it's raining pills

Being in online groups for things is so brilliant.  You don't have to interact with people and you can just scroll past the conversations you have no interest in.  Okay, so I'm obviously on the spectrum too, or I just hate people, or both.  In these groups I have recently seen a whole bunch of parents who are new to the diagnosis, or having new issues.  We all know this disorder evolves in strange ways.  One second your kid is in love with Spongebob and the next second you'd think Spongebob was the anti-christ the way the kid is screaming.  Anyway, these parents are asking for help and do you know what 99% of the replies have been?

"I'll message you a list of medications that my child is on for insert issue here."

Here is a list of why I find those responses absolutely terrifying:

• The person asking for help (especially the newly diagnosed ones) might not realize there are other options if they don't know to look.
•  I am the only person who has suggested anything other than drugging their children...at all. In any of the posts like this.  No one else have suggested a certain doctor to help them, a certain school, a certain therapy, a treatment, a diet. These people are only suggesting drugs.  No other help at all.
•  Messaging someone a list of drugs implies that you know anything about THEIR child's problems.  Each case is unique and you don't know what their child specifically is dealing with. If you aren't a doctor you have no business telling someone that it's okay for their child to take something...EVER.
•  Not one of these people has said "We use ______", they are all talking about drug cocktails.  They all offer to send  "a list".

I get so disheartened when I see things like this.  I've talked many times on here about how I don't think medication is BAD, it DOES help some people.  Some people need it, but a lot of people who are medicated don't.  It just scares me that this is the advice these groups all seem to be dishing out and it breaks my heart for their children.

P.S. 

If you haven't seen "The Medicated Child" do yourself a favor and watch it.  I always recommend this to people when these debates start.

reading rainbowwwww

As a self proclaimed "Geek Family" it's probably no surprise that we have books absolutely everywhere.   Three bookshelves packed full, shelves that aren't specifically for books with stacks, stacks all over our bedroom, and some pretty awesome 1970s vintage bookends proudly displayed on our dresser with my favorite books wedged between them.  Not to mention over 150 on my e-reader and over a gig and a half of digital comics on my old harddrive.  Basically, we REALLY love reading in this house.

We have always read to Alden, since he was a baby.  We've always encouraged reading and we're all always reading something (though I'm dyslexic making me a rather slow reader) Now Alden is getting to the age where he's starting to enjoy reading to us.  He goes to the library alone every day at school and he checks out 2 books to bring home and read.  He has to read them before his bath and playtime because they are his "homework" and homework gets done before anything else.  He also goes to the public library once every two weeks and brings home anywhere between 7-11 books each time.

Our bedtime schedule goes something like this: Josh & Alden play videogames for an hour, then I go in and read to him until he falls asleep, usually 30-40 minutes of reading.  Then he will finally go to sleep.  With his growing attention span and insistence on not wanting to go to sleep we've recently started reading chapter books.  So far this month we've finished Matilda, Freddy Fonortner and the Fantastic Flying Bicycle, Pickle Juice on a Cookie, Ramona Quimby Age 8, and we're about halfway through Pippi Longstocking.  He always remembers where he fell asleep (which is good because I'm really bad about forgetting to bookmark things) and we pick up from there each night.

There are three books we have to read before we read the chapter books each night.  They are his absolute favorites.

Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children - Trace Beauleiu (yes, it's by the guy from MST3K)

Goodnight iPad - Ann Droyd   far superior to Goodnight Moon (which sucks IMO)

The Space Child's Mother Goose - Frederick Winsor nursery rhymes with a scientific twist.

If anyone has a child with an interest in science or electronics these books are all absolutely fantastic and fun.  I can't recommend them highly enough.

He's also really loving Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day  (this is my favorite childhood book) and anything involving Calvin & Hobbes.

Happy Women's Day!

Today is International Women's Day and I feel that it is very important to raise my son to respect women, and be a male feminist. We let him do his own thing, he is creating his own path and we're all very happy about it.  He has fairy tale books, comic books, action figures, and Disney Princess toys, he loves My Little Pony, Spongebob, Batman, and Hello Kitty.  He reads books about space and silly poems.  His favorite color is yellow.  He has never heard the terms "girl toy" or "boy toy" from us, though he does see them online when he looks for toys.  He has a broad range of interests and he honestly doesn't care what anyone has to say about it (which I'm proud to say he definitely got from me).

I feel like it's important to let children be who they need to be.  I don't understand parents who get upset over their children wanting certain toys.  IT IS A PIECE OF PLASTIC IN A DIFFERENT COLOR & MOLD.  I mean honestly, people who get bent out of shape about this need some serious therapy.

My parents let me dress up as Peter Pan for Halloween when I was six years old. I wanted to be Peter Pan because Peter Pan was my favorite story.  They didn't try to talk me into being Wendy or Tinkerbell. They let me be Peter Pan because it's a costume and a character and most importantly it's what I wanted to dress as.

I'll leave you with this clip from the TED event about a brilliant documentary called "Miss Representation". Everyone should see this movie.


I have this documentary as well as other female targeted things I've enjoyed listed over at my other blog.  Feel free to recommend things to me there as well as here.