DAN Conference!

This weekend Todd and I headed to San Diego for the Defeat Autism Now conference. It was awesome as expected. Although I had to miss my 10 year high school reunion it was well worth the trip. Here are some of the highlights! Todd and I ate lunch and this cute little restaurant right across from crystal cove.
We met up with my good friend Amy from college. It was so fun to catch up.

Todd and I at Crystal Cove in La Jolla. The sea lions were so fun to watch.


The first night we got there we headed straight to Old Town Mexican Cafe to meet Sarah and Garrett for some good dinner. It was great to be able to see them again and catch up. They were are good friends from Ithaca.




Me at the conference. I put a picture of JoJo under my name tag so everyone could see my sweet boy.



Me and Julie Mathews. She is the author of Nourishing Hope. She is just amazing and knows so much about nutrition. She taught a cooking class and made some great things. I had my first taste of liver ( although it wasn't that bad I won't be having it anytime soon)

These are my girls from LIFE! Dawn is JoJo's AMAZING feeding therapist and Terry is just one AMAZING mom! It was so fun to be with them there. They are warriors.

Me and my Huby loving the conference.

AND THE GRAND FINALE!!!

JENNY!

Jenny showed up at the conference so I got here to sign her new book for me and take a quick picture. That was SO fun. And if you haven't read her new book MOTHER WARRIORS you guys really need to go get it. Its amazing and I loved every minute of it. I just LOVE her! She is really working hard for us MOMS!!!

Zoo Walk for Autism

Last Saturday was the Zoo Walk for Autism. It was really a lot of fun and the kids had a blast. Here are some pics of the day. Special thanks to Natalee, Meda, Vanessa, Shalae, & Noah for joining TEAM JOJO! Ready or not here we come!!
Nat and Meda.

My Boys!


Nat and I ready to go!

Todd and JoJo in front of the rhino. I love this picture of JoJo.

Me and my cute boys.

Sweet.

having fun on the carousel.

Nat and Meda enjoying the ride.

John Bear. (Don't you love the clean face)

Sweet JoJo.

ZOOWALK! Go Team JoJo!

Don't Miss the ZOOWALK for AUTISM RESEARCH! It is Saturday October 18. This is a great event for families and helps a great cause. After the walk you can spend as long as you would like at the ZOO! Unlike other walks this one is on Saturday! We have a set up a Team JoJo for anyone that would like to walk for him. All the proceeds go to autism research.

Here are the details...

*6:30 am to 9:00 am registration at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, SW corner of Van Buren and Priest in Tempe (0.5 miles from Zoo)

*The Zoowalk will cover 1.1 miles on an easy paved path, with some shade and places to stop and view the animals.

*It is ideal for strollers, wheelchairs and wagons.
(no bikes, skateboards, or roller blades, please).

*After 9:00 am, walkers may continue to walk around the zoo as they like (free admission with Zoowalk bracelet).

For more info go to...https://www.ariautism.com/zoowalk/phoenix/index.html

Defeat Autism Now Conference.

Registration Begins July 15thDefeat Autism Now! Fall 2008 Conference
October 23rd-27th, 2008

Town and Country Resort500 Hotel Circle North San Diego, California 92108




Calling all Mom's with a child with autism to go to this conference. Seriously, I feel like it should be a must. I went to the one in New Jersey in April and will never miss another one. Go to the website at defeatautismnow.com and check it out. Make sure to check out the Angel fund too, it's set up for families who really want to go but can't afford it. Pass on the info to anyone with a child with autism, this conference is AWESOME!!!

Never to Late.

I found this story as I was reading the ARI (Autism Research Institute) newsletter and it really touched me. These parents never gave up on their battle to get their son better. I loved the determination of them. If you know someone that a has a child with autism pass this story along to them and tell them to never give up hope. I pray everyday that I won't.

Parent Letters: It's Never Too Late for an Older Child By Melinda Alleyne
Our son's story is typical of so many.

Joshua developed normally until his vaccinations at 18 months
old, when he rapidly spiraled out of control. Within three days,
our son was lost to us. Our once sweet and loving boy was
replaced by a child who no longer wanted us to touch him - who
now screeched, banged his head, giggled for hours, and wouldn't sleep longer than two hours, ever. Sadly, Joshua no longer liked his favorite toys, preferring now to sit and rock, or run wildly around in circles. His sweet disposition was replaced with violent seizures.

For months we muddled through life looking for answers on our
own. We tried everything we knew to try and recover our son,
praying that as he got well, he would get better--but little help
was available back in 1994. At best I got sympathetic looks from doctors that mostly said it all: "Give it up lady, no help is out there for your child. You just have to learn how to accept it. He was BORN autistic - you just never saw the signs - it's just
coincidence - etc."

I never gave up hope.

Thankfully ARI existed and I got the privilege of talking with
and being encouraged by Dr. Rimland in those early days before he started Defeat Autism Now! At Dr. Rimland's suggestions, we tried a gluten-free, casein-free diet. We tried melatonin, vitamin B6 and magnesium, DMG, TMG and music therapy--the list could go on and on. We tried ABA, PECS, T.E.A.C.H. and good ole "discipline" to no avail.

We took Joshua to countless "specialists" across the nation, and
yet his seizures were relentless and his behavior was hideous. We spent thousands of dollars. He was evaluated at Keesler Air Force Base (home of the second-largest medical facility in the Air Force), at Emory Center for Autism, at the Judevine Center for Autism, at Philadelphia Children's Center for studies in
Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, etc., etc. We even tried taking our son to see Defeat Autism Now! physicians in their early formative years. Anyone remember IV Secretin for $700.00 a whack? Yes we did that too--twice a month for an entire year.
Joshua painstakingly improved through the years, but we were
constantly reminded that most of his improvements were minor, and our financial debt was great. He was grossly behind in all skills and was increasingly self-abusive, intolerably aggressive, and he remained without any functional language. He was still severely affected by autism.

At 14, we took Joshua to yet another doctor, just hoping he could help him to stop cutting himself. He was so severely lost in self-abuse that it wasn't uncommon for him to have gaping
pus-filled sores all over his skin. We decided to revisit the
Defeat Autism Now! concept of biomedical healing. We had tried this in its early years, eventually becoming discouraged with it as well because it didn't seem to be helping. But we were now desperate.

And this time, we got the miracle we had been praying for.
Day by day Joshua is returning to us. He now has functional
language (around 300 or more words). Just this past year he has learned to make his bed, clean his room, do household chores, ride his bike, skip, jump rope, do puzzles, and play games. Two weeks ago he played with the neighborhood children for the first time ever, while I watched and cried. He is learning to enjoy pastime activities that just a year ago would have gotten us hit had we even suggested he try them. Daily, he is becoming more a part of our family. He is learning to write, and his academic skills have soared these past few months. Joshua is making his own choices about things he wants to do and how he wants his room to look, for the first time ever.

Just as stunning are the things that Joshua is no longer doing.
He no longer makes spit pictures over all our windows in the
house. The walls of his room are no longer painted with his poop during the night. He no longer just lies around wanting to do nothing all day except rip up every book in the house. He no
longer fixates on certain movies, or on us all having to wear
shoes. All of his sleep and eating issues are now resolved. He no longer is self-abusive or aggressive. He is off all psychiatric
medicines and is being weaned from his seizure meds. He no longer self-stims constantly, and the hysterical giggling is gone. He is no longer severely affected by autism.

Every day is simply a new miracle. Our son is now mildly to
moderately affected by autism. And more healing comes with each and every day. I am just glad we never quit believing healing could and would someday happen. In my humble opinion, it is never too late.

Melinda runs on on-line support group for military families. She
can be contacted at livinfaith@yahoo.com.

Defeat Autism Now Conference!

This weekend I attended DEFEAT AUTISM NOW conference in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Can I just say that for anyone that has an autistic child this should be a mandatory conference, I would even go as far as saying parents with a typical child would benefit greatly from this conference. It was amazing. I learned so much about the importance of diet, I learned about toxins in the environment (which is frankly just plain scary), I learned about the dangers in Vaccines and how to implement a safer schedule, supplementation, how ABA is so important for a child with autism, and was able to talk to so many other parents who like I was forced into this world of autism. The whole time I was there I would just think about the millions of other mothers who weren't hearing this. I wanted to call everyone I knew and scream from the roof top that there is something we can be doing, there is hope, and children have gotten better. I'm so grateful to my parents for funding my trip and of course Todd for taking care of the kiddos while I was gone. It was amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone with a child with autism.Yes, I got to visit with Jenny. She only said the "F" word twice in our conversation. So, she has a potty mouth but I love her anyways. She is on a mission to inform the world about autism and the risks that are out there. LOVE her! ( Also, don't you love her hair. I totally want that haircut)
Yup, she signed my book. It was a really long day so sorry about the ugliness. I would leave the hotel at 8:00 am and not get back until 10:00pm. The days were long but I didn't want to miss a thing.
All the great info I have to read up on. LOVE IT!

FYI: I hope everyone was able to watch Larry King Live the other night. It was awesome. Please look into implementing a safer vaccination schedule, this is something that needs to be done. I could go on and on about the affects of so many vaccines at such a young age but I'll spare you. If you would like to know more e-mail me and I'll send some info. Don't be fooled when they say vaccines are safe. Let me leave you with what they put in them:

*Mercury & Aluminum
*Viruses, Bacteria
*Formaldehyde
*MSG
*HCL
*Antibiotics
*Human, cow, chicken, guinea pig, monkey, tissue/serum
*Yeast and egg

Does this sound safe to you??? I am a believer in vaccines and I do think we need them. But lets demand better and a safer schedules. Get you child vaccinated by the age of two is ridiculous and DANGEROUS. Have you ever looked at the list of vaccines we give our kids ? The list goes on and on. Ten years ago we gave 10 shots by the age of 5. Sounds safer to me. Common sense people!!!!

Just one more thing. Sorry. The FDA recorded that 0.1 MCG/KG/Day is safe level of organic mercury. The DTap, Hib, Hep. B total 62.5 mcg this exceeds all "safe" levels combined for a 5 kg infant. Pretty scary stuff.