More of my favorite things...

The last few years’ plastics have been in the news and there is a lot of worry about using such plastics. The two most commonly talked about plastics are PET and BPA. According Wikipedia the plastic commonly abbreviated as PET or PETE bottles are “Polyethylene terephthalate (sometimes written poly(ethylene terephthalate)), or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in synthetic fibers; beverage, food and other liquid containers; thermoforming applications; and engineering resins often in combination with glass fiber.” Wikipedia says BPA is “Bisphenol A an organic compound with two phenol functional groups used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications.”

With all the other toxins Autism parents have to worry about, I have myself decided to take the easy approach and to just try to avoid both. Since I am a bit of a PITA about the way my water tastes I was a little concerned about going without bottled water. I personally drink at least a half-gallon of water a day and my children drink only water when at home. We rarely have soda in the house and if we do we only have Hansen’s Natural Soda. Being the poor girl that I am an expensive water filtration systems are out of our family budget and the water snob in me says no way to tap water . So how does one actually give up bottle water without buying one of those expensive water filtration systems and without drinking tap water?

For me the compromise has been Stainless Steel Water Bottles and an inexpensive water system you can buy at a store near you.

The issues I have found after trying a few different Stainless Water Bottles is that they are not all Autism friendly. Our kids spill, chew, stim, throw, lose, have sensory issues and goodness only knows what else. I also have the other three children who worry about looks and what other kids will think if they are lugging around a bottle of water not in the latest trending bottle like Fiji, Aqua Fina, Dasani, etc. My first try out was the Costco brand water bottle, they are inexpensive and easy to purchase. They are nice because they keep the lid with the bottle by a small plastic strap. The down side is the plastic strap is a much preferred chew toy to my 9 year old with Autism. The down side for me was the obnoxious sound they made every time you tried to suck water out of them. That led me to take off the top and drink out of a hole bigger than a quarter and smaller than a half dollar. It also led to me spilling on myself, especially while on the treadmill. No matter how inexpensive something is it does still have to be practical. For me practical includes autism and gym friendly.

I was very fortunate when a friend sent me her version of the Stainless Steel Water bottle to try. The Tazzini water bottle is all that their website claims. It is “convenient and healthy, designed with busy families in mind, we created the healthiest, most-convenient leak-proof stainless steel bottle you can invest in. “

The number one thing I love is the cap!!! When closed is about 2 inches tall and 2 inches wide and 1 inch think. Number one thing, it is so far been indestructible by Austin, which is no small task. I also think it’s size makes it less likely to be lost if your house is somewhat clean. Unless it gets thrown into your toy chest, teen boy’s smelly room your refuse to enter or teen daughter’s closet, you should be ok, because it is big enough to spot under the coach and on your floor. Surprisingly despite the size it is still easy to drink out of. You just flip open the lid twists the spill proof drink port and drink. I also very much like the way the area you drink out of is shaped, so far Austin has yet to figure out how to chew on it. On most kid water bottles the top is one that you pull out and is just the right size to chew until destroyed.

I personally for me also like the size of the bottle. I generally drink almost two 16 ounce water bottles in an hour trip to the gym. The Tazzini water bottle is 24.7 ounces and will stay cold until the end. The bottle is also well designed. It is a little smaller in the middle which means it is easy to grab and grip while walking 4 miles per hour on the tread mill or running 6 miles per hour on the treadmill.

Emily the 10 year old also loves the bottle. As soon as she saw it tried to steal it for hers since it has a cool peace sign design.

The Primer Family agrees with the Tazzini website, “There are so many reasons to love a Tazzini!”

Tazzinni also won best product of the year in the Inventor’s Showcase at the Moms in Business Unite conference!

This blog went a little longer than I expected so a future blog will be on the inexpensive water filtration system that you can buy at a store near you.

Until next time PITAup and do something to change the life of a child with Autism, the life you change maybe your own!!!

Autism Speaks and Sprouts: Are they meant for each other?

To me, the simple answer is no. Sprouts supports things like healthy living, alternative medicine, vitamins, minerals, gluten free diets and many other things. Yet for some reason they are fund raising for an organization that has some big corporate pharmaceutical, vaccine, prescription pushing companies as sponsors.

Why is this?

Well rumor has it (from the Sprouts employees who are willing to talk when PITA parents have inquired about why it is corporate fund raising for Autism Speaks) is that some one at corporate has a child with Autism.

I am hoping that this means that this high up person in Sprouts is a parent that is new to the diagnoses. Since Autism Speaks is known nation wide, they are trying to give back and do not understand what they are doing. I also hope and pray that they are in a corporation that stands for very different values than those of Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks does not speak for the Sprouts consumer and they definitely do not speak for 90% of the people I know who have children with Autism.

In my humble opinion Autism Speaks is anti anything and everything Sprouts stands for and maybe Sprouts just needs to be educated that one of their core consumer bases is not happy with their choice of charities. Since I know most of my friends who are PITA’s are doing this locally, I think maybe we need to do this nationally; politely at the corporate level. I think it is time to mount a campaign for them to stop sponsoring Autism Speaks. So please ask everyone you know who does not think “Autism Speaks” speaks for them to tell Sprouts which Autism organizations actually speak for them. It is also good to include why Autism Speaks and Sprouts policies are completely diametrically opposed. Sprouts, in my opinion, as a corporation should not support a charity like Autism Speaks that is anti homeopathic remedies, local grown produce, natural cures, alternative diets, biomedical, and supplements,

If you agree can you please contact Sprouts via there “Contact us Form” or by phone at 888-5SPROUT and tell them you read my blog at pitaup.com, as always be polite.

BUT tell Sprouts why they should speak in support for Autism Charities that support parents of children with Autism and natural, biomedical choices and not for a group like Autism Speaks.

Until next time PITAup!!!

How do you tell if your child has that problem and how does the gfcf diet help?

While searching for blog ideas, and what readers wanted to know about I was asked the following question…

“Some people believe that their kids autistic traits are caused by "gut" problems. How do you tell if your child has that problem and how does the gfcf diet help?”

For my child the answer was pretty easy. At 2 years 9 months he had never had a firm stool. So when we were given the diagnoses of Autism, we had already read about GFCF, and decided to start immediately. Within 3 months of starting diet, Austin had his first solid stool. For many parents constant constipation is also a sign.
This being said I have friends who swear their child never ever had gi issues and still benefited from the diet. Also children who will only eat gluten and casein filled foods as if they are addicted to them also seem to benefit from the diet.

In my mind every child with Autism and possible ADD or ADHD should try the diet for at least a year.

Since I really can only address how the diet has changed our lives here is some more about the diet from Talk About Curing Autism Now’s website.

“Research by Dr. Harumi Jyonouchi shows that 91% of people with ASD who were put on a strict GFCFSF diet improved. Jyonouchi’s papers say that ASD children have an aberrant immune response to the dietary proteins found in gluten, casein and soy. This peer-reviewed research merely backs up what parents have been saying for more than 10 years. Countless parents report that the diet is dramatically beneficial for their child. The most common comment we hear from parents is that their child “came out of the fog” when we started the diet. Many parents report that their children began to talk or increased their speech with the diet as well. Although this is anecdotal evidence, the preponderance of is it massive and consistent, and deserves a trial by families.

While we would like to have more double-blind studies to back up the diet, the truth is that it’s a very hard thing to study and make sure compliance was 100% in both groups without putting each in a controlled environment. Most parents would not allow this. The few recent studies that have been done were designed to fail as they didn’t run for the full 4 month trial period (most just a mere few weeks), although parents report that 4 months is the turning point. Additionally, those trials still allowed soy and unlimited high-sugar foods.”

You can read more about this at TACA

For my child diet has not meant recovery, he is still non verbal and has Autism, but it has dramatically improved Austin’s quality of life as well as our family’s quality of life.

We received the diagnoses on June 15, 2004 and started GF the next day and the next day after that we went CF. At that time Austin was 2 years 9 months old. He slept 2 hours a night, he spinned, colored, and ran full force into walls the other 22 hours of the day. He never ever stopped moving. He also was a huge poop smearer. Austin had no eye contact and thought of us as nothing more then the furniture in our house. If we were not needed for feeding him or giving him a drink he would have never acknowledge us. He also would only eat wonder bread, macaroni and cheese, cereal, cheese and milk. We went through a gallon of milk every other day.

About 2 months into the diet I was about ready to give up, I really was not seeing anything, but everyone around me was. We had a play group that met once a week that summer to go to the beach, each week the other mom’s would comment on something new Austin was doing. As I was just about to give up, I like to say God intervened and handed Austin a piece of Wonder Bread. Within 20 minutes of that one slice of bread Austin started spinning again and started coloring on the wall. Two things I had not noticed had disappeared. I now know that I have learned nothing from the diet, but I learn everything from infractions. Things just seem to fade a way so quietly that you miss them.

Fast forward almost 6 years later, and now GFCF, egg free, apple free and on Houston Enzymes TriEnza chewables, and many vitamins and supplements. Austin is still non verbal, but will now sit down and watch a football game, a movie, and play with toys with very few times to get up and stim. His eye contact is amazing. He hugs and kisses his family, his eyes light up when he sees someone he knows. Austin knows a half dozen American Sign Language signs, and is now learning to communicate with the aid of an iPod Touch and Proloquo2go . He is mainstreamed and working on social skills 1/3 of his school day. At his birthday party last September it was his first year that he opened presents and enjoyed it. He loved finding new toys in every package. It was the first year he ever really played with any toy purchased for him. He may not always play appropriate, but he plays with them.

He is truly a different child then the one I had 6 years. It simply amazes me how many parents won’t try the diet because in their minds it is too hard. As the parent of a not recovered child with Autism, I can’t imagine not doing the diet. I can’t imagine how bad Austin would still be right now had I not reached out side my comfort zone and given it a try.

Here are a few books I recommend on this topic. They are easy to read and not like reading a medical journal, they are great starter books to introduce parents to diet and why it works for some children:
Healing Our Autistic Children: A Medical Plan for Restoring Your Child's Health by Julie A. Buckley

Enzymes for Autism and Other Neurological Conditions: Updated Third Edition by Karen DeFelice

Talk About Curing Autism Now’s section on GFCFSF.

If you’re on the fence about diet and enzymes, I highly encourage you to step out side your comfort zone and give it a try. It might surprise you.

So until next time PITA.

Big Shout Out!!!

Now don’t fall out of your chairs, I feel a compliment coming on here. Ok that part is not really that shocking, it’s for whom the compliment is for, that may surprise you.

I want to say how much I really and truly love Austin’s teacher this year. Her and the teacher of the 3-5 grade Severely Handicapped classrooms at Hope Elementary are outstanding.

Our teachers are so awesome because they are fundraising for every child in their two classrooms to have iPod Touches loaded with Proloquo2go and other apps on them. Ok every child except Austin. Austin is already getting one through the school district, even though it might be next year before we actually begin using theirs and stop using ours. (Rolls eyes, got to love the School district and how long purchase orders can take).

While to me this kind of action is not surprising, I think it may surprise many. I think a lot of teachers get a bad rap. Now I agree there are some bad teachers out there, I have had one or two, Mr. Hoyle comes to mind (I know all you CBAD grads are now laughing to yourself and hearing his monotone voice say, “Get rid of it”), but I think most teachers get into teaching for all the right reasons. Being the wife of a teacher I might be a tad prejudiced though.

Teaching is truly the worst customer service job out there. Not only do you have to please the parents, the students, the principal, and the public, you get to do it while being underpaid and in the times of budget cuts having to worry about losing your job. If you are a special education teacher or have any special education students in your class, you also get the worry of being sued personally if something goes wrong with implementing FAPE and IEP’s.

In customer service you generally only get to hear how you are doing, when you are doing it wrong. So today your PITAup challenge is to look and see if you have one of those hidden gems of a teachers, teacher’s assistant, or any school district employee who is doing an exceptional job and thank them. Maybe pick up a thank you card or some treat for them, but at the very least say it out loud to them and if you can within ear shot of their boss.

So to Liz and Michelle, I just want to give you a shout out and say thanks for all you do for Austin and all his classmates!!!

Until next time PITAup!!