The truth, it burns...

The Onion has a good article showing responses to science arguments from a vaccine-denier's perspective. 

Autism in babies

So this is hardly conclusive proof or anything, but it struck me as I was going through some old videos - my son really never was good at that whole eye contact thing. Here's a video I made a while back to show how to fold cloth diapers. I shot two takes. The half a second where he glances in my direction is the most eye contact he makes in either take, and I'm not sure he ever actually looked at my face. 

It could be typical behavior for the age. I'd certainly have told you it was back when I shot the video. But now - not so sure.   

AAC in Your Pocket

Remember how I was wondering why nobody made a simple software solution for AAC using modern, cheap hardware like netbooks? Well, it seems someone has. Proloquo2Go is a $150 software app for iPhone or iPod Touch w speakers.

This is awesome. It won't help my son - he's still a bit wee for something that sophisticated (and easily broken,) but it looks awesome for when he's a bit older if he still needs AAC.

Oh, and it looks like there's another one, iConverse, but it's slightly less sophisticated. It's also considerably cheaper.

Feh

So I'm talking with someone who has children about to enter college soon. She earns about twice what I do, since they have a two income family at this point. She's complaining that the selective admissions schools her kids want to attend will mean she'll have to come up with an extra $25k a year to pay for them.

I sympathized, since that's about what it would take to give my kid the recommended level of intensive therapy he needs. She then said, "Yeah, but my expenses are not optional." Yes, because paying for Princeton is not optional. Obviously. And supports for the cognitively disabled are just nice perks. Ugh, people suck sometimes, and they don't even realize why.

Stroller

Just got back from a weekend trip, and the boy spent the entire time in the jog stroller. Eventually we'll probably get a special needs umbrella stroller just to get the higher weight limit, but for now, our jog stroller does the job. It's a little less maneuverable in tight spaces, and it doesn't fold down as small, but it makes up for it in comfort.

King didn't want to leave his stroller, even to eat at restaurants, even to play with toys. Several people assumed he was in a wheelchair, which provided a few teaching moments about autism. But he was more than content to remain there and protested whenever we tried to unbuckle him anywhere but the hotel room.

College Fund

The estimate was a little higher for the AAC device, since it includes the software, strap, and other stuff to make it actually work. We can absorb it, but it will mean we may have to sacrifice other things along the way, and right now I'm still waiting for my job contract for the next year. I don't think I'll be out of a job -- I just don't think I'll be getting a raise. If I can convince grocery stores and utility companies not to raise their rates for the whole year, I'll be golden. 

My husband mentioned the AAC device to his dad, and my FIL said that if insurance and the school district don't want to pay for it, he will. He said they'd been stashing away a college fund for the kids. 

If he learns how to functionally communicate and is able to handle it, I think we'll figure out how to pay for college when we get there.