A threat to older children's books?

CPSIA effectively bans pre-1985 children's books from sale. I got the email from my homeschool group this morning (arti cle they sent). I'm not entirely sure what it all means, but the little research I've done says that this article is accurate -- at the very least regarding how used booksellers and libraries are responding.

It seems the problem is that before 1985 lead was used in the illustration ink of most children's books. (BTW, children's books here are defined as books for those 12 and under). Now, the government is very careful to say that these books are not banned. The government isn't telling anyone to throw out these books. They just have to get them (or a large enough sample) tested to make sure that the books don't have excessive amounts of lead.

The problem is that the government is asking for expensive tests. Most used booksellers don't make the kind of money that would allow for those expensive tests, so guess where the books go?

Summary of how things stand (to the best of my knowledge):

• "Vintage" or collectible books are safe. The government assumes only adults will be reading them.
• Library books are safe for a year so that the government can get the required testing from said libraries.
• Used booksellers either have to get the expensive tests done or chuck the books. It seems the most sane financial decision is to just chuck the books.

This is according to my research. I don't know about you, but I'm going to double-check some stuff and write to my local paper about this. The implications of this law are far more evil than I first thought when the focus was on used children's clothes.

our door and an update

Well, I finally did it. I finally got the alarm set up on one of our doors. I've explained to the kids in great detail the horrible consequences of opening the door without permission, as well as why you shouldn't go outside -- once again, without permission.

My goal with this is to eventually get our house to the point where I don't worry about having any difficulty getting outside quickly in an emergency. And where I don't worry about our two eldest wandering outside and all the dangers that might follow. I have to admit I feel much better doing this now that Sarah has memorized her full name, our address and appropriate phone numbers. She's also much better at communicating than she was even half a year ago. Rachel is almost there. She's gotten her name down and almost has our address memorized. I think between the things we've taught them and this alarm thing we're setting up, we're finally getting to the point where boundaries can be abstract instead of only physical.

Today is a good day... a good start. :)

Also, as follow up to Don't React, I can say with certainty that not reacting really does lessen the fits when they happen. Sarah is much more likely to stay calm as long as I stay calm inside. Even when she got upset this week, it didn't translate into a tantrum or mental vapor lock.

Next focus, eye contact. Will blog about that next time.

Oh, and I'm seriously considering getting some vocabulary cards for Rachel. More on that in a later post.

Conversations 2

Yesterday, Granma and my brother came by to visit. All the adults were talking when suddenly I felt someone tapping my arm and turned to see it was Sarah. She said, with full eye contact, "Excuse me. It's my turn now." She then proceeded to talk to Granma and my brother. :)

***

This isn't really a conversation, but it touched my heart so I thought I'd share. Sarah got a copy of the Book of Mormon some time ago from a teacher. Becky keeps borrowing it, so when I was at the LDS bookstore yesterday, I bought her a copy and her sister Deb a copy (she'll be reading very soon). I didn't get one for Rachel because although she seems to want to learn how to read, she's not quite there yet in her pre-reading skills (getting closer each day though).

So, last night, we gave Becky and Deb theirs. Rachel, for the first time ever, looked deeply hurt. She's been upset before when she hasn't gotten a present while others get one. This time, though, she would look at me with a deeply hurt face and quietly walk away when I was around. For the first time, she absolutely refused to be comforted.

I found a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants and gave it to her. Her face lit up and she's been quietly happy ever since.

I guess I need to step up the work on pre-reading skills. :)

disabilities.lds.org

Our church has a new website devoted to helping all its members in dealing with disabilities. On the left-hand side is a list of disabilities; autism has its own category.

I really liked the overview they gave of the challenges/differences that characterize those with autism, especially the mention of sensory overload. Church has always been a struggle for us because of the noise and crowds. We're at the point now where I feel comfortable taking the girls to Sacrament Meeting (it's my young boys I'm worried about now :). However, it took us a number of years to get to that point, and much, much patience on our part and on the part of ward members to work out a good solution for Primary (where the kids go to learn about Jesus).

I especially loved this tip for teachers. They have several but this one is the one that has helped the most both at home and church.

Provide frequent interaction and activity. It is unrealistic to expect a person with autism to sit for long periods and listen attentively. Don’t expect too much too soon. Patience, consistency, and caring will eventually bring progress.

This is a great resource, just for the information on autism alone. I would love for every member of my church, whether or not they work with someone in the spectrum, to read the information on this site.

Quick update

I've been focusing on my reaction to what the kids do and I'm seeing a difference already, the biggest difference being in my interactions with Sarah. By staying calm and talking slowly, it seems to help her keep from going into vapor lock when something upsets her. It also seems to help her be more reasonable when the answer is no. More about this on Friday.

On a somewhat different note, the rule regarding TV has really been working. One of the most fascinating things I've noticed is that when we stopped letting the kids watch during the week, my husband and I stopped watching movies at night after the kids went to bed (when we had cable it was the Daily Show/Colbert hour). Instead, we clean up whatever needs to be cleaned up, "shut down" (i.e. make sure doors/windows are locked and lights are off), and go back to our room where we write, read, play with the littlest one if he's awake, or just talk. That lasts about an hour or two at most and then we're usually in bed. Movies now are a very rare thing for us as a couple. And we don't mind it.

I mention this because it was a side-effect I didn't expect and thought others should know about.

Have to post something so...

... I shall direct you, dear reader, to these pretty flowers. We're going to make them tomorrow as a belated Valentine's Day present for Granma. She's been fantastic helping us out recently and I'm very grateful for her sacrifices. I mean, really, her time raising a family is over and yet she's willing to use her day off to help me out while I get some issues taken care of.

I hope she likes the flowers.

This is also one of those times when I wish I had a digital camera (something better than what my old phone has) so that you could see my kids' creativity in progress, especially Rachel and Sarah, who really love these kinds of projects. I'll do what I can with words.

Don't react

So, we ordered another copy of What You Can Do Right Now to Help Your Child With Autism (hereafter referred to as WYC) by Jonathan Levy, since we loaned ours out and it hasn't come back yet.

In re-reading it, I was surprised at the information I remembered and the information I'd forgotten or put at a low priority. #1 on his list, for example, isn't eye contact. It's summed up in the title of the chapter: Don't React.

Let me see if I can explain this as well as he can and in a smaller space. When a kid does something, it often gets a reaction from us. If it's something positive, we may get very excited. We may not. But if it's something negative, we always have a big reaction (compared to our usual reactions). Sometimes these reactions can be funny in a "just got hit on the foot with a hammer" kind of way.

Why is this important? Kids in the spectrum have very little control over their lives, even less most of the time than "normal" kids for many reasons. There are several ways kids in the spectrum handle this lack of control. One way is to cling to structure. Another way is to change their environment. Getting a parent to react is definitely a change in the environment and gives the kid a measure of control, especially if the parent looks like a cartoon character in the process.

So, if you want to stop a behavior, don't react. It's a huge attitude adjustment, but it definitely works.

How do I know? I started doing that this Friday. I'll try to remember to blog about the results at the end of the week. BTW, it's not like I haven't been doing this. I'd just forgotten how important it is.

It is also important to remember the other half: make sure your reactions to positive behavior are strong and big (compared to your normal reactions). In other words, you're trying to flip your reactions from negative=big, positive=normal or nonexistent to negative=normal, positive=big. (This also works with "normal" kids, btw.)

Now, that doesn't mean that you ignore the behavior. You just deal with the consequences in a matter-of-fact way. Even the extreme of hitting and other violent behaviors are dealt with in a calm manner.

Like I said, I already knew this, but I'd forgotten just how vital it is when dealing with kids on the spectrum. The flip-flop in reactions is going to be my focus this week and I'll let you know how it turns out.

Conversations

The other day I was talking to Rachel. Or, rather, she came up to talk to me.

"What you gonna make?" she asked. It's her way of asking what the next meal is going to be and, though sporadic during the day, always shows up around bedtime. This happened to be near bedtime.

"I don't know. Probably oatmeal."

"No, Mom," she replied calmly. "No oatmeal."

"Hon--"

"I hate oatmeal. How about muffins?"

A little surprised since this is the first time she's offered an alternative, I say, "I don't have any wheat sprouted yet for muffins, so we can't have them tomorrow. But we will have them sometime this week, okay?"

"Muffins?" she asked, very happy and somewhat surprised as well.

"Sometime this week," I say. "But not for tomorrow's breakfast."

"Okay, mom. Well, I going to bed now."

I blink a couple of times and mentally start analyzing the conversation. She was very engaged, very attentive, eye contact was excellent, there was about four loops in that conversation (depending on how you count it), and, most importantly, she initiated making a deal. Up to now she's only accepted them.

It was the longest, true conversation we've ever had. And I'm thrilled!

***

This one was told to me by my husband. It seems that he found one of the puzzle pieces from the Valentine's day puzzles I had bought the girls on the floor. He picked it up and, since Sarah happened to be nearby, asked, "Is this yours?"

She said, "No. That's [insert sister's name]. I'll take it to her."

And she took it from my husband's hand, found her sister and gave it to her. Once again, involved, attentive, good eye contact.

***

They keep growing more and more each day. :)

Lots of Kids and Special Needs

Just found this blog and thought I'd share. I will also be putting it in a permanent spot on this blog because I find this author so awesome.

Name: Lots of Kids and Special Needs

Update

Another illness is going through our neighborhood. A friend of mine had to cancel a visit today because of it. One of my kids is kind of sick, but they all seem to be staying healthy so far.

Rachel is now at the syllable level for the sound "ng". I've also put our speech therapy goals on 3x5 cards for both girls so that I can integrate all of them into daily activities. It's a lot to remember (each girl has 4 goals, 2 in comprehension and 2 in production) but it seems to be working while we try to get our homeschooling schedule back on track. She's starting to remember the names of colors (green, yellow, red and blue) and basic shapes.

I'm wondering how to get Sarah interested in cause and effect. She doesn't ask as many "why" and "what if" questions as her siblings at the same developmental age. I'm involving her more in my daily activities, including cooking which is a great source for "what if" and "why" questions, and asking more questions as models for her to follow, but so far I feel like I'm hitting wall. Any ideas?

Oh, yeah... and the TV is still off during the week. It's hard, but the peace in the house is sooooo worth it.

PROVE and other things

Have I mentioned this website yet? I've found it very helpful when it comes to information.

PROVE

The full name is Parents Requesting Open Vaccination Education. They're based in Texas.

While I'm on the subject of vaccines and education, I'll go off on a major tangent and talk a little about a completely unrelated topic. There's a meeting coming up in my area, sponsored by AAPS, and it's about Obama's health care plan. It sounds like a question and answer thing as well as a way of letting your concerns get heard by lobbyists -- because let's face it, that's the group that's most likely going to hear your concerns nowadays. What got to me though was the list of questions they used to "tease" people who look at the flyer (link warning... it's a .pdf).

Inside those questions, two jumped out at me: Is medical privacy a lost cause? and Will there be any doctors left?

Now, I have heard rumors that Obama's health care plan has inside it a clause that would create a gigantic medical records database, with no opt-out and accessible to anyone without the patient's permission. I believe these rumors because Google is almost there (see Google Health as well as this post and this article from Wired), though obviously with many more restrictions. I can believe that Google and other big database players, along with many corporations, are trying to change things to make such a database even more profita... I mean, useful. ;)

There's a reason medical records are private. They're just too valuable. I don't think I need to go into all the reasons... I'm sure you'll think of them if you try.

As for the question of doctors, there was some news not too long ago that said GP's are considering dropping out of practice and moving to different fields or out of health care altogether. A woman I know who's studying to be a midwife said some are planning on becoming nurses since the only difference between a GP and a nurse at this point is that a nurse can't perform surgery. Nurses don't have to carry malpractice insurance because they're often under a doctor or specialist and the specialists can afford the insurance.

So, the choice for doctors? Become a specialist or a nurse. From what I'm hearing, it's the only way to survive financially.

Or maybe study computers and start selling medical records online. :P :)

I'm just not sure how Obama's health care plan will get rid of them. I guess I'll have to research this (if I can) during the week. At least I have this blog here to remind me.