Hooray for melatonin!

We suffered with a horribly messed up sleep schedule for several years. It wasn't uncommon for Rhys to stay up until 6am, which meant I had to try and stay awake, too. If he napped too late in the afternoon (he never napped early), we knew we were doomed. And it's not like we could MAKE him sleep at a reasonable hour. I mean, how do you MAKE a child sleep? The old hypnosis, swinging watch, you-are-getting-sleeeeeeepy routine? Nope. Even if we got lucky and he fell asleep at a "normal" hour like 9 or 10pm, he would just wake up at 2am, as if he were just napping and not down for the night. And the irregular cycle continued. He would sleep when he was tired (because you can't keep a tired child awake, either, no matter how much you poke at him), and no matter what we did to try & regulate it (and believe me, we tried & tried), nothing worked. We gradually eliminated naps when he got a little older (while most kids his age were still taking naps), but it still wasn't enough to get him on a regular sleep schedule. I was exhausted almost all the time.

I finally found something online posted by a mother of a child on the autism spectrum. She said it wasn't uncommon for autistic kids to have sleep issues, and she had found success with melatonin supplements. Her post made me do even more research, because while it sounded promising (and to be honest, we were pretty desperate for a solution), we aren't in favor of using artificial chemicals on our child, and "drugging" him was out of the question. But a little more digging revealed that melatonin is a chemical that is naturally produced in the brain. It's sold as a nutritional supplement, over the counter, at various places including health food stores. The research I found online suggested that autistic kids' brains don't produce enough melatonin, or don't produce it regularly. Melatonin isn't like "sleeping pills" by any means, and it's not addictive or dangerous. In fact, if Rhys isn't tired they won't work. They just trigger the part of his brain that lets him know he's sleepy, and within about an hour of taking his minty chewable tablet, he curls up and falls asleep. We have confirmed the safety of using melatonin supplements with Rhys's neurologist. She says we could be using up to 9 mg, but we only give him 1 mg and it works like a charm. It's also safe for long-term use.

This is what we give him. Kirkman is a wonderful and much-respected company:

http://www.kirkmanlabs.com/ViewProductDetails@Product_ID@202.aspx

So, hooray for melatonin! While Rhys still likes to drag out his bedtime as much as he can get away with (hey, he's a kid!), he's on a very regular sleep schedule. And Mommy's sanity is saved.

Here Come The ABC's

If your child is going to watch something a million times, it's helpful if it isn't something annoying. Here's a DVD/CD combo from They Might Be Giants that Rhys absolutely adores, and getting these songs stuck in your head (trust me, they will be) is really no hardship at all. In fact, you might even join your child in learning a thing or two.



Here Come the ABCs [CD/DVD Combo]

FREE text-to-speech software

Here's another piece to the Rhys puzzle that contributed significantly to his language development. Some very dear friends of ours gave him a laptop computer, and we set it up for him to use in the living room (where all his toys are, and he spends the most time). We knew he had expressed a little interest in our computer keyboards, and he has been interested in the alphabet almost from birth. So we set it up and opened Word Pad, so he could "play" with it. Then we got the bright idea to look for a free screen reader, and we found a great one:


http://www.screenreader.net/

Thunder is completely free, and although it's not very customizable, it's still fantastic. Now when Rhys types words, it repeats the letters as he types them, and then it says the word when he hits 'enter'. Suddenly our mostly non-verbal boy was typing (and spelling correctly) 20 words... then 30... then 50... then we lost count.

No Mess Fingerpaint - Genius!

We got some of this Crayola Color Wonder NO MESS Fingerpaint for Rhys this evening, and he loves it so much that he fell asleep clutching it in his fist.




What we bought is a little different from this, but it's very similar.

It's really nice for kids who crave that sensory, tactile connection, and it's perfect for Rhys because he loves art in any form, especially if he can really get his hands involved in it.

I can't say it enough... fish oil!

One of the things we really believe has helped Rhys tremendously is fish oil. If you want to know how and why this works, beg, borrow or steal the book "THE LCP SOLUTION: The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia" by B. Jacqueline Stordy and Malcolm J. Nicholl. We feel very strongly that giving him fish oil supplements daily has helped his language to finally emerge.

The right type of fish oil is important, and this lemon-flavored Pro EFA Liquid from Nordic Naturals is ideal. Rhys is a picky eater, and he loves this stuff. He'll even take it by the spoonful.

Links to both the book and the Pro EFA Liquid are available on this blog.

Welcome to "Stuff Rhys Likes"!

Our son, Rhys, is the coolest kid. My husband likes to call him the most challenging and fascinating puzzle ever. Rhys has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum, and one of his biggest struggles is in the area of language and communication. Over the past several years we have made great progress in many areas, and we're seeing improvements all the time. Rhys is a very happy little boy who is more & more connected to us every day. While most of the credit can rightfully go to a lot of hard work by a lot of outstanding people, there have been some useful physical items such as books and movies that I think are worth sharing.

This blog will be about some of the things that Rhys really likes, and things that we have found exceptionally helpful in our journey to understand him and help him understand the world around him. I will be including links to some of the things that are available for purchase on Amazon.com. I do have an associate account set up there, and might make a little money from your purchases. That would be great. But the main reason I'm starting this blog is so that I can share information with people who touch the lives of other autistic children. While each child is wonderfully unique, maybe you'll find something you'll want to try with your own child, or maybe a book that you'll want to recommend to a friend with a special needs child.

I look forward to seeing where this blog might go.

~Linda