a high protein drink.  I mixed some with almond milk tonight and he loved it. I bought two single serve packs that were $1.99 each to try them before purchasing the container which was $22. I will go back Monday when we are in that town again and buy the bigger size.  I also bought 4 bags Daiya Mozzarella and Cheddar cheeses.  I made some "Mac & Cheese" for lunch.  It was amazing, yummy, gooey, goodness. I just boiled some macaroni until it was tender, drained and rinsed it.  Then I turned the heat down to low, stirred in a few tablespoons of vegan friendly magerine and about 1/3 bag of the Daiya Cheddar.  Amazing! That stuff melted so well, passed Honeybunches' smell test and he liked it too. It was the best meal I'd had in a very long time.  At $5.49 a bag I'd hoped it would be good lol.  It melts so well that a bag will make 2-3 meals with a good amount of leftovers each. Today we went to the pdoc.  I told her how things were the month with meat and that soy cheese with casein.  She said "He must be meant to be a Vegan" and didn't judge. 

Yesterday my parents, DH, Princess and I went out for Valentine's Day.  Princess got to tag along because she had a gift card to the same movie theater we went to.  First my parents treated us out to eat at a busy diner which had delicious food and huge servings.  They made me a Vegan Veggie Wrap and an order of waffle fries.  I had so much I took some home for dinner tonight!  My father seemed concerned that DH didn't eat nor order anything.  My father took it as rude I guess.  He mentioned it about 10x during the meal that "Gee I wish he would eat something.  There has to be something here he likes".   It really bothered him a lot.  Angel watched Honeybunches.  I paid her $20.  He didn't have any issues for her.  :)  We seen The Vow which I really liked but DH didn't.  Oh well.  We had movie gift cards that my sis gave my father and I for our birthdays so we made the trip 35-45 minutes away.  The way there was about 35 minutes, but the GPS took us up over the curvy mountain and down the curvy mountain.  Even in the daytime I was scared lol.  So coming home I found a road I remembered and took that way. A bit longer, but a lot less nerve racking!  I had a really good time.  At the movie, I'm glad I had bought tickets early online because they yelled "7:15 to the Vow is sold out" as we arrived.  A nice couple gave their seats up to my parents which were handicapped seats.  My father was rolled around in a wheelchair because his legs were not stable yesterday.  DH sat in the row behind.   I sat on the stairs next to Princess and my parents.  Every seat in the theater was full.  I really liked the movie but not the ending.  


DH seems to have stopped messing with the synthetic "Weed".  He mentioned it made him hallucinate.  He's been sick for a week with some flu thing which helped him quit.  He admitted to that stuff being bad and addicting. He's in a better mood these days.  I hope that lasts.  Speaking of weed... outside the movies yesterday when we arrived my father was smoking his cigarette.  Princess mentioned "Oh that must be what stinks" pointing to the Budweiser sign on the resteraunt behind her.  "Um no honey that's not it.  Those people are smoking something that's not cigarettes."  People were standing next to us smoking weed like it was a cigarette!  They were very... um.... care free I guess we could say! 

My Old Honeybunches

In Honeybunches communication book today the school wrote:
"Rough morning.  He told another student to shut up because he was angry with her.  We talked that through.  Then he pinched, dragged and tried to bite another student when they were in the bathroom." His 1:1 aide "Was there and intervened. He did lose recess and extra time.  He had a better afternoon so he earned his picture..."

I think I may complain on Monday about him losing recess.  I don't agree with that at all and believe they need to find another way to discipline him.  I don't believe children should ever lose recess for behavioral issues, especially when they are most likely related to diagnoses.

I heard from his counselor L today.  She called me just to talk for a bit. I had sent her his school evaluations.  She mentioned how "It's amazing how he presents himself with all those delays".  He said scored so low on his testing. She wondered how accurate his testing was with "His ADHD".  She said in talking to him we need to remember his processing speed is much lower than most other children.  I mentioned how he looked confused with his facial expressions much of the time. Then she mentioned how in her office at his last appointment "He was the old" Honeybunches.  I mentioned to her about how I believe it's the chicken, turkey and eggs being in his diet again.  He did not have these issues for over a long time.  The whole year on the Vegan diet he was so well behaved for the most part.  Now we are seeing old behaviors, that presented about 4-5 days after reintroducing those foods.  She said it very well could be that he has some type of intollerance or allergy.  She suggests that I contact his doctor for allergy testing.  She said another thing I could do is to take the foods away and see if his behaviors get better.  Then add them in again to see if he gets worse. She said a complete protein I could give him would be blue green algae. She said it comes in capsules.  That sounds beneficial for both of us.  She told me besides being protein, it can also help with ADHD symptoms.  Hmmm.  Interesting... BUT after researching it a bit I found it's a no go.  It's dangerous for people with liver issues and not advised to be given to children in general.  So another thing crossed off our list of possibilities...

Frustramacated!!!

This has not been a very good week for me.  It began with Tuesday morning getting my test back in Algebra II class.  I got a 46%.  :(  That was with being able to use a page of notes.  I was so depressed and upset with myself.  That's the worst grade I think I've ever gotten.  Well since elementary school anyways.  I was ready to give up and plan on taking it again with another professor next semester.  Then I read in the syllabus that he drops the lowest test grade.  That made me just want to try harder on all the next ones and forget about this one.

Yesterday sometime my vacuum sprouted legs and walked away.  A brand new vacuum that I bought on the 4th and only used once.  I searched the whole house, rearranged a lot, and come to accept the fact that the vacuum, it's receipt that was in my purse, and the box which was in E's room because he loves playing with boxes, are all gone. I literally moved all the furniture out of the previous living room, took everything out of the dining room, made the dining room a living room, put the kitchen table back into the kitchen, made the previous living room a laundry room, etc.  There was nowhere left for it to be hiding lol.  I think the box and vacuum decided they missed WalMart lol.  Seriously I know they had help.  I believe that DH took them back, but he won't admit it.  Lier!  I hate lying.  I hate stealing.  I hate lying most though.  IMO that makes every situation worse.  I believe that he's addicted to this new OTC stuff they sell in town at a certain store that is synthetic marijuana.  IDK what they call it.  The stuff has all types of names.  It's legally sold, but "Not for human consumption".  He's been Mr Grouch a lot the past few weeks again.  I found that he's not been taking his morning meds so he's not getting his Cymbalta at all and missing doses of his other meds.  I know that when school is done in another year-and-a-half I'll make big changes with my life.  Enough said...

Princess was supposed to have her 1st appointment with the new counselor today.  We drove 25 miles, a 1/2 hour away to the center where Honeybunches goes.  He did not come with us today.  The school called me this morning because he had diarrhea.  He also had it before school so I just picked him up early and kept him home the rest of the day.  Anyways, we get there at 3:45 like the lady said on our phone tag message.  She called me leaving a message to set something up.  I called her asking for Wednesday on her answering machine.  She called me back with a time of 4 pm on Wednesdays leaving a message.  I left her another message confirming that time was fine.  We get there.  1st the new secretary could not find the paperwork.  She finally found it. I filled it out and gave it to her.  She comes back with more paperwork.  She asked who we were to see so she could find her.  The clock kept moving.  3:45 turned into 4:08 when Princess questioned what time her appointment was.  Finally at 4:25, 40 minutes after our arrival, the counselor comes out.  "I never got your message.  I can't see her today."  "We drove from _____ to come here."  "Sorry...." My brain did not register anything else she said because I was so pissed off.  My mother taught me if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all so I remained quiet.  She suggested coming back next week, but I told her we'll be back in 2 weeks because I need every other week appointments because that's when Honeybunches comes. So we scheduled that.  I had two issues with this whole situation:

1. Driving 25 miles for nothing.  Waste of gas and time.  
2. Waiting that long before it was cancelled.  45 minutes is unacceptable IMO.

Oh well.  While we were there I got to see Honeybunches pdoc.  She mentioned she got his labs.  Mercury and the other heavy metal that began with a C were fine.  Lead was not back yet because a different state lab does that one.  Lithium level was .9. Cholesterol and Liver Enzymes were still high.  I thought for sure his Lithium level would be low with the way he's been lately.  She said the cholesterol did not go up too much higher so "Let him eat chicken" lol.  Part of me wonders if that is causing him to "Not be himself" as the school reports frequently in the past couple weeks.  It could also be that maybe he had pre-sickness not feeling so well symptoms.  Maybe he was feeling icky before he showed symptoms.  My Vegan brain blames meat though lol.  Makes sense to me when it might not a lot of people.  We shall see how he is once he feels better.  He has this nasty cold.  I hate it when he's sick because we can't do much of anything for him. No cough medicine.  Mostly all the OTC meds are not a possibility because of the Lithium.  I hope his diarrhea goes away soon too.  I read on the news about this nasty NORA Virus, that I hope this is not the beginning of.  Sometimes I just worry too much.  Okay more than sometimes.  I always find something to worry about.

I got a letter from the Social Security Administration.  They need to meet with me later in the month to "Review Honeybunches case".  He's been on it for about 4+ years now and we've never had to go to the office.  I am hearing it's routine and not to worry.  My brain jumps into "What if they cut him off.  Then I'll have to quit school so I can find a job, but I really want to go to school" Mode.  I guess I should not worry.  He has more diagnoses and a ton of testing then he had when we got approved.  I have documentation of everything in his 3 inch binder that I'll bring with me.  Things should be okay, but my brain won't stop worrying until after the appointment.  No need to worry though I guess.  Either they will cut him off or they won't.  I probably can't change things.  I think that everything happens for a reason.