Intro

Intro

Hi! I am Lucy a 38 year old mother of 3 beautiful children who have fulfilled my life to the fullest! I am also a 70 percent disabled veteran of the United States Army. 

My oldest is Ian. He is 17 years old, and has diagnoses of high functioning autism, ADHD, hypotonia (low muscle tone) and mitocondrial issues. 

Jasmine is 13 years old and was diagnosed with reading and reading comprehension disorders, bifocal dysfunction, she also has GHD and went to an endocrinologist for 2 years but a little too late. Her growth plates are fused making it too late for growth hormones injections. She loves to ice skate and is very talented.

Aaron is three years old and has Infantile Autism. I am not sure of the severity since he regressed tremendously by 18 mos old. He was non-verbal until two months after starting the DAN diet, which I will discuss more later. 


ASD#1
The oldest, Ian is my fuel to advocate. I knew something was wrong. I knew that my marriage to his biological father was not going to work out and I knew that I needed to get myself in to a position where I could care for him and be financially secure on my own. So, I joined the military when he was 18 months. He stayed with my mother while I was away at basic training and technical school. It was very difficult and but it was worth it for me to be able to provide for his future. He made me a mommy and changed my life forever. I know some day he will get his drivers license and then he can drive me everywhere instead of the other way around. 

Ian was diagnosed at 2 years old by a physician that threw syringes on the floor and asked him to count them! At the time he had an ear infection so that was not going to happen. I was in denial for a while, he spoke to me only and did not want to play with the other kids in daycare. I went to a seminar for special needs children and there were a couple of moms in the back that told me what I feared the most(AUTISM)! The head of pediatrics at the time wanted to help me because I had stood up and talked to her about not knowing what was wrong! Since I was in the military, she got me an appointment with the Col. that came once a month to our base. He diagnosed him with High Functioning Autism. 

He did not speak or potty train until he was four years old. I was pregnant with our second child and did not want to change 2 kids' diapers so I let him go Free-Willy! It worked! Ian also counted his food in 3's and only ate a couple of things. A very picky eater. He stole certain toys he had to have from school.He inflicted pain upon himself by scratching his face a lot! Scars constantly! Ian was very close to me. He went from being able to rough house to not being able to be touched. He would cry and scream like he was in pain. Prior to going to school he had speech therapy at home, because he wouldn't speak. He has been  in special education at school since he was 3 and a half years old. I was scared for him, sitting in a room with 10 strangers telling you what you will do. It was terrifying and  intimidating! You should always have an advocate! 

Jasmine is our second child, she has an amazing intellect and athletic ability despite severe bifocal dysfunction (dyslexia) She was diagnosed by Dr.Sharon Cooper. (She has been on TV and works part time at the base) For years we struggled not knowing what was wrong with her. I would dive into books for diagnosing special needs; to identify why she could not recognize words from one page to the other; every single person told me she would grow out of it! Well she is 13 and hasn't so… here we are! 

She was diagnosed with "reading, and reading comprehension disorders" for the school to accommodate accordingly because only a doctor can diagnose. The school could; but unless they have done extensive testing and evaluation it's just for services. Even though they have your child everyday, they do not want to pay for it. Jasmine was a victim of bullying by a teacher who would make her go in front of the class, to ridicule her, and make her stand up and read! With an IEP, that states that she cannot read! So, counseling it is. She is Home-schooled and loves it! We also do speech therapy. We used to do reading but I was able to do motorskills vision test, and therefore raised enough money to do vision therapy. She did splendid, even her skating improved! Jasmine Ice skates three times a week and it is amazing what she can do with the little time I can give her on the ice! She competes and wins more than I can count. 


ASD#2
Aaron is the baby, he was 18 days late and I carried him with a back injury. The pregnancy was awful, but my blood pressure went back to normal after he was born. He is awesome in every way; and a beautiful puzzle! He makes me laugh and cry at the same time! He is the reason why I started listening to my gut! He was 16 months old when he started regressing. Not looking, or talking even though he spoke at 3 mos old "mom, dad"! He always works light years ahead of us! I went through the motions and had 6 mos of speech at 18 mos, and not a word! (It was a person highly qualified through our Early Intervention program) on post. 


Changes
My husband deployed around this time and we moved us into an ADA (American Disability Act) home suitable for my needs. He was two months old when I moved us! Alone! Looking back I just pause and think "what was I thinking!" (maybe I wasn't) It was better for the kids and I. He was a perfect baby and the only thing was that his breathing sounded like a Pug (dog) especially when we were home a lot. I breast-fed as much as I could, but Ice skating and Ian had us going all over and I had friends help me but I am not good with forgiveness when someone judges me and my children. I will post video of him looking at me and smiling trying to pick up his fork with his chunky fingers. Then at 18 months he stopped everything! I spaced out his immunizations or so I thought. 

I am not blaming anyone or anything; but we are what we eat, and what we ingest alters our structure, and our gut, therefore our brain. It is all connected. This is the part of the cause of a lot of diseases; to include Alzheimers. To blame vaccines is ignorant, I think. Because there are so many unhealthy ingredients used in our foods and everything we put in and on our bodies, they are directly responsible for altering our genetic make up. I have to focus on the future… the past will be there, we can only learn from it, and move forward.

Focus
Aaron will be the one I focus on the most since he keeps my hands full! Ian is super stubborn and I protected him way too much! I see what I should have done and will not make the same mistakes again. Aaron's first word was "choo-choo" with the head supervisor at one of the speech and reading centers in the area, we opted to go to since my daughter was already getting services. This was during the evaluation! That gave me hope; but then we got someone that he did not pair well with. This is very important, if your child does not connect then there will be no progress...I gave it 3 months! (Motivation is everything with our kids) call it bribing as long as you are keeping them moving forward, safe and healthy.



Friends, family and acquaintances;
I have moved on and decided friendship is not supposed to be only me doing all the work and putting up with judgement, criticism, blame, and guilt. I do enough of that to myself! So I decided to join groups with parent's and children like us. Yes, special… we get past the whys' and move on to the laughs about how long it took to get my son in the building! Embarrassment is just a "word"! (the feeling can hurt you) it comes from within your self. People always think they are helping but "help" could be a  loose term for some. Since this is my kid; if you aren't helping, I will tell you I got it, as polite as I can. My therapist tells me to focus on my child. So, blinders on. I do find odd things funny; because I have to laugh sometime! 

Goal
I wish to share my journey in particular because I did not get here alone! So many wonderful people have helped me, supported me, given me advice. So, why not share my experiences while healing my boys and watching them improve. I consider my self to be supportive in a way where I do not disregard anything because every situation has something to offer or learn from. My husband is special forces so he is out of the picture a lot! I feel like a single mom but everything happens for a reason; I see potential in everyone of them (Special Needs children) I have done studies, TEACCH therapy, ABA therapy for both boys, Speech (clinical) since 18 mos old for Aaron and Jasmine. Occupational therapy, Physical therapy for Aaron(…soon). 

Obviously, there is a lot more to come. I just wanted to introduce you to my family and I. Sorry for such a long introduction.