Thirding this. I've been in a lot of sessions with two of my kids, and it's pretty rare that they say something I haven't already read and already know. It gets tiring to hear things said as if they will be revelatory when they seem common knowledge and obvious. I think someting outside the box sounds worth a try, otherwise I also second the suggesting to find someone PhD level and I also recommend seeing if you can find DBT. It is very different from any kind of "talk" therapy and I think works well for people with very logical minds.

What about The Penderwicks? The baby is 4 for most of the series, but starts as a baby in the first one. My kids love those and say the sibling dynamics are spot on.

I like that chair a lot. That’s a bummer it’s not comfortable.

We might need a s/o thread for this, because your usage above is totally normal to me, but @Penelope's "exposure is incredibly rare anymore." is totally different and not a way I use it (though I have heard it from others occasionally). But I'm trying to figure out why those two are different to me. They definitely are (to me), but why? Thinking I should diagram them both and see if that tells me 😁. Oh! I might have figured it out. I think I only use anymore and it only sounds normal to me when used with a negative. So, Aldi never has almonds anymore sounds right. Aldi has almonds anymore doesn't sound right. Exposure is not rare anymore=sounds right. Exposure is rare anymore=sounds wrong.

What don’t you like about your West Elm chair? I i’m considering one from there as well.

It seems like it’s likely a result of delta now predominant plus government removing restrictions and opening everything up. They have had a “controlled spread” approach, so may still be doing that. Their elderly have a decent vaccination rate (not as high as UK or many well vaccinated parts of US), but apparently their nightclubs and bars are now full. That will mean a lot of infections in younger people. I started wondering if their positivity rate has changed, since they are requiring test for entry many places and that’s going to increase the absolute number of cases, and it appears that positivity is increasing, but not nearly as much as the absolute case numbers might suggest: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/07/positive-coronavirus-tests-surge-by-178-since-last-week/.

How many active cases does NSW have? I was surprised to see they have enough to have 37 in the hospital.

There are a lot of indications from real world studies that masking clearly and significantly reduces transmission. There was another good one just this past week or so. I'll post it when I come across it again.

This sounds like a good plan. I also have to remind myself that it's a different situation in Australia than here (and hopefully will stay that way). I would feel okay in the scenario quoted.

You may find some helpful resources here: https://www.parentsunited.net/freshairschools-template-letter-to-councillors-and-mps/ Air cleaners, co2 monitors, doors and windows open and outside as much as possible. eta: this page from that site has some low cost solutions: https://www.parentsunited.net/category/low-cost-solutions/

I’ve heard some people have managed to have it done, but others have been told no because it’s not CDC recommended yet. Hopefully they will remedy that, because we have enough vaccine and it’s looking like a good idea. (I wouldn’t expect insurance to come into it, since the shots are free and you don’t have to provide insurance information if you don’t want to.)

I hope so as well, but I think vaccinated people who have a breakthrough case would be even more likely to be asymptomatic, so as it has been throughout the pandemic, masking by “healthy” people indoors is to prevent transmission if it turns out they’re actually contagious and don’t realize it.

Fauci’s statement several days ago about 99.2% of US Covid deaths in June being unvaccinated people made me really sad, thinking how many people that was that didn’t need to die, just in that one month. And now it also makes me mad when I continue to see people spreading anti-vax propaganda, which is killing people. When you calculate it out that’s about 8,856 people in the US who died in June who would still be alive if they had gotten their vaccine . That’s why it’s hard for me to just shrug and say to each their own when people spread lies about the vaccine being dangerous.

I continue to mask in indoor public places. I don't know exactly when I will feel like it's appropriate not to, but I expect it will be something to do with my younger kids being vaccinated and/or enough of the population to be vaccinated or have been infected that it's no longer circulating widely. With the pattern that's being seen with delta transmission right now, I don't trust that I wouldn't pick up delta and be able to transmit it to my kids or elderly parents, even if I don't get sick (or very sick) myself. I don't want to do that. I don't know why the expectation is that most of us will get it eventually. We don't expect that with measles or mumps or hep B or chicken pox or all kinds of diseases once we are vaccinated. Initially, we thought the Covid vaccines were unlikely to be good enough to prevent disease the way those vaccines typically do, and that we would have to settle for being less ill (more like flu vaccines), but with the efficacy of these vaccines, and considering the risks of long covid and other long term unknowns, it seems a worthwhile and attainable goal to strive for.

I’m wondering where all these people were and all the outcry when the schools were adopting crappy math and reading programs that don’t work? It would be easier to take them seriously if they were upset about that, too. This part shows the actual issue: “Curtis acknowledges that Loudoun has not added critical race theory to its curriculum as a subject to be taught. But she said she finds it deeply worrying that the school system is using “overlapping vocabulary” — including terms such as white supremacy and systemic racism — which she believes is shaping the learning environment.” So, she’s acknowledging that CRT isn’t being taught, but is very concerned because they are using terms like “white supremacy” and “systemic racism.” I can agree that these terms would be too much for kindergartners, but 5th graders should be able to know what white supremacy is, and 8th graders should certainly be able to discuss systemic racism. What kind of education are the kids getting if they can’t even use terms like that? Like so many things, the whole argument lacks nuance. If the parents want to work with the school district at making this age appropriate, this would seem less disingenuous. The fact that for some reason transgender issues are wrapped up in the same protests makes it all the more seem like it’s not about what they say it’s about.

Study of 1/4 dose of Moderna vaccine (25ug rather than 100). Looks promising (which is on surprising, given the Pfizer uses 30) https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.30.21259787v1

I’m seeing that the household attack rate of delta appears super high (I’ve seen several places lately say that it’s 100%, but I don’t believe that, because nothing is 100% like that. It does seem that there are far more of these outbreaks where everyone unvaccinated in a household or workplace or whatever getting it.) A sleepover camp seems basically like a household as far as attack rates would go.

I’m seeing a lot of uncertainty about the basis and veracity of the 64% number. There doesn’t seem to be information on where that number comes from.

You have really encouraged me. And if each mental health diagnosis counted separately, my dd would qualify that way as well. The idea of someone helping us in this way sounds amazing. I think our biggest barrier is whether dd will balk at the whole idea. Right now, she does not want to work (she used to work in the past) and shuts down if we try to bring up taking steps in that direction. She truly is capable of it though. It’s a mental health and motivation issue, not one of being unable to do any number of jobs.

Your ds is the one I was thinking of, then. That makes me hopeful that this could be the right direction for my dd, because your son seems a lot more functional than she is, so if he still qualified for services, I’m hopeful that she will. Mine hasn’t managed to complete a high school diploma yet, so that’s a big thing. It’s in progress, but extremely slow because she can only handle one class at a time. Like your ds (iirc), she’s highly intelligent, but she has some serious mental health issues in addition to the ASD, and lacks any desire to work or be independent. She doesn’t want to do anything that would require her to interact with other people, but I think would really help her a lot if she did, and that she would end up being glad for it.

Looking at the camp’s Covid guidelines on their website, looks like their primary focus was on hand and surface hygiene. I thought it was interesting that they request people limit their contact with others for 14 days before and after going to camp; I expect not many are following that, but it at least suggests they have an awareness that people could come home from camp contagious.

Wow. Had I known that was a possibility, I would have tried that route before having redone testing just a few months ago to the tune of $4000 we still haven’t gotten any insurance reimbursement for 😳. I’ve also just discovered some VR services in concert with the state through a local CC. It looks like if she wouldn’t get help through the state due to the waitlists, the CC route could be good, if she’s willing to do it. Is this a ds who started college and then was unable to continue due to ASD related issues? (There are two posters with sons on the spectrum I sometimes confuse). Was your ds a willing participant in all this? Like, did he want to be able to work?

There is a waitlist for those with less than 3.

Fauci gave some encouraging statistics on the vaccines today, though it makes it all the sadder that so many people continue to die who didn’t have to: Fauci in an interview published today: Fauci told NBC that of nearly 10,000 US deaths in June, “about 99.2% are unvaccinated. About 0.8% are vaccinated. No vaccine is perfect. But when you talk about the avoidability of hospitalisation and death, it’s really sad and tragic that most of these are avoidable and preventable.” Eta: Sorry, I just realized this is Tiggywinkle’s prayers thread, and not the coronavirus thread. I got my threads confused. I can remove if inappropriate here.

Yay! Congrats! Usually, people’s pregnancies online seem to go by really fast for me. For some reason I feel like your sister-in-law was pregnant forever, though! 😂