I was tasked with writing a position paper and chose the effects of dietary changes on students with autism. Specifically, gluten free/ dairy free diets and vitamin regimens. I chose this topic knowing that it is controversial, but also because we were forced to introduce a gluten free diet into our family due a Celiacs diagnosis and then further forced to subtract dairy from our diet after my son was diagnosed with high functioning autism. A prescribing doctor would not suggest any psychopharmaceuticals for depression until we had removed dairy and red food dye, along with our regimen of gluten free.
Within four days of being dairy free my sons depression was gone. This is not an exaggeration. I used a feelings chart that is commonly used for children to express how they feel. Before taking dairy out my son chose descriptors such as, angry, sad, irritated on a daily basis. He cried a few times a week and could not stop or give any specific reason why he was crying. He had instances of becoming physical with us and his younger sister, spiting on us, going in circles asking "what do I do?" over and over again. Four days after removing dairy (gluten free had been initiated 6 months previously due to Celiacs) the cloud of depression was removed. He began to identify his feelings as, happy, satisfied, calm. All the prior behaviors that would not be included in a typical child have only recurred when he has been contaminated with gluten or dairy. His behaviors are not cyclical. He has been without depression for 1.5 years now. We have added a specific vitamin regimen that have been used in trial studies that have proven to be beneficial for children with ASD and have provided an even higher level of positive mental health. I have conducted preliminary interviews with parents who have also tried diets and interviewed a registered dietitian. I would love to include information from my informal, non-scientific survey in my paper. This survey is very subjective. I am interested in how parents perceive the effectiveness of diets for their child with autism. It is a very short survey with only 8 questions. Thank you for participating! www.surveymonkey.com/r/89X278L
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Two big events for people with special needs are coming up, Prom and Special Olympics.
A Night To Shine is Tim Tebow's foundation that provides and opportunity for students with special needs to attend their own prom. This goes against the idea of inclusion for some. One fellow student of mine commented about why we would support a sheltered prom when the whole idea is to move everyone to inclusion. That's a great point. What do you think? You can freely comment below if you'd like to. I'll bring up some issues why it might be a good thing for a special needs prom. First, many students know they are different, very aware, and do not feel like they would fit in at the regular prom. Second, some students with disabilities do not have the means to buy prom outfits (A Night To Shine does not put emphasis on this, come as you want). Here is the website if you want to see what it's about www.timtebowfoundation.org/ministries/night-to-shine In my town the prom will be held in a few weeks. There is a mandatory sensory room where students that might need a break can go hang out or be helped by staff. If you have a special needs student and are a parent reading this, I hope your student might give it a try. It is for ages 14 and up. You can even help your local prom by volunteering! Let me know if your student goes. Winter Special Olympics are also coming up! For us, it is held all day on a Friday and half of a Saturday. This will be my first Special Olympics. I will give an update after I attend. One of my professors gave us an assignment at the end of the hour to locate the Facebook page of Special Books By Special Kids and watch a few videos that are posted. This past Sunday evening I located the Facebook page and ended up watching two hours of video while crying on and off the whole time. First I will explain the idea behind the page. A former special education teacher (a man who happens to look like a model, which many of us female students couldn't ignore) videotaped certain lessons in his SPED class. He then began to interview other people with various disabilities and it caught on. He now travels the world to interview people from all over with many disabilities, some very rare. I must say that my tears were not from sadness. Many people that do not know or are not familiar with students with disabilities might have a tendency to think about how bad their life must be, feelings of pity. But if you befriend someone with a disability I am positive that pity will turn to gratitude, knowledge and friendship. Each person with a disability has talents, is capable of friendship, and wants friendship. The reason why I cried on and off the whole time was because of the siblings and friends. The love and care that is displayed between them is extremely moving. I did not sense that any of the devotion they were giving to each other was out of obligation, the sibling or friend without the disability truly couldn't imagine life without the person who had the disability. Many of the people interviewed have very rare disabilities but there are also numerous people with autism interviewed. No two people with Down Syndrome are the same, no two people with autism are the same and the interviewer really brings out the personality of each person being interviewed. I dare you to watch just one of these videos. You will probably end up like me, two hours later, completely enriched. Below is just one of my many favorite interviews. You can see the videos on youtube or Facebook. Guess Who is the name of the game we played at the community gathering for students with disabilities. Two students came to my table to play. One student appeared to be on the autism spectrum and the other student appears to have intellectual and language disabilities, both are teens. In Guess Who you have to narrow down choices as what person you think your opponent has chosen and they have to guess yours.
I played on the team with the student with language disabilities. I have heard she talks quite a bit at home but in public you're lucky if you get a one word response, so I knew she would need help to play with the other teen. She would point to a person and I would ask, what do you want to ask about? She might say, eye or hair, or point to the face for facial hair. I said the first part of the sentence for her such as, she wants to know if the person has white _______ (hair). I waited for her to fill in the word that was missing. The student with autism did not need any assistance during the game, he is quite well spoken and opinionated but he did need help feeling a part of the group when he first came in. He was not about to approach someone to sit with. I overheard his conversation when he first entered the building. I could tell if he could leave he would have. Simply asking if he wanted to sit at our table completely changed his demeanor. Something that was really touching to me was that the student with autism said on more than one occasion that he could help explain the rules and assist the student with intellectual and language disabilities. He was more than willing to be patient and help. We also eat dinner with each other prior to our activities. This ranges from donated catered meals to frozen store bought lasagnas. So to put it bluntly, sometimes it's quite messy, especially depending on a student's disability. We were eating baked potatoes loaded with whatever you asked to be added on top. Quite a few of the students ended up using their hands to get at the potato. Part of why we are asked to volunteer isn't just to be extra hands for activities but also to be models of proper social behavior. Last night would have been a good night to reinforce to the whole group the use of napkins to wipe mouths! Some nights things like body care is discussed, which is really necessary to make and keep friends. In case anyone reading this is wondering how this group functions... a social worker is in charge and has a few others that help and then each semester students and professors from my university's special education program volunteer. |
AuthorSpecial Education major in a university teaching program. Substitute teacher, previous homeschool mom, wife. Archives
September 2019
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