Spacey boy...and bye bye cars!

Hey, all!

Well, got a couple things to update on...so let's get to it!

Ben was very spacey (on & off) last week. He seemed sleepy and would "zone out" every now and then for a few seconds. We could usually snap him out of it, so I wasn't very concerned that the spells were absent seizures (maybe just a little.) Anyway, long story short, I decided it was probably the new probiotic. Sure enough, we stopped giving it to him and haven't seen the problem since.

So, I think I've tried to give him just about every probiotic known to man. He just doesn't seem to tolerate them. I have one left to try and that is Kirkman's acidophilus. It has just one simple strain of probiotic. And, Kirkman is USUALLY very good about keeping their products pure. Which brings me to my next topic...

Kirkman Labs, the company we get many of Ben's supplements from, recalled a few of their products last week. Apparently, they found out that their stevia supplier was not testing for toxins. Their own tests revealed high levels of antimony (similar to lead). Unfortunately, Ben uses two of these "tainted" products daily. So, of course, we stopped them immediately and are awaiting for instructions from Dr. Linsk to see how worried we need to be about this. I'm choosing not to freak out just yet. :o) I am very glad that Kirkman had the courage to be up front about this and do a voluntary recall.

Finally, we decided it was time to say bye bye to the bucket of toy cars. Ben has always been attached to his cars, as many of you know. And, he has a tendency to fixate on them and create routines that center around them. The problem then becomes that the routine builds until it is too much even for him (and certainly for us) to fulfill every day. It actually increases his anxiety trying to get everything "just right". It has been the source of a few tantrums. So, one day while he was at school, I packed them away. We also organized the toy room so that it is much easier to access ALL the toys. This may seem wrong to some of my fellow autism parents, because we are told to make toys difficult to get at so the children need to ask for our help. However, Ben is great at asking for help when needed. AND, having things packed up just meant out of sight, out of mind in our house. The result is that we played with the same toys over and over, day after day (even Jeremy and I were guilty of this during floortime.)

So, now the cars are gone and many other new toys are easily accessible. And, guess what? Ben is LOVING IT! He seemed RELIEVED that the cars were gone!!! He looks for them every now and then and I just say "they are gone" and he smiles and finds something else to do! And, he has shown so much more interest in other activities and toys!! It's been GREAT!!! Makes floortime easier, more productive and more fun!! Woo hoo!! One of his current favorites is the microphone shown in the picture above. What a great toy. There are lights on the base that flash at the sound of your voice...makes talking into it very reinforcing for Ben!! He and Noah had a great time playing with the musically toys that day. See this link for more pictures...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050359&id=1440075624&l=baf50e0638

So, things are back on track for now. The next step is to stop his biotin for a couple days, and try the topical vitamins Dr. Linsk recommended. If our suspicions are correct, they will make him stinky (see previous post), but adding the biotin back in will help with that. We shall see! After that is underway, we are going to do some serious potty training!

Well, I better go! I have silent auction/spaghetti dinner stuff to do! Hope everyone is well!!

Love,
Julie