As much as I love the holiday season, I will soon dread it if I don't get a head start by planning now. Many children with autism, like mine, have difficulty with the change in schedule, intangible concepts (like Santa!) and the sensory stimulation can often be too much... beyond that, there are regular holiday stressors such as shopping, baking and shoveling a path out of the driveway- ugh! See why I need to get planning now?

Many parents and professionals believe toxic vaccine ingredients are responsible for some children's autism. Whether you agree or disagree is irrelevant, as there are many supporters on both sides of the issue.

After one month of homeschooling my 12 year old son with autism, we are concluding our studies and preparing to re-enter the school system.

If you've read my past posts, you know I very much love homeschooling my son Ian. The list of improvements is quite long, and many of them are exclusive to his being home and my ability to completely tailor our work to match his strengths, abilities and interests.

I love information I can use. I loathe information that doesn't apply to my daily life. So, it should be no surprise my 3 favorite articles on this site do two things: make life easier and keep children safer.

Arlene has written 2 of my 3 top picks. The first being First Aid For Seizures, which you can read here. You don't need a medical degree to understand and you will feel better having learned the basics of safety when someone is having a seizure.

Who should pay for the treatment of Autism? Who decides where the money is spent? Schools, parents or insurance companies?

Well, I'm not sure. In essence, in the US, taxpayer’s money goes to the Federal and State governments and, in turn, is used to fund programs that provide services to our children.

Or it is supposed to anyway.

While working with a parent yesterday, I became quite frustrated (internally) upon realizing this person was absolutely against any dietary or biomedical interventions.

What frustrated me was her unwillingness to educate herself about these treatments; not the fact that she would choose to not implement them, as treatment of autism is a very personal decision.

Finding people that understand is literally priceless. The only thing I love more than contributing to this site is receiving and reading comments from fellow members of the epilepsyMoms community, so thanks for your comments and please keep them coming!

After I read comments or emails from other parents, I am usually reminded of a few things...

I'm reminded that I'm not the only one in the world doing 'this' - as in parenting a child, in my case children, with special and exceptional needs.

I wish there were more opportunities for children with autism to participate in team sports or similar activities.

In the summer my two children with developmental disabilities play Challenger Baseball and, during these games on Sunday nights, I sit in the stands and cheer my children on like so many other parents have the opportunity to do.

It's the beginning of our third week as home-schoolers and I'm tired. My son, Ian, is too. Everyday during our home-school program, my son and I exercise or are physically active for at least two hours (I have found muscles in my thighs I never knew were there).

The idea of beginning a gluten free diet can be overwhelming. I must admit my oldest child became gluten and casein free after being diagnosed with several food allergies, not because I chose to use this diet as a treatment for autism.