I plan to do some work this summer with both kids. DD will just be reading, handwriting, multiplication, ASL, and the Latin songs I just got. DS, on the other hand has spent 2 horrid years in PS and I truly have no idea where he is. We do hooked on phonics, but he seems to be stuck and unwilling to try. He's doing the beginning of the 1st grade level. For math in school he's been using Everyday math and it's a joke. I started Kindergarten level A singapore with him, but he's getting stuck on basic concepts like sorting. His handwriting is horrible, but that can wait until we know why (his cerebellum is low, and we're waiting to find out if it is low enough to cause issue anywhere). His language is fairly delayed. Right now we're working on playing Guess Who? but it's a very slow process. He loves learning ASL. Just looking for some overall advice. I want to have high expectations of him, but I don't want him to shut down either. He's 6 with an October bday, and soon finishing 1st grade in school. If it matters, due to his bday he will be in 1st next year when we do the cyber school.

Same here, except our modem constantly has to be reset, so I get to send DD up the stairs to do so! So many exercise possibilities over here! LOL.

5 years from now ... DD will be 15 :svengo: and hopefully puberty will show some positive changes with her autism (I've been told that kids can "get better" or "get worse" with puberty). She'll be happily homeschooled or cyber schooled. DS will be 10 and probably bigger than me. He'll be properly diagnosed both medically and psychologically/neurologically, and we'll have everything managed. He'll magically have developed some respect for females including his sister and myself. He'll be able to express himself without getting too angry. He'll be on target or higher than a 4th-5th grade level in all academics. He'll also be happily homeschooled or cyber schooled. I'll tattoo a smile on him if I have to! :glare: Me- At the very least I'll know whether I want to go for nursing and become a prehospital nurse or a medic, or possibly back in school for peds OT. By then, the kids should be behaved enough that I can get a sitter and at least volunteer with my brandy-new EMT certification. Well, it isn't going to be new by then.

Thank you all for the replies!

I dealt with a true life threatening allergy with my son for years. He could not tolerate any amount of dairy in any form. Because my ds was so severe in his reactions, I chose to not have any dairy in our home. Both kids still choose to not drink milk. DD loves dark chocolate almond milk, and ds drink vanilla soy milk. There are different proteins in dairy, and while they can't be completely separated, in some foods one protein may be "stronger" (for lack of any words at the moment) than another and your ds may tolerate x protein but not y protein. I hope I'm making a little sense here! I guess I'm attempting to say that yes it is possible to have "issues" with one type of dairy and not another. I would also not think it is a ture allergy. I would honestly just go with what works. If he's fine on soy milk, and can tolerate yogurts and cheeses, then stay that way. Of course always check with your Dr.

My ds had a life threatening allergy to milk for about 3 years, so until recently it wasn't an issue. A lot of foods still give him an upset belly, but nothing epi-pen worthy thankfully. My dd has oral sensory problems and always has stuff in her mouth, and is getting a bit heavy. I didn't mean to sound contradictory. I don't want to seem like I'm judging another parent for a constant flow of cupcakes, soda, and sunny-d ('cause I'm really, really, not, but I realize it doesn't matter how I say it it still seems judging!), but this stuff will have my kiddos in the bathroom for a long time. Seriously not kidding. DD already has a stack of preferred toilet reading! This whole friends thing is new for us. My kids do not make friends easiely, and usually do not care to play with other kids. I do feel strongly about food/drinks for many reasons, but do not want to hinder this first time non-related friendship. Between their ages and issues, unfortunately they do not recognize that (certain) foods = pain. I think we'll just work on saying "no thank you, I already have ____."

My kids play with a little girl on our block frequently, and I sometimes see them with some type of snack or drink that I would prefer them not to have. It's not "bad" stuff, but still stuff we don't keep in the house. Both kids have social problems (mild autism). How do I go about teaching them to refuse things without being rude? I certainly do not want to come across as "I don't allow them to eat/drink that stuff!" LOL. I need to throw in a self control lesson as well. I know they would like to have that stuff, but if it isn't around, they are more than happy choosing a piece of fruit, and a bottle of water. Far from perfect here, I just like knowing my kids put better things IN their mouths than what comes OUT!

The hardest thing is expecting to go from crazy to perfectly organized overnight. Start with one thing at a time. In my case it was dishes and hooked on phonics with DS (ok, I realize that's 2 things, but 1 in each area). It does not matter what goes on during the day or night, I will do the dishes before bed! I've only missed one night in the past 2 weeks. DS and I do HOP before 6pm every day. Since there's a time on it, I actually feel guilty if we start late! LOL. Once you get a thing or 2 going, you'll learn what works best for your family.

I would have him checked medically. My asthmatic son drinks a TON. So much so that his blood sugar has been tested because the Doc was concerned about diabetes.

HAving gone through a CPS issue, I will say call! CPS is not really out to take kids. Their purpose is to help families and they like to PREVENT removal (I know there have been plenty of exceptions to this rule). They could offer counseling, in home parent training, referrals for the baby's health, etc. I don't think I would see it as a bad thing. Make the call and hopefully they will help the family and help the mom get back on her feet.

:party::party: That's awesome!!

How I didn't know this is beyond me ... but PA compulsory attendance is age 8?!?!?! Does that mean I can just pull him from school? I would love to homeschool him, and being able to do so freely for a couple years would be great! If I do this, we'd have to start behavioral boot camp at home! LOL.

Thank you again! Yes he is fairly high functioning. He is very verbal, and can have conversations, but his communication is very poor. I have to hit the right topic for him to start talking. At thye same time, I don't want to put ideas in his head. He's much better at matter-of-fact and routine conversations, like telling me what he did in OT vs what he did at recess. Anytime I've applied behavior strategies geared towards autistic kids, he responds better than things geared towards ADHD, ODD, typical, etc. I think I need to try a mix of your ideas. He needs to understand that he can't grab or try to grab impulsively, but ignore it when he does it to me. His TV watching is also now restricted to Signing time only. He never had a problem understanding that something on TV was inappropriate and was not to be repeated, but once he saw real kids in school doing/saying things he knew from TV it went downhill.

Thank you for the advice!

I'm getting soooooo close to pulling him from school NOW! He has an IEP, and is classified autistic, but no one "sees" it. So basically he's treated as a typical kid. In a typical class with other typical kids. He just told me that him and another boy in his class think that a girl in their school is "hot!" These are 1st grade boys!!! I've never felt it was a huge deal that he used my chest for attention. I would simply move his hands and put them around my waist. As soon as the behavior therapist made it a big deal, he did it more, and now to other people. I think he needs someone trained in ABA, or no therapy at all!

My son is 6, and has never been very respectful to begin with, but with some recent drama he has become breast obsessed. If it were just me, I'd continue to not react so much, but he started making comments to the woman who works with him at home. They were talking about personal space, so she went right up to him and asked if she was invading his space. All he said was "your boobs are big." He refused to talk about space, and kept making boob comments (her chest is at his eye level). This is NOT his biggest problem. However, the topic of breasts and nudity has unfortunately been spoken of a lot lately. I'm 90% sure that if his behavior of pinching my breast for attention wasn't made that big of a deal, he wouldn't be doing this. He's not a typical kid. He's mildly autistic and severly ADHD. Most of his comments and behaviors happen when he's tired and overly impulsive. Time out is a joke with him. Until his pinching behavior gained "publicity," he KNEW never, ever, ever touch or attempt to touch a woman's breasts (mom's different, and it was attention seeking). But now he has 2 more females in the house working with him, and this is becomming an issue. We need to go back to working on verbal expression, feelings and emotions ... HELP PLEASE!!! :confused:

I'd give her a bottle as long as she wants! As for teeth and language, a sippy cup is the same as a bottle but it looks better. My 6 year old is on 5 pediasure per day and he wanted a sippy cup, with a squishy top, almost like a bottle nipple. Anyway, he's got his sippy, takes the pediasure and has put back on 5ish lbs.

I was going to say delays as well. Both of mine have some issues, but my daughter is generally happy. My 6 yo ds is the negative one. He's "hates" everything. Newest is hating life and wishing he was never born (**He DOES have behavioral help, and these terms are copied, not his "true" thoughts). He is still in regular PS, and they are finally evaluating him for math issues. This is something I've been up their butts about since August, and a huge source of tantrums at home! Anyway, our experience has always been that something is in the way. His biggest obstacle is his language. When he's mad at his sister, instead of saying he wants time alone, he starts screaming that he wishes she were dead. (another disclaimer: That phrase ended real fast. I allowed him to tell me that dd was being annoying, but made it clear that he was not allowed to say that. We also knew from the first time he said it, that he didn't mean it. It was just the fastest thing that would come out).

My dd used to do this a LOT. I had her food allergy tested and she was high positive to dairy and tomato, Cut both, reintroduced each carefully, and found out it was due to tomato products. She was off tomato for about a year and has been fine since. It could also be reflux, or another GI disorder, a tic, a sensory thing, etc., ...

Please excuse anything that may come across the wrong way, i don't intend it to; For yourself, I'd try anything you wanted to, but for your ds, I'd go with whatever a pediatric pulmonologist says. Asthma is a chronic airway disease. By not medicating, you're limiting what he can do. Inhaled steroids are not that bad at all. By taking a daily medication, he will most likely avoid harsh reactions to his triggers. The meds also help to keep his lungs healthy, so that if he ever outgrows, his lungs are not destroyed by the asthma. If cold air is a big trigger, he'd probably be on lower doses during warmer weather, and higher in the colder weather to prevent acute attacks. My 6 year old has had asthma since he was an infant. On daily meds (advair 45/21 when well, 115/21 when sick) he's a normal kid. He can run around all day, no coughing, no night coughing, etc. When he's not on the right dose, he has to take a break very often. This is very, very hyperactive little boy, and his asthma only makes it worse. And by taking daily inhaled steroids, he avoids a lot of oral steroids. My ds was also anaphylactic to ALL dairy products for 4 years, so he obviously avoided all forms of all dairy, and it never made a difference in his asthma. His asthma is what put him at a higher risk for anaphylaxis. http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/asthma/index.aspx

I'm not going to say whether or not it's normal, but I'm basically the same. Day one is "just" a period. 2- same. 3 is insane, pad and tampon. 4 back to normal. 5 normal. 6 it disappears. 7 it's back. over by 7.5-8 days. I think the biggest thing would be how you feel during it.

I would think reading anything is better than nothing, no? My dd has read nearly all of the Goosebumps books. The Magic Treehouse series is supposed have an historical theme; I've only read 1 to ds so far. He prefers the How to Train your Dragon series.

If you have an exercise ball, they can do "superman" poses on their belly across the ball for strengthening. My little man is a low tone/strength kid; let me know if you want more ideas...

DS has some behavioral issues, so everytime I try and mention that something *is* happening at school, it gets passed off as "a home behavior problem". I've gone to the principal who always passes it off to the teacher. Teacher changes the subject to say how wonderful, sweet, and well behaved my son is (great to hear...but MY kid?!? really! lol), without ever considering that she is missing signs of frustration. The OT did give me some ideas, but comments how well he transitions INTO therapy; she leaves out that it is a struggle to get him back to class. Basically, all of the adults in DS's school life claim to see no issue and it must be *my fault* that he tantrums right off the bus.

I decided to call my neighbor who has gone through every educational system with his 2 kids; HSing, PS, cyber school, etc. His oldest is an honor student at a private boarding school (high school), and his younger is 1/2 private cyber (same one we're going to use) and 1/2 HmSc. He's also my father's age. He said he would love to have dinner with us on that night. This isn't going to happen until June-ish, when the kids are registered and tested. Neighbor is also very mellow and laid back, so hopefully can help keep the mood positive. Before "the meeting" he wants details of my kids placements (which is fine by me) so he has info specific to us. After "the meeting" I will not allow any debate over this. Either be supportive, or be mute!