Jonah's Journey (Book) http://www.Writing.Com/main/books.php/item_id/953544-Jonahs-Journey ....here! [Link: 'Visit Jonah and see what he's up to these days!'] "Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried." ~ Mae West (1892 - 1980) [Image #750081] [Image #597420] [Image #868365] Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:41:57 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/704933 There's not a lot about Jonah I can brag about in that traditional brag-about-your-kid sense. He isn't reading three grade levels above his age group or making goals every Saturday in soccer. He doesn't know all the planets in the solar system and he can't spell Mississippi. But my god, the kid can swim and sing. I mean to tell y...[Read Full Post] Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:45:31 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/599006 This afternoon is record-breakingly hot - when just last week it snowed! - so my next door neighbor Sheri asked if I wanted to join her and her 6-year old son at the park at nearby Westland Hills. I said "sure" and lured Jonah into the car. When we got there he saw the pool area, and of course it's not open yet, but he remembered going ...[Read Full Post] Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:08:32 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/503705 I actually offended someone with [Link To Item #1199672] , hard as it is for me to believe. I meant for my article to be along the lines of Cat Stevens' way of thinking when he wrote Moonshadow: "And if I ever lose my eyes, if my colors all run dry... And if I ever lose my eyes I won't have to cry no more...." ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:37:38 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/481217 Yesterday Jonah's school was closed for Yom Kippur. Andy did have school, though, so I had to stay home from work and watch Jonah all day. I decided to take him to the just-renovated Colonie Center Mall [Link: 'http://www.shopatcoloniecenter.com/other/renderings.html'] and see if he'd let me put him in one of those car-strollers ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 03 Oct 2006 20:54:39 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/458952 We have been using REI: [Link: 'http://www.reiinstitute.com/'] with Jonah and are at the end of the program. We have't seen any discernable results and I was kind of resigned; I knew it was an alternative therapy with no guarantees. But when Jeff Strong, the director, e-mailed me to ask how everything was going, I was honest and sa...[Read Full Post] Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:58:28 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/458942 I have been doing a lot of research into B.F. Skinner and ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis) in order to justify and articulate our feelings in regard to Jonah, and not wanting a strict ABA course of action for therapy with him. ABA has never sat right with us, though his school uses it some, and in small doses I think it's fine, and as effective as ...[Read Full Post] Sat, 01 Jul 2006 11:45:40 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/437520 I really like this guy's website. He says as lot of what I have been thinking, about ABA and "curing" autism. He is a high-functioning autistic adult and I applaud what he has to say! [Link: 'http://home.att.net/~ascaris1/index.html'] Among other things, he says: "Most autistics do not see autism as the NTs (Neurotypical...[Read Full Post] Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:44:24 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/436938 Oh, and we had Jonah's blood tested recently for both mercury and lead. We needed to do it to put our minds at rest.....and the results? No mercury at all, not even a trace -- and lead in the normal level range. Minds officially at rest! "Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried." ~ Mae We...[Read Full Post] Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:15:12 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/435163 This living stuff can get pretty strange. I went to lunch with friend Kristin on Monday, and we were talking about how neither of us has been feeling particularly good about herself lately. I said, "You know I never was a pretty girl, but lately I just feel like I'm getting uglier and uglier as I get older." The next day, yesterday, Jo...[Read Full Post] Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:35:19 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/435150 We have not been having any success with potty training Jonah, who turned 4 on March 7th and expresses no interest whatsoever in the toilet. We had this little step-stool/potty chair that fit over the regular toilet seat, and he used it a few times, but then refused outright and so we haven't been forcing it. But then he broke that potty chair so...[Read Full Post] Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:35:50 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/417072 I found out recently that an old friend of mine gave birth to a Down's Syndrome baby. I called her to congratulate her on the new baby and I asked her questions about what she might need or how she might feel. I didn't know what to say, really, because the occasion must have been one of very mixed emotions for her family....I thought to myself ~ ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 18 Jan 2006 09:11:32 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/400221 I finally convinced Andy to go with me to the Autism Parent Education Series instead of my dad, who has been attending with me once a month for 3 months now. It is really for parents, as the title suggests, and I know Andy didn't want to go but it seemed stupid to have to tell him everything I learned every time I learned it. The program is run by CA...[Read Full Post] Thu, 05 Jan 2006 10:16:26 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/397003 It's been hard to write about Jonah. Sometimes I want to write a whole book about everything he is and does, but the reality of caring for him makes me want to use my computer time to escape -- not to re-hash everything by writing it all down. And yet I need to write about him. So the compromise I have devised is to let some time pass between the ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 18 Sep 2005 18:26:02 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/373643 Last night my father had my grandmother up to his house for dinner, and afterward they came here and brought us some of the food. (Dad used to want us all to drive up to his house, until that time he witnessed Jonah's complete freakout and realized how hard it really can be for us to take him places!) My grandmother is "up" right now (she is ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 13 Jul 2005 11:13:16 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/359583 On Monday I met with the social worker at Jonah's school to talk about the hard time I had with Jonah last week, to ask about things I could do when he throws a tantrum. She told me I did everything right, restraining him in the car seat when things got really hairy so he couldn't hurt himself or anyone else. She also assured me that a lot of it ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:24:08 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/355140 This morning Jonah threw a tantrum in school, as we were just going inside. He cried and screamed and tried to hit me, then he didn't want to go with his teacher. He hasn't done this since his first day of school in January. Lois (the head teacher) assured me he would be just fine, so I waved bye bye to him and left. I am going to ask for a meeti...[Read Full Post] Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:51:58 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/354249 This is an excerpt of one of my regular journal entries, because it concerns Jonah. Andy has been gone since Tuesday morning on a camping trip with the kids from Wildwood, and he'll be back tonight, thank God. The last two days have been positively disastrous. Had it not been for the blessed break I get while Jonah is in school, I may hav...[Read Full Post] Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:40:29 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/354041 Yesterday I took Jonah down to Kinderhook for friend Kate's son Sam's 3rd birthday party. There were all kinds of people there and Kate and her husband, Eric, really made it a good party. They had bubbles, toys, a kiddie pool, sandbox, swingset, and a sprinkler toy set up for the kids, and lots of delicious food. All this and Kate is like 7 month...[Read Full Post] Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:02:52 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/353413 People like to send me articles about autism. I understand that their motivation is kind, but I'm rarely hearing something I haven't heard before. Yesterday I got one from a friend which says stuff like: "Generation Rescue parents are successfully treating their children biomedically and removing mercury from thei...[Read Full Post] Mon, 06 Jun 2005 09:26:20 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/351890 today we brought jonah's little blue plastic baby pool out into the backyard and filled it with the hose. he absolutely loved it and occupied himself for what seemed like forever. he loves to raise himself up and look between his legs at the water dripping down. when i put a plastic cup in there, he filled it again and again, splashing himself...[Read Full Post] Sat, 04 Jun 2005 13:34:16 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/351478 Jonah adores the Wiggles, this Australian kids' show. And he knows all the motions to this one song they sing. It makes me think he's got a better brain in his noggin' than people give him credit for! Everybody Clap! (Jonah claps 3 times, right in time) Everybody Sing! La la la la la! (Alas, he does not sing) Bow to your partner (...[Read Full Post] Mon, 16 May 2005 17:29:56 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/347500 I love when he sits in the car seat in the back of Oz, our green Taurus, and claps along when I play Guster on the radio. But I hate when he refuses to eat and then screams and cries and tries to lead me over to the chocolate or the soda or something junky that I don't want him to have. It's not like I can reason with him at all, or even comm...[Read Full Post] Wed, 11 May 2005 15:15:49 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/346569 and today he did not have school, it was a staff development day, so like an idiot (will I never learn?), i took him to the park, where he became quickly agitated, running around the perimeter of the place, grunting loudly, stopping briefly at the firetruck piece of equipment where a kid half his age imitated his grunting and asked his mommy what'...[Read Full Post] Wed, 04 May 2005 15:06:58 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/345185 90% of the time it is Andy who takes Jonah to the park...sometimes I tag along, and once in a while I'll bring him to the park myself, but mostly it is Andy who takes him. Andy tells me that lately all the little kids, even kids younger than Jonah, have been asking him why Jonah doesn't talk and why he makes those funny grunting noises. He ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 03 May 2005 18:00:03 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/344991