Interesting article
February 20, 2011 By
Sports and other activities when ASD
February 15, 2011 By
I’m friends with some women on The MamaSphere where we talk about all our childre. Most of the mom’s on the board have only normally developing childre, but a few do have kids with special needs. Today they were talking about how their kids are doing and a lot mentioned that their children are signed up for some sort of sport this spring. We have never really tried sports since Matthew has always had hypotonia and focus issues. But now that he is a bit older and has taken yoga privately for a while I thought maybe I’d look into a class for him. I am not sure a group activity such as soccer is the best idea but I though karate might work. I called a karate place and after talking to the instructor I’m unsure. The do have a high ratio of instructors to students, which is a plus, but I am not feeling really sure.
Then I decided to look into music. Maybe. Argh! I don’t know what to do. I want to give him opportunities, but I don’t want him to be lost in the class. What to do?
Stay well.
Pill Swallowing
February 9, 2011 By
Matthew takes a lot of supplements to stay healthy. I counted 13 doses in just his morning medicines. As you can imagine trying to get all those supplements in a child can be difficult to say the least. But Matthew is a real trooper. In general he doesn’t complain, but really, there wasn’t much chance of making it a pleasant experience while he still couldn’t swallow pills. I would have to order his supplements in powder form or in tablets that could crushed or capsules that could be opened. Then I would have to mix them in some sort of carrier. We tried applesauce and eventually a rice milk custard to mix the powders in and deliver it in the most palatable way. But it isn’t the most ideal method. And frankly, it can taste plain bad depending on what is in the mix.
I went to a pill swallowing clinic at the ARI (formerly DAN!) conference and although they had great ideas, they just didn’t work with Matthew. We were supposed to start out with small, dissolvable candies such as sprinkles ( AKA jimmies in my neck of the woods) and have him swallow them with water working our way up to regular pills. It just didn’t work for us. Then one of my mom friends told me how they got her daughter to take pills and capsules; hide them in a spoon full of applesauce and her daughter would just swallow them down. So we started there with the smaller pills. It worked! Matthew is pretty smart and pretty “with it”, so he started to ask questions about what he was doing and if he could try the larger pills. That became our preferred method for medicine delivery. Until the other night when his father suggested he try swallowing some of the pills with water. He did it with no problem. I couldn’t believe it. Now he is taking some medicine with water, some with applesauce and the item we still have in powder form mixed in pudding. Those powders will be eliminated as we need to reorder. I’ll just get them in capsule form from now on.
It is really worth a try to get your child to take pills. Maybe my method will work for you too. Stay well.
My Go To Salad Dessing
February 8, 2011 By
I like salads, but I was never much of a bottled salad dressing kind of girl. And for some reason I always thought salad dressings would be hard to make from scratch. So I didn’t eat a ton of salads at home. I always waited to go out and get some yummy concoction that for some reason eluded me at home. Then I found this GFCF recipe. It may not be for everyone, my husband doesn’t really care for it, but he is more of a savory salad dressing kind of guy, but I think it is pretty darn good. I especially like it over spinach with dried cranberries, a little grilled chicken and if you allow dairy, something like a feta would be yum.
Celery Seed Dressing
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon prepared mustard of your choice
1/2 cup salad oil – don’t use something with a strong flavor
1/4 cup white vinegar – I have also used cider vinegar in a pinch
1 or more teaspoons celery seed – NOT salt. I like a lot of celery seed and use more than the 1 teaspoon
Combine all ingredients except for the celery seed in a saucepan. Heat at low temperature, this is critical. If you heat at a high temp the dressing will break. Stir to blend until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add celery seeds, stir to combine. Let cool to room temperature and put in glass container, I use a jelly jar. Chill in fridge. Shake before using. Dressing keeps for 2 to 3 weeks in refrigerator.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. I guess I’m looking forward to warm weather and fresh salad greens from our CSA.
