Danielle's Daily Life Blog

Playing with fabric

2012-01-31T21:46:00.000-08:00

More experimenting with my sewing, altering, and design abilities this evening. Annalise wants to do everything I do. Here she is in the process of cutting up a scrap of something I messed up on. She's so serious about being just like Mommy! Tomorrow, no more playing and back to seriousness. I need to get as excited about school as I was before it actually started.

Annalise helped me cut a sleeve off of a t shirt to make a halter. Yes it was nervewracking to watch her with my scissors. But I was right there and she can't learn if I don't let her try things.

Religion of Early Childhood

2012-01-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

I almost never blog about my religious history. Both of my parents were children of Greek immigrants, and when I was little, we went to church in the Eastern Orthodox denomination. Then, when I was in 8th grade, my parents transfered me to a Christian school affiliated with a Baptist church. Remember the Master Bator? That was the school I attended where I rode the saved/unsaved/saved/was-never-really-saved/saved again/not saved roller coaster.

In the Orthodox church, I never went to Sunday school. I don't really have a clear answer as to why. I think I asked my mom twice in my life why, and she gave me three different answers. The services were all ritual and chanting, so I never understood any of it. I had never even heard of salvation until I got into 8th grade, and of course, there I was taught that my parents' denomination was not really Christian and doomed to hell.

This evening, one of my facebook friends posted this youtube video about salvation according to Eastern Orthodox Christians. It's nice. Funny- I was raised Orthodox, and yet I have never heard this teaching. It's a pretty basic teaching, too. A lot of the images and the voice reminds me of myself. All of our religious lives, even if we are totally devoted to one religion, even if we are atheists or scientists or raised in two religions or admit we believe a little of everything- we all have our own religious mosaics. This is just one piece of mine. Nothing can ever capture the whole, but what a nice piece that I never really knew was there.

Children's Org. Monday- The Laura Recovery Center

2012-01-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

I did not forget my goal to blog children's organizations every Monday! It's been a hell of a day, with FINALLY learning new things in Spanish class and being told I am a child abuser for being a working mother, and ending with CPR and first Aid class (thank God for CPR and first aid teachers that can also be stand up comics the whole time- I would not have survived that class if she didn't have us in stitches like she did.)

The Laura Recovery Center's main objective is to serve as an extra helping hand in the event of a missing child. The reason why their main page states largely and boldly NOT to wait to call 911 if your child is missing is because in Ye Olden Days, there was a law that said you could *not* report a missing child for at least 24 hours. Little Johnny was probably out hunting frogs somewhere and Barney Fife had better things to do! Luckily, parents and other advocates worked hard to overturn that law. The rumor/belief still persists that it is still a law, and education is still needed that you need to call authorities *immediately*.

"Mission Statement: The LAURA RECOVERY CENTER exists to prevent abductions and runaways and to recover missing children by fostering a Triangle of Trust among law enforcement, community and a missing child's family."

Who was Laura?

The Laura Recovery Center's website also has great information in layman's terms about the Texas laws surrounding child abductions. They include laws on harboring runaways and parental abductions. It's always good to find summaries of laws in pain English. Not all of us can speak Law.

Prayer. Answered with a 3 stooges-style smack

2012-01-30T11:12:00.001-08:00

It was so hard to get back onto the grind today after a good few days of fun times with my daughter and a few friends. I forgot about school work since Friday morning and spent the weekend relishing many things I love to do. Annalise played to her heart's content as well. I realized that if I was not working, I would be just fine. I used my huge tax refund to pay off the credit cards and get ahead in the rent. I live a simple life. It has been a Very Long Time since I could say with certainty that I would be ok for a while without my job. I would have time to pursue other ways to draw an income and definitely finish my degree faster. I no longer have family members who expect things out of me to be done a certain way. Yes. I think I could, actually "unjob".

Because of this, it was extremely hard to get into the daily routine. I have to renew my first aid certification at work and I was havin a bad case of the mondays. I said a prayer to get me through it. I was like, "please god. Please. Get me back into it. Please take away my case of the Monday's. Amen".

It is true that God works in mysterious, often slapstick ways. Before methods class, I started Facebook chatting about unjobbing with a friend of mine who is rather bohemian and anti establishment. It was not long at all before this friend outright told me that I have been abusing Annalise her whole life because I am a working mother.

Some immediate unfriending ensued. Immediately I was back "into" the grind and immediately my mind was back down to earth. It is quite laughable when you have seen real child abuse regularly in your career and then you ate told that ou are an abusive mother. It is also exteremely laughable when you and only you know the love you have for your child and how far you strive away from anything negative in her life, let alone abusive. I am very pleased with her life. I am glad for the choices I have made. This is to everyone: get to know someone really well before making judgements. Better yet, put yourself in their shoes or do not generalize like this at all. I am glad I am back in my routine/groove. God had to take on the roll of a stooge with a frying pan, but it got the job done

How to learn sewing

2012-01-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Go to a cheap thrift store and get a diverse array of garments to take apart with a seam ripper and scissors. Take off all notions and establish a notions stash. Then, as you take apart garments, notice how they are made. You'll learn a lot of things about pattern drafting, fashion fundamentals, textile arts, and you will have one awesome fabric scrap stash when you are done. Then, search for DIY things that require fabric scraps. This morning, we went to Value Village and I did just that. I got a lot of genuine leather, silk dupioni, linen, velvet, and one size 22 white formal gown completely covered in beadwork for $15. (Altogether, all the dresses were 40 something). I began to take the beads off, and I am seeing for myself how beading is done instead of reading it in a book.

Value Village had a large section of stuffed animals that were on special 10 for a dollar! Stuffed animals a dime a piece! I let Annalise pick out ten, and she was in heaven. I also got her her first scooter for $4. All we have been doing all day is play with our thrift store treasures. Annalise is wore out and dozing, but it was a super fun day.

Make a headband

2012-01-27T21:31:00.000-08:00

This evening, I stopped by Half Price Books. I picked through the old magazines pile and got several copies of quilting magazines, sewing magazines, and Vogue. I briefly looked through them before putting them away, and I noticed that one of the quilting magazines that is specific to piecework had directions for an awesome headband. It's a pieced headband from scraps. It has a larger top, and two ties to tie under your hair by the back of your neck.

I can't find a link, so I am going to try and write the directions out here. You need 10 scraps.
A: 6 1/2 by 5 1/2
B: 6 1/2 by 8 1/2
C: 4 1/2 by 13 1/2
D: 5 1/2 by 10 1/2
E: 8 1/2 by 4 1/2
F: 4 1/2 by 10 1/2
G: 3 1/2 by 14 1/2 (Cut 2)
H: 3 1/2 by 8 1/2 (Cut 2)

Directions:

Join pieces A and B. Join AB to C. Join ABC to D. Join E to F. Join ABCD to EF. Join one G to each short side. Hem each long side. Accordion fold each short side and pin to each H, right sides together. Sew the H strap on, and hem the strap accordingly. The geometry is a little off, and the magazine does say to "Trim as Needed". When you are done, tie it around your head. I love this headband!!!!! As soon as I saw it in the magazine, the creative juices hit me like a truck. It's now almost midnight and I am still not in bed. So I might be tired tomorrow. Ha! Fun times.

No more jars of pasta sauce

2012-01-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

I have been making healthier alternatives to spaghetti dinners. I no longer buy the jars of pasta sauce that are ready made. Instead, I make my own in the food processor. Here is one recipe for sauce that came out awesome:
1 can of no salt added tomatoes
4 roma tomatoes
2 tbsp of dill weed
2 tbsp of oregano
a few slices of red onion
drizzles of olive oil

After blending, you can heat it on the stovetop, but I chose not to. It went great with the pasta noodles that are made from spinach. Mmmmm.

But I thought these didn't exist

2012-01-26T19:28:00.001-08:00

Profile Picture

2012-01-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

Since I lost 8 pounds, I have also lost my double chin. This meant it was time to take a new picture of myself. Cheese!

Children's Org. Monday

2012-01-23T04:04:00.000-08:00

Children at Risk was the organization I wanted to write about last week, but decided not to. Like Texans Care, they are a political action organization. However, they focus a lot more on public outreach than Texans Care does. One thing that I have really enjoyed from Children at Risk is their Monday afternoon radio show on KPFT 90.1 called "Growing Up in America."
Children at Risk is also the organization I traveled to Austin with about a year ago to participate in a group advocacy activity. They organized meetings with four different congresspeople per group to discuss Children at Risks's key issue areas for the last legislative session. That was so educational! Very different from reading about it in a book!

Some serious gardening

2012-01-22T11:50:00.001-08:00

Annalise and I started seeds on the porch today. My girl is super serious about gardening! She was so meticulous about placing the dirt, seeds and water just right in each compartment that it took her over an hour to do her tray. We have three varieties of heirloom tomatoes, cilantro, chilli peppers, moonflowers and sunflowers.

Rotten Day- Done

2012-01-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

Today was just one of those days. Work was extremely crowded. I felt really lathargic. I was tired. I had a headache. And even though I have been REALLY GOOD the last month and a half about eating right, watching portions, exercising, etc- today was the totally off day with that. Today was "I want to eat everything" day. It didn't help that there was tons of free food "for everyone" lying around. Today was one of my coworkers' birthday. People brought kolaches and cupcakes for her and decked the room out in balloons and a card to pass around and sign. We were all eating kolaches around the table when we discovered that she called in sick. Then, some of the childrens' birthday parties that used my workplace as a venue kept leaving behind their uneaten food instead of taking it with them. I resisted only about half of what I should have. I whined to my coworker that I was craving everything. She said, "Are you pregnant?" I said, "Si, es un milagro."

I went to the gym before picking up Annalise. That made me feel so much better. Got al that whininess and energy out. Annalise and I have a chill day tomorrow. We might start our seeds.

Annalise the photographer

2012-01-20T20:30:00.001-08:00

Annalise loves to seek out the camera on my iPod and take photos of the most random things. My favorite photo of hers is of her Papasan chair of stuffed animals. She has also taken an entire series of the backs of my legs going up te stairs, one of inside the toilet bowl (clean) and several different shots of her favorite unicorn

Annalise does dishes

2012-01-20T20:21:00.001-08:00

I love this picture. Annalise is still attempt age when chores like doing dishes are so much fun! She was so convinced she was a big girl after this.

Research paper idea

2012-01-20T11:10:00.001-08:00

I think I have decided what I want to do for a research paper topic. "Does being born to a mother with post partum depression or psychosis put babies at greater risk of physical abuse?".

Please note: the topic is not "does having post partum depression mean you individually will definitely abuse your child".

The highlight of my day

2012-01-19T18:21:00.001-08:00

"Mommy, why is that little boy over there on a leash like a doggy?"

Spring 2012 semester

2012-01-19T05:35:00.001-08:00

I have officially started on all of my classes for this semester. I feel great about it. I glad that I took five classes. Of the five, three are online and two are on campus. Here is a rundown of all five:
Spanish:
After intro yesterday, the teacher had us do a small sentence writing assignment and switch papers with someone to read theirs aloud to te class. The purpose of trading papers with a partner was to change verb tenses and reading out loud gave her a feel of how well (or not) we can speak. At the university of Houston, the Spanish classes are divided between heritage and non-heritage speakers. This is not only to prevent fluent people from taking it for an easy A, but the classes are taught differently. As adults, you will always have a different understanding of a foreign language if you heard it spoken in childhood.
When I went, the teacher thought I was a heritage speaker! Either my accent was just that good, or she was comparing me to the rest of the class who sounded like a bunch of hillbillies trying to speak Spanish. I had to explain that I am Greek lol. Once she believed me, she said "bravo".

Methods in research:

Scratch that about not having to do a paper this semester. The lab section of methods in research is to do a research paper. That should have been common sense. The lecture instructor is an old, boring, droning old man with a perverse, unfortunate last name. The lab instructor is really cool,funny, interesting and hot but unfortunately has a wedding band. The paper topic has to contain two variables at least, an at least one of these has to be psych related. For instance, the affect of coffee on mood. The variables are coffee and mood. Of course, I want to do something child related. Any suggestions? Comment below

Online, statistics:

I took the chapter one quiz last night. Got a good score. Now I know how the quizzes are so I can do even better

Online social psych: still waiting on the shipment of my textbook. Nothing posted there except the syllabus

Online cognitive psych: quizzes ae posted, but I haven't done any yet.

Lots of good news

2012-01-17T03:07:00.000-08:00

It's all little stuff, but it's all good. I went to my parents' house yesterday. Annalise and I went outside, and I discovered that my garden (which I assumed to be very unprolific since it's January) had several bunches of red leaf lettuce and spinach. Salad for dinner! The salad was awesome. My dad was like, "Is that what that is?"

My online classes posted today. I have three online classes, and not one of them requires a paper! Two of them are just tests, and the other one (statistics) is tests and homeworks. Nice break from the paper purgatory I was in last semester.

Children's Organization Monday- Sunshine Kids

2012-01-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

This week for Children's Org. Monday, I was going to write about yet another political action group that is similar to the one I wrote about last week. However, it's not my desire to be repetitive. So, I put that one on the backburner and decided this week to write about The Sunshine Kids. I first heard about Sunshine Kids when they hosted an event at my workplace and I worked for it. They are basically a national organization that does youth-group-type events for children with cancer. When I worked for their event at my job, they gave me a little pin of the sunshine that is their logo. To this day, I still have that pin on my lanyard. They left such a great impression on me. What a great idea. Most of the time, children battling cancer are the only ones in their school or community doing so. Creating events like this gives them a community of other kids all going through the same thing. And, the entire family is involved. At the event at my job, parents were mingling, and siblings were joining in on the fun.
Here are some quotes from their website that stood out:

“We all have been through so much, and bringing us together was the greatest thing you could have done for us.”

- Sunshine Kid

“I realized, I am not alone. These other kids have the same problems I do, if not worse. If they can handle it, then I can too.”

- Steve Jones
-Sunshine Kid

Natural Nails

2012-01-15T18:28:00.000-08:00

I have discovered a way to stop biting my nails without having to go to the nail salon and get them covered up with fake acrylic. While in the bath the other day, I nipped my own cuticles and got off a lot of dead skin. For the next few days, I was unable to bite my nails, because there was no extra skin to hold onto with my teeth while I peeled the nail off. Sorry if that's TMI, but it is what it is, and I love making small discoveries like this.

Adventures in Public Transportation

2012-01-15T07:09:00.000-08:00

I took the bus to work and back yesterday. Mainly because I like to kick back and read, I have been horrible with wasting gas lately, and there is a good $20 unused on my metro fare card.
On the way home in the evenings is always when it's interesting. There was an elderly man behind me talking to two young men. The elderly man kept talking about religion. He talked about all kinds of different religions all over the spectrum, and he knew a lot about them. I was really curious what religion he was- but I was not about to ask for fear of getting into a conversation I did not want to get into.
Then he asked the young men about their education. They each had "some college" but never finished a degree. The elderly man was giving them the "You should get an education because in this day and age" shpiel. Then, he told them, "You want to get at least an Associate's degree, because you want to be able to know how to Associate with people."

What? Haha. I laughed to myself. Then the old man got off the bus. I turned around and asked the young man, "Did he really just tell you that you should get an Associate's degree so you can be able to associate?" The guy laughed and said, "Yeah, he was really tripping me out." Several people turned and looked at me with affirmative looks. They were listening to him, too and laughing in their heads with me.

All this time, there were two deaf women in the very front of the bus signing to each other. Their hands kept being a minor distraction, but they were only in the backround. I got off the bus to do two errands in a certain plaza, and then went back to the bus stop to go home. Ironically, the same two deaf women were there at the bus stop. Perhaps they had the same idea. This time, they were at the bus stop, and they were fighting. You could tell, because the "nonverbal" language behind the signing (nonsigning?) was forceful and mad. They were even taking breaks from signing with their hands to push each other around physically. When they did this, I said loudly, "Hey! Hey!", forgetting that they couldn't hear me and probably didn't know I was there. It was a good thing they needed hands to communicate, or they probably would have really messed each other up. I wonder what they were fighting about?

Can't Hardly Wait

2012-01-13T03:20:00.000-08:00

I just need to get this out- I am so excited about the upcoming Sping semester! I am taking five classes towards my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, including Spanish. My Spanish teacher already emailed us, even though class doesn't start until next week. She wants us to log onto blackboard and take a survey. I emailed her back saying, "No tengo un survey en Blackboard."

Hee hee.

No one ever says this, and it's not a popular opinion to have, but your early 30's is a great time to be in college. I wish someone had told me that when I was 19, but they were telling me the exact opposite! I feel old enough to have life experience that gives me a good focus on where to go with my education and young enough to have many years of a great career after I graduate. Everyone is different!

Afternoon Out

2012-01-11T17:08:00.000-08:00

I picked up Annalise from her second day at her "new school" and we went downtown to eat lunch at Niko Niko's. This is a picture I took of her at our table. Yes- my half Greek, half Redneck child was eating feta cheese dipped in ketchup.

When she asked me if she could try it like that, "No" was on the tip of my tounge, but I told her to go ahead and try it, and she loved it.

A bummer about today: For the past couple years, Annalise has always called the downtown Houston skyline "The Castles". Today, as we were driving past downtown, she announced to me, "Mommy, they aren't called castles! They are actually called BUILDINGS!"

I was a little sad. "The Castles" was so cute.

Dandelions

2012-01-11T10:44:00.001-08:00

I am just curious- how many of you reading this have ever picked wild dandelions and ate the greens? It's pretty common in Greece, but I can see how people in the USA would be scared to death of it.

Just now, I practiced walking to Annalise's new preschool and future elementary school (next door to each other) and used two different routes. It's a nice walk! I can even cut through the church grounds of a mega church in the area and end up right at a bus stop.

Along one way, all I could notice was all the dandelions! I kept thinking about all the old Greek women who make meals with the leaves. Whole Foods Market sells dandelion greens for a pretty penny, but it's also common just to eat the ones that can be picked. If you've ever done this, comment and let me know.

Latest sewing project

2012-01-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

I am proud of myself for having completed a completely functional sewing project. My bosses ordered us these periwinkle cardigan/hoodies to wear over our turquoise uniform polo shirts if we choose. The color combination looks a little gross, but I love wearing the hoodie a LOT. I feel like I look better in it than in just the polo. Problem is, it gets really hot in there with both on. So I took my oldest uniform polo (had a big hole in the armpit, wasn't wearing it anymore anyway) and cut out the collar. I sewed the collar into the cardigan so that it would look like I was wearing the shirt underneath. No one can tell!

Medical Leave

2012-01-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

I went to my doctor's appointment on Monday morning to get started on medication for a chronic issue I've been suffering from since childhood, but was just diagnosed with last year. I have heard many horror stories about the meds for this, basically that initial side effects can be debilitating. So, I planned to take over a week off of work and go back when school starts next week.

Only, the doctor did not write a letter with specific days. She just wrote a letter saying that due to a medication I am on, I may have side effects that may affet my ability to work for the next week or two. When she told me this was the letter she was going to write, her non-verbal expressions seemed to say, "Oh hell no, you can definitely go to work."

I was pretty scared...

I took the first two doses Monday and Tuesday night, and amazingly, I feel pretty good. No side effects really. None at all. I plan on going to work tomorrow. I have been running errands, pumping iron at the gym... And I feel great. Part of my life over the past QUARTER CENTURY or so has been waking up in the morning and immediately feeling symptoms of this condition. The past two mornings, I have woken up in peace, with no symptoms. It seems to wear off by mid morning, but I will take anything I can get. This is only a "baby dose" anyway.

I did have to go for some fasting blood tests just because the doctor wanted a baseline of certain readings before I started taking the meds, to see if the meds would affect it.

The lab they sent me to had this in the window:

I had a good laugh- what I get, I guess, for choosing to go to the most ghetto location possible. (You can also go there to find out if the baby is yours!)

I feel like my weight loss- 8 pounds in the last month- has contributed how good I feel and the lack of side effects. Plus, I have had a somewhat overnight repulsion towards junk food. This has contributed to my weight loss. It will help all of my symptoms and will help my body adjust.

A New Day

2012-01-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

I knew this day was coming. I have transfered Annalise to a preschool in my new neighborhood. The old one was 9 miles totally out of my way and nowhere near my bus or any bus. (Even with driving, I had to back track). Besides, the old one would not transport to her future elementary school.

There are three preschools within a mile radius of my place. I looked at all three, and chose the one I liked the best. Two people have asked me if I am sure they are "good". My take on that is this: 99% of licensed daycares are good. They are held to a much higher standard than I have ever seen any business held to. Trust me, I used to work in daycare! The state calls them "minimum standards" which sounds bad when they say it like that, but the minimum is pretty high! I have known many stay-at home moms who found it impossible to meet the minimum standards after trying to watch a few kids in their homes and be licensed.

When I picked her up from the old place yesterday, she went around and hugged all of her friends. I wanted to cry! Three teachers also gave her hugs, and I wanted to cry. In the car, I asked her, "Are you going to miss your friends?" I could see her face scrunch up in the rear view mirror. Tears welled in her eyes and she told me, "Yes!"

OMG, I felt SOOOOO guilty. I said, "I am sorry baby". Then, I decided to swing her by the new school to show her around. When I went in, I was able to hand in my paperwork and my payment. I showed her all the rooms of the new place, and she was marveling at it like she was in 7th Heaven! "Look at all of these toys!" she exclaimed. She met a few school-age kids and one teacher (it was after 5, so not many kids there).
When we got home, I showed her some new clothes I got her for her first day (A shirt with her hero, Tinkerbell, and new jeans.) I explained that in a few more months, this school was going to take her in the van to her Kindergarten school and then pick her up in the van after Kindergarten, and that her Kinder school was right next door to this place. She squealed and jumped for joy. When I dropped her off this morning, I saw her introduce herself to another 4 year old girl and knew she was fine. In fact, I think she already forgot about the old place.

Children's Organization Monday (week 2)

2012-01-08T16:31:00.001-08:00

The organization I would like to highlight this week is Texans Care For Children. I became affiliated with Texans Care almost immediately after I moved to Houston in 2002. Over the past decade, their influence over decision makers in the state legislature has increased and their goals expanded considerably. Texans Care is located in Austin right around the corner from the state capitol building. In 2004 and 2005, I used to travel almost monthly to Austin to attend their Partners in CPS reform meetings in one of the state capitol meeting rooms. At that time, a bill was in process to privatize child protective services, but the bill died before it could become a law. Now that that bill has long died, partners in CPS reform deals with other issues as a friendly watchdog of sorts.

If you surf the Texans Care website long enough, you will be a well-trained political advocate at the end of the day! There are many, MANY publications on their core issue areas: Child and Maternal health, Child Protection, Children's Mental Health, Juvenile Justice and Financial Security, as well as many publications on the basics of advocacy as well as the unique situation of the Texas government. (We used to be our own country for goodness sakes, and as a result, the state constitution tends to be way more convoluted than other states.)

After every legislative session, Texans Care published Legislative Recaps which "recap" in plain English what went on in the legislative session and what it means for children's causes. I have printed out the last one or two and put them into binders, and they have been a good resource.

In addition to surfing their hugely informative and educational main site, you may ant to chek out their blog, their facebook page, and their youtube channel.

Questions Answered!

2012-01-05T15:21:00.001-08:00

I got some questions in my comment section about being a CASA volunteer. I like to answer comment questions in separate posts, especially about something so important.
Happy Traveler Said:

I have some questions if you don't mind answering. Somewhat personal.

How do you not get angry?
How do you not judge?
How do you stay objective?

I do get angry, and I do judge. There's nothing wrong with being angry and judging, as long as you remain professional. I do not want to give specific examples because of confidentiality. Let's say you are talking to a parent who is saying something ludicrous. You don't have to call them a dumbass to their face, but you can explain the facts. In court, it's all facts. After doing it long enough, your mind tends to automatically transfer all thoughts to factual backings. That's not to say there is no emotion involved. There is! Intrapersonally, with the children and families, there are feelings. In the court report, there are facts. Most aspects of anything in life have both. With being a CASA, you just sort them out at the right times.

"I really want to do this but I'm afraid I will end up in jail if I end up getting medieval on some sick person who messes with the child I'm advocating."

Unless the child is in immediate danger, just keep your cool and then let it out later in some kind of email or text to your coordinator. Mine is really good about that. Once, I hung up from a mom, and then called my coordinator right away and let it out. "She is so freakin clueless" I practically shouted. My coordinator laughed. "You know," I remember telling my coordinator on the phone. "In their case file, it says she only fed them once a day, and after talking to her just now, I believe it!" I mentioned this parenting book called, Didn't I just feed you yesterday? and mentioned how I could totally see her having that blaze attitude.
But I never did vent these things to that mother. It's just like remaining professional in any other situation. I hope that helps, and I hope you decide to do this!

Bad Parenting

2012-01-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

Have you ever witnessed bad parenting in action, and wanted to say something, but decided you were just too nice? This morning, I saw a woman with a toddler or pre-school age boy. The boy was counting perfectly, until he got to 19. "Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Tenteen, Eleventeen, Twelveteen, Thirteenteen..."

It's a common mistake little ones make, but the bad part was that the mother was encouraging it and counting along with him the exact same way. When she saw me looking at her rather curiously, she said kind of snippily, "That's how he counts!"

I smiled and turned away. That's how he counts? That's not the way the rest of the world counts! He is going to be very confused one day very soon! Annalise made that same mistake once or twice in the beginning of learning to count, and I corrected her both times. She is not scarred for life.

Health

2012-01-04T04:20:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned here before, I've been a regular at the gym since about the 10th of December. From about the 10th-23rd, I did an hour a day on the elliptical machines (different workouts, same machines). I lost no weight, but lost one inch around waist, hips and thighs.
On the 23rd, I went to talk to the trainers at the gym. They told me that they offer a 10-day package. In a ten day window, you get three workout sessions with a trainer and nutritional counseling. It was very affordable! NOT like other experiences I've had with trainers who want you to go to them forever and spend bucus of money.
We set up my first session for the 28th of December. Between the 23rd and 28th, my assignment was to write down everything I ate and the time I ate it. Also to measure how much water I was drining and write the daily amount at the top of the page. (I had to start carrying a bottle and stop just going to the fountain for a drink). They explained that what I was aiming for was 5 or 6 small meals a day, and not to feel hungry or full. This takes more mind over matter than anything. I also tried to go more "raw vegan" than usual, but not hardcore.

The first workout session on the 28th was easy. The second one was yesterday, and it was HARDER! But, I feel really good, and can see a difference in my body for sure! He has me on a rotation of one day workout, the next day 25 minutes of cardio, and the third day, rest. I am going to try and keep up with that when my ten days is up. And, the mindful eating.

The reason I am doing this:
Last year at age 32, I was diagnosed with a chronic condition that had been "The problem without a name" in my life since I was about 7 or 8. I have not disclosed it to anyone except for my doctor and two close friends- one of the friends is also a doctor and the other one has the same condition himself- so I am not disclosing lightly and also not doing so on this blog.

There are meds to treat this, but they have several side effects, and one is weight gain. There are no garantees that I will have any of the side effects, but if I do end up gaining weight, I would rather do so from a lower starting weight. Hence the working out/mindful eating.

When I do start taking the meds, I am also going to take a small medical leave of absence (like a week or week and a half) to really get my body used to it and to overcome initial side effects. I already spoke to my boss about it and she was cool with giving it to me without making me disclose what it was I have.

Starting when I was about 25 or so, I used to very occasionally google my symptoms or this condition. Whenever I read the lists of symptoms, this Tsunami of fear would come over me. I would KNOW that that was it- but it was too scary to face. Then, last January, when my doctor told me I had it (he had actually made note in my chart that I had it without letting me know), I was SO RELIEVED. I bought a couple of "Living With" books that have helped tremendously. I am an optimist, and the positive thing is is that if I had to end up getting some kind of chronic issue, I am so thanful that it is not something that will shorten my life or affect my intelligence. But I do have to take the bull by the horns if I want to eliminate yet another thing that has been a stumbling block for so many years. I think I can do it.

Opinions Wanted

2012-01-03T15:53:00.001-08:00

Watch this video and tell me your opinion on it, even if you don't usually comment. This 17 year old girl was in a compramised emotional state due to witnessing her father having a massive seizure.
I kept wondering if all sides of the story were not being told- but it's apparent that they are here.

Do you think that the girl should have watched her mouth?

Children's Organization Monday

2012-01-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

This is something I have been wanting to do on the blog for quite a while. I waited until I started my blog over, and then the timing wasn't right with all the Holidays.

Every Monday, I would like to make a blog post that highlights some organization that does anything to help children. Send me suggestions if you would like. I chose Monday, because it is the first day of the traditional work week, and I strive to make my working career devoted to helping children.

Naturally, I chose to start off with Child Advocates, Inc. As many know, I am a court-appointed child advocate, but I am currently inactive (not appointed to a case). I have also served on fundraising committees for Child Advocates, the auction committee in particular. Child Advocates, Inc is the local Houston branch of the National CASA Program. Court-Appointed child advocates are friends of the court in all states except for those (like Texas) where they are Guardians ad Litem.

Child Advocates are appointed to one case (or more if tenured) of a child or sibling group in CPS custody. They then visit the child about 2-3 times a month, interview all parties involved with the child, and testify in court regarding the best interests of the child. When written out like that, it really does sound like a huge time commitment, but it is not. The only really long day involved in this is the day in court waiting for your case to be called- and that is only about every 3-6 months.

Foster children who have an advocate appointed to their case are far more likely to be adopted and far less likely to linger for years in the foster care system. Being one has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and I hope that someday I will be able to see with my eyes that I helped my kids just as much.

Lyrics: A Different Perspective

2012-01-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

The man that sells newspapers on the corner in my neighborhood is very religious and has turned his newspaper corner stand into a religious mission of sorts. He blares Christian music, has a large poster next to him with a Bible verse, and tells you God bless you when you buy a paper. (In case you can't tell, I live in Texas). This morning, I was stopped at the light where he was, and the song he was playing was Kirk Franklin's "Believe." I always knew the song. The lyrics playing while I was at that red light were, "Jesus, help me believe! Jesus, help me believe!"

The concept always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do not like manipulation tactics that try and get people to think they actually don't have real faith. There is a hidden one in this song. He is praying to Jesus to help him to believe in Jesus. If he didn't believe in the first place, why would he even be praying in the first place? Does anyone ever ask that question?

Let's have some self-confidence, people! Happy New Year!

Thank God for 2011

2011-12-31T16:55:00.000-08:00

I learned so much, gained so much, and lived so much in 2011.
To celebrate, Annalise and I are watching Moulin Rouge, then watching the ball drop in Times Square. Hopefully, she'll be asleep.
A tradition in Greece is to bake a loaf of bread with a coin in it. My dad and I always wipe the coin with alcohol first, then wrap it in foil before sticking it in the dough, and then bake at about 425. So, it's not "dirty". If you eat the slice of bread with the coin, you have good luck in the upcoming year.

This is the coin I used. It's from Greece, and has been in my coin jar forever-ever.

Wrap it in foil before sticking in the dough

It looked and smelled awesome:

Coworker Zara got the coin!

Forgot about this...

2011-12-30T08:27:00.000-08:00

Before I moved into this apartment on August 20th, I stayed in a motel for about a week. I forgot about this video I had onmy ipod of Annalise jumping on the motel bed.

One Day of Holiday Break

2011-12-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

Here we are doing finger puppets this morning.

Studies

2011-12-28T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to (here and there) skim my textbooks for next semester. In case I haven't mentioned it, two of the classes I will be taking are Statistics in Psychology and Methods in Psychlogy Research.
I have been reading about how these studies are done, what constitutes a statistic, and so on. I have been gaining a very different picture of these things than is what is portrayed in the media. I also did my own 20 page research paper last semester on autism.
In the process of doing that paper, I went onto facebook and liked the page for Autism Speaks. Yesterday, they posted a link to a study that shows evidence that taking prenatal vitamins before conception and in the first trimester may help to reduce the risk of developing autism in those that have a genetic suceptibility. The good majority of the comments that followed were of angry mothers arguing that they took prenatal vitamins and their kids were still autistic!
From reading the comments, it appeared that they took it wrong. They took it as, "Taking prenatal vitamins makes or breaks the deal with whether your child is autistic, and prenatal vitamins in the first trimester are a miracle cure all against autism!"
I vented to a friend about it in facebook chat. He claimed that having a college education "did that to me".
Maybe most or all of these women were uneducated about how methods of research work. I said, "Well, the media does spin research studies WAY different than they are intended." I thought maybe the article spun it that way, too, but once I actually read the article, I could see that they did an awesome job of not dichotomizing this situation at all.

Funny from Annalise

2011-12-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, I went to the store with Daddy, and there was a baby in the baby seat in his basket. And he looked at me and waved his hand at me and then he smiled at me."

"Aw" I said, "The baby liked you."

"Yes, the baby liked me!"

"He thought you were so pretty," I said.

Annalise said, "yes! He kept smiling at me and waving! This baby was... it was either a boy baby or a girl baby."

Books Purchased Recently

2011-12-23T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of books I bought within the last couple of months for my bookcase in my apartment. It is my goal to fill the bookcase with useful and educational books that I will actually read. I strive to do this as cheaply as possible and by seeking out books that will help me in some area of life. All of these links are to Amazon, but I did not buy them all on Amazon- I got many from the bargain shelves at half price books.

The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. Have you ever heard that plants that are talked to and interacted with grow better? This book is all about that. I have read the intro, and it was pretty amazing!

Guide My Feet: Prayers and Meditations on Loving and Working for Children by Marian Wright Edleman. I have known about Marian Wright Edleman for a long time, and always admired her. She is the president of the Children's Defense Fund, and has written many books that integrate being an advocate for children with being a person of faith. This is a book of prayers she wrote, and while I think some of the prayers are a little creepy, I do really cherish the bulk of this book.

One Day, All Children by Wendy Kopp. Wendy Kopp came up with the idea for Teach America when she was only 21 years old and a senior in college. I have seen Teach America hold bake sales at the University of Houston! I admire any young, college age idealist that made something big like that happen. This book is Wendy's true story.

Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques by Nancy Bednar. I found this book for only $5 just as I was starting to consider investing in one of those sewing machines that "can do everything". This book explains techniques and parts so well that you can take whatever sewing machine you already have and make the most out of it. A few new feet and different needles, and I think I can do it.

On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo. Yes, it's uber-controversial, but one must know all sides of a controversy before engaging in it. I will read it with an open mind, but I'll never believe that you can train a newborn to sleep through the night. This was a dollar at the Salvation Army thrift store.

Girl Soldier by Faith McDonnell. A long time ago, one of my friends told me, "If the world does ever end, I think it will end because of war." I never thought about it, but it made sense. I've read about and seen documentaries on African children kidnapped and used as soldiers. This is the story of one of them. Someday, I hope to be able to go to Africa.

Weaving a Just Future for Children: An Advocacy Guide by Diane C. Olson. Because I am still on this seemingly lifelong quest to get a grasp on the definition of child advocate and what one does.

501 Spanish Verbs with CD Rom. Because, can you say, "Oh crap, Danielle is going to have to write papers en espanol en el semester de la primavera?

200 Projects to get you into Fashion Design by Adrian Grandon. Maybe, someday I will want to. Again.

A different perspective

2011-12-22T14:36:00.001-08:00

Christmas Presents

2011-12-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

I bought a ton of good candy, funky snacks and other trinkets like nail stickers and little cans of red bull to make candy bags for all of my coworkers. I laid it all out on the dining room table and started making the bags. There was about 8 times that I thought I was done, then remembered two or three more people that I forgot about, that I couldn't leave out. Pretty soon, I started to run out of snacks, and bags. Eventually, I just threw out all the bags, took all of it to work in large ziplocs, and spread it all out over the staff room table over the last two or three days for anyone to pick at. This way, I didn't leave anyone out and everyone got precisely what they wanted.

I wrote cards to all of my coworkers, though. This was easier. I wrote personalized messages to each and every one of them. My two best female friends got purses and my boyfriend (I wish!) the artist got a little pocket sized drawing pad for whenever we have boring dead times at work and are stuck in remote stations alone.

In one of my coworkers' cards, I wrote, "Thank you for bringing your spunky personality into my life." She found me later on and was literally crying because of what I wrote! Who would have thought something like that could have such an impact on someone?

I let Annalise open her scrapbook tonight. Since Christmas is really for the grandparents and not the kids or the generation "sandwich", we have been opening a gift about every other day. We have celebrated St. Nicholas Day, Annalise's namesday, Annalise's half-birthday, my names day, and now Hannukah and the winter solstice. What the heck.

High school memory

2011-12-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through my stuff and came across my high school year books. I wondered why I had hung onto them all these years. Perhaps because you are supposed to always keep your yearbooks? I thought to myself, I really didn't care much about high school. The few friends I did have, I am back in touch with now on facebook anyway. The yearbooks take up space in the closet.
I told one of my coworkers how I felt. She said, "Find something to do with them."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know how you made that bookcase out of cans a few weeks back?"

Oh yeah, I had forgotten I put that picture on facebook.

"If you are creative like that, then I am sure you can find something to do with them so they don't go to waste."

She was right. But what could I do? This evening I sat down and flipped through my senior yearbook for ideas. I came across something my senior English teacher wrote to me in this yearbook. This was 15 and a half years ago.

"Danielle- It has been a great year. Just one thing - - - SPEAK UP!!! You are an intelligent young lady with things to say that are worth hearing. Be confident in this fact. I am sure you will do well in whatever you strive for if you allow yourself to. Have a great college career. Let me know how you are doing. God bless. Mr. Don Meyer."

I got choked up. Now I know that I have to hang onto these. They are a part of my history, even if they mostly contain the ugliest part- the demons I dealt with in my youth: depression, shyness, low self-esteem, even self-hatred. I wonder if Mr. Meyer knew it would take me over 15 years to read that message?

Autism research paper- grade 86. Final class grade A-

2011-12-15T03:36:00.000-08:00

Autism Disorder 2

Abstract
Autism is a behavioral disorder classified as a pervasive development disorder. It is characterized by a variety of deficits in language development and social interactions and usually has an average onset in the first 24 months of life. Dr. Leo Kanner conducted studies on autistic children and called their disorder "autism" based on the Greek word "auto" for self, because the children appeared self- absorbed. Autism is diagnosed by observing a child's development. A number of questionairres are presented to parents, caregivers and pediatricians to take note of which criteria the child meets. Although no one knows the precise cause of autism, it is highly likely to be genetic. A specific gene has not been identified, but there is evidence that genes are involved. Medications are used to treat symptoms of autism, and the therapies used include a variety of behavioral and eduational techniques as well as techniques to encourage social interaction. Autism is four times more likely to occur in males than in females. The prognosis varies, depending on the severity of the disorder. Over the past decade, there has been a great controversy surrounding vaccines as the cause of autism. This controversy was caused by faulty science in the 1990's and perpetrated by the media and the internet. For this and other reasons, much more research needs to be done for autism.

Autism Disorder 3
Autism disorder is a behavioral disorder that is specific to childhood. (Chez, 2008). Its onset is within the first 24 months of life, and it is characterized by social and emotional development deficits and a lack of normal communication and speech. (Chez, 2008). Autism disorder is also very mysterious, and does not have a known cure. (Lytel, 2008). Autism defined by the DSM-IV-TR is different from the popular term, "autism spectrum disorder", which is not listed in the DSM-IV-TR. The autism spectrum is a group of conditions that includes autism disorder and other disorders such as Asperger's syndrome, PDD-NOS, Rett's syndrome, and secondary autism, because these other disorders share characteristics with autism. (Chez, 2008). Only classical autism as described in the DSM-IV-TR will be included in the discussion below. There have been many advances in autism research over the last 80 years, and there is still much to be discovered about the "missing piece" of autism.
The man most credited with the discovery of autism as a disorder is Leo Kanner. (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011). Kanner was working at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the late 1930's when he conducted a study observing 11 autistic children. He took notice of all of the general symptoms of autism in these children and coined the term "autism". The word "autism" comes from the Greek word "autos" which means "self", because Kanner observed these children to be self-absorbed. (Offit, 2008). Kanner later published a paper about his findings entitled, "Autistic Disturbances of Affected Contact" in 1943. (Offit, 2008).

Autism Disorder 4
Another man noted for research in autism in the 1950's is Bruno Bettelheim. (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). Bettelheim is most known for his theory that mothers caused their childrens' autism by acting cold and uncaring towards them. Because of this belief, Bettelheim created the term "Refrigerator Mothers" to describe the cold type of parenting he believed to be the cause of the disorder. (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011). Autistic children were subsequently removed from their homes due to the growing belief perpetrated by Bettelheim that poor parenting caused their condition. He received a grant from the Ford Foundation to open up a boarding school called the Orthogenic School. Here, children who were removed from their homes were placed in order to give them a more loving and nurturing environment. Bettelheim and the Orthogenic School hoped to cure the childrens' autism by replacing the "Black Milk" of their mothers with love and nurturance. (Offit, 2008). Because it is now known that genetics plays a main role in the cause of autism, it is possible that the parents whom Bettelheim accused of being "cold and uncaring" may have had high-functioning autism themselves.
Around the same time that Leo Kanner's studies were bing carried out, another doctor in Austria named Asperger was doing similar studies even though he was unaware of Kanner's work. (Johnson & Myers, 2007). In 1943, he published a paper that described children with very similar traits as the autistic children in Kanner's study, only with more verbal abilities and higher cognition. (Johnson & Myers, 2007). Because of his findings, Asperger's syndrome was later named for him. Asperger's syndrome is on the autism spectrum, but is not classic autism as described here.
Autism Disorder 5
Autism has a core set of symptoms to be watched for in early childhood. Children with autism have a difficult time interpreting emotional cues and social signals from other people. They have a language defficiency in that they have trouble being creative and receptive with speech. These symptoms and more contribute to the difficulty they have forming relationships with other people. Autistic children also will appear to be self-absorbed, that is, they seem to be stuck in their own universe with disregard or no knowledge of the stimuli of the world around them. When they do speak, they may repeat words over and over again, a symptom known as echolalia. More core symptoms include repetitive and self-stimulatory behavior and repetitive motor movements. Repetitive self-stimulatory behavior may include staring incessantly at an object making the same motion, such as a fan. The most common expression of repetitive motor movements by autistic children is hand flapping. (Greenspan, 2006).
Children may differ in their severity of the core symptoms. Seeing one symptom of autism in a child does not warrant a diagnosis (Johnson & Myers, 2007), because children with autism will have developmental deficits in all of the core symptoms. (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011).
Even though autism generally is not diagnosed until about age 4, (Lytel, 2008), there are some symptoms of autism in infancy. (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011). One of the key features of autism warning signs in infants about three to four months of age is the failure to make eye-contact with their caregivers. Throughout their first year of life, they may appear to be gazing away instead of attempting to smile, coo, and otherwise interact
Autism Disorder 6
with the people in their environment. In the later part of their first year, from about age 9-12 months, normally developing children should be responding to their name when called and doing things to mimic animals and people. Babies who have autism fail to engage these behaviors. Oftentimes, parents and caregivers will oversee the warning signs of autism in their infant, because they assume the child is developing normally. (Lytel, 2008). Sometimes, a child will develop completely normally and reach all of their milestones in their first year, and then they will regress into autistic behaviors in toddlerhood and loose skills they have already learned.
Some structural abnormalities of the brain have also been noted in patients with autism disorder. The abnormalities inlude malformations in the neocortal called "heterotopias", reduced neuron size in the limbic system of the forebrain, a larger density of cells, and fewer Purkinje cells. People with autism also have structural abnormalities in the minicolumns of the frontal lobes. There are more of them, and they are smaller in size. Before the advent of neuroimaging advanes, Leo Kanner noticed that autistic children's heads were larger than their peers without autistic disorder. (Johnson & Myers, 2007).
The more aware a parent is of the earliest signs of autism, the earlier a child can get the therapies he or she needs. If a child is diagnosed early and interventions are immediately given, then the child is likely to have lower manifestations of autism. (Lytel, 2008). This is due to rapidly changing brain chemistry and structures in the young child. While autistic children generally develop much slower than others, all children learn.
Autism Disorder 7
Autism is like most psychological disorders in that screening and diagnosis are difficult. (Constable, 2011). There is no definitive blood test to confirm or deny that one is autistic. What is used in early childhood is screening tools in the form of questioning parents about their child's developmental progress. (Lytel, 2008). Because of the elusiveness of this approach, several helpful guides have been published that assist pediatricians in obtaining the information they need from the parents. (Johnson & Myers, 2007). Before these screenings are carried out, pediatricians are urged to preform "surveillence" on children to determine how many risk factors are present. Those risk factors are having a sibling with autism, parental concern, pediatrician concern, and other caregiver concern. One point is given for each risk factor, and if the score is two or higher, then an evaluation will be scheduled. (Johnson & Myers, 2007).
One of the most popular screening tools is the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT). (Johnson & Myers, 2007). The CHAT was developed for children about 18 months old and lists nine points of the child's development that are key symptoms of autism. (Hall, 2009). It is up to the parents to answer honestly about the entire scope of their child's development so that the pediatrician can perform a thorough evaluation. Out of the nine check points on the CHAT, a few of them stand out as key indicators of autism. Those are: Lack of protodeclarative pointing, lack of eye gaze with caregiver, and lack of pretend play. (Hall, 2009).
In addition to the CHAT, there is also the Modified CHAT, or M-CHAT. The M-CHAT takes the nine original points in the CHAT questionairre and adds fourteen more.
Autism Disorder 8
(Hall, 2009). While the CHAT is more geared towards children who are 18 months of age, the M-CHAT takes developmental aspects that a child will not acquire until about 24 months of age into account; therefore, M-CHAT is not given until the child is 24 months old. (Hall, 2009). The M-CHAT asks parents more specific questions about things the child may or may not do, such as whether or not the child smiles in response to their smile, look at things they are looking at, or responds to his or her name when called. The M-CHAT asks parents if they have ever wondered (as many parents of autistic children have) if their child is deaf. It also asks if the child often stares at nothing, makes unusual finger movements near his or her face, or has learned to walk yet. (Hall, 2009).
A helpful brochure called "Is Your One-Year-Old Communicating With You?" was written and published for pediatricians to hand to parents when they take their babies in for their 9-12 month well-child visits. Because it is now being noted that children with autism have largely overlooked symptoms in infancy, this publication is intended to raise enough awareness of the signs in infancy to parents so they can discuss things with their pediatrician that they may not otherwise. (Johnson & Myers, 2007).
The DSM-IV-TR requires at least six specific symptoms be present before a child is diagnosed with autism disorder. Two of those symptoms must be either: an impairment in usage of non-verbal behaviors (eye-to-eye contact, gestures, etc); absence of peer relationships; failure to reciprocate emotions; and failure to seek enjoyment of activities. In the six required symptoms for autism disorder, at least one must also be from the following: spoken language delays; inability to sustain a conversation if speech
Autism Disorder 9
is indeed present; lack of pretend play; or, repetitive language such as echolalia. One of the six symptoms must also be either: Preocupation with inatimate objects or patterns; inflexibility in routines; repetitive mannerisms. If the child is presented with six symptoms over those three catergories, and if the onset is before the age of three with no other medical explaination like Rett's Disorder or childhood disintegrative disorder, then a diagnosis of autism can be made. (Johnson & Myers, 2007).
Several more diagnostic tools are used in the form of questionairres to the parents, pediatricians, or other caregivers about the child's development. Two of these are the Autism Diagnosis Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI). (Chez, 2008). A parent also may fill out the Social Communication Questionairre (SCQ). (Johnson & Myers, 2008). All of the questionairres have similarities with each other, and yet they all have differences and modifications. Another diagnostic tool is the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), which is used by a trained trained professional when observing the child. (Johnson & Myers, 2008).
The most pressing issue when it comes to the prevalence of autism is that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of cases diagnosed within the last few years. Many debates have arisen over the skyrocketting of the diagnosis. Some people have wondered if there has been an increase in the toxicity of the environment which has led to the large increase of autism diagnoses, however it is much more likely that society has changed what children with autism are labeled as. A generation ago, a child may have been labeled mentally retarded, brain damaged, or learning disabled whereas now, they
Autism Disorder 10
are labeling them autistic. (Greenspan, 2011). It is also important to note that while the diagnosis of autism has dramatically increased, the diagnoses of other disorders such as mental retardation and other disorders similar to autism have dramatically decreased. (Offit, 2008.)
The rate of prevalence in autism spectrum disorder is about -1:100, or 1 in 166. The prevalence for the narrower, original autism disorder as defined by Leo Kanner is -3:100. (Greenspan, 2011). The ratio of boys to girls with autism is greatly out of balance. Autistic boys outnumber autistic girls by about 3:1. (Greenspan, 2011). There are a number of theories as to why this is. One theory is that since genetics play such an important role in the cause of autism, that the gene that makes one male rather than female is one of the main genes affected. (Johnson & Myers, 2007).
Treatments for autism are diverse and include biological and psychological treatments. Biological treatments include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's), anti-psychotic medications, Naltrexone, and some stimulants. For some autistic people, SSRI's reduce aggression, repetitive behaviors often displayed, and improve social interactions. (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). Anti-psychotic medications are used in an effort to reduce obsessive and repetitive behaviors. (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011). Naltrexone reduces hyperactivity in autistic patients, and stimulants are sometimes used to increase attention spans. (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011).
People with different subtypes of autism disorder and differing severities respond
Autism Disorder 11
differently to different biological treatments. (Chez, 2008). People with high-functioning
autism and Asperger's Syndrome benefit more from medications normally used to treat attention-deficit disorder, SSRI's for their anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, frontal lobe medications such as cholinesterase inhibitors, glutamine blockers memantine normally used in Alzeimer's patients. (Chez, 2008). People with lower-functioning autism benefit more from atypical anti-psychotic medications for frustration and behaviors. They may also use alternative communication methods, or augmentative communication, such as PECS (exchanging pictures) or a voice box. (Chez, 2008).
Psychosocial therapies take behavioral techniques and put them together with educational material for autistic patients. (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). One method of psychosocial treatment is called Development, Individual Difference, and Relationship Based (DIR) Floortime model. (Greenspan, 2006). The DIR Floortime model encourages parents and other caregivers to be very observant of the autistic child's individuality. Before taking on this approach, they are admonished to consider the child's reactions to sensory information such as touch or sound; how he or she engages in relationships; the way in which the child internalizes new information; and the way he or she comprehends what is seen with the eyes. (Greenspan, 2006). For instance, if the child is exhibiting the common symptom of intense interest in one object, the caregiver may take the object from his or her hand and then playfully put it on her knee in order to get the child interested in interacting with her without being angry that she took the toy. (Greenspan, 2006). Another method of using the DIR Floortime model is to take two
Autism Disorder 12
items- one that the child really likes and one that the child does not like. Ask the child which one he or she wants, and do not give it to the child until they verbalize the name of the item. (Greenspan, 2006).
Another popular behavioral intervention method for autistic children is called Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA. This method is also referred to as the Lovaas approach,or Discrete Trial Training (DTT). (Lytel, 2008). Since the term Applied Behavior Analysis received some negative stigma from parents who did not feel it was best for their child, a more modern term, Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) has been coined. It is also referred to as Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, or EIBI. (Lytel, 2008). All of these terms refer to a method developped in the 1960's by a man named O. Ivar Lovaas, who took different life skills and broke them up into parts as small as possible. Each tiny part of each life's skill is then taught to an autistic child individually in "trials". This is done by sitting with the child and repeating the action over and over until the child masters the skill. When the child masters the skill, a reward is given. The reward can be anything that the child reacts positively to- a toy, a snack, a hug, or praise, for example. (Lytel, 2008).
Although extensive research has been done to find the cause of autism, no exact cause has been found. (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011). What is known is that autism is mainly caused by genetics. (Offit, 2008). As with the majority of psychological disorders, twin studies have been done largely to determine the roll of genetics in autism, since twins have the exact same genes. In identical twins, there is a 90% chance of having autism if
Autism Disorder 13
one's twin was autistic. In fraternal twins, there is less than a 10% chance of having autism if one's twin is autistic. (Offit, 2008). Because of these findings, it is known that genetics has something to do with the etiology of autism, however, finding the specific gene responsible has been difficult thus far. (Offit, 2008).
Even though there has not been a definite cause found for autism disorder, it is currently classified as neurodevelopmental and biological. (Yates & Coteur, 2008). The wide spectrum in autism disorder and the vastly differing degrees to which individuals suffer from it is thought to contribute to the vast difficulty in pinpointing a precise etiology. (Constable, 2011). While there is strong evidence from twin studies that autism is genetic, a precise responsible gene has not been proven to be the cause. One theory drawn from this finding is that autism has various genetic causes and that each individual with the disorder may have developed autism from a different cause, or from one in many possible causes. (Yates & Coteur, 2008).
In a small minority of cases (about 6-10%), other neuro-genetic syndromes coexist in children with autism, and are therefore thought to have a link to a cause. Some of the other syndromes that play a role in autism are fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, phenylketonuria, fetal alcohol syndrome, Angleman syndrome, Rett syndrome, and Smith-Lemil-Opitz syndrome. (Johnson & Myers, 2007). Some children with other genetic syndromes meet DSM-IV-TR criteria for autism, which is also evience that autism is caused genetically. Among these are Down syndrome and CHARGE syndrome.
Autism Disorder 14
(Johnson & Myers, 2007).
There are also thought to be environmental causes of autism. While the popular media may present environmental causes of autism as preservatives in vaccines or chemicals in the air, medical research has found little to no scientific evidence of these things contributing to the development of autism. Rather, environmental causes of autism are found in the environment of the womb, and occur during the period when the fetus is developing its brain in the first trimester. Some of these include maternal rubella, teratogens, and concentration of fetal testosterone. (Johnson & Myers, 2007).
In recent years, many cures for autism have been suggested by well-meaning people and given a false hope to desperate parents. Beause of several factors including the elusiveness and mystery of the cause of autism, the difficulty in caring for autistic children on a daily basis, and the strong desire of parents to see their children cured, it is easy for any new suggestion of a possible cure or fast treatment to be well-received. Parents who want to see their children cured believe themselves into seeing benefits of false treatments in their kids, even though there are no such improvements. It is also possible that due to the variety of unidentified genes thought to cause autism, some treatments may cause improvements in a small number of individual cases, however such a link cannot be established until a specific cause is identified.
One such therapy that initially created a lot of hope for families affected by autism was developed by Douglas Biklen, and it was facilitated communication. (Offit, 2008).
Autism Disorder 15
Biklen believed that the communication skills that children with autism lacked were simply controled by muscle movements, and he trained people as communication facilitators. The facilitators held the hands of autistic patients while their fingers were guided along a keyboard. Through these means, autistic children were thought to type out messages and therefore, communicate. After its development, it was discovered that the autistic children themselves were not actually typing the messages. The failitators were subconsiously typing the messages for them. This was realized after some parents raised concerns including the fact that their children seemed to be too superior at punctuation and grammar, the children would not communicate with their own parents, and the children had no interest in the keyboard while not in the presence of their facilitators. A study was also conducted to determine the validity of this therapy by plaing failitators and children in a room together, separated by a board, and showing them two separate pictures. The communicated message was always what the facilitator saw and not what the child saw. (Offit, 2008).
Another promise of hope was offered by Victoria Beck, the mother of an autistic child. Beck's son was being treated for an unrelated gastrointestinal problem with a medication called secretin. Secretin is a substance taken from the lining of a pig's intestine. After he received secreting therapy for his unrelated gastrointestinal problem, Beck's son started to dramatically improve in the area of his autism. Beck quickly brought her story to the attention of the entire autism community, and soon, thousands of parents demanded their child be on secretin therapy as well. Beck's son returned to his
Autism Disorder 16
original autistic symptoms within only three months, as if the improvements had never happened at all. Many other parents claimed the same superior improvements, however, the benefits of secretin therapy were disproven after several placebo tests. (Offit, 2008).
In February of 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield published an article in the British medical journal, Lancet after conducting a study involving eight autistic children. Dr. Wakefield theorized that autism was in fact caused by the MMR vaccine by claiming that the virus in the vaccine traveled to the intestine and caused harmful proteins to travel to the brain. Public trust in the MMR vaccine waned, and several outbreaks of measles ensued in England. In 2000, the campaign claiming that the MMR vaccine caused autism came to the United States. A congressman named Dan Burton took interest, because his own grandson was autistic, and after hearing about Dr. Wakefield's paper, he and his family believed the MMR vaccine to be the cause. Congressman Burton was also the Chairman of the Committee on Government Reform. His influence in this area took notice of the public eye very quickly, and soon, the idea that the MMR vaccine caused autism gained interest of some celeberties. (Offit, 2008).
In 2004, Dr. Wakefield's theory was disproven, and his original study was found to have many flaws. Dr. Wakefield was disovered to have been fraudulent in his claims that the Ethical Pratices Committee had approved the study; In fact, they never reviewed it. It was also discovered that Dr. Wakefield was paid a large sum of money by an attorney who represented at least five of the eight childrens' parents. This attorney had financial interest in proof that the vaccine caused autism. Large sums of money were also
Autism Disorder 17
paid to those who testified at Congressman Burton's hearing in the United States. The study was also discovered to have major flaws in the scientific evidence of the claims. In the years following the study, there was no evidence that children who did not receive the MMR shot had lower chances of developing autism. (Offit, 2008).
While many people still hold the belief that the MMR vaccine causes autism, some others upon the discreditation of this theory moved their interest to another agent in the vaccines. Prior to the 1990's, a preservative called thimerosal was used in vaccines given to children, and some began to suspect it was causing autism. However, since the removal of thimerosal from vaccines, there has been no decrease in the number of children developing autism; in fact, the number of children developing autism has increased. (Offit, 2008).
The prognosis of patients with autism varies greatly. (Hall, 2009). Since autism disorder varies so widely in its severity, this wide variety of severity levels has a major affect on a patient's individual prognosis. Many individuals with high-functioning autism go on to lead very productive lives, although maintaining relationships is often difficult. People with more severe autism often have to be cared for their entire lives. This lifelong care can be carried out by family members or by live-in treatment centers or adult homes. (Hall, 2009).
Stressing early intervention comes from an understanding that the earlier a child receives therapy and treatment, the more chances they have of a better prognosis.
Autism Disorder 18
(Constable, 2011). Young children who receive intensive behavioral and educational therapies full time are over twenty times more likely to achieve normal intellectual and learning capacities by the time they are seven years old. (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011). Consequently, the more they receive continuing intervention throughout their lives, the more their chances of leading a normal life improve.
There have been many advances in autism research over the last 80 years, and there is still much to be discovered about the "missing piece" of autism. By putting a name on autism, Leo Kanner began to give autistic children a chance at a more mainstream life even though not all of his ideas were correct. Booming scientific research discoveries in the 20th century have enabled us to understand more about genetics and how they contribute to an individual developing autism. The fact that everything about the cause of autism has not been discovered causes confusion at best and clinging to hope in false "magical" cures at worst. Regardless of how they developed autism, children are far more likely to have a favorable prognosis if interventions begin early. Because of this, and because autistic children have signs as early as in infancy, diagnostic screening tools are given to parents with babies as young as nine months old at well-child check ups. Interventions for autistic children include behavioral and educational techniques as well as biological treatments. In recent years, the number of children diagnosed with autism has increased dramatically, most likely due to a change in how children are diagnosed. The more autism research endeavors are supported, the greater chance autistic children have of developing normally.
References
Chez, Michael G. (2008). Autism and its medical management. Philadelphia, PA: Kingsley.
Constable, P.A. (2011). Autism. The Optician, 241, 12-15.
Constable, P. A. (2011). Autism. The Optician, 241, 25-29.
Greenspan, S. I. (2006). Understanding autism. Scholastic Parent and Child, 13, 54-56.
Hall, L. J. (2009). Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Theory to Practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Johnson, C. P., Meyers, S. M. (2007). Identification and evaluation of children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 120, 1183-1215. doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-2361
Lytel, Jayne. (2008). Act early against autism. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan. (2011). (Ab)normal psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Offit, P.A. (2008) Autism's false prophets. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Yates, K., Couteur, A.L. (2008). Diagnosing autism. Pediatrics and Child Health, 19, 55-59.

Finished my last final!

2011-12-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

Today was my final exam for my HDFS class. I took the online final for Adolescent Psychology on the 9th and the Abnormal Psychology final on the 1st, so I am now completely finished with my semester! For some reason, I was thinking back to this time last year- I was just finishing up College Algebra at the community college, not sure I could ever pass that hell hole. Up until the end, I did not expect to ever finish math or get an Associate's degree, but I did! And here I am a year later, done with my first semester at the University of Houston, and in my own place!

I did not study much for my Human Development and Family Studies final. Among the last units were divorce and remarriage. The divorce chapter was very hard to read. It was like I was reliving my own. Then, the book talks about stages of divorce. I could relate to all of them! I did not appreciate the grim picture the book painted of single mothers- especially since almost as soon as I became one, I entered the best chapter of life thus far. Everyone is different.

Two pages into the remarriage chapter, I decided I was not going to read it. I decided that if I ever do get remarried, I do not want to have the sour view of it that was outlined in this chapter. I couldn't go there, even if it meant getting some questions wrong on the test. In the end, the test was easy, and I think I did very well.

I purchased all of my books for the Spring semester! The Spring semester begins a little over a month from now, on the Tuesday after MLK day. I am taking five classes: Spanish and 4 Psych classes. My psych classes are: Social, Cognitive, Statistics and Methods in Research. Spanish and Methods are on campus, and the other three are online. I am really "psyched" (no pun intended) about next semester.

When I got home, I got Annalise and we went to Walmart. We were waiting in a mile-long line in the customer service desk. There was a very angry old man a few people behind us, and he very obviously did NOT want to wait in line. He started shouting, "Hey! Y'all need help in customer service!" A few moments later, "We need a manager over here!"

Annalise motioned for me that she wanted to whisper in my ear. I bent down to see what she had to say and she told me, "Mommy, he wants to go first and it is NOT his turn!"

Lol! I was *so* glad she did not announce her observation for the whole line of people to hear, especially the crochety old man. I agreed with her. Maybe the old man needed to go back to Pre-School.

Annalise's Haircut

2011-12-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

Before:

When John dropped her off Saturday night with a huge rat's nest in the back, I knew it was time.

It was NOT fun. Annalise hates her hair being dealt with. I no longer care about John not wanting me to cut it. Annalise cried almost the whole time. I gave the hairdresser a 100% tip.

After:

Freegan Finds

2011-12-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

Walking down a busy street yesterday morning, I discovered that behind a cement dividing wall, someone had dumped a white trash bag full of these designer-looking purses. The khaki one on the top is a Fossil. That one, I am keeping. The rest, I am wrapping up as Christmas gifts for my closest female friends. Cheers!

Don't Judge Me

2011-12-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning, I got robbed.

I was supposed to meet someone on the other side of town at 1 pm, so I stopped downtown and decided to go jogging at the Eleanor Tinsley park.
I don't like to jog with all of my belongings on me, but after this fiasco, I am getting a fanny pack! Why didn't I think of fanny packs before?

There is a console with a lid over it between my two front seats. I usually lift the lid and place things in there so they are not visible. I leave only one door unlocked so that I won't lock my keys in the car. I went jogging, came back, and my wallet, phone and keys were all gone from the console.

I thought back to when I parked the car. I knew I left them in there. I had seen a man sitting on a picnic bench sort of eyeballing me. Did he stalk me out and steal them? I looked all under the seats, under the car, in nearby trash cans... nowhere. I knew they had been stolen. How could I have let this happen?

There was nothing to do. I could not drive anywhere, because he had gotten my keys. I could not call anyone, because he had gotten my phone. I could not take a cab or the bus home, because my credit cards, debit card, some cash, my bus card, and my ID were all in the wallet. I could not cancel my credit cards. There was not a public place anywhere walking distance. The Eleanor Tinsley Park is huge and really surrounded by nothing but trees and condos. All I could do was start walking. What else can you do? I went to a gas station about two miles away. The clerk let me use his cell phone. I called the cops first, and then to cancel my credit cards. The credit card operator asked me, "Did you make a purchase of $156 at Chevron about an hour ago?"

What? "No," I said.

"Also this morning, Valero for $139?"

What the hell? I asked to myself. What on earth did he get at gas stations for that much?

I told the operator that those were unauthorized. She was great about it and removed the charges immediately. Then she told me that there was another pending purchase for Church's fried chicken for $7.77.

Immediately, I thought, I hope that fried chicken gives him diarrhea. I was so pissed.

Hanging outside of the gas station with me was this homeless guy. I told him I got jacked. He was so nice! He was giving me all of these inspirational platitudes about letting it go and not seeking revenge. He must listen to Joel Osteen, because he was giving me some liners that sounded like Joel's sermons. I thought about all of the religious people in my life that insisted homeless people who talk to you like that are angels. Well, they personally would have thrown that theory out the window when this homeless guy started listing the dollar amounts my thief could have gotten for my phone vs. my ipod (Which was also in the console, but he did NOT steal- why?). Yeah, not so angelic anymore. I didn't care. The clerk then came out to smoke, and he wondered out loud why the guy didn't steal my car if he had stolen the keys. "Oh, well that's a much bigger charge," the homeless guy said. My dad pointed it out later the difference between grand theft and petty.

If I was entertaining an angel as my many devout friends and family would have insisted had they heard his initial platitudes, it was obviously an angel with a lot of experience in gray areas. Either homeless people know about the angel charge and play it up with people on purpouse, or this angel knew that I am someone who would not have been less grateful after knowing the inspiration came from someone less than perfect.

After several hours, it became clear that the cops were not coming. I wanted to call my mom, but I knew that if I tried to desribe thegas station where I was, she wouldn't have a clue. I knew that our favorite restaurant, Niko Nikos was just down the street. She would know Niko Nikos, so I decided to walk there. The homeless guy told me he'd tell the cops I was there if they showed. I didn't hold my breath.

When my mother saw Niko Niko's on the caller ID, she thought she won a free dinner. Jinx!

She also took a long time to get there,and when I was waiting on the terrace, I hear them say on the microphone they usually use to say your order is ready, "If you called the HPD, please meet them in the front. If you called the HPD, please meet them in the front."

Shit,I thought. They are going to want to go back to the park and my mom is already coming. I went out there, and I could see the police car with the cop sitting in the driver's seat. I went closer and motioned a few times, but the cop didn't see me. Then, (and I didn't know you couldn't do this), I tapped on the window with my finger tip.

The cop rolled down the window. It was a female cop. I was really taken aback when she literally started going ape shit on me for tapping on the window. "What are you doing tapping on my window?" she shouted. "Get away from the car!" She was really mad! We all have our reserves and our things that we prepare to do or say if people go insane on us for no reason like that, but I couldn't do any of it. This was a cop! So I stepped back and lifted both of my hands as if I had a gun pointed at me. She did not pull a gun- that's just how I reacted. Slowly and calmly, I explained that I was the one that called and that I was just trying to answer the page to come out here. She continued to shout at me, and I continued to calmly try to apologize and explain myself. I realized I still had my hands in the air. I very briefly explained that I was robbed and that it was ok- never mind- I am not going to make a report. I then tried ever so calmly to tell her "Thanks but no thanks" and get her to go away.

Immediately, she turned from night to day. She started Begging me to go ahead and make the report. "I want to help you" she said, sugar-sweetly. But, my mind was made up. She lost my trust already. There was no way I was going to make a report. Finally, after convincing her that I would make a report online the next day, I got her to go away. (I atually did not make a report).

About ten minutes later, my mom showed up. We then trapsed all over town trying to pick up pieces. I waited for emergency maintenence to unlock my apartment. Mom took me to Walmart to get a new phone and said, "Merry Christmas". She took me back to get my car. I set up the phone. The next day, I went to the DMV to get a new license and sat for four hours listening to some older lady constantly say, "This is ridiculous!" The landlord changed my locks.

I learned lessons:
Lock the door.
Try to be prepared for these things. (How?) Anyway, try.
Don't trust cops 100%
Don't piss off cops.
I am capable of handling more things than I give myself credit for.

Two days after getting robbed, my car broke down. I got it restarted and babied it to the shop after coaching on how to baby a car down the street from my ex. It's the "computer". I didn't know cars had computers. And some plugs were dirty.

Today, I told a friend all that I have been through the last few days. She said, "Mercury Retrograde, hon! Mercury Regtrograde!"
I said, "We are in Mercury Retrograde right now? Since when?
"Since Thanksgiving!" she said emphatically. A bit about Mercury Retrograde. It creeps me out when astrology is right about stuff.