K used to love drinking milk. I was surprised how easily he weaned off breast milk at around 13 months. He woke up one day, I gave him a bottle of cow's milk and he finished it. That was it. I thought what are all those other mom's going on about their kid's giving them trouble weaning?
Then after his autism diagnosis someone put it in our head to put him on the GFCF diet. This later evolved in to a military diet of elimination and reintroduction of food groups to determine behaviour and bowel movements. This was stressful and, we have now realised, quite futile.
I have relaxed a bit more now and although I am strict with GFCF, we don't go ape over soy and corn and aim for simplicity, enjoyment, balance and convenience in meals rather than obsession and stress.
I am however planning an "infraction". K has had 2 great weeks in his various therapies and in doing stuff with us at home, he is in a good mood.
The time is right I feel to do some testing.
I am going to give him a glass of milk and see what happens. I am hoping nothing happens. That will be great because then I will be able to give him another glass of milk the next day and so on.
I am excited.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Monday, 28 September 2009
My Halal meat rant
I have been wanting to do this rant on Halaal meat for some time. I warn you though that I probably cannot verify much of what I am saying, which is why it is a rant.
The part I can verify is the following verse from the Quran.
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالْدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلاَّ مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُواْ بِالأَزْلاَمِ ذَلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ الْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِن دِينِكُمْ فَلاَ تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِ الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِّإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ (5:3)
5:3 (Asad) FORBIDDEN to you is carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that over which any name other than God's has been invoked, [7] and the animal that has been strangled, or beaten to death, or killed by a fall, or gored to death, or savaged by a beast of prey, save that which you [yourselves] may have slaughtered while it was still alive; and [forbidden to you is] all that has been slaughtered on idolatrous altars. [8] And [you are forbidden] to seek to learn through divination what the future may hold in store for you: [9] this is sinful conduct. Today, those who , are bent on denying the truth have lost all hope of [your ever forsaking] your religion: do not, then, hold them in awe, but stand in awe of Me! Today have I perfected your religious law for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me shall be your religion. [10] As for him, however, who is driven [to what is forbidden] by dire necessity [11] and not by an inclination to sinning -behold, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.
(Thank you Quran Search) This is from Surah Ma'idah. It is not the only place in the Quran that mentions Halaal but I like it as it is in some detail. Remember Quran is not the only source of information for Muslims, the volumes and volumes of Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) is also a major source, not to mention your own intellect (but we define intellect in a different way and more on that in a later post)!
The above sounds pretty straightforward. Don't eat dead animals, blood, pigs and only eat what has been slaughtered. It is interesting that it says "any name other than God's has been invoked" and not on which God's name has been invoked. So you can invoke God's name and some other name also and that would make it Haram? Right? Not sure here.
Then there is more in surah Baqara in the Quran:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُواْ مِمَّا فِي الأَرْضِ حَلاَلاً طَيِّباً وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ
2:168 (Asad) O MANKIND! Partake of what is lawful and good on earth, and follow not Satan's footsteps: for, verily, he is your open foe,
So we get Halaal, but what is this "Tayyib" or "good on earth"?
I don't know, but I would like to know. I have been making lots of guesses about it since Khaled's diagnosis and although we have always consumed halaal, I have begun to question seriously what Halaal REALLY means.
Does "good on earth" mean healthy? Wholesome? Organic? Clean?
Here is my breakdown of what "good on earth" could mean.
Intention
Intentions count for a lot in Islam. Greed is obviously bad intention. Remember when meat was a privilege? Something you ate on Friday or the day off so it would be like a celebration. (Friday is not even a day off in my old country anymore sadly). This was because it was expensive and considered extravagant. Simplicity was encouraged in everyday life including in the food you ate.
Now it is common for families to eat meat everyday. "My kids only eat chicken", " My husband has to have meat everyday" and so on. I think sometimes, although I am not even 30 yet, I come from another time. When I would make vegan food for my husband in the early days of our marriage he would make a face and I would say, you have to prepare for any eventuality. What if one day you lose your job and cannot afford to eat whatever you want all the time? He isn't complaining anymore.
Suppliers are trying to meet this exponential demand for meat.
If the intention underlying your production of food is greed or gluttony, then does it make your food halaal?
If you are feeding an animal hormones, antibiotics, additives and so on to make them fatter, grow faster so you can sell more animals to feed more people who feel it is their God given right to eat meat all the time, then is that animal still halaal?
The treatment of animals
Do you ever imagine the animal you are eating? And if you do, then is that image a sentimental one of animals trotting about the farm happily? In reality this probably happened, a few decades ago! Nowadays it is all about factory farming. Most animals are mass-produced for human consumption. They aren't just trotting about and you slaughter a few to eat, they are bred, birthed and raised only for the purpose of human consumption. This bothers me.
In Islam there is a special celebration called Eid-al Adha. It is on the 10Th day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhul Hijja. It is the festival of sacrifice. SACRIFICE being the operative word here. On this day we are meant to remember the willingness of Ibarhim to slaughter his son Ishmael as an act of devotion to God (he didn't actually get slaughtered, it was just a test, God saved him). One dictionary meaning of sacrifice is "the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim." The animals one purchases before Eid (with the intention to sacrifice) are meant to be prized, valued, treated with respect and love. You are supposed to feel a loss, financially and emotionally. It is forbidden in Islam to mistreat living things.
Now consider animals caged in window-less pens, in overcrowded factories with no regard for their well-being. If animals are genetically produced (like dairy cows) to only produce milk and forced to continually birth calves to produce milk, then is this situation halaal?
Have you ever asked your Halaal butcher or halaal assigning committees how they make sure that it is not just Allah-Akbar that is uttered during slaughter of the animal but also these animals are treated from birth in a Tayyib and Islamic way?
I love meat. I like barbeque's, but I love myself more. I want to be healthy and I want God to be happy with me. I don't want to have to answer for the horrific conditions in which animals are bred to fulfil my meat-greed. I would rather be safe than sorry. I cannot afford Organic halal meat all the time as it is expensive, but who said you have to eat meat everyday?
Just a rant I wanted to put out there for people to contemplate. A lot of people think religion and faith is about blind submission and rituals. I do not feel that way about my faith. I think God wants us to think and feel.
Here are a few eid photos from I think two years ago.
All of them cry when the animals are slaugthered. I hope they remember it always when they buy and eat meat.
The part I can verify is the following verse from the Quran.
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالْدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلاَّ مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُواْ بِالأَزْلاَمِ ذَلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ الْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِن دِينِكُمْ فَلاَ تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِ الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِّإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ (5:3)
5:3 (Asad) FORBIDDEN to you is carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that over which any name other than God's has been invoked, [7] and the animal that has been strangled, or beaten to death, or killed by a fall, or gored to death, or savaged by a beast of prey, save that which you [yourselves] may have slaughtered while it was still alive; and [forbidden to you is] all that has been slaughtered on idolatrous altars. [8] And [you are forbidden] to seek to learn through divination what the future may hold in store for you: [9] this is sinful conduct. Today, those who , are bent on denying the truth have lost all hope of [your ever forsaking] your religion: do not, then, hold them in awe, but stand in awe of Me! Today have I perfected your religious law for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me shall be your religion. [10] As for him, however, who is driven [to what is forbidden] by dire necessity [11] and not by an inclination to sinning -behold, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.
(Thank you Quran Search) This is from Surah Ma'idah. It is not the only place in the Quran that mentions Halaal but I like it as it is in some detail. Remember Quran is not the only source of information for Muslims, the volumes and volumes of Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) is also a major source, not to mention your own intellect (but we define intellect in a different way and more on that in a later post)!
The above sounds pretty straightforward. Don't eat dead animals, blood, pigs and only eat what has been slaughtered. It is interesting that it says "any name other than God's has been invoked" and not on which God's name has been invoked. So you can invoke God's name and some other name also and that would make it Haram? Right? Not sure here.
Then there is more in surah Baqara in the Quran:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُواْ مِمَّا فِي الأَرْضِ حَلاَلاً طَيِّباً وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ
2:168 (Asad) O MANKIND! Partake of what is lawful and good on earth, and follow not Satan's footsteps: for, verily, he is your open foe,
So we get Halaal, but what is this "Tayyib" or "good on earth"?
I don't know, but I would like to know. I have been making lots of guesses about it since Khaled's diagnosis and although we have always consumed halaal, I have begun to question seriously what Halaal REALLY means.
Does "good on earth" mean healthy? Wholesome? Organic? Clean?
Here is my breakdown of what "good on earth" could mean.
Intention
Intentions count for a lot in Islam. Greed is obviously bad intention. Remember when meat was a privilege? Something you ate on Friday or the day off so it would be like a celebration. (Friday is not even a day off in my old country anymore sadly). This was because it was expensive and considered extravagant. Simplicity was encouraged in everyday life including in the food you ate.
Now it is common for families to eat meat everyday. "My kids only eat chicken", " My husband has to have meat everyday" and so on. I think sometimes, although I am not even 30 yet, I come from another time. When I would make vegan food for my husband in the early days of our marriage he would make a face and I would say, you have to prepare for any eventuality. What if one day you lose your job and cannot afford to eat whatever you want all the time? He isn't complaining anymore.
Suppliers are trying to meet this exponential demand for meat.
If the intention underlying your production of food is greed or gluttony, then does it make your food halaal?
If you are feeding an animal hormones, antibiotics, additives and so on to make them fatter, grow faster so you can sell more animals to feed more people who feel it is their God given right to eat meat all the time, then is that animal still halaal?
The treatment of animals
Do you ever imagine the animal you are eating? And if you do, then is that image a sentimental one of animals trotting about the farm happily? In reality this probably happened, a few decades ago! Nowadays it is all about factory farming. Most animals are mass-produced for human consumption. They aren't just trotting about and you slaughter a few to eat, they are bred, birthed and raised only for the purpose of human consumption. This bothers me.
In Islam there is a special celebration called Eid-al Adha. It is on the 10Th day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhul Hijja. It is the festival of sacrifice. SACRIFICE being the operative word here. On this day we are meant to remember the willingness of Ibarhim to slaughter his son Ishmael as an act of devotion to God (he didn't actually get slaughtered, it was just a test, God saved him). One dictionary meaning of sacrifice is "the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim." The animals one purchases before Eid (with the intention to sacrifice) are meant to be prized, valued, treated with respect and love. You are supposed to feel a loss, financially and emotionally. It is forbidden in Islam to mistreat living things.
Now consider animals caged in window-less pens, in overcrowded factories with no regard for their well-being. If animals are genetically produced (like dairy cows) to only produce milk and forced to continually birth calves to produce milk, then is this situation halaal?
Have you ever asked your Halaal butcher or halaal assigning committees how they make sure that it is not just Allah-Akbar that is uttered during slaughter of the animal but also these animals are treated from birth in a Tayyib and Islamic way?
I love meat. I like barbeque's, but I love myself more. I want to be healthy and I want God to be happy with me. I don't want to have to answer for the horrific conditions in which animals are bred to fulfil my meat-greed. I would rather be safe than sorry. I cannot afford Organic halal meat all the time as it is expensive, but who said you have to eat meat everyday?
Just a rant I wanted to put out there for people to contemplate. A lot of people think religion and faith is about blind submission and rituals. I do not feel that way about my faith. I think God wants us to think and feel.
Here are a few eid photos from I think two years ago.
All of them cry when the animals are slaugthered. I hope they remember it always when they buy and eat meat.
Ginger Garlic chicken and Squash fries
I know just look at it! (I am fasting again today. We have to make up the ones we skipped during Ramzan). Yummmm...
This is a bone in chicken breast. Cooking meat with its bones is better because it is delicious! Bones and the cartilage that surrounds the bones release collagen which dissolves in to gelatin and gives your chicken broth that jello like texture. I did not add water to the chicken but it releases its own juices and those you can mix with rice.
There is pepper, salt, turmeric powder, lots of ginger, garlic and lemon on the chicken. It was baked in a dish covered in foil for 35 minutes at 350 F. I turned off the oven and left it in there for a bit longer while I made the fries.
The fries are squash! K knew something was suspect because he examined each one, but ate them anyway.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Spicy bean soup
We are desperately trying to cut down our expenses to pay for K's therapies and make our savings last a little longer. A monthly analysis of expenses always shows a big grocery bill. It is no surprise because we are trying to feed K organic produce and organic meat (3 sausages will cost you 5 dollars, one chicken breast can cost you 8 bucks!). We have significantly cut down on the meat we consume because 1)We cannot afford to eat organic meat as a whole family 2) I don't want to eat the rubbish hormone/pork-fed/antibiotic-ridden/cruelly produced non-organic meat.
So, that means we eat a lot of vegetarian meals and only K gets the organic meat.
Initially I started buying from the farmers markets. They are not organic, but at least they are fresh. This often resulted in almost $40-$60 being spent at the market every weekend! We were juicing everyday for K at the time. This too was excessive.
This balancing act will continue probably for the rest of our lives, so who cares. It just means coming up with delicious ways to enjoy meals.
Being GFCF means we are free of many grains, but beans have been my saviour. They are little treasure chests of nutrients.
This spicy bean soup is a favourite (at least my husband and I love it).
Ingredients
Red kidney beans
Black eyed beans
Urad lentil whole
1 Tomato chopped
One onion sliced
Coriander leaves fresh
Turmeric powder
Red chili powder
Sea Salt (or kosher salt)
Garlic
Ginger
Olive oil
I am not sure how much of the beans I used (I think together they are 1.5 cups)
It is best to soak them in the morning or even overnight. But I just cooked them slowly in the pressure cooker for 40 minutes or more in 4 or 5 cups of water.
While beans are cooking, fry onions. Add tomato and chopped garlic. With garlic the rule is the more the better! I freeze the ginger root I buy to make it last longer, and then grate it. So 2 table spoons grated ginger. Add the spices and salt. Fry. Add a tiny bit of water if needed to soften the tomatoes.
When beans are done add the tomato mixture to them and that's it!
Here is my bowl.
Here is K's plate. I gave him some steamed broccoli.
He obviously is not so excited about the beans, but that cup of juice is the reinforcer that makes sure the not so popular meals go down without too much stress. A spoonful of food, then a few sips of drink and so on...
A few months ago it would take a drink, some pop corn and maybe a favourite dvd to make him finish any meal. We have come a long way!
So, that means we eat a lot of vegetarian meals and only K gets the organic meat.
Initially I started buying from the farmers markets. They are not organic, but at least they are fresh. This often resulted in almost $40-$60 being spent at the market every weekend! We were juicing everyday for K at the time. This too was excessive.
This balancing act will continue probably for the rest of our lives, so who cares. It just means coming up with delicious ways to enjoy meals.
Being GFCF means we are free of many grains, but beans have been my saviour. They are little treasure chests of nutrients.
This spicy bean soup is a favourite (at least my husband and I love it).
Ingredients
Red kidney beans
Black eyed beans
Urad lentil whole
1 Tomato chopped
One onion sliced
Coriander leaves fresh
Turmeric powder
Red chili powder
Sea Salt (or kosher salt)
Garlic
Ginger
Olive oil
I am not sure how much of the beans I used (I think together they are 1.5 cups)
It is best to soak them in the morning or even overnight. But I just cooked them slowly in the pressure cooker for 40 minutes or more in 4 or 5 cups of water.
While beans are cooking, fry onions. Add tomato and chopped garlic. With garlic the rule is the more the better! I freeze the ginger root I buy to make it last longer, and then grate it. So 2 table spoons grated ginger. Add the spices and salt. Fry. Add a tiny bit of water if needed to soften the tomatoes.
When beans are done add the tomato mixture to them and that's it!
Here is my bowl.
Here is K's plate. I gave him some steamed broccoli.
He obviously is not so excited about the beans, but that cup of juice is the reinforcer that makes sure the not so popular meals go down without too much stress. A spoonful of food, then a few sips of drink and so on...
A few months ago it would take a drink, some pop corn and maybe a favourite dvd to make him finish any meal. We have come a long way!
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Mr Funny
Whatever happens, one thing I can tell for sure is that K will grow up to be really funny!
I mean he is just 3 and he gets it when we are just being funny. I could say "go to bed" in a weird voice and he will laugh, as opposed to my serious voice (to which he will go to his bed running and then throw a fake tantrum).
He will try to repeat something that made me laugh, to get the same reaction out of me. If a group of people laugh at whatever he does, it will for sure be repeated several times over. This I believe is the real positive sign of things to come. He likes to have fun!
And why should that be such a surprise or even noteworthy? He is a kid like any other. I think after the "Autism diagnosis" parents become so caught up in relating everything to their child's autism that they are at a risk of losing out on just sitting back and enjoying the many wonderful moments children create for you all the time.
I remember the first autistic kid I ever met. He was 8 years old at the time. He was walking on his toes and his mom would discretely gesture for him to lower his heels. He seemed kind of dysregulated but understood two languages, spoke to his mom in front of us in English and some French which he had recently taken an interest in at school.
They had never been on any diet or biomedical protocol. They had not heard of ABA. They had done Occupational therapy and Speech therapy and just gone on with their lives being mindful and accepting of their son.
They were a Muslim family. They had a very Islamic view point on the whole thing. This was God's choice, it is what it is, we have to accept and find happiness in what God has given us. Muslims (the ones who still remember to use their brain for thinking purposes) have a different goal in life and their idea of success is very different. Success is measured in terms of good deeds and adherence to the Islamic way of life in context of modern times, and always remembering that death and the day of judgement is around the corner. A Muslim is left to do an (increasingly) difficult balancing act on a very fine line!
I am not condoning just submitting to fate and doing NOTHING.
I am just saying that was their intervention. They did intensive speech therapy (most of the work the mom did at home). They told me about the mistakes they had made and the difficulties they faced as a family on a daily basis (bullying at school, dividing time between NT sibling and Autistic child, "socially unacceptable" behaviour in social situations and so on). I am going to do a whole post on socially acceptable behaviour because being an immigrant here and having lived in a lot of countries I know "socially acceptable" is vastly different in different cultures and this cool difference is being submerged by a wave of stereotyped (I hate to use the word, but I can't think of another) Westernisation or generic-ness.
So back to this family we met. Every word they uttered was filled with hope for and pride in their son.
Whatever path we choose and settle in to, I really aspire to their hope and positivity. What wonderful people to meet right after getting a diagnosis of autism! I will never forget them.
Monday, 21 September 2009
Static and Dynamic
We have been given an RDI assignment to map what we think are K's dynamic and static skills.
I think this is our first truly interesting assignment. We only started our education phase of RDI two weeks ago and are barely at the beginning of everything. Already however I find the information I have learned extremely valuable. Partly because it fits in with my philosophy of "I don't think anyone really knows what they are doing in autism interventions and each autistic individual needs to be understood in a lot of detail to determine what help they require", and partly because it always makes sense over other things we have tried so far.
Here is a table of SOME static versus dynamic skills Dr Gutstein of the RDI persuasion has listed in one of his presentations.
Again it is not a rule that all autistic people will fit this table. Like typical kids, autistic kids have a variety of skills in each area. However, the RDI camp believe that most have the ability to master the static but will have great difficulty mastering the dynamic. Whereas typical children already have already done a great majority of the groundwork on the dynamic skills before they even begin to learn static skills like vocabulary, self help, school and so on.
I uploaded a video of us trying to do what we thought were some RDI activities with him.
Part of our training is also to submit some video material and have it analysed.
It is very interesting to learn that what we thought was progress or "interaction" was actually not. We fell in to a trap that most parents fall in to. This video of K playing ball with his dad is a great example.
K waits for the ball, throws it back, when it strays he gets it back, repeat. However look closely and you will see there is no sign of shared enjoyment (not from K anyway). I don't even catch a smile. He knows the rules. He is executing them, he is a smart kid. Does he even get the point of this? Does he know its a game?
I really think now that he does not.
He knows his role and he is playing it well. This is not progress.
Remember as a kid when you had nothing to do and you would throw that ball against the wall for hours. I did that and created many variations. I would throw it and clap my hand quickly and catch, let it bounce then catch, quickly do a turn and catch, throw it under my knee let it hit the wall and catch and so on. Remember how you played catch with your friend for hours and every throw was different. What was going on there? It was not scripted. There was always a very very clear sign of enjoyment.
When I try to get close in on K, close enough so we are sitting only arms length apart and then slow this activity right down, and just roll the ball to him so it stays between our legs, he cannot pass it back. This version is meant to be easier, just pass, it is slower, easier, MORE REGULATED. That is the catch there. K cannot regulate himself with another person. He seems to fail at the easy version, yet "seems to be successful" at the harder version!!! That is because what appears to be the harder version (dad far away) is not even a game, it is just a learned set of rules, it is just compliance.
Dad could be an elephant passing the ball to him, could be a wall, could be a machine or a ghost. It is not about his relationship with him, it is only about the ball. He has learned that if he waits, he will get the ball and has to throw it in this general direction. If dad goes away K will just continue to throw the ball randomly. This is what happens!
It is the sad truth with hundreds of children in static learning systems. They are learning the rules, and "progressing" but are they really?
Are we just happy to see the box marked yes and see our child executing, complying?
Take a closer look.
Anyway, it is back to regulatory patterns for us!
I think this is our first truly interesting assignment. We only started our education phase of RDI two weeks ago and are barely at the beginning of everything. Already however I find the information I have learned extremely valuable. Partly because it fits in with my philosophy of "I don't think anyone really knows what they are doing in autism interventions and each autistic individual needs to be understood in a lot of detail to determine what help they require", and partly because it always makes sense over other things we have tried so far.
Here is a table of SOME static versus dynamic skills Dr Gutstein of the RDI persuasion has listed in one of his presentations.
Again it is not a rule that all autistic people will fit this table. Like typical kids, autistic kids have a variety of skills in each area. However, the RDI camp believe that most have the ability to master the static but will have great difficulty mastering the dynamic. Whereas typical children already have already done a great majority of the groundwork on the dynamic skills before they even begin to learn static skills like vocabulary, self help, school and so on.
I uploaded a video of us trying to do what we thought were some RDI activities with him.
Part of our training is also to submit some video material and have it analysed.
It is very interesting to learn that what we thought was progress or "interaction" was actually not. We fell in to a trap that most parents fall in to. This video of K playing ball with his dad is a great example.
K waits for the ball, throws it back, when it strays he gets it back, repeat. However look closely and you will see there is no sign of shared enjoyment (not from K anyway). I don't even catch a smile. He knows the rules. He is executing them, he is a smart kid. Does he even get the point of this? Does he know its a game?
I really think now that he does not.
He knows his role and he is playing it well. This is not progress.
Remember as a kid when you had nothing to do and you would throw that ball against the wall for hours. I did that and created many variations. I would throw it and clap my hand quickly and catch, let it bounce then catch, quickly do a turn and catch, throw it under my knee let it hit the wall and catch and so on. Remember how you played catch with your friend for hours and every throw was different. What was going on there? It was not scripted. There was always a very very clear sign of enjoyment.
When I try to get close in on K, close enough so we are sitting only arms length apart and then slow this activity right down, and just roll the ball to him so it stays between our legs, he cannot pass it back. This version is meant to be easier, just pass, it is slower, easier, MORE REGULATED. That is the catch there. K cannot regulate himself with another person. He seems to fail at the easy version, yet "seems to be successful" at the harder version!!! That is because what appears to be the harder version (dad far away) is not even a game, it is just a learned set of rules, it is just compliance.
Dad could be an elephant passing the ball to him, could be a wall, could be a machine or a ghost. It is not about his relationship with him, it is only about the ball. He has learned that if he waits, he will get the ball and has to throw it in this general direction. If dad goes away K will just continue to throw the ball randomly. This is what happens!
It is the sad truth with hundreds of children in static learning systems. They are learning the rules, and "progressing" but are they really?
Are we just happy to see the box marked yes and see our child executing, complying?
Take a closer look.
Anyway, it is back to regulatory patterns for us!
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Date and walnut cookies
Yay! More flour less success.
They did not go down as eagerly as the Flour less Almond cookies (which he will even try to steal and then run to his room if he sees me! I know! I love it. First signs of lying. I am really enjoying it). But when I give him one he will happily eat it. That works for me because we are always short of snack ideas!
Ingredients
1 egg
3 Tblsp ghee ( I used one Tblsp coconut butter and 2Tblsp ghee because I ran out!)
1.5 cups walnuts
1/2 cup dates cut
1 cup grated coconut ( I used store bought)
1/2 cup cane sugar (you can use any sugar I think)
Cream the sugar, egg and ghee. I used a food processor to do the whole thing. My cane sugar was granules so I tried to grind that alone first to make it in to a powder (it sort of got half powdery half still granules!), then ghee and last egg.
Add rest of the stuff. Mix well. The walnuts kind of get chopped up in the process, if you want finer then chop in advance.
My dough looked like this.
Bake at 350 F and for 10 minutes then leave in oven for maybe another 5 or 10 minutes. I think I left mine in a bit longer than I should have!
This is the end result.
They were so delicious!
They did not go down as eagerly as the Flour less Almond cookies (which he will even try to steal and then run to his room if he sees me! I know! I love it. First signs of lying. I am really enjoying it). But when I give him one he will happily eat it. That works for me because we are always short of snack ideas!
Ingredients
1 egg
3 Tblsp ghee ( I used one Tblsp coconut butter and 2Tblsp ghee because I ran out!)
1.5 cups walnuts
1/2 cup dates cut
1 cup grated coconut ( I used store bought)
1/2 cup cane sugar (you can use any sugar I think)
Cream the sugar, egg and ghee. I used a food processor to do the whole thing. My cane sugar was granules so I tried to grind that alone first to make it in to a powder (it sort of got half powdery half still granules!), then ghee and last egg.
Add rest of the stuff. Mix well. The walnuts kind of get chopped up in the process, if you want finer then chop in advance.
My dough looked like this.
Bake at 350 F and for 10 minutes then leave in oven for maybe another 5 or 10 minutes. I think I left mine in a bit longer than I should have!
This is the end result.
They were so delicious!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Idli recipe - eating bacteria
I have been trying to make some edible fermented food for a while. Yogurt, Kombucha tea and a first batch of Idli's were complete failures.
I want to give K (and myself) some probiotic food.
I did however succeed in making Idlis this second time around. And what a marvellous success, seriously just look at these babies!
Ingredients
Urad lentils (these are white, split)
Ravva flour (cream of rice)
Baking powder
salt
coconut
Day 1
In the morning I soaked the urad lentils. Ratio of Urad lentils to Ravva is 1:2. I used 1/2 cup Lentils.
Let this soak for the whole day (6-8 hours). Can also do overnight. I put it in a plastic container and put that in my oven.
Drain the lentils, keep water aside. Grind in blender/chopper and add water set aside to make a thick paste. Mix in the Ravva flour (I used 1 cup), until no lumps. I did all this in the food processor.
Set aside, covered to ferment over night.
Day 2
The mixture should now be twice its quantity. Add pinch of baking powder, some ground coconut (maybe 1/4 cup?) and 1/2 tsp of salt or less if you want less salty.
This batter can be stored in the fridge. It has live cultures so don't store for too long.
The batter should be like condensed milk, not thicker or too runny. Add water to adjust.
Set in idli stand, and steam for 15-20 minutes.
The fermenting process decides how soft and sour your idlis will be. Ferment too long, it will be too sour. Also depends on temperature. These days it is not so cold or hot so it worked.
Now I am confused about if the steaming process actually kills off the good bacteria. Either way it is a low calorie, delicious meal. People in South India have this for breakfast.
Enjoy with some lentil soup. Yumm!!!!
I want to give K (and myself) some probiotic food.
I did however succeed in making Idlis this second time around. And what a marvellous success, seriously just look at these babies!
Ingredients
Urad lentils (these are white, split)
Ravva flour (cream of rice)
Baking powder
salt
coconut
Day 1
In the morning I soaked the urad lentils. Ratio of Urad lentils to Ravva is 1:2. I used 1/2 cup Lentils.
Let this soak for the whole day (6-8 hours). Can also do overnight. I put it in a plastic container and put that in my oven.
Drain the lentils, keep water aside. Grind in blender/chopper and add water set aside to make a thick paste. Mix in the Ravva flour (I used 1 cup), until no lumps. I did all this in the food processor.
Set aside, covered to ferment over night.
Day 2
The mixture should now be twice its quantity. Add pinch of baking powder, some ground coconut (maybe 1/4 cup?) and 1/2 tsp of salt or less if you want less salty.
This batter can be stored in the fridge. It has live cultures so don't store for too long.
The batter should be like condensed milk, not thicker or too runny. Add water to adjust.
Set in idli stand, and steam for 15-20 minutes.
The fermenting process decides how soft and sour your idlis will be. Ferment too long, it will be too sour. Also depends on temperature. These days it is not so cold or hot so it worked.
Now I am confused about if the steaming process actually kills off the good bacteria. Either way it is a low calorie, delicious meal. People in South India have this for breakfast.
Enjoy with some lentil soup. Yumm!!!!
Saturday, 12 September 2009
A PECS card for requesting Autism services in Ontario
It could work. Just click on the picture and print. Don't forget to laminate.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
GFCF Plain white cake
Finally after many many failed attempts at creating a simple GFCF white cake, I am proud to say that I have succeeded. I hate rice milk so I didn't use it. I suppose the water could be substituted with rice milk.
K loves cake. He loves his carbs. We limit them because otherwise that is all he would be eating. But I never deprive him of course. What kid doesn't love cake and cookies really?
Ingredients
3/4 cups white rice flour
3/4 cups brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour (NOT STARCH, FLOUR - yeah I did that and it was horrid)
2 TABLEspoons baking powder
2 TEAspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 cup honey (use any sweetener, sugar, agave nectar whatever)
3 eggs
2 TEAspoons vanilla
2 cups water
1 cup coconut oil (I used half coconut butter, and half coconut oil, use any thing ghee, gfcf margerine - usually that has soy though)
The batter for this thing is not runny. It kind of gets fluffy and is thick.
I used two greased pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
It was amazing. SOFT (Which has never happened), was not powdery tasting, just yum.
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