It's been a month too long! I had to post a picture of Alano and his new haircut given by his "Titi" Tania just over a week ago. Look at those cheeks! That smile lights me up everyday!
I was doing a lot of researching and waiting the past few weeks.
I finally found the right DAN! doctor and got an appointment in November. Unfortunately, she is almost two hours away in New Jersey but I think she will be worth it! Her name is Elaine Hardy from Holistic Family HealthCare based in Hackettstown. She's a nurse practitioner who follows the Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) approach to biomedical treatment. I was recommended to see her by a great friend, a Generation Rescue Angel from GenerationRescue.org. Her name is Beth, another Bensonhurst, Brooklyn girl like myself! This Rescue Angel program is such a blessing and finding her out of all the people listed nearby was just meant to be. We've connected on Facebook and now I get to share information with her as well as all the other "biomed" moms in her community! I have to say thank you Beth in this blog for being a great friend and an "Angel" in Alano's life! We shall meet very soon!
The waiting part was for Lend4Health, an incredibly wonderful non profit started by Tori Tuncan. Alano's profile is now posted along with sixteen other children, who are all under the autism spectrum or related disorder, to have the opportunity to obtain a microloan for funding the high costs of biomedical treatment through a community of friends, family members and just about anyone who can lend a hand to help a child on their way to recovery! I was so happy to see Alano's profile and now it's a matter of hope that he will get the funds he needs. Please CLICK HERE to see his profile and give whatever you can! You can do it through Paypal via the ChipIn widget posted or pay by credit card without an account. Donations/gifts can be given too so please contact Tori for more info or email me. I do encourage making a loan instead since you will be repaid. Then it can be passed along to another child in need and it just keeps on giving that way. If you check out the breakdown of how much the appointments are, the lab tests needed and other things like supplements, etc., you would be able to understand the frustration I feel about the health insurance industry and why autism cannot be covered like most other disorders. This is just the beginning...
Hmm so how does Spongebob relate to all of this? A beautiful story happened over a week ago that involved Alano, an episode about selling chocolate bars and the window that opened up and let in a flood of emotions for me and my husband Travis. I was sitting on the couch in the living room while I was watching Alano play with his cars on the coffee table. Travis was in the kitchen and Legend was in his bedroom at the time. We just watched the Spongebob episode called Chocolate with Nuts, one of my favorites! I am flabbergasted to this day that I would even say those words lol! The character whose home Spongebob and Patrick first go to as door-to-door chocolate bar salesmen opens the door to hear that they're selling chocolate bars. He repeats it quietly and then screams it out loud, to the point of being tortured by the word, and runs after them throughout the whole show! Alano is so intrigued by this guy and cracks up when he sees him everytime! I can imitate the way he screams but softly of course. So it's just me and him in the living room and I started to have a little fun with him by screaming like the crazy chocolate guy. I did it like five or six times and each time, Alano had this huge smile, like the one in his pic above, and knew exactly what I was trying to do! I pretended to go after him and he was laughing. Then he comes over to the couch and starts climbing up to sit down. He was not facing me which killed me soon after but then it was quiet and the moment came: "Choc-o-lit"! The exact syllables came so sweet and softly out of his mouth that my jaw dropped in awe! WAS THAT YOU ALANO??!! I then screamed, "Trav, did you hear that?!!" and he did because it was one of those 10 second you could hear a pin drop moments of silence that was God-given to Alano to be able to say a hard, triple syllable word! Out came the waterfall from my eyes and Travis ran over to praise him, smiling from ear to ear. Legend came over and was amazed too! We couldn't get him to say it again, like at all that day but it was truly an open window that gave us such hope for things to come. The achoos after sneezing are no doubt a constant joy since that is the only phrase he would repeat at least three times or more after we say it to him! Thank you Spongebob and thank God for chocolate lol!!
Alano had his second evaluation last Friday and was officially diagnosed with PDD-NOS. He did improve in many areas but he really needs a lot more therapy. Soon he will have an ABA as well as doubled time in speech, special instruction and continued occupational therapy. It's going to be a trip next month and a long year for him. Worries of sending him to a school next year when he turns three are lingering but I can only deal with the present for now. I have my own physical therapy to attend to next week so it's a lot to juggle right now. With Legend being in kindergarten for six hours a day, I can tell Alano misses having him around. Summer was a great time for him but now that fall and winter are here, it will be nothing but therapy everyday and hopefully sometime outdoors for him and my 4 1/2 year old nephew Danny, who my mother takes care of and brings to school three times a week so he's around to play with him more so than Legend, even if he doesn't have the same patience that Legend does. So in between thearpy, it's just me and him and I enjoy every minute of it. Along with Travis being home twice a week and my mother coming up almost everyday to help clean, cook and take her grandkids out, I couldn't ask for a better support system in my life!
'Til next time, I will write with an update about Alano's microloan and how I will be celebrating his second birthday and Legend's fifth birthday too *sigh*! God bless!
I was doing a lot of researching and waiting the past few weeks.
I finally found the right DAN! doctor and got an appointment in November. Unfortunately, she is almost two hours away in New Jersey but I think she will be worth it! Her name is Elaine Hardy from Holistic Family HealthCare based in Hackettstown. She's a nurse practitioner who follows the Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) approach to biomedical treatment. I was recommended to see her by a great friend, a Generation Rescue Angel from GenerationRescue.org. Her name is Beth, another Bensonhurst, Brooklyn girl like myself! This Rescue Angel program is such a blessing and finding her out of all the people listed nearby was just meant to be. We've connected on Facebook and now I get to share information with her as well as all the other "biomed" moms in her community! I have to say thank you Beth in this blog for being a great friend and an "Angel" in Alano's life! We shall meet very soon!
The waiting part was for Lend4Health, an incredibly wonderful non profit started by Tori Tuncan. Alano's profile is now posted along with sixteen other children, who are all under the autism spectrum or related disorder, to have the opportunity to obtain a microloan for funding the high costs of biomedical treatment through a community of friends, family members and just about anyone who can lend a hand to help a child on their way to recovery! I was so happy to see Alano's profile and now it's a matter of hope that he will get the funds he needs. Please CLICK HERE to see his profile and give whatever you can! You can do it through Paypal via the ChipIn widget posted or pay by credit card without an account. Donations/gifts can be given too so please contact Tori for more info or email me. I do encourage making a loan instead since you will be repaid. Then it can be passed along to another child in need and it just keeps on giving that way. If you check out the breakdown of how much the appointments are, the lab tests needed and other things like supplements, etc., you would be able to understand the frustration I feel about the health insurance industry and why autism cannot be covered like most other disorders. This is just the beginning...
Hmm so how does Spongebob relate to all of this? A beautiful story happened over a week ago that involved Alano, an episode about selling chocolate bars and the window that opened up and let in a flood of emotions for me and my husband Travis. I was sitting on the couch in the living room while I was watching Alano play with his cars on the coffee table. Travis was in the kitchen and Legend was in his bedroom at the time. We just watched the Spongebob episode called Chocolate with Nuts, one of my favorites! I am flabbergasted to this day that I would even say those words lol! The character whose home Spongebob and Patrick first go to as door-to-door chocolate bar salesmen opens the door to hear that they're selling chocolate bars. He repeats it quietly and then screams it out loud, to the point of being tortured by the word, and runs after them throughout the whole show! Alano is so intrigued by this guy and cracks up when he sees him everytime! I can imitate the way he screams but softly of course. So it's just me and him in the living room and I started to have a little fun with him by screaming like the crazy chocolate guy. I did it like five or six times and each time, Alano had this huge smile, like the one in his pic above, and knew exactly what I was trying to do! I pretended to go after him and he was laughing. Then he comes over to the couch and starts climbing up to sit down. He was not facing me which killed me soon after but then it was quiet and the moment came: "Choc-o-lit"! The exact syllables came so sweet and softly out of his mouth that my jaw dropped in awe! WAS THAT YOU ALANO??!! I then screamed, "Trav, did you hear that?!!" and he did because it was one of those 10 second you could hear a pin drop moments of silence that was God-given to Alano to be able to say a hard, triple syllable word! Out came the waterfall from my eyes and Travis ran over to praise him, smiling from ear to ear. Legend came over and was amazed too! We couldn't get him to say it again, like at all that day but it was truly an open window that gave us such hope for things to come. The achoos after sneezing are no doubt a constant joy since that is the only phrase he would repeat at least three times or more after we say it to him! Thank you Spongebob and thank God for chocolate lol!!
Alano had his second evaluation last Friday and was officially diagnosed with PDD-NOS. He did improve in many areas but he really needs a lot more therapy. Soon he will have an ABA as well as doubled time in speech, special instruction and continued occupational therapy. It's going to be a trip next month and a long year for him. Worries of sending him to a school next year when he turns three are lingering but I can only deal with the present for now. I have my own physical therapy to attend to next week so it's a lot to juggle right now. With Legend being in kindergarten for six hours a day, I can tell Alano misses having him around. Summer was a great time for him but now that fall and winter are here, it will be nothing but therapy everyday and hopefully sometime outdoors for him and my 4 1/2 year old nephew Danny, who my mother takes care of and brings to school three times a week so he's around to play with him more so than Legend, even if he doesn't have the same patience that Legend does. So in between thearpy, it's just me and him and I enjoy every minute of it. Along with Travis being home twice a week and my mother coming up almost everyday to help clean, cook and take her grandkids out, I couldn't ask for a better support system in my life!
'Til next time, I will write with an update about Alano's microloan and how I will be celebrating his second birthday and Legend's fifth birthday too *sigh*! God bless!
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