Category: Autism tests

D-DAY! Diagnosis Day… choices to be made and the surprising grief that followed.

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D-DAY! Diagnosis Day… choices to be made and the surprising grief that followed.

I’m heading back to our Autism journey, back to the summer of 2010.  Since ‘the dark winter’ as I call it, of 2008 we had seen many consultants, registrars, speech & language therapists, other therapists with fancy names, Autism Advisory Teachers and Child Development Practitioners.   Today, we thought was going to be just another appointment with the consultant… the one we finally found that took us seriously, who could see that there was something not right and recognised a link between diet and the brain.

We’d already seen Dr McGreggor several times where she assessed Ellie’s behaviour, how she played and interacted and took a ‘progress report’ from us.  What we weren’t expecting was for her to offer us a diagnosis.  It had been two and a half years since we started this journey and now my heart was galloping at what she was about to say. Continue reading “D-DAY! Diagnosis Day… choices to be made and the surprising grief that followed.”

Digesting the YorkTest!

flat lay photography of vegetable salad on plate
Photo by Ella Olsson on Pexels.com

So yesterday, we got the results back of the YorkTest (re-test) we did for Ellie last week.   We first did this for Ellie some 9-10 years ago when she was two years old and was seriously regressing and we had major concerns about Autism.

Back then the test confirmed what we thought – wheat and dairy were having a huge effect on her brain function and her ability to communicate and understand (see first few blogs for more). Continue reading “Digesting the YorkTest!”

Rice, Rice Baby! What happened when another food becomes a bad guy!

So, lets get back to the story.  If I’m honest, most of the summer of 2008 was a bit of a blur.  We had returned from Florida, which went ok considering how poorly Ellie had been in the previous months.

There’d been doctors appointments (but that’s for another blog). We’d also decided that we wanted to try for another baby.  I remember this news shocking my mum as she felt that now wasn’t the best time to be thinking about trying for another child with everything that was going on with Ellie.   Why would we want to risk having another autistic child? What if Ellie didn’t get better?  I knew that’s what she was thinking. Continue reading “Rice, Rice Baby! What happened when another food becomes a bad guy!”

Kinesiology results! Oooooh shit!

So, nine years after doing this weird practice with Ellie, I had a feeling that some of the food she is eating at the moment isn’t helping her. We’re seeing some very random behaviour that just doesn’t feel right.

It’s so hard to tell though… she is 12 so is raging with hormones… she is 12 so is gaining an attitude with every waking moment, but she is also autistic and her ‘traits’ seem to be more exaggerated lately! Continue reading “Kinesiology results! Oooooh shit!”

Kinesiology… Kinesi-what?!!

So, we had already seen a bit of an improvement in Ellie’s symptoms from changing her diet, but we needed to know exactly what was bothering her.   I personally had suffered with episodes of tummy pain in the past (we’re talking 2001 here) and it got sorted out with a practice called Kinesiology.

Kinesi-what?!  It’s one of those ‘alternative therapies’ that you need to have an open mind about. We weren’t even sure if it could be done with two year old… but, it turns out you can!

We visited a practitioner who lived not too far away who saw myself, my Mum and Ellie. Now, this next bit may sound a little mumbo-jumbo to some of you, and to be honest, we weren’t really sure of it ourselves, but we gave it a go.

This is what happened…. Continue reading “Kinesiology… Kinesi-what?!!”

The tale of the poisonous cat biscuits!

We are in full swing of the Wheat/Gluten and Dairy Free diet and Ellie is making slight improvements in terms of eye contact and speech, though a lot of other symptoms such as climbing, flapping, moaning still remained. I was also reading a book by Actress Jenny McCarthy (married to Donny Wahlberg of NKOTB fame) about her autistic son and what happened when she cut wheat, gluten and dairy from his diet.  It was an almost carbon copy of our experience with Ellie.  I remember reading it in tears. It’s a great book, called ‘Louder Than Words’ if you’re wondering.

Despite our best efforts, we found out pretty quickly what would happen if Ellie had an infringement on the diet.   Continue reading “The tale of the poisonous cat biscuits!”

The ‘A’ Word. Are we really talking Autism here?

img_4064The A Word…

I remember clearly – it was Boxing Day 2007 and Ellie, who was normally such a happy and sociable toddler was very upset by the visitors we had that day.  She looked terrible – her eyes had black circles around them, she looked pale and her nose was constantly running.  Over the following days, Ellie seemed to go even further downhill. Simple instructions such as “put your coat on” was met with moans and groans and hand flapping.  Ellie stopped looking at my Nan and my mum, she became very quiet and speech was replaced with groans. Continue reading “The ‘A’ Word. Are we really talking Autism here?”

The start of our Autism Journey…

Welcome to what I hope will be the first of many posts, talking about the ups and downs on living with a ‘Tween’ with Aspergers. From past experiences to future hopes and dreams… it’s all here!

Welcome to ‘Tales of a Mother’s Daughter’.

What is this all about?

This blog is primarily about the ups and downs of living with a ‘Tween’ on the Autistic Spectrum.  My wonderful, funny, kind, challenging, anxious daughter is now 12 years old and on the brink of teenage years – god help me!.

From tales and tips, humour and hilarity (hopefully) and moans and groans, I’ll be waffling on about all sorts! From special wheat/dairy free diets and alternative therapies to hormones, teenage strops (and strategies to get you through it) and anything and everything in between! Continue reading “The start of our Autism Journey…”