Who doesn't like a good party?!?

The local school superintendent recently announced a change in the public school food policy. Well, it blew up- literally. The local schools (mainly elementary) took the policy and rewrote it or miss-communicated it to their students/parents. It became this HUGE deal - when in reality it isn’t that big of a deal.


The actual policy says

1. Teachers can’t use food/candy as a prize. So when the kid answers the question right they don’t get m&ms or skittles… (Who doesn't like m&ms now and then?!?! :-) )

& 2. The school employees can’t bring in food to feed to the students.

But what came from the above policy was “the classes can’t have parties anymore”.


Nowhere in the policy does it say that!! And this is not a new policy- this policy went into effect in 2005 when my middle son was in 2nd grade. (I remember it because the same “we can’t have parties” was going around.) The school employees are going wild with the no party thing. "Oh we can't have a valentine's day party". Aside from the fact that the policy doesn't say you can't have food or a party---Since when does the word "party" mean "food"? When we were kids a valentine's party was exchanging of cards and maybe a little extra snack. ONE snack- not every kid bringing in a bag of candy or a dessert and sharing it with the other kids…so the kids leave a sugared up mess.


The policy is a good policy! Why do you want the kids sugared up on candy just for answering a question? And what about the kids with food allergies or diabetes? This policy doesn’t hurt anyone and it protects so many. Obviously this policy doesn’t affect my kids now since we homeschool …but what if something happens and I have to put them back in public school? My middle son reacts to red dye and gluten…which are in most candies and easy snack items. If he ever did have to return to public school he would have to have a medical IEP (Individual Education Plan) for his food allergies.

At the end of the day this food policy goes a long way in keeping my child, and many others, safe in a public school environment.

ADHD & Aspergers

So since starting my research I have come across many articles that suggest that my son may have been misdiagnosed as ADHD instead of Aspergers or may have both. I am not sure exactly how I feel about it. Aspergers would explain a majority of his symptoms. I have found some great websites that have lots of info on them: http://www.retrainthebrain.com/autism.html and  http://autism.lovetoknow.com/ADHD_and_Asperger




According to http://www.retrainthebrain.com/autism.html below is a list of characteristics associated with ADHD or Aspergers.



Autism (or Aspergers) Behavioral Checklist



• Difficulty mixing with other children; My son has this.



• No real fear of danger; My son use to have this - now he seems to fear alot of things



• Tantrums: displays extreme distress for no apparent reason, He has this to a degree- he overexagerates.



• Inappropriate giggling or laughing, In preschool he would get in trouble for laughing at another child's injury.



• May not want cuddling or act cuddly, This varies- sometimes he wants to cuddle, sometimes not.



• Noticeable physical overactivity or extreme underactivity; hyper



• Little or no eye contact, When he was little he could not make eye contact and I use to make him look at me when I talked to him. He would fight me on this but I wanted to make sure when I talked to him about safety issues he was listening. To this day he still doesn't usually make eye contact.



• Works impulsively; often makes careless mistakes: work is sloppy, This is him!



• Uneven gross/fine motor skills I am not sure exactly what they are talking about with this one. So I am not sure whether it applies or not.



ADHD Behavioral Checklist



• Cannot talk or play quietly; disrupts others with talk or actions, This varies-sometimes he can play quietly but other times he cannot.



• Difficult awaiting turn in games or activities, yep!



• Engages in potentially dangerous activities, This is accelerated when he has red dye.



• Plays without normal caution or consideration of consequences, definitely!



• Severe temper tantrums, He use to have these all the time. THey went away for a while but now they are back in the form of "You’re hurting me"



• Interrupts, disrupts, talks and acts inappropriately, Yes



• When younger, difficulty accepting soothing or holding, Sometimes



• Always on the move, overactive, even during sleep, especially when he has red dye



• Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly, I have to repeatedly call his name and make him look at me to make sure he is listening. If I don't see his eyes then he probably doesn't hear what I am saying.



• Often does not give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in school work or other activities, Yep!



• Uneven gross/fine motor skills. Again I am not sure what they are referring to...



This site also said that Aspergers/Autism can seem to suddenly develop too. So it seems according to this my son has both ADHD and Aspergers but according to the DSM he doesn't qualify for Aspergers...So confusing!!

No More Ridalin Treating ADHD without Drugs

If you haven't read "No More Ridalin Treating ADHD without drugs" by Mary Ann Block please do!! It is a fantastic read!!! The funny thing is that I had bought this book 2 years ago when I had issues with my 7yr old  in preschool but I had never read it! The author became a doctor because her daughter was sick and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. It is very interesting. I can not stress the importance of reading this book. There is so much medical info that it takes a little bit to digest. Most of what she talks about I have learned over the last almost 8 years of dealing with my son. We learned he has a red dye sensitivity in Oct 08. We recently learned he has a high gluten sensitivity when I started baking my own bread with high gluten bread flour. He also has bad seasonal allergies and recently developed asthma as a reaction to his seasonal allergies. But the book also talks about how most ADHD kids are vitamin deficiency, particularly Vitamin D and magnisium. Another problem with ADHD kids is low blood glucose...which I had never considered. So my search for a doctor who would be willing to run some vitamin deficiency tests and supervise my suppliments. Our regular pediatric doc refused to do this. Needless to say that will most likely be the last time we see her...So my search continues for a "holistic" doctor (as our pediatic doc said).