It’s been a long while since I’ve updated this space, and that’s jut a bloody shame.  There have been a million things going on, some good, some bad, some horrendous but each a learning experience in its own right.  the lack of updates then, is not due to a lack of things worthy of comment, but rather a lack of time on my part to handle more than the necessities.

That changes today.

with a new year upon us and new goals and challenges facing us, I think that he least I can do is take just a few minutes per day to update the world on my son’s progress and the challenges that he is rapidly overcoming.

Speech is less of an issue than it used to be.  Lil’ B. now speaks nearly as well as most 18-20 month old children do. He can ask for a cup, an apple, a banana or chicken.  The words aren’t 100% clear, but they are understandable.  he can say Daddy and cup.  he no longer relies on a bottle.  He goes to school, where the teachers call him a ray of sunlight.

His laugh still makes everyone in its vicinity break out in a smile.

No, life isn’t perfect, but it is moving along.  For the most part it moves in a positive direction.  The school sends a daily status report home for us and at the very least, I’ll be sharing those notes five out of seven days a week.  When possible I’ll share more about Lil’ b, my thoughts on the news of the day or whatever else I can find to say on the subject.

In the end though, this is a “daddy blog”. Even if that daddy happens to be a professional blogger in other circles, this is, and always will be, about my family, my life and what affects them.

Are Oprah’s recommendations for health care really good for your health? It’s been a while since I thought so and now it seems that Newsweek may just share my disbelief at some of what the most powerful woman in journalism is telling her ever growing army of devoted followers.

The article titled “Why Health Advice on ‘Oprah’ Could Make You Sick“, authors Weston Kosnova and Pat Wingert, which was published in the June 8th 2009 edition of Newsweek implies what I’ve been thinking for a long time.  That Oprah is treading on dangerous ground when it comes to health care advice.

Not only is has she featured Suzanne Somers as something to be admired for her willingness to inject herself with horemones and to use an inordinate amount of supplements in her quest to live well into her hundreds, but she’s been very carefully cultivating relationships with supporters of the more (for the sake of a better word) extreme and sometimes even borderline insane medical treatments available today.

This ever growing group of medical outsiders includes jenny McCarthy, whom even in the face of clinical studies believes that the preferred treatment for autism is to allow our children to be made susceptible to Measles, Mumps or Rubella and perhaps even to cease vaccines at all.  I mean really, wouldn’t the world be a better place if we allowed smallpox to come back into the mainstream?

Not only does Oprah seem to feel that little Jenny the Mother Warrior, who feels that “mommy instincts” are far more valuable than the volumes of research garnered by the medical community, is good enough to be featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show,  she also feels that her message is valuable enough to have her own talk show on the newly created Oprah Winfrey Network. While I doubt that a single medical issue will be covered well on this show, I can assure you that it will be good for a hell of a laugh, at least until you get the overwhelming urge to throw your new flat screen out the window. (Or better yet, just stop watching.  Ratings will always win over idiocy).

The Newsweek article covers all of these topics much more eloquently than I can here.  Unfortunately, I am no journalist and tend to become emotional over some of the topics covered.  I simply cannot find the strength of will to be objective.

I hope that I am not the only person that feels this way.

As Stan Lee so eloquently puts it in Spider Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Oprah most definitely has the power, but it appears that the only responsibility she is showing on these topics is to her ratings and her bottom line.  This is not just sad, but dangerous. Too many people hang on Oprah’s every word as though it were some strange new gospel.  The cost in the end could be lives.

Enough said.

Peace, I’m out.

Well if this doesn’t take the cake I don’t know what does!

In the latest health scare regarding the internet, scientists at Oxford University have warned that children who spend too much time on social networks online could suffer from personality and brain disorders.

Susan Greenfield, a neurologist at Oxford University has claimed that social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can physically “rewire” children’s brains to change their personality.

Ms Greenfield said that too much time spent online would cause children to become more selfish and would severely reduce their attention spans.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Ms Greenfield said: “My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.”

Ms Greenfield went on to suggest that the recent rise in child autism could be a direct result of children spending too much time online on popular social networks such as Bebo.

[From Too Much Facebook could cause Autism in Children]

So now I need to tell my 2-1/2 year old that too much facebook is a bad thing for him. it’s a darned shame, too. he did so enjoy his facebook friends. I wonder if this woman spearheaded the campaign that said video games caused ADHD?

I’ve been avoiding this topic since the day i started this blog, but when I read this piece of inanity I had to say something. It’s not going to be the rant I want to spew, but something has to be done about this woman.

I read this article which quotes Jenny McCarthy as stating that her son Evan is the “Poster Child For Hope” after she proved, through him, that autism can be cured by using diet and detox. I Quote:

On handling her son Evan’s autism diagnosis: “I Googled autism and found a community called Generation Rescue, which is a parent-run organization of moms who have been teaching other moms about diet, nutrition, supplements, and detox, and they have done an amazing job of healing their kids. I thought, Well, do I follow this path of moms who are saying their kids got better, or do I follow the path of the medical community who say these kids can’t get better? So I followed these parents and I’m so glad I did, because within a year of doing diet and nutrition with Evan, he lost his autism diagnosis.”

On how Evan is today: “He is the most talkative, social six-year-old little boy, who loves to play with his friends.”

On her deal with God: “I kind of made a deal with God, saying, ‘If you help me and you show me how to heal Evan, I promise I will teach the world how I did it.’ The hard part is everyone from this day on will know Evan’s business. People say, ‘Don’t you get worried that you made him the poster child for autism?’ And I say, “He’s the poster child for hope.’”

[From Jenny McCarthy Says Evan Is “The Poster Child For Hope” | Celebrity Baby Scoop]

Miss McCarthy, please… Your son was misdiagnosed to start with. You put him through unnecessary and unproven quasi-medical witch-doctoring and now claim that he’s better. All while getting a hefty endorsement check from the organizations you claim helped you to “cure” this “disease”.

I’m sorry, but this is utter chaff and I’m so enraged by this that I cannot continue on the topic at the moment. I will revisit this topic when I can be certain to be at least partially polite.

Peace, I’m out

It’s not all about fancy therapies and learning to help your autistic child to “interact” and “engage”. Sometimes just having some good old fashioned fun with your autistic youngster is in order. If they happen to be developing critical skills while you’re doing it, so much the better.

According to an article by Elizabeth Scott on suite101.com:

Many of the classical board games found in retail stores can be used as aids to help children with autism learn or further develop various skills.

Children with autism often need extra help learning certain skills. Parents will find that playing board games with their kids can become a creative and fun way for them to learn. Children with autism like following rules, so they usually respond well to playing board games. Board games can be used as aids for developing social, language, problem solving, motor and math skills.

[From Board Games Help Teach Children with Autism: Develop Social, Language, Math and Motor Skills in a Creative Way]

So what are you waiting for? Go grab that dusty old Chutes and Ladders box out of the closet and spend a little quality time with your kid. You both just might learn something in the process.

Please Dear God tell me this didn’t really happen! A ten year old Autistic elementary school student in Ft. Myers Florida has been arrested and is now awaiting trial on charges of battery on a public or private education employee.

WTF!?!

Not only is this child too young to be brought up on formal charges for a crime of that nature, but from the descriptions given not only by his mother, but his teachers, he was just trying to get to a safe place. When pushed he became violent.

My largest question is what the h@ll the school’s special education program was doing. Couldn’t they have given the kid a few minutes to calm down before causing an incident?

Un-Friggin’-Believable

The U.S. Special Court has ruled that the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine does not cause autism or other neurological disorders. The court cites years of scientific research in its ruling (read more here).

I know that there are a lot of parents out there who are angry and disappointed at this ruling. I am not one of those. i never thought there was a correlation between the two at all.If the claims were true, nearly my entire generation would have had one form of neural disorder or other. We were the guinea pigs for these vaccines and most of us, who are now the parents of these kids, are doing fairly well.

I have a full-blown rant going on this topic in the near future, but until then just let me say that I’m happy with this. there is no point in trying to find someone to blame. What needs to be done when you find your child has autism is to help the child. The fact that these folks aren’t putting 100% of their effort into that venture is astounding to me.

So to the other parents of Autistic children in the U.S. I say this.

The shot didn’t do it. That is no longer something you can put your energy into. It won’t do you any good as you cannot take it into a court of law. Please step off of your misinformed soapbox and move on to some other totally ludicrous theory or, better yet, stop trying to treat your kids yourselves and get them some occupational and speech therapy. It’s not the miracle cure you’ve been looking for, but it does work. I know it does, I’ve seen it.

Stop pointing fingers and realize this: Your child is autistic. It does not matter how this happened as far as the child is concerned. your child does not care why they are the way they are, they just want and need your help.

Go give it to them.

Please note, the harsh tone of this post does not reflect disdain for every parent who though that vaccines may have had something to do with their child’s condition. The theory has been spread far and wide by one particularly dimwitted celebrity and pushed forward by people gullible enough to listen to her and her quasi-doctors.

The tone of this post is aimed at her minions and I find I can’t help but get angry at the thought of them. For those of you who are genuinely working to get your children solid, proven treatment, I applaud you. The rest of you will hear my full opinion shortly, but I warn you, you will not like it.

For now, kiddies:

Peace, I’m out