yes, I watched the recent Oprah show about kids with Autism. Thanks for those of you who called to let me know it was on! I have this to say-When they showed her little recovered boy aciting like a normal little kid, I cried. That is my hearts desire for Ben and I will continue to grind away until he gets it. I need that book....

Ah well, best laid plans of mice and Men-Ben managed to get a box off the top shelf in our closet that was full of Reeses Peanut better cups from last Christmas. He of course, ate 10 or so, and because of his Pica also ate several of the wrappers. It was a frustrating and discouraging weekend. He was extremely hyper, we had to stop his other treatments and put hims back on the chicken soup diet for two days. He was cranky about the soup, but I kept explaining he can't eat things when I don't give them to him. It has to sink in eventually, right? The big worry now is yeast overgrowth form the huge amounts of sugar he got last week. I've started him on a new supplement that improves "good" bacteria growth in the gut in the hopes that this will prevent any problems. When I figure out how to spell it, I'll post the name. :)

We have, amazingly, seen some great advances in Ben's language, eye contact, sociability and emotion(it is so weird to rejoice when your kid throws a fit, but every one is a blessing for us-Ben is doing something normal!). So there are blessings to count in the midst of our frustration. Thanks for all the prayers-we couldn't keep going without you!

Ben started school last week. So far, so good. We're not convinced this is the best choice-there are 11 kids in his Special Ed class, and no-one has said anything about transitioning him. At the moment he is going three days a week, 2 hours per day.These are considered therapy hours. On the bright side, Ben loves to go, yelling "yay preschool!" on the way in and skipping. He is having some trouble with being spacy when I pick him up, and is really struggling with getting to sleep at night.We are also dealing with some serious hyper-activity, which brings us to the rough patch.</p> <p>Ben is crazy hyper right now, it's been extremely hard to get him to settle down. There are several factors we have been considering...but yesterday Ben inadvertantly got hold of some some strawberry soy ice cream. There was not a single ingredient in there that Ben can tolerate. We were up last night from 2:30am to 6am with a screaming and crying Ben. When he gets foods that bother him, he has horrific leg cramps to the point we have considered taking him to the hospital in the past. This nasty phase may last as long as a week, and usually is accompanied by loss of skills. AAARGH!!! the cure is chicken soup for 24 hours, then wait it out. Send us prayers and much sleep!

Ben is really and for truly riding a bike for distances all by himself.

He is able to interact with his learning video and follow instrcutions coming from the TV.</p> <p>He can stick out his tongue on command-this was unheard for just three weeks ago.

He's making it to the potty 4-5 times per week, and slowly, slowly the connections are being made.

He has begun to use peoples names when addressing them, without prompting.

He can ask for help with out promting or signing.

He can point to pictures in books when asked-this one is a big deal!

-you may have noticed I say "without prompting" alot. This is a big deal because Ben needs to learn proper social interaction. He does all kinds of things if I tell him what to do, and that's fine while he is learning a new skill but I can't always be there. So we want him to know what a proper response is all by himself. There is also some question about whether he has a speech problem called echolalia-basically where you repeat what is said to you instead of making an origional response. It's a common characteristic of autistic children but may only be Ben's learning style, according to his speech therapist. Time will tell. I've provided a link above for more information.

Today we went to our big meeting with Bens teacher for the school year. As meetings go it went well-she agreed to transition Ben to the next classroom, with the stipulation that it may not work out, and they have a list of 50 criteria he has to meet first. hmmm. But he could attend both classes part time and still get Occupational therapy, Physical therapy and Speech. Dave and I decided to give it a three week trial, see how things play out, and take it from there. So-to preschool, or not to preschool? that is still the question. Ben begins attending next Thursday, and we have opted to shorten his day to only 2 hours, most kids attend 3 1/2

Teena

I forgot to post that we went to the farm last week, and Ben collected eggs, fed the goats, and identified all the animals by name and by sound they make, without prompting. This is HUGE, we've been working on it for three years! Pretty exciting stuff.

Teena

PS My dad saw him for the first time in a while and was really impressed by his eye contact and language, so even though Dave and I feel like there have been some setbacks, he's making progress. He has made big strides the last couple of days with the addition of more magnesium to his diet. I had posted my frustration to the Vitamin K site, and that's what they suggested-it worked immediately!