Yikes, I hope you feel better soon! I would be nervous to wait on the urgent care, in case things get worse after 5pm (that always happens to me).

Sunscreen should be the last resort after staying in the shade, covering up (or wearing SPF swim gear), hats, etc. Sunscreens prevent sunburn, but they can also have negative effects because of the other ingredients. Stressful! I wish there was a mineral sunscreen that could be used on the face that isn't super thick and white.

Hooray!! That's awesome! I'll have to go check out that book ? He may also like the first Boxcar Children book. It says it's 3rd grade level, but my late 1st-early 2nd grade readers can handle it ?

Oh wow! I can't imagine anyone I know doing anything remotely like that. If it were me, I'd be extremely uncomfortable, but even so, would say something like what others have suggested. Would saying something simple and clear over email be easier? (Or is that too wussy?)

There are so many more GF products these days than 10 years ago. It's great! Many of them have strange ingredients, though, so I'd stick with the "least weird" versions of everything ? If she can have eggs, she can use a GF mix to make any baked goods, and they turn out really well. College food really depends on the college. I was at a relative's college graduation a few years ago, and their dining hall had a completely GF breakfast station (even with almondmilk), and the GF things were clearly labeled in the main areas. Their GF pans and utensils used for serving were a special color (neat!). They did have the disclaimer that they couldn't be 100% sure of cross contamination. If you DD really needs ZERO cross contamination, she might need to cook main dishes at home, and then have prepackaged things at school (cereal, milk, fruit , salad bar, etc.).

If I were you, I'd keep touring autism schools in your area. At my private school for kids with learning disabilities, we have potential students do a 3-day visit. After that, the faculty meets and either decide to recommend admission, or not. The admissions person then meets with the parents and talks about everything. In my experience, parents can get a LOT just out of that conversation, even if the child doesn't enroll. The application fee is irritating, but if it's a good school and you think their people would spend a lot of time with you, it could be worth it. They also might be able to give you some good leads on what to do on your own.

Lands End for me too, although not $20. They definitely last a long time, though!

It would be amazing if ice cream cravings were satisfied by full-fat ice cream, when she's been using the artificially sweetened ones to avoid gaining weight. OP, let us know if that works! (if you try it.) I was just feeling really blah and tired and something yesterday... and I bought a chocolate milk for the first time in forever. I haven't even been eating dairy for months! It really satisfied whatever was going on though. My other choice was a greek yogurt. OP, vanilla greek yogurt is thick, creamy, and sweet, and like someone else suggested, might be an acceptable substitute for ice cream :)

Yay!!!!

I haven't yet been brave enough to pay student loans with a credit card, but I really should start. I could get a lot of rewards doing that! I just know that I'm really disorganized and forgetful with money stuff, so I don't really trust myself... even with auto pay, I feel like I could mess it up somehow!

Definitely go for it! Happy 50th!

Ugh, that could be really bad, especially with things like loan payments... scary.

Sending you millions of hugs. <3

Whew, what a whirlwind! I understand about driving yourself crazy thinking about something too much... right there with ya right now. I'm not sure if this is an option, but could he take a few months break from church? It sounds like you've got a lot of good stuff going on with supplements, getting new evals, etc... maybe your brain needs time to process everything you've been doing lately. Sorry if that sounds lame, but just reading what you've been writing, you sound like you could use a breather :-)

I'm going to try anyway, but you're probably right. I guess I'm staying put another year :(

I know we've got some teachers on this board - maybe someone can help me out. I'm a private school teacher, but I recently got a job offer at a public school in a GREAT area. The job would require a move that my DH and I are completely willing to do, but it would require him to quit his job (as the breadwinner) and look for work. The job itself is no great loss, because he doesn't really enjoy it, but the money is hard to give up. We could make things work for a few months (say, 6 months) if we have to dip into our savings a little, but we wouldn't want to have to quickly drain the savings that we've worked 10 years to build up. I'm so conflicted, sigh. The salary the school offered me is not too bad as far as teaching salaries in this state go, but it's just not enough that I'd feel comfortable moving and having DH quit his job. We've been really poor before, and it was extremely stressful. On the other hand, his current job is often extremely stressful, too. I know he'd find another job... eventually... but it's the interim that's scary. Rent, food, student loans, etc. all add up really fast. Is it possible to negotiate a public school teacher salary? Most of what I read online says "no." The school placed me correctly on the salary schedule, and it's more than what I earn now in private school by a few thousand dollars, but it's just not enough. My head is going in circles!

Did your doc check B12? The acceptable range in this country is WAY below what other countries have. Even if it's "normal" on your lab work, it could be way too low. You could buy some at the grocery store - get the sublingual kind that dissolves under your tongue. It's really cheap, and could possibly help! It helped my fatigue a lot a couple years ago.

I'm interested to hear how it goes! Sending everyone an article is a good idea :)

I would definitely ask for a meeting to discuss how to best support your son - and if they are wishy washy about that, or if you have the meeting but people aren't willing to help - then I'd go somewhere new. After all of your experiences with good and not-good providers, you know that life's too short to waste on a bad situation. If you really really love the church, that's one thing, but if you're not that attached, you might be better off going somewhere else.

The social eating is the hardest for me, and I'm just gluten-free. But my DH can't have gluten, eggs, dairy, or nightshades. We can eat just fine at home, but it's really tough when you want to go out to dinner with friends or have some event at work. I usually try to bring something to share that I can eat, and I also eat before/after the event.

Yes, this exactly! All of our students are also exempt from the state testing, thank goodness. I can't even imagine what a disaster and morale-killer that would be. The attitude here seems to be, let's do MAP to give a number to the school districts, because they're funding the students and so need some sort of "real" testing. Our school kind of wants students to do their best, and kind of doesn't care, I think, because we know that the test isn't really appropriate for our kids. One small example of that is something as simple as the font size of the reading passages. Even passages at the first grade level are in 12 point, times new roman font, and it looks REALLY intimidating on the screen. My students take one glance and say no way, not gonna happen! That annoys me because I know they COULD read the first grade passage, but emotionally, when they see that screen with the tiny font and it looks scarier than it is, they can't. We do have individual learning plans for each student with measurable goals, and accommodations. I'm actually not sure what would happen if "multiplication chart" would be put on there as an accommodation.... if that would mean they get it in the MAP. I suspect not. The accommodations are mostly for when the kids transfer back to their public schools, as a way to get them the best possible IEP when they go back. Since our school is so small and kids get what they need in every way, in class, basically... this testing seems to be the one place where things go south. The admin think it's no big deal because it's just one test, twice a year, that takes an hour or two in reading and math. No big deal, right? But to me, supports should be in place ALL the time, no matter if the situation is "no big deal." I can tell you that seeing a challenging multiplication problem that you CAN do easily with a chart, and then can't do at all without it, IS a big deal to my 10 year olds.

Yes, that site is where this whole kettle of fish started. Nobody had mentioned calculators or math charts, but seeing that list is what got me on a tear. MAP says they don't allow or disallow any accommodations, but schools should check their local and state regulations.

In that case, I guess my beef is with the draconian process of testing kids with learning disabilities using tests made for typical students. I get that we need to measure them against their typical peers to get data... maybe. I wish there was an achievement test specifically for LD kids that was easy to administer, like MAP, could give growth results and identify areas of need, like MAP.... but didn't have the need to measure them against their peers.

Do you know if students with IEPs would be allowed to use a chart? All of the students in my school have at least one documented learning disability, and some have many disabilities.

Thanks, Lecka. You're right that MAP isn't so bad as tests go, and yes, it does adjust to kids if they get questions wrong. The issue I have is that let's say he gets something like 13 x 7 wrong, it'll give him something easier like 6 x 9. If he still gets that wrong, maybe he doesn't get any more multiplication. I like that it adjusts - but since he CAN do these problems with a chart, it bugs me that he'll get bumped down in difficulty when in reality he COULD get 13 x 7 right, and then should get bumped UP to something like 24 x 58. He might then get that wrong, but I don't want the test to show that he's got a low calculation score when really he does quite well. With MAP, teachers get an overall score that is MAP-specific, and we also get the student's score in relation to other students all over the country. We also get a ranking in four different categories, with labels like "low," "average," "high average," etc. The categories are numbers/operations, geometry, algebraic concepts, measurement/data. I'm just bugged by the whole thing. I'm not in a public school, so we kind of "do our own thing" which is usually awesome, but in this case is bothering me. Someone should know exactly what the rules are, and what accommodations are potentially allowed.