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A Road Map for Autism

By on September 13, 2012 in Autism, Parenting

From the first moment a child is diagnosed with autism, parents find themselves catapulted into a chaotic world of therapies, alternative treatments, and doctor appointments. We are left to fend for ourselves as snake oil salesmen try to take advantage, book authors offer conflicting points of view, and everyone from the family physician to Great Aunt Hilda offer their opinions on our children and our parenting. Sometimes these opinions are informed, and many times they are not. We often exhaust ourselves running through what feels like a rat maze, in search of answers or at least some advice that actually helps. We develop our own opinions, fend off curious strangers in the grocery store, and probably find ourselves engaged, on several occasions, in World War III via internet message boards.

 

All of this happens because we don’t have definitive proof of anything. What causes autism? What is the best method of treatment? Which therapies work, and which ones are a waste of time and money? What path do we take when there are so many options, none of which have a clear end point? All of these questions remain a mystery. As scientists work to unravel the causes and possible treatments for autism, we parents are scrambling to find our own answers. There is this sense of fear pervading every choice we make: Am I doing enough? Is this the right choice? Is this even working? What if I don’t do it, and I find out later this is the best treatment? What if I miss a crucial window of development?

 

This may be the most difficult part of raising our children. The fact that we don’t have a clear course of action laid out for us means we are often confused, overwhelmed, and fearful of doing the wrong thing or not enough of the right thing.

 

On the other hand, it can be a blessing in disguise. It’s a bit like taking a trip without a roadmap. Yes, it can be stressful and we may feel lost at times. But we also end up exploring down side roads we may never have noticed otherwise. We see and experience things off the beaten path, and make discoveries of our own. Along the way we find what works for our children and adopt those strategies. Through trial and error, we also learn what does not work, and we are free to discard those treatments and move on.

 

In the world of raising children with autism, no two paths are alike. For my family, I found that enrolling my sons in an intensive, autism-only preschool had a huge impact on their development. They learned, from professionals specifically trained in autism interventions, how to communicate well enough to convey their basic needs. They learned how to sit still (mostly), pay attention, and work independently when required. All of these skills served them well when they were later mainstreamed into regular elementary school classrooms. Now that they are capable of mainstreaming in their school environments, they are learning more speech and social skills from their typically-developing peers.

 

I also moved the family to a tiny mountain town with a small public school system. There are only about 15 to 20 kids in each grade, and my sons are recognized and understood when we are out and about in the community. I found that this lifestyle led to an absence of bullying, and a lot of understanding and inclusion. We also immersed ourselves in the natural beauty of our surroundings, with plenty of hiking, swimming and other outdoor time, which has helped their sensory systems regulate. I didn’t read about this in a book. It was just something I felt, intuitively, that they needed. And it worked.

 

Other families are taking completely different approaches. They mainstream in preschool, or they don’t mainstream later. They live in bustling cities with access to everything they can imagine. Their children attend huge schools with hundreds, or even thousands, of other kids. Their paths are different, but they are finding what works for them as well.

 

Maybe there is a lesson we can take from this. The treatments for autism are as diverse as our children, and there is no set formula that will always work for every kid. The most important strategies aren’t found in books or on websites, but are innate qualities we can all embrace in ourselves. Follow your intuition. Listen to your child. When something works, keep doing it even if you feel silly. If it doesn’t work, discard it and move on. Respect your doctor’s opinion, but also realize they don’t have all the answers yet. And whatever you do, don’t worry about what Great Aunt Hilda thinks. The best advocate for your child is you.

 

So get in the driver’s seat, buckle up, and get ready for an adventure. There is no road map for autism, so you’re going to take some crazy side roads and wacky wrong turns. Sometimes you may find yourself alone on the road, and at other times you may ride in a caravan. You probably won’t take quite the same path as anyone else, but the path you do find will be the right one for your child.

 

 

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Disadvantage of Being Obese During Pregnancy

By on September 10, 2012 in Autism

Obesity is a becoming a huge medical problem that is growing in an uncontrollable fashion. Health experts are now aiming to educate more people about the disadvantages of becoming obese. These days, it is easier to experience weight gain than weight loss. According to statistics, more women fall in the category of obesity than men. Scientifically, women have more fats cells compared with men.

During the state of pregnancy, women’s hormones change and along with these changes, some women experience an increase in their appetite for food. This increase in appetite may lead to weight gain and can eventually result in medical problems such as autism in their unborn child.

Disadvantage of Being Obese during Pregnancy

Obesity is measured by the use of the body mass index, which is the division of weight in kilograms over height in centimeters of a person. You can check your body mass index to know if you are obese, average, or too skinny for your height. There are many potential health hazards when a pregnant woman is obese such as heart problems and diabetes as well as bearing a child with autism disorder. Autism is experienced by children at the age of 3 years old. It usually affects the developmental stage, particularly the child’s language skills, social skills and having behavior that is restrictive and repetitive in nature. What happens is that when a pregnant woman is obese, the development of the synapse and nerve cells is altered, resulting in the child developing the medical condition autism. Obesity during pregnancy can put the mother and her baby in danger of health problems that are serious and obesity can also interfere with a woman’s fertility level.

Another disadvantage brought about by obesity during pregnancy is that it can lead to the woman facing social issues. Obese people are looked down on by the rest of society. Aside from that, the pregnant woman may also experience problems related to the body structure and can lead to experiencing difficulty in moving as well as requiring excessive sleep and rest episodes. Lastly, being obese during pregnancy may lead to the woman experiencing personality related problems such as tiredness, sloppy attitude, lack of concentration and abnormal movement of the body. In order to prevent such occurrences, pregnant women should try and avoid obesity.

Solution

Despite the fact that it is easier to gain weight than lose it, the best way for pregnant women to deal with obesity is through healthy dieting.  The goal should be to have excellent fitness and nutrition during the pregnancy period by eating the right kinds of food like fruits, vegetables, and other protein rich foods. Vitamins and mineral rich foods can also be added to the diet to keep healthy.

If you are planning to get pregnant, then one of the best things to do is to undergo healthy weight loss prior to becoming pregnant.   You can do TRX training classes or perhaps undergo a 24hour fitness workout program. Even during pregnancy, women can still continue with an exercise program. There are many types of exercises which are suitable for pregnant woman; you can ask your specified health care provider for details. Exercise does not need to be strenuous; instead it can be simple and gentle exercise like walking for about 30 minutes daily. This will also help in the reduction of risk for any potential complication towards one’s health during pregnancy and certainly help to avoid becoming obese.

Apart from fitness workouts, one can try Medifast and BistroMD which provide healthy meal replacements for quick and safe weight loss. Get the Bistro MD deals here and visit http://www.weightlossdiets4women.com/medifast-coupons-and-review-of-meal-replacement-plans/ for the latest Medifast offers.
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Association Between Maternal Obesity And Autism

By on September 8, 2012 in Autism

Women are the only human beings on the earth that are capable of giving birth to a child. During the state of pregnancy, a woman should maintain good health so as to be able to give birth to a healthy child. However, pregnant women are not exempt from being obese. Obesity has become a global problem for general health and it is increasing in its prevalence, and it is more common for women to be obese than men.

Maternal Obesity and Autism

Pregnant women can also become obese during pregnancy. This is a bad indication of general health and when a pregnant woman is obese; she has a higher risk of suffering from other medical diseases and may lead to giving birth to a child with a condition like autism.

What is Maternal Obesity?

It is often called parental obesity or overweight or weight gain which is a term that is experienced by a woman during the state of pregnancy. It is known by medical professionals to be a risky condition for a woman that is pregnant. It can cause effects in both the mother and the fetus.

Maternal obesity affects the fetus by causing the fetus to have physical or mental defects. Aside from that it can also affect the mother by her acquiring such conditions as gestational diabetes, blood clots, hyperlipidemia and hypertension which are the common medical conditions linked to maternal obesity.

What is Autism?

Autism is a complex development disability that affects a three year old child. It is characterized with an impairment of social communication as well as interaction. In addition, the child has repetitive and restricted behavior. Medically, the autism condition has the ability to alter the nerve cells and its respected synapses to organize and connect. It has been discovered that there is a link between maternal obesity and children with autism.

What is the association between Maternal Obesity and Autism?

According to a study, women who are pregnant and obese are at high risk of bearing children with the autism disorder. The study concludes that maternal obesity is linked to neurodevelopmental problems which are seen in children, which has serious possible implications for public health.

It has been found that compared to normal healthy pregnant women; women who are obese during their pregnancy are more likely to bear a child with autistic behavior.

Hence, experts are implementing health education that is aimed at informing pregnant women about the importance of having a healthy lifestyle during their pregnancy. They can participate in Flex belt workout exercises that are easy and suitable for pregnant women. They can also follow weight loss diet program like Diet to go which will help them in their goal towards a healthier lifestyle and the prevention of obesity during pregnancy. Every pregnant woman should be aware of the importance of continuing to exercise and diet program while pregnant in order to avoid possible obesity and risk to her unborn child. Visit this page for more details on Flex Belt and Diet to go respectively.

In conclusion, the best way to fight off maternal obesity is to have a firmer grasp of the factors that could lead to it and the possible results when one has it. As they say, knowledge is power. With such, you will be able to determine that too much weight during pregnancy is not good for your baby. When you are pregnant, you should take care with your diet and your body, to be able to bear a healthy baby.

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Reasons Why Obese Mothers May Have An Autistic Child

By on September 7, 2012 in Autism

Pregnancy is the 9 month period during which a woman carries a developing baby inside her womb. This is one of the most important milestones that a woman can experience during her life. During the woman’s pregnancy it is important for her to maintain both a healthy diet and lifestyle because what she consumes or does will affect the baby also. Hence, a pregnant woman should try to maintain herself in the best possible physical state for her own benefit and that of her unborn child.

Obese Mother Autistic Children

Understanding Autism

Autism is a medical condition that affects the behavior and social skills, as well as the language development of a child. It often appears before the child turns three years old. Basically, there is no cure for autism itself. However, early and intensive treatment can work wonders for an autistic child. There are a lot of possible risk factors which may lead to a child to suffer from autism. One such factor is when the pregnant mother is diagnosed with a metabolic problem.

According to studies, autism can be acquired by having a pregnant mother who is obese, or who has abnormal weight gain during pregnancy and has a metabolic disorder at the time of her pregnancy.

The reason behind a mother bearing a child with Autism

Medical experts have pointed out that mothers who have metabolic disorders or those who are diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus or diabetes during their pregnancies have a greater tendency to bear a child with autism.

Gestational mellitus is a state where a woman has a high level of blood glucose during pregnancy. This leads to the insulin receptor not being able to properly function and the pregnant woman becomes insulin resistant. The hormones that are associated with pregnancy interfere with the normal insulin action.

What happens in cases of gestational mellitus is that with the presence of insulin resistance, the glucose has difficulty entering inside the cell, resulting in more glucose in the bloodstream than normal. In combating this untoward scenario, there is a need to have more insulin. However, because of pregnancy, there is only a little insulin produced in a woman’s body which is not sufficient to able to accommodate the rising glucose level.

The high glucose level in the bloodstream can lead to the baby absorbing it and this will lead to there being too much glucose in the baby’s blood. This will affect the developmental stage of the baby which may be at high risk of acquiring autism if the medical condition is not corrected. Hence, it is important to prevent this occurrence prior to, or during pregnancy.

Preventive action

When a pregnant woman is healthy she is more capable of avoiding or resisting diseases that could affect her and her baby’s health. In addition, a healthy pregnant woman can enjoy life at its best without worrying about spending on medications or hospital expense for her health. Experts recommend that pregnant women invest time in keeping healthy and fit in order to avoid common health problems and enjoy their pregnancy.

Preventing occurrences of mothers giving birth to autistic children ban he helped by maintaining a balanced, healthy diet and lifestyle. Another recommended preventative action is for women to participate in regular exercise such as the 24 hours fitness regime or TRX training which can help in weight loss. Find out more information on TRX training and24 hours fitness at weight loss triumph. There is nobody better positioned to take care of an unborn baby’s health than its mother, but to do this, pregnant women need to care for their own health first as it directly affects the health of their baby.

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Two of a Kind

By on August 15, 2012 in Autism

 

To my 13-year-old Alex I give the command typically heard on a school morning: “Put on pants, socks and shoes.”

 

There’s this thing about the socks. Most people wear a pair that resemble each other. Alex doesn’t.

 

I take inventory of his sock drawer. Balled up: the green and dark-blue “Sunday 7” socks that my wife Jill bought at H&M. Separate: A pale green and a pale blue, each with white stripes. The black and orange I would wear if they were big enough. The “Monday 7.” The blue and black “Wednesday” (how come no number?). The “Tuesday 2,” the brown one with the white stripes. Why is there always this yellow and black “Saturday” without a partner?

 

I collect a pile on my knee of those 10 socks whose partners have been plucked, alone and ragged out, by an autistic young man.

 

Jesus, the other blue and black “Wednesday” in the bottom of the drawer. I ball them up. I find the dark blue ones with the light-blue stripes in the dark confusion of the opposite ends of the drawer, Lovers lost in a way to shatter a heart. I ball them up feeling a little like God. And there’s the light blue one with white stripes! I ball it up with its partner – not that Alex will keep it that way on the school morning of school mornings.

 

I’ve given up trying to match them when doing laundry. I drape the socks over the bars of the laundry cart one by one, each seeming to hope for their old partner or, as we all do in our hearts, hoping for a partner new and thrilling. Why is two of a kind beyond Alex?

 

He’s had clothing obsessions. Once upon a time it was black T shirts. His current one is khaki pants. Next? Some of the garments bear the fading STIMPSON of summer camps over the past few years.

 

How does Alex look to the world in mismatched socks and the old, short Kmart khakis, the only ones he’ll wear until they rag out? Does the world understand that? Does the world understand how he looks, and what do they think of me as I begin to rag out myself?

 

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