Happy Homemake Monday--August 20th 2013

This Monday was the start of a new school year for the kiddos. I guess its not a huge deal around here considering my Logan goes year round and our 15 year old that lives with us started today. So far it has been quiet. Nothing to special or out of the ordinary. Just one of the first days I have actually had a morning to myself. Just me. 

I hope you join the rest of us for Happy Home-maker Monday. It is a fun post and I like to join every week (when I can). You can find it on my links page.

Anyway on to it

The Weather: We are still having an unseasonably cool August Summer. Yesterday it barely made 80 and today we are looking at 77 at the moment. This brings me to something I seen on some classified ads. It was a pool that was for sale and it stated "Do not use it as much as I thought" well no crap, we have barely had a summer, of course you have not used it much. I myself have missed my pool. I have not been in it in over two weeks. I could have gotten that tattoo I wanted :-)

Right Now I Am: Sitting in silence typing up this post. Well besides all the noises I can hear outside. Sometimes I do enjoy the silence. No t.v.!! I can concentrate and think much better this way.

On My Reading Pile: Nothing. I am not into novels but I can tell you what tabs are open on my pc as of right now. Blogger dashboard, Diary of A Stay At Home Mom, and season 3 episode 6 of the walking dead just begging to be watched.

On My T.V.: As stated above, nothing, nadda, zip, zilch. Just a black screen

On The Menu For This Week:
Chicken and more Chicken, my honey has some recipe he is going to do that he swears is really good called Mayo Chicken. Sounds kind of gross to me but I will give it a shot. I also have him talked into trying this recipe I found called spinach and pepperjack chicken. You can find the recipe HERE but I have asked him to take out the cajun seasoning and add something else. I am not a fan of spicy. Neither is my body

On My To Do List: Oh I am not so sure. Get organized some more :-) I am some what OCD when it comes to certain things and tomorrow I have a conference with Logans school so I am sure I will have more paperwork to organize considering I want copies of everything such as evaluations and his IEP

In My Craft Basket: Embroidery Floss as always. I am steadily working on all these friendship bracelets that I hope to sell for purposes of donating the money to Logans school and other local programs that help children with special needs. If you would like to check out our online store please do so and make your purchase!! 
Arkansas Riders For Autism--Storenvy

Looking Around The House: Ugh did I really have to do that? Pile of laundry that needs to be folded and put away sitting on the recliner. I despise laundry and want to avoid it like the plague. Then I see my girls (dogs, missy, Zuri and Lola) just being lazy mutts and resting. 

From The Camera: I thought it would be fun to post the very last picture I took or saved from my phone. I have not had the Nikon out lately. Just use my phone constantly. 

My sweet little Logan waiting for his bus this morning for another fun filled day at his school with lots of therapy and play time!

Everyone have a wonderful Monday and feel free check out some of these other websites to benefit myself and others
My Facebook Fan Page
Arkansas Riders for Autism
Our Online Store

Understand The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)

Yesterday I finally got my sons evaluation scores back. In reality you know what they will say and expect to see the low scores but seeing it on paper just kind of makes it more surreal. That is if you can understand the things. 

They used the CARS-The Childhood Autism Rating Scale

Here they evaluate the child on 15 areas

• Relating to people
• Imitation
• Emotional response
• Body use
• Object use
• Adaptation to change
• Visual response
• Listening response
• Taste, smell, and touch response and use
• Fear or nervousness
• Verbal communication
• Nonverbal communication
• Activity level
• Level and consistency of intellectual response
• General impressions

The child is then scored on a scale of 1-4 on each of these tasks, half points are also rewarded. 

1 is normal for the childs age

2 is mildly abnormal

3 is moderately abnormal

4 is severely abnormal

After this they total it all up. The scores range from 15 to 60 30 being the cutoff range. Scores 30 to 37 indicates Mild to Moderate Autism, 38 to 60 is indication of Severe Autism.

 My son scored a 43.5 which placed him in the moderately to severe. General impression scored 3 which is Moderate Autism

Then here it is, in black and white--Logan exhibits the symptoms consistent with the diagnosis of 299.00 Autistic disorder (per DSM-5 299.00 Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 2). 

This is not the only test they administered but I guess it is the one that plays the main factor in a diagnosis.  Logan needs a lot of speech therapy because he is non-verbal and this made a difference in his scores. 

Our next step is to fill out an application for the Autism Waiver Program for more therapies in the home. He will receive those and the ones at school as well, that is if he is approved. (keep fingers crossed) 

It seems like a lot of therapies but early intervention is important. Maybe someday Logan will find his voice.