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A life less ordinary?

  • Outside the box

    Number of comments: 2
    Parents in the "autism wars" tend to, I think, package one another into tidy little boxes with specific descriptives on the outside, such as "Product contains uninsightful, vaccinating, non-organic-feeding, careless, unaware, uneducated parents," or "product contains woo-loving, non-vaccinating, unscientific, blinded by anger, a-little-knowledge-is-a-dangerous-thing parents."
    And what we really ought to [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2009, 9:47am EST
    by Emily

  • Let's talk about sex

    Number of comments: 7
    Warning: Below, I use the word "penis." If that word makes you uncomfortable, you should not have read this warning.
    Our oldest child is 8 years old. I think, for his age, that he's somewhat sexually naive, not as aware of some sex-related distinctions as perhaps other boys his age [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 11:42am EST
    by Emily

  • Hey! Pseudoscientists! Leave them kids alone!

    Number of comments: 4
    The name alone makes no sense: "Scientific Link to Autism Identified." What does that even mean? As opposed to a "nonscientific link"? A "religious link"? A "philosophical link"? A "chain link"?
    And it simply gets worse from there. First of all, if you can find a worse example of [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 7:02pm EST
    by Emily

  • A new nonsense afoot

    Number of comments: 9
    Read this one today. It starts with several paragraphs of garbage masquerading as science-speak (e.g., "By looking at extensive scientific literature they discovered a cascade of hormones that emanate from the brain (hypothalamus)." Really? Gee. That'll be a huge surprise to all those endocrinologists out there.
    Then it gets' [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 11:09pm EST
    by Emily

  • Empyting the grudge bucket

    Number of comments: 13
    I don't like to hold grudges. But as a woman (and I am one, in spite of my lack of girly-girlness), I apparently tend to process experience through my emotional centers more than men, which means that I have excellent emotional recall of my experiences. I didn't just make [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:47am EST
    by Emily

  • Follow-up on Thoughtful House suit

    Number of comments: 6
    The Austin mother in the Thoughtful House-related chelation suit has made available a statement regarding her situation, which you can find here at no2chelation.org (correction!...should never post late at night). Feel free to drop off some dollahs while you're there.
    She notes that:On this waiver Dr. Jepson also' [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 11:33pm EST
    by Emily

  • The wrong math for autism?

    Number of comments: 10
    We've been living with Everyday Math now for a few years. I detest this math program for many reasons.
    1. It asks us to use household goods that cost money, such as shaving cream, flour, vegetables, and rice.2. It requires us to own/assumes that we own household goods that' [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:36am EST
    by Emily

  • It was only a matter of time

    Number of comments: 2
    A local father is suing the mother of his autistic child because she refuses to sign consent to have their son treated at Thoughtful House with intravenous chelation. The parents are, of course, divorced. The mother has no lawyer, and the father has primary [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:53pm EST
    by Emily

  • And sometimes, kids say nothing at all

    Number of comments: 3
    Today, Dubya had his first appointment with his therapist. Nice woman. Used to this group. Vast experience with this age. Knows his issues. He went in, we had introductions. He stiffened visibly, dramatically. Made his frozen Harpo Marx face. I departed.
    Forty minutes later, she emerged [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 6:33pm EST
    by Emily

  • Kids say the darnedest things

    Number of comments: 9
    Or perhaps that should say "the damnedest things." Literally.
    Girls are taunting my son. According to the Viking, girls do this to boys. I don't recall having done this to boys as a girl, but perhaps my memory is faulty.
    I certainly don't recall ever having done the following.
    Girl [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:18am EST
    by Emily

  • The Mercola "Facts" redux. Now with inferences and links updates!

    Number of comments: 3
    1. "Fact": Multidose vials of seasonal and injectable H1N1 swine flu vaccines contain MERCURY (all caps theirs), which is a "known neurotoxin."Inference: Getting a flu shot will poison your brain.Observations: The actual compound of the preservative in question is called thimerosal. It consists in part (about half) of a kind [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:04am EST
    by Emily

  • Motor skills and autism

    Number of comments: 21
    Categorized under "Things that make you say, 'Duh,' in the morning"--Autism is apparently linked to motor skills problems.
    Really?
    I guess now I can call the phys ed teacher at TH's school and tell him that. TH, who has notable upper-body weakness, hypotonia, all the' [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 11:36am EST
    by Emily

  • Um, no thanks, Facebook

    Number of comments: 6
    Facebook just offered me this as an advertisement option. Usually, I get ads telling me that President Obama wants me to go back to school (nooooooo! I've been there already!), or ads insinuating that at my advanced age, I need to buy stuff to ward off aging. I just' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 5:10pm EST
    by Emily

  • The secret's out

    Number of comments: 10
    TH came to me last night and asked, "Is my mouth bleeding?"
    Indeed, it was. All over everything. Dubya, it seems, in a moment of late-evening exuberance, had executed a gymnastic maneuver on the lower bunk of their bed, landing with his butt right about TH's chin. TH happened to' [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 1:00pm EST
    by Emily

  • Sugar bombs

    Number of comments: 9
    I know that "studies indicate" that sugar doesn't affect a child's behavior (they're obviously not including my children in these studies, and probably not yours, either). Regardless of what those folks find, we've seen clearly that sugar--of the refined or high-fructose corn syrup variety--sets off sugar bombs in our household [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 3:17pm EST
    by Emily

  • Sigh. R-word still OK if "modern slang"

    Number of comments: 15
    There is a blog called...get ready...Retarded in Love. (link has been removed). It's written by a very very young person who thinks she can order her life Just. So. She's got a to-do list that includes getting pregnant on schedule and having, presumably, perfect and lovely healthy children. Dust off [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 6:55pm EST
    by Emily

  • Autism moms: Are you girly-girls?

    Number of comments: 13
    I have a reason for asking this question. For several years, I posted on a community message board using a gender-neutral handle. I didn't do it on purpose...it was just the handle I chose. Most women who posted on that site did use handles that indicated their sex, with terms' [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 11:52am EST
    by Emily

  • Reading the signs

    Number of comments: 4
    Like a lot of kids, autistic or not, TH is not very good at articulating his feelings. In fact, he may not even be aware that he's having these feelings, yet he shows that they're there in many ways. We always know that something, something is on his mind when [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 9:41am EST
    by Emily

  • TH is angry?

    Number of comments: 8
    If you know TH or have read enough about him here, you know that anger isn't an emotion he expresses a lot or even very clearly. His version of anger is to squinch up his face in a grimace for about 2 seconds. Then, the feeling appears to pass immediately,' [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:54am EST
    by Emily

  • Bullying?

    Number of comments: 9
    TH may be experiencing a little bit of bullying again at school. There are signs. Yesterday, he got in the car, made some vague allusions to children saying "violent" things to him, and then proceeded to be off the hook for the rest of the day: vocalizing, nonstop movement, flapping, [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 2:14pm EST
    by Emily

  • The Mercola "Facts" poster

    Number of comments: 6
    OK...there's a huge Mercola article alleging that the H1N1 pandemic is a "massive" illusion (created by, presumably, very large magicians with great big scary magic wands). I'm pondering tackling the entire article, but meanwhile, I think it'd be OK if I took on the "fact" sheet they offer to' [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 3:00pm EST
    by Emily

  • No more Aspergers? Poor Hans.

    Number of comments: 18
    Forget the vaccine-misogyny thing! They're about to take away my baby's label!
    The New York Times reports that the proposed DSM-V (shudder. deep breath. sigh.) will roll Asperger's into autism spectrum disorder, period, and render the diagnosis of "Asperger's" obsolete.
    Nooooooo!
    I'm kidding. TH is going to' [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 11:10pm EST
    by Emily

  • Vaccines, feminism, autism, motherhood

    Number of comments: 9
    In discussions across the Web, a theme that emerges repeatedly is, "Should a mother have her child vaccinated?" Yes, "balanced" media outlets say "parent," but the reality is that this discussion occurs primarily among mothers. A peek, for example, at the comments on this post over at BlogHer gives [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 11:25am EST
    by Emily

  • They are vaccinated

    Number of comments: 5
    Yesterday, I willfully, wantonly, and with parental and civic responsibility aforethought took my three children to receive the H1N1 vaccine. No one appears yet to have developed autism as a...oh, nevermind. I am pleased to report that Little Da, who at our previous appointment spent 20 minutes wallowing around on [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 10:06am EDT
    by Emily

  • The falseness of prophets

    Number of comments: 2
    I was reading The Onion last night. I often read The Onion. Where else will I learn that I will win the lottery that day unless I read this horoscope? Where else will I be able to check weekly for them to top (no pun intended) the all-time best [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2009, 10:22am EDT
    by Emily

  • The Dubya Warrior

    Number of comments: 2
    I've found a potential therapist for Dubya. The first couple of people I called, both psychiatrists (i.e., Minor Dieties), apparently are really just glorified, board-sanctioned drug dealers who appeared to have no interest whatsoever in my son as a person or in behavioral approaches to his problems. In fact, the' [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2009, 11:17am EDT
    by Emily

  • The Dragon Warrior

    Number of comments: 3

























    He didn't inherit it from me. My tongue is tied, so short that I can only extend it from my mouth' [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 10:10am EDT
    by Emily

  • Cells alive!

    Number of comments: 1
    The title of this post actually comes from one of my favorite sites on the Web, both for teaching and just for geeking out. While we're geeking, I also love this site. I suggest clicking on the cholera and Listeria videos if you really want to freak yourself' [...]
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    Posted: October 23, 2009, 10:29am EDT
    by Emily

  • Throw that away?

    Number of comments: 5
    We've been having some memory-related problems around here the last couple of days, and in the interests of full disclosure and oversharing, I'm going to describe two here.

    Last night, as I was making my children their almost completely unprocessed dinner (grapes! scrambled eggs! carrots! toast with local [...]
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    Posted: October 22, 2009, 11:09am EDT
    by Emily

  • The Wild Thing

    Number of comments: 4
    Little Da is our Wild Thing. There is something a bit feral about him, even in the midst of his uncommon courtesy and self control. While he is, indeed, the child who only two days ago at a birthday party espied a couple of stray marshmallows and asked, carefully, "Can" [...]
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    Posted: October 20, 2009, 10:06am EDT
    by Emily

  • Words

    Number of comments: 3
    Every dawn is an open door.Every evening is a victory. [...]
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    Posted: October 19, 2009, 12:44pm EDT
    by Emily

  • Back to our regularly scheduled worrying

    Number of comments: 5
    Or, as we note in trends around here, OCD.

    I have to look for psychiatrists for Dubya. His doctor told us to check out which ones our insurance covers, then give her the list. She'll select one who does more than act as a highly degreed drug dealer for' [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2009, 9:59am EDT
    by Emily

  • Hope and peace

    Number of comments: 6
    I had my evoked potentials testing yesterday in Houston (or, as we down folk here in Texas like to say, "H-town"). I likely won't know the results for at least a week, and either way--negative = no information/positive = diagnosis--I probably won't post about them because I'll need to process' [...]
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    Posted: October 09, 2009, 9:44am EDT
    by Emily

  • Da-isms

    Number of comments: 4
    Our three-year-old, Little Da, grows apace. Still wobbly on the potty training but excited as any man would be about peeing while standing up. Something about taking that aim, I guess. He also is an opinionated little fellow with many pithy observations to make about the world. Below, a few.
    [...]
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    Posted: October 07, 2009, 9:46am EDT
    by Emily

  • No homeschooling here

    Number of comments: 7
    And honestly, I'm deeply relieved. As much as the idea--just the idea--appealed to me in one sense, in all other senses, I felt distractingly ambivalent. The idea of tucking into thematic units with TH, of reaching him and sparking his curiosity, having those great intense conversations with him that we' [...]
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    Posted: October 06, 2009, 10:56am EDT
    by Emily

  • I'll leave this to speak for itself

    Number of comments: 5
    I was checking editing/writing ads, as usual (always looking out for gigs regular and sporadic), and came across this posting (which may be gone by the time you click; no worries--I've helpfully reproduced it in full below).

    I'll let it speak for itself. As a long-time writer and [...]
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    Posted: October 05, 2009, 6:24pm EDT
    by Emily

  • These are the days

    Number of comments: 2
    Carolyn Hax writes an advice column, and she's damned good at what she does. She doesn't dispense pop psych garbage, she doesn't offer to sell pamphlets, and she's not mired in some 1960s version of advice that has nothing to do with The Way We Live Now. She's intuitive, [...]
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    Posted: October 04, 2009, 5:33pm EDT
    by Emily

  • Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...ad infinitum

    Number of comments: 7
    Nausea set in hours before departure. As with so many events in my life, gastroenteritis decided to make an uninvited entrance. Nevertheless, I made it to Houston, Mr. DMFP driving, only to find that I'd booked reservations for us at the wrong hotel. Apparently, there are three Holiday Inns in' [...]
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    Posted: September 30, 2009, 6:03pm EDT
    by Emily

  • Schooled by a preschooler

    Number of comments: 0
    In the Great Order of Being, younger siblings are supposed to be, well, younger. But that Great Order doesn't take into account developmental delays or differences, and so it has already happened in our home that the three-year-old tells the eight-year-old How Things Are. Or, as my mother frequently says' [...]
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    Posted: September 28, 2009, 12:39pm EDT
    by Emily

  • And now, about neurological disorders

    Number of comments: 21
    And by that, I mean a genuine neurological disorder, not something I was born with, not something that I'd use to identify myself. Not something that I'd proudly bear as being a part of me. Indeed, something I might melodramatically refer to on bad days as a manifestation of the [...]
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    Posted: September 26, 2009, 4:47pm EDT
    by Emily

  • The state of the science

    Number of comments: 5

    My little seven-year-old empty shell turned into a sunny little fellow when it came to his assignment for "Sun Facts!!!"

    Translation: "The sun is a star made of gas. The sun gives global warming to the Earth. The sun is a star." [...]
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    Posted: September 25, 2009, 10:32am EDT
    by Emily

  • An empty shell

    Number of comments: 4
    No, it's not about another new and offensive autism video. It's something my son said to me yesterday. And no, not my son with autism, who never feels like an empty shell, for the record, who is almost preternaturally good humored, who has such a rich inner life that he [...]
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    Posted: September 24, 2009, 9:58am EDT
    by Emily

  • What if someone did this with, say, Down's Syndrome?

    Number of comments: 21
    New, from Autism Speaks. Autism as a devil personified, promising to destroy your marriage and "move faster than pediatric AIDS," whatever the hell that means. This is horrific. I cannot believe that these people thought it was OK to demonize a developmental disorder in this way, behaving as though autism [...]
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    Posted: September 22, 2009, 11:26pm EDT
    by Emily

  • Hebby

    Number of comments: 4
    Things have gotten a bit heavy...or, as Little would say, "Hebby"...around here lately, so I bring you, Dear Reader, a few Little-isms of recent vintage (speaking of hebby and "Dear Reader," I just started a 1300-page biography of Dickens. I'll see you in a few months). The child who couldn't [...]
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    Posted: September 18, 2009, 5:20pm EDT
    by Emily

  • A gut feeling

    Number of comments: 8
    I have a gut feeling. As much as rely, as heavily as I rely, on analysis and rational thought and other stuff related to my frontal cortex, I can't ignore my strong intuitions, either. My inability is actually rooted in logic: My gut, like the turtle's butt tingle in Over' [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 10:20am EDT
    by Emily

  • The day after

    Number of comments: 1
    I woke up on September 11, 2001, amazed at the time I read on the alarm clock. 9:39. I was amazed because we had a four-month-old, and I'd been up with him much of the night and fully expected to see him again long before 9:39. So, I got out' [...]
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    Posted: September 12, 2009, 11:43am EDT
    by Emily

  • Circle of Friends, redux, reduced

    Number of comments: 10
    Today, I presented a truncated, free-flowing Circle of Friends to TH's classes. It's "classes" this year not because of grade-wide concerns but because he's in third grade: He's got separate groups for math, language arts, and homeroom. I went in with no notes, no slides, just me and a half-page [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 12:04pm EDT
    by Emily

  • Vive la difference: Case studies

    Number of comments: 3
    May as well resign ourselves to living with it because it's probably going to last for awhile.

    Last night, Dubya had homework. He's a great big first grader now, so he has reading homework every night and math on Thursdays. Last night was our first Thursday math homework. And [...]
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    Posted: September 04, 2009, 3:27pm EDT
    by Emily

  • Parallel play

    Number of comments: 1
    Mr. DMFP just forwarded me a link to a piece in the New York Times about Tim Page, who just authored an autobiography, Parallel Play: Growing up with Undiagnosed Asperger's (I refuse, refuse I say!, to bend to this newfangled trend of putting book titles in quotation marks. Italics [...]
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    Posted: September 03, 2009, 11:05am EDT
    by Emily

  • Why we like our school

    Number of comments: 2
    1. I got to talk to TH's teacher about the humming today. It went really well. She had already realized that TH will do best with a visual, rather than a verbal, reminder about his humming, and he has a little sign on his desk. If he's humming and [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 12:43pm EDT
    by Emily
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