Katelyn Sings the ABCs and Happy Birthday!

Katelyn has always had a love of singing, but she never sang the actual words to the songs. Instead, she would either hum or put her own "spin" on the lyrics. For example, she might sing to the tune of "This Old Man," but say, "Swing, swing, swing...swing, swing, swing...car, car, kitty, baby, mama, dada, kitty."

Then on Tuesday afternoon, she started singing the ABCs song all on her own! I was starting to sing, "A, B..." and she took right over and sang the entire song, even with the full ending! I couldn't believe it because just that morning I had told one of her ABA therapists that my next goal was to teach her to sing the ABCs all by herself. As always, Katelyn amazed us all! She also has been singing Happy Birthday to everything as well, almost to the point of it becoming an obsession. Her favorite thing to sing Happy Birthday to is a "triangle," (she says ga-ga-gangle) so every night before bed we sing Happy Birthday to the triangle (any triangle...she isn't picky).

Here is a video that I took of her on Wednesday night. She is singing the ABCs and then she sings Happy Birthday to the "triangle" -- it is really a couch pillow, but she calls them "triangles" because she is obsessed with the corners of the pillows. She knows the correct shape is a square, and will say it if you ask her, but she continues to call them triangles anyway since her latest obsession is finding triangles everywhere. I hope you find this video of Katelyn as entertaining as we do :) And thank you as always for following my blog!

How I feel about the "cure" and Jenny McCarthy...

Last night, Kevin and I watched the interview with Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey on Larry King Live. Here is my personal opinion on the autism "cure" and Jenny McCarthy's efforts in the "war on autism."

I do not believe that we can "cure" our children (nor would I actually want to), but that we can "recover" our children and help them be able to function as close to NT as possible.

I personally am not looking for a "cure" for Katelyn. I believe that our ASD children can teach us so much about acceptance and love and seeing the world in a whole new way, and I am grateful that Katelyn has come into my life. I love all of her little quirks and obsessions and things that make her HER, but of course I also wish for ways to help her with sensory issues, social skills, and aggression. So I would definitely welcome something that would help her "recover" from the things that will be roadblocks in her life, but would I want her "cured" -- never. To me, autism is a large part of who she is and I love her just the way she is.

I also agree with Temple Grandin that if we "cure" autism, the world would actually suffer because there would no longer be social misfits with brilliant minds inventing all of the wonderful things like the internet, etc. Everyone would be too busy socializing

But I respect those parents who are desperately looking for a cure for their child. All of us have different experiences with our ASD kids and only we as their parents know what it is like to raise them.

As far as Jenny, I read her book, Louder Than Words, when I was waiting to get Katelyn diagnosed. I really enjoyed her book and it gave me hope in a time of worry and confusion. I do think that it is great that she and Jim Carrey are on a mission to educate people about autism, and that they are fighting the battle, but I do believe that she is a little overboard and one-sided. I do wish that she would be more careful and more open-minded about the fact that not every child can be "cured" or "recovered" in the ways that her son has been. She needs to be looking out for the needs of EVERY child with autism.

Here is PART 1 of the Larry King interview with Jenny and Jim:


If you would like to watch the rest of the interview, click the links below:
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5

If you would prefer to read the transcript from the show,CLICK HERE.

Glossary: NT = neurotypical or "normal", ASD = autism spectrum disorder

Swing, Swing, Swing...

Since Katelyn is obsessed with swings, we decided to purchase an indoor swing for her that she can use on a daily basis, since we cannot go to the "boo wing" (blue swings) every day. We ordered the Rainy Day Indoor Playground from http://www.adaptivechild.com/, which specializes in toys and therapeutic items for children with special needs. The main swing is for older children (3+) and is just a piece of canvas material that you sit on, so we also purchased a toddler swing (since Katelyn still needs to be strapped in, and Ashley can also use it) and a net swing. The set also comes with a trapeze bar, but I don't think that will be used anytime soon :)

Katelyn was beside herself with excitement when Dada came home and hooked up her new swing! We had already gone to the blue swings today with Mimi, so this was an extra bonus! Once I saw her on the swing, I knew it was the perfect gift for her. I am absolutely positive that it will be used on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Here are some pictures of Katelyn enjoying her new swing:

Ashley even got a chance to try it out when Katelyn wasn't looking ;)

What We Saw When We Started Looking...

Once we knew what to look for, the signs started jumping out at us. Since she is our first child, we just assumed that many of the signs were typical of a 2-year-old. And many of the signs ARE present in NT (neurotypical) children, but it is when you put them all together that it starts to look like autism.

There are way too many things for me to list here, but here are just a few examples of why we believe she is on the spectrum:

• Significant speech delay
• Occasionally appears deaf; does not react to her name being called; in her "own" world; she stares off into space and "has a conversation" with things that are not there, and she often will laugh at "nothing" and go into hysterics
• Self-stimulations ("stims") -- i.e. hand flapping, finger flicking, toe walking constantly, and other "odd" body movements, as well as verbal stims (suddenly saying, "Car, roll, roll, roll, hot, mama, dada, up, up, up, ding, ding, wow" and pointing all over the place)
• Perseverations (repetitive actions) -- i.e. she has an "obsession" with pointing to the stove and saying, "Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot" over and over. She also likes to go back and forth from one object to another if there is more than one of something
• Extremely visual/detail-oriented -- she will notice the smallest spec of dirt or a spot and become obsessed with it. She also is obsessed with the letter M and will find it in a pattern on the rug, the wood grain of a door, etc. She loves wheels, trains, cars, and clocks also.
• She likes to line up her toys or put them in piles and gets upset if they are not all in place.

Like I said, there are many other things as well, but this gives a rough idea. Before we knew the signs of autism, we assumed that many of her behaviors were just her being a cute 2-year-old -- the hand flapping, toe walking, saying the same word over and over and over and over. But once we started really paying attention, it became very clear.

I then pointed out these things to her Early Intervention team and her pediatrician and they agreed that she needs to be evaluated.