Peek-A-Boo

It dawned on me today, I haven't post anything in awhile. If you have read earlier post you know that we chose to educate our kids at home, with the help of the ALE programs. I made a change this year from CVA to Three Rivers Homelink.

 I felt like some people were pressuring me into putting Melodie in to traditional public school. So to compromise I chose Homelink, it offers her 6 onsite workshops. Socialization.

SOCIALIZATION as defined in the dictionary:

socialization or socialisation  (ˌsəʊʃəlaɪˈzeɪʃən)
— n
1.	psychol  the modification from infancy of an individual'sbehaviour to conform with the demands of social life
2.	the act of socializing or the state of being socialized
socialisation or socialisation

 I am beginning to HATE that word. People really throw it out there  as soon as they hear "homeschool", without knowing a child. Like my kid is some kind of shut in because we don't put her in a class with 25 other kids for 8 hours a day. Because I enjoy being the one who see's that  AH'HA moment. Melodie does get a little nervous around LARGE groups of unknown people. However she makes friends very quickly, with kids her own age, older and likes to care for those who are younger. She does have some social issues, but they were there LONG before she was school aged. I don't think it's because we didn't put her in traditional public school for kindergarten.

This is starting to sound like a rant. I apologize. It just hits a nerve.

The point being, there is a lot required for starting the school year, the program is only in it's 5th year of existence with about 400 K-12 students. Due to lack of funding, and space they share a building with a local church, as the district doesn't have enough room to house the program.

So in the last week we have had group consultant meeting, orientation, open house, school pictures, wrote her WSLP as required by the state, and started at home class.

I also babysit three days a week and we have therapy once a week. My plate has been a little full.

I'm still waiting on her Science, Language Arts and Math curriculum. Part of that was my fault, but thanks to my mom things should arrive shortly. So far this year we have spent $715 out of the $800 we get for the year. I hope to be able to save the rest for a field trip or two.

Melodie's compression suit arrived, I think the pants are too big. we are going to send them back for a smaller size.  She loves her compression suit, and I think it is going to be a HUGE help for he onsite classes.
She has been able to stop taking the Clonidine at night. She takes a 5 mg time release melotonin.

She isn't taking Focalin every afternoon, but most. Still every morning. I can say that I never expected to be off or reducing ANY meds yet, this is amazing.

As me make leaps we begin to change the norm again. Again we enter a state of transition. With the help of my support system, and Katie our SID OT, we shall survive.


"Well why was your fork IN your EYE!"

Little Boy Lost

It's been a while and so much has happened in that time!

We have been doing our OT and I am happy to report that Kaiden is completely off daytime meds. No more Focalin!!

We do still have some problems with sleep, not nearly as much as we were. A Benadryl and a Melatonin solve that issue. But they are not needed every night!

















A little that has happened this month. We missed our therapy appointments twice, once for out of town and once for illness. Man, as skeptical as I was of therapy, I can definitely tell a difference when we don't go. 

Kaiden is almost back to his old tricks if we skip even just one appointment or one day of home therapy. 


Needless to say, we are trying our best to avoid those situations again.










Kaiden is starting football! This is his first year and he is very excited to get started.

We have been steadily getting our curriculum for the year, each box that is delivered gets the kids (and us) that much more ready to get started. I am in love with the Language Arts curriculum Kaiden and Sarea are starting this year. It's Michael Clay Thompson and is more of a classical approach than the norm. There is no worksheets, or busy work. The literature is novel based, group reading of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, etc. Then discussions of what we've read. My favorite approach to literature.

Grammar is also story based for Kaiden. It is taught in novel form, a story about a fish named Mud who wants to know how to write a sentence. He learns about structure and parts of speech from other animals.

The vocabulary is Latin based. Teaching them the "stems" of words so that they can decipher any new word they come across.

He is starting Poetry, and the way they introduce it is just fantastic. First, they learn about the sounds and beauty of written and spoken language. The cadence and such. I am such a big believer in the music of spoken and written language. 

We also got our Usborne Encyclopedia and Kingfisher book as well. These are the spine to our History and the kids poured over them for quite a while fascinated and getting very excited about History. I am a big lover of History and looking forward to it myself.

All in all, we are almost ready to start our new school year. Minus some curriculum we are still waiting on. Language Arts and Math are ready to go!

We have been enjoying our Summer and I am very much enjoying having my son coming back to me. I am forever thankful for our therapist and the woman who introduced us to the idea of SID. 

Hope everyone is having a great Summer and wishing everyone a wonderful school year!

Quote of the day:

I hear running in the hall, Kaid throws open my door :

"Don't be surprised if you hear squealing"

Door slammed, running down the hall, thump, SQUEAL!

5 Cups

I've made the right choice. My family is about to undergo a very big change. Although it's not and easy journey we are about to take it is a necessary one. Nothing worth doing is easy. Although so far, besides some moments alone of very mixed emotions, things have been going well.

I have concerns about Melodie's level of understanding the situation. Although she blows me away sometimes with how well she can understand a very complex situation. And I have amazing friends who are going to help me continue to help Melodie, by allowing us to stay in HomeLink.

I will no longer be a stay at home mom. I will be rejoining the workforce, and I am excited.

When I started this post I didn't really know what I was going to say. This is about the kids right. No this is about LIFE with a SID kid. And this is LIFE happening. So I chose to document it here. With whom ever decides to read it.

I haven't made any decision lightly when it comes to my children. And this one took a lot of soul searching. But the reaction, and level of cooperation have well exceeded my expectation.

I look forward to the wonderful opportunities around me, and I AM moving forward.

Why we chose A.L.E.

A.L.E.

If you've never heard of it, I'm sad to say google will fail you. You'll get results on beer, logistics, Antarctica even. But if you google:

Alternative Learning Experience, then you get a whole host of info. 

In this post, I'm going to talk a little about our experience, the who's, where's, why's, and how's.

When Kaiden was two, I joked about home schooling him. The schools in our area were dreadful. So bad that we received a letter for our oldest telling us that her school had failed its report card, and that we had the choice to transfer her to another school in the district. However, all the other schools had failed theirs as well. 

We didn't really feel we had a choice, home school it was.

For the first year we went on our own. With a few workbooks from Costco and the internet, we banged together a fourth grade curriculum. We also discovered  few issues, her previous school had not taught them the multiplication facts. We knew there had been issues, no spelling tests, no math tests. 

So we had a smart, but now lazy, kid on our hands. 

I started researching and found out about A.L.E.'s. 

Our kids could get a wonderful education, at home, and still be a part of the public school system. 

Fantastic.

First we tried WAVA. 

Washington Virtual Academy uses K12 curriculum. To be honest, we were a bit overwhelmed at first. When our boxes arrived they weighed in at 180lbs, for only two kids. 

We trudged through Kindergarten and Fifth. Not really clicking with the curriculum. I think it's a wonderful set up really, it just wasn't working for us. Kaid was quickly drowning in phonics, but excelling in comprehension, math, science, and history. Sarea was lost when it came to math. 

I started to watch a little closer and realized something, Kaiden was dyslexic. 

Phonics and dyslexia don't work together so well. We looked into whole language approach. Still nothing, he was a pre reader and wouldn't budge. His doctors claimed it was the school districts responsibility, the district claimed it was his doctors. So I did what any worried mother does when she has access to the internet. 

I googled.

During one of my googling sessions, I happened upon a woman who had not only a dyslexic son, but a dyslexic granddaughter. She told me to stop stressing out, to stop frustrating him. Let it go.

She told me that with her son, she just let him be, encouraged him, but didn't push him. At around 7, he started reading. He still had problems, but it was much better.

So as hard as it was, I did. We put phonics on the back burner, we focused on other area's and treaded lightly on reading. When he was seven, we had a breakthrough. His grandmother bought a flashcard set of sight words. We started working on them every night. All of a sudden, he was doing it. Like a light switch had been flipped. He was still at K level, but he was READING.

Now a year and a half later, Kaiden will be starting a gifted reading program. He went from a Kindergarten level to a Fourth grade level in a year and a half.

He is going into third grade, but he is in an accelerated fourth grade math program.

This program has been a godsend for us. Columbia Virtual Academy, the options we have for our kids education is just phenomenal.

So we turned our dining room into a school room and never looked back.

I'm not saying that home schooling four (sometimes six) kids is easy. But it's a decision we didn't make lightly and it's worth it to us. And we have  moments like this:

And we get to do fun experiments all the time.

I get to see that "aha" moment when they understand something. I get to learn how their brains work and it is so amazing.


Quote of the day:
"STOP LICKING ME!" Said to the almost 13 yr old...

Two Steps Forward....One Step sideways

Melodie has been responding very well to the SI diet. I have to remember, when her meds don't seem to work, it's a sensory problem not a attention problem. We aren't just teaching the kids, we are teaching ourselves. 

We've had chicken pox and survived. Lilly has been down with a nasty UTI and we survived. I won't even begin to pretend like I did it all by myself. My friends and family are an amazing support system. Really I think our story would be much different if it wasn't for them all. 

We did have a sleepless night with Melodie a few nights ago. First full sleepless night since the change in medication. I am hoping it was just a fluke. I really wish we could have a sleep study done. But that's a whole different story. Currently Melodie takes 5 mg Time Release Melotonin and .05 mg Clonidine. It really is the best we've found. I could list everything we've tried but that's a long list. You know all those old wives tales and over the counter remedies? We tried them all, no matter how far fetched it sounded. This has been our battle. Our biggest battle. And we are so much closer than we were a year ago.

We are taking our first family vacation this summer. Melodie will get a real break of school work. 4 days of camping at Beverly Beach, then to Portland to the Zoo and OMSI. And if all works out a trip to The Enchanted Forest for Melodie. She absolutely LOVES amusement parks and carnivals.

Stinky Boy Phase

Ok, so at some point in both my boys life, they hit the "Stinky Boy Phase". Any mention of the bathtub was met with a look like I'd kicked their puppy. Shock that I would even suggest it.

It's been two years, two extremely stinky, muddy, wet (from dragging them in and hosing them off) years. We have almost left "Stinky Boy Phase". While Rogue still gives you the are you serious look, he will get in when I point out that yes I am actually serious. Kaiden on the other hand, is a bit more difficult.

We moved and it was a great move. Because of a friend of ours who was willing to take on 7 roommates, we are living in a five bedroom house. Only one problem, our bathroom does not have a tub. Shower stall only. It's big enough to help my five year old with her hair. I actually love it.

When you take a shower, it's not a big deal really. You get your clothes ready, you turn on the water, you get in, get clean, get out. Dry off, get dressed, and move on with your day. Simple. I can get it done in five minutes if needed.

Kaiden takes at least 45 minutes to shower. First, we have to establish that yes he is taking a shower. Then, we move on to, get your clean clothes. This takes about ten minutes of back and forth. His room is on the opposite side of the house.

So, now we are in the bathroom. Then we move into our door routine. Close it this much, well can I possibly open it this much more. The door at it's optimal (too wide for me, too closed for him) width, we then turn on the water. Then we get undressed. Then we get in the shower. Not the water. Just the shower.

It takes a bit to work up to actually getting under the water. We start with hands, then arms, feet, head, torso, and legs. We are now under the water. Things should pick up here right? Eh, not quite.

Now we begin the portion of our shower that entails standing motionless under the stream of water for a good long while. Until his skin is numb apparently. This makes sense if you know that the sensation of the shower is like being pelted with gravel for him. Once our skin is good and numb, then we can commence showering.

From here on out, it's pretty standard. Our only issue as of now with after shower is drying off. He refuses. To him it isn't necessary and what do you mean his clothes are all twisted. There's no tags he can feel, so obviously it's fine.

Just an example of how much time a day we spend on Kaiden's disorder. Small things that you don't even think of are such huge hurdles.

I mean sure I can sit there and rush him through his shower, I can physically hose him down and be done in less than ten minutes. But, and trust me on this, you don't want to be anywhere near him for the rest of the day and possibly part of the next depending on just how upset he is.

I have to continually remind myself of what it feels like to be him. It is difficult, and I'm not perfect, but we're working on it. We'll figure it out. Me and him? We're a pretty good team.

Quote of the Day:
"Jae! We do not throw organs in the house!"

Well that's New!

Over the next few days our lifes are taking on a new challenge....chicken pox! Wish us luck, Melodie can't stop talking about it....

I'm not gonna lie, I've pretty much let her do whatever she wants (within reason). I gave her Folcalin, you wouldn't know. So I'm a little worried about what happens when the Focalin wears off. But I should have help by then. I also have pox, and so does Lilly. 

I'd like to say I have a plan, but I don't. We're gonna tackle this head on!!!

A Little Illumination into SID

I realized something when I was thinking of what to post tonight. 


We started this blog for two reasons, one to chronicle this journey that we're on, and two to help other's who may find themselves on the same road with the wrong map like we did. This is all well and good, but so far we've forgotten one important detail. We haven't actually explained what Sensory Integration Disorder is. 


So I'm going to try to tackle that tonight. And I will put links to any pages I use for resources so that anyone looking can explore for themselves.


Sensory Integration Disorder is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with taking in, processing, and responding to sensory information about the environment and from within the own body.


So that's the definition, but what does it actually mean for you?


We use our senses to perceive the world around us. Back in Elementary school we all learned about our five senses; taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound. Well we actually don't have five senses, we have eight. 


Visual - interpreting the surrounding environment by sight


Auditory - interpreting sounds, ability to focus on sounds and block others out


Tactile - sense of feeling, how your clothes feel, knowing there's something on your face, etc


Olfactory - identifying what things smell like in your environment


Gustatory - sense of taste, recognizing flavor, intensity, and texture


Vestibular - your sense of balance, where your body is positioned in space


Proprioception - the sense of the relative position of your body (how we can touch our nose with our eyes closed) and the strength we use in movement.


Interoceoption - an internal sense, telling you if you're hungry, feel sick, having to use the restroom


This is how we go about our daily lives, all these senses working together often without our even noticing. We don't realize that our body knows our link to gravity, unless we use an elevator and feel that small "flip". We don't notice our vestibular sense until it gets out of whack for some reason and we have that unpleasant feeling of vertigo. 


We normally experience some form of sensory interruption at points in our life. Not long lasting, not dangerous. 


For our kids, this isn't a quick interruption. This is their life. 


An apt description can be found in the book "The Challenging Child"  By Stanley Greenspan.


"Imagine driving a car that isn't working well. When you step on the gas the car sometimes lurches forward and sometimes doesn't respond. When you blow the horn it sounds blaring. The brakes sometimes slow the car, but not always. The blinkers work occasionally, the steering is erratic, and the speedometer is inaccurate. You are engaged in a constant struggle to keep the car on the road, and it is difficult to concentrate on anything else."


Can you begin to imagine living like that? Of course our kids are going to have trouble focusing. Of course they're going to seem like they are out of control behaviorally. 


Another of my favorite explanations can be found here. Please check out this site as it has a lot of good information, but I'll give you the gist.

You could see obstacles in your way, but you could not make your body move the direction you wanted it to to avoid them.

You felt like someone had given you a shot of Novocain in your backside so you couldn't feel if you were sitting in the middle of your chair and you fell off 3 times during this training.

Your clothes felt like they were made of fiberglass.

You tried to drink a cup of water from a paper cup, only you couldn't tell how hard to squeeze it to hold onto it. So, you squeezed it too hard and the water spilled all over you. The next time you didn't squeeze it hard enough and it fell right through your hands and onto the floor.

Every time you tried to write with your pencil, it broke because you pushed too hard.

The different smells in this room made you utterly nauseous.

The humming of the lights sounded louder than my voice.

You couldn't focus your eyes on me because everything and everyone in the room catches your attention and your eyes just go there instead.

The lights are so bright you have to squint, then you get a pounding headache half way through the presentation

Every time someone touches you, it feels like they are rubbing sandpaper on your skin.

You could only sit here for 15 minutes and then you had to take a run around the building or do 20 jumping jacks so you could sit for another 10 minutes before your muscles felt like they were going to jump out of your skin.

People's whispers sounded like they were yelling.

The tag in the back of your shirt makes you feel as uncomfortable as you would if a spider was crawling on you and you couldn't get him off.

You wanted to write something down but it took you at least 5 seconds to form each letter. You can see the letter in your head, but your hand will not go in the right direction to write it.

This is just everyday life for a child with Sensory Integration Disorder. And when I learned about it, it was like an epiphany. A huge "That explains SO much" moment. This was important, because until then I just didn't understand my son's behavior. I couldn't understand why he could not sit still. Why he was constantly knocking things over, or bumping into people. Why he yelled or whispered inappropriately all the time. 

I was so frustrated, why wouldn't he just pay attention! How could he not know he had dirt all over his face or hands. How could he not know he had to go to the bathroom until it was almost too late. I'd never heard of such a thing. He was just being lazy, he was just being inattentive, he just needed to knock it off and be more responsible.

Of course, while knowing the why's did help. The how do we fix it's are still a work in progress. There is no band aid or medication to make it go away. We have a long road ahead of us and we will keep sharing our story. To give you a glimpse into living with and parenting a child with this disorder. 

What I've written here is in no way all there is to say about SID/SPD. Please explore these sites and trust your gut, you know if something isn't right with your baby and if it's Sensory Integration, the earlier the intervention the better. 

http://www.sinetwork.org/about-sensory-processing-disorder.html

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-integration-dysfunction-symptoms2.html

Quote of the Day:

"Did you seriously just lick that?" -overheard and decided I honestly didn't want to know.

Brickyard Road

Our goal is to share our story. The ups and downs. The good and bad. Non sugarcoated truth. It's my personal hope that we can help even one person, who feels like they've done everything they can and nothing is getting any better.

Only days after Melodie's intake appointment for SI Therapy she had convinced other children to twist her arm and break it.( THANK YOU legoMama for catching that one.) She wanted a cast so bad she was willing to suffer through a summer with a broken arm. That's says a lot considering Melodie's favorite place is in the water. 

Couple things about Melodie I may have forgotten to mention. Her safe place is water. Bath, shower, pool, puddle, it really doesn't matter. She also associates her world in color. Remembers playgrounds by the color of the play equipment and refers to them by such. Remembers people by their favorite color, or the color of their house or car. That's just the way her brain likes things to be. 

I get a call, that Melodie wants a purple ( her all time favorite color) cast so bad she is trying to break her arm....OI! are you kidding me? I will admit I had a hard time with it the more I thought about it. I can understand wanting a purple cast. It's a great color. But willing to purposely break your OWN arm to get one...I cried a little. What is going on in that brain of hers. 

I remembered we had SI therapy and that maybe Katie could help, at this point I didn't care if she knew all the answers or not. She knew more than me, and for the first time it all made perfect sense. 

So we started her "menu" my co-author and I took two days at my house and gave it a go. Things seemed to go so smooth. Now we've had a couple days on our own, and we're learning. Musical Chores is SUPER AWESOME. One of the activities listed was stop and go games. So we put it to music, you clean when the music plays , you FREEZE when it stops. It's fun and very productive. 

Joint Compression, she just loves it. 

We have crab walk races, find the skittle in the bag of rice, legos, she uses her squishy ball when she reads or has to listen to instructions. We play the same music every night (Zen Garden) for bed time. We start every day with a warm face wash. We have found that she likes to have a heavy stuffy on top of her when she sleeps, and likes to be rolled tightly in a blanket.

I will say that last night was not a good night, she couldn't stay asleep, and even when I was laying right next to her she would wake up and yell for me. The lack of sleep is where I really have a hard time. It affects everyone in the house. Including Lilly. 

Melodie was very good while shopping today. Daddy was home, and we all went to the mall. This was a pretty big deal considering the last time I took Melodie to the mall we had to leave because she was too nervous. She picked out some new clothes and talked daddy into a book and a bracelet. Daddy's kind of a big softy though. 

Things are always a little different when he is home. He is a truck driver and currently gone 4-5 days, home for 2. So we adapt, because well, we don't really have another choice. Some days we wish Daddy was home more, but we are certainly thankful for the sacrifices he makes to provide for us. This allows us to home school ( ALE style), it allows Melodie the things she needs, and Lilly to spend her days with Me and Melodie. 

There are days I'd like to sell them to the circus, even told Melodie that's why she took gymnastics. But in all honesty, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have kanji symbols on my forearms, Strength and Courage, those two words have gotten me though the absolute darkest of times. But that's a whole other story. My point being, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am a stronger mother now than I was a year ago, and I am determined to fight for my kid, and help others. 

In His Own Time, Not Mine.

Kaiden's therapist gave us a list of activities specific to his test scores that we should pick from to make a menu. The theory being, if we continually feed the need for sensory input we will avoid the seeking behaviors. Much like how eating a steady diet avoids hunger. 


As thrilled as I am about finding the correct diagnosis, I'm overwhelmed by what needs to be done. I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a simple, here fix my kid, scenario. But I think that somewhere deep inside, in that place that parents don't want to admit exists, I was kind of hoping it would be. 


So I sat with my list of activities and my menu and filled it out. That part, was easy.


Now the difficulty lies in trying to incorporate these into our every day life. Five kids, four homeschoolers, two dogs, two cats, and various other insanity seems to block the best intentions. I am not ashamed to admit that today, we did not do all of our sensory diet. I am however proud to admit that we did do our evening routine. 


A typical evening/bedtime routine would comprise itself of calming activity. My youngers get the, let's lay quietly in bed and look at a book, listen to music, and relax, treatment. 


Kaiden's typical (now) bedtime routine is as follows:


Football Drills - Throwing Postures, Up Downs, Suicides
Wrestling - 15 minutes of throw down with his older cousin
Joint Decompression - Gently pushing/pulling the joints from shoulder to toes


Then we are ready for bed. 


I know we can do this, we have to do this. I will do everything possible to help my son be at peace with himself. 


I tried to work on his page earlier, The Evolution of a Kaiden. I found it a lot more difficult than expected. Sifting through all of his past, everything he and we have gone through. I feel as though a part of his life was robbed by this disorder. Like we were robbed of that time with him. The constant fight just to keep him level. Like all we ever did was correct him. 


I can't get that time back for him, or for us. I can't make his bad times go away. So I'm going to try and focus on what I can do. I can make it better from here on out. I can help him now. And I can watch as he becomes he person I know he can be. I can let my pride shine through him. Because if there is one thing I am, it is proud of that boy. He has overcome so much, even before we were able to get him help. 


So for now, I will take a deep breath. I will realize that nothing is instant. It will take time and practice to get this schedule correct. We will be flexible. I will be flexible. I will leave my worries in God's hands and know that eventually we will get there. I don't want to reach the end and realize I didn't even enjoy the scenery on the ride. 


Quote of the Day:
"Mommy! I got a rhyme! Nookie Cookie, that rhymes right?"

How we got here, and Who led the way.

Eight years ago my co-author made the off hand comment; "He is so adorable, if I have kids I hope they're just like yours."


This phrase has somehow become a reality. 


Both of our first borns, who are three years apart, are one person in two bodies. Male and Female, Yin to well Yin, actually.





Kaiden is eight, he has Sensory Integration Disorder. His test shows that while he does not have Autism, he has pretty severe integration issues.











Melodie is five, she has Sensory Integration Disorder. Her test shows that while she is not Autistic either, she also has pretty severe integration issues.








I'd like to point out that when comparing their tests, there was only a one to two point difference in scores. These tests were given on different days, in different situations. 


One person, Two bodies. Down to even their facial expressions when having one of their SID moments.


Continuing this "curse" of ours, we both had second borns. What can I say, we're brave people I suppose. 


These are our control group for lack of a better term. They are the "normal" children. Again they were three years apart. Again they are the same people in two bodies. Both hitting the same milestones, both having the same quirks and personalities. 

Jaelyn is five. She is a "normal" child. She believes she is a princess and is fantastic at getting people to do what she wants.









Lilly is two. She is a "normal" child. She also believes she is a princess and follows Jaelyn's footsteps on how to get what she wants as well.












Personally, I hate the word normal. But I use it here to illustrate what is considered the norm behavior. As much as the word may bother me, there has to be some baseline to find out how far a child deviates and how to help them. We don't think of our kids as broken. They both have different strengths, where something is lacking, they've made up for it in other area's. 


It has been a struggle to get here, we've been told ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar, Unspecified Mood Disorder, Dyslexia, Aspergers. 


We've been told:


They will learn how to cope, this is a life long ordeal, they'll have to learn to live with it, they'll have to figure out how to work within their means.


And then we met a woman who told us:  


"What I'm going to say will change your life." It did.


It brought us the diagnosis of Sensory Integration Disorder. It brought us to another woman, named Katie, who finally said those four little words:


"I can help them."  


This is just an introduction to the members of our circus. Kaiden and Melodie both have their own unique story to tell so we've created a page for each of them. Welcome to the madness, we'll be blogging about our day to day struggles, successes, and our adventures in therapy and A.L.E. schooling. Feel free to tell us your stories.


Quote of the day:
" If you're close enough to LICK someone, you're close enough to stop SHOUTING. We're not deaf. Yet. We may be soon if you don't stop."