Blogworthy?

I wonder how many blogs start with a post about whether or not they are blogworthy? Well +1 here! A joke between friends landed me here. I like to write + I have two kids with Autism = A blog. Do I really have anything profound to tell you all? Maybe. Do I possess an extreme and fabulous writing style? No. Will I post daily with new and wondrous advancements in Autism? Absolutely not. Besides whatever I post that is new and wondrous will be dispelled, litigated and expunged from the memories of everyone within minutes, hours, days, weeks, or years. I hesitate to go back decades because, seriously you DO NOT want to go there if you are an Autism Mom. Refrigerator Mothers? Seriously? Who came up with that crap? Anyway..... moving on because no one needs to go back there.

For my very first blog post I am going to share with you all the questions I am asked the most when someone finds out I have two boys with Autism. Some of these are my biggest pet peeves but I will not tell you which ones because there is no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer. Peeve or not, it is better to ask than to assume. So without further ado, here are some of the questions I have been asked and the answers I have given (or the answers I should have given if I had better spontaneity in my responses). In time I am sure I will revisit, revise and repost the Autism questions as I remember more or as I receive more.

1. What do you think caused your sons' Autism? 
My standard answer is always: "I believe Autism is caused by a genetic predisposition with environmental triggers." Nice huh? This covers my ass for the two major sides of the Autism coin both biomedical and scientific! More on both to come, you can't talk about Autism without talking biomedical and science.

2. Have you tried THE diet?
In this case THE diet being the Gluten Free/Casein Free diet (GFCF) and yes, we did try it. Do we still do it? No. Will we revisit THE diet in the future? Probably. I've attended three Defeat Autism Now! Conferences (DAN) and those are comprised of three solid days of clinicians and moms who sing the praises of Biomedical Intervention. They are very educational and certainly worth your time and money if you want to try the Biomedical approach to Autism. Because of those conferences I was completely prepared for the GFCF trial which we decided to follow to the letter for 90 full days. First of all it was the longest 90 days of my life and secondly the changes I saw in the boys were not so grand that I felt compelled to continue. Taking plastic out of the house actually created a bigger change in my boys' Autism. Switching to all natural cleaning products did the same. But those are for another rant.

3. I don't know how you do it!! Seriously, how do you do it?
I'll admit to this being one of my pet peeves. Sorry if you have asked me this in the past. I always want to respond with, "Do you think I should stop?" Really what should I stop? Loving my boys? Trying to take care of them to the fullest of my ability, budget and level of insurance? I include the last because having an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) child is a HUGE financial drain, having two just means HUGE financial drain x2. Not that every treatment should be driven by cost but when you are looking at 1 Social Skills session running between $800-1000, you really have to find your priorities and budget your resources accordingly. Sorry- tangent, I will do that a lot.

4. Are you still married?
An odd and yet honest question that stems from the absurdly high divorce rate of special needs families. Yes, I am still married and No, it is not always easy. I decide every single day to stay married and to foster that marriage as much as I can with the time I have. We don't always agree on how to help the boys. We butt heads over some of the dumbest decisions. It is an impossibility to complete any kind of household remodel or large scale project. You see, I am married to an engineer. No further explanation is required.

5. Why don't you start a blog?
Done. Stay tuned.