Category Archives: Children’s Ministry

Audio/ Video Teaching, Book Reviews, Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

Raising Successful Kids

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How do you define success? When you look at your kids and you try to imagine their future… what do you see?

Last week, in my post It’s a Sin to Bore People with the Bible, I shared a little about teaching the Scriptures to our kids in a fun way, and I also shared a link to download another free audio teaching from the NCBP from their book Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes, In You and Your Kids. This audio teaching was based on raising successful kids by teaching them to be children of honor.

In this teaching you will be able to discern what you as a parent can do to teach honor in your home. It will also hopefully help you to look at your own life to see if you are a man or woman of honor. We as parents need to always ask ourselves, am I displaying the attitude and character that I expect to see in my children. We also need to ask ourselves, is the behavior I keep correcting in my kids merely their reflection of my own example.

We as adults might get frustrated with kids, but sadly it doesn’t take long too see that most kids are just doing what they have not been taught… but caught.

It has only taken two years of children’s ministry to learn this.

I have lost count of the times that I have walked into my children’s kitchen to find that someone has used the dryer or washer and instead of folding the items in there… they dump and pile them up on the counter. Instead of washing and putting away the dishes used, dishes are left dirty in the sink. Instead of returning the stapler borrowed… it’s never seen again. Instead of putting the supplies back where they got them, supplies are left thrown in the floor. Instead of throwing away the empty box, it’s left in the pantry or the fridge. Instead of throwing away something that is broken it’s left sitting out for someone to grab thinking it works and it’s not replaced because no one knows it needs to be. Instead of staying and helping clean up an event mess… it’s left for someone else to do… someone who will do it alone.

house rules

 

So if you are struggling with your children honoring you and honoring others… are they seeing you honor others? How do they see you treat your spouse? How do they see you treat the person checking you out at the department store? How do they see you treat the waiter at the restaurant? How do they see you treat your parents? How do they see you treat them?

 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 

John 13:14-15

I wrote a post several years ago, Honor Follows Honor, as I was reading through the Pursuit of God by AW Tozer. How we honor others and how we honor God will be reflected in our children and in the legacy we leave behind us. Are your children following in the footsteps of honor?

footsteps 1

footsteps 2

foosteps 3

footsteps 4

I took these photos several years ago as we were walking down the beach. My husband was walking in front and he had no clue that as he walked our youngest was trying to step her steps in his exact footprints. It so represented the truth of parenting and a father’s role in a child’s life that I had to capture it. If your children were to follow in your exact footprints where would they end up?

Would they become men and women of honor?

You can still get the one hour audio teaching on honor with practical real life examples on how to teach it in your home right here on my website. Just scroll down to the bottom of my last week’s post to Get Honor Audio Teaching.

As you listen to this teaching on honor you will catch some great little nuggets like these:

Just because you have a desire to lecture doesn’t mean your child has a desire to listen… Look for teachable moments. 
~ Scott Turansky

Whining and complaining is a kids way of trying to manipulate their parents into doing what they want.
~ Joanne Miller

Like I said those are just a couple of nuggets… there is a whole hour of some great practical parenting tools in there. Take advantage of these free offers!

Now today’s free audio download is from the book Parenting is Heart Work which is actually on special right now through the NCBP if you would like to go ahead and purchase the book. The free audio teaching I am offering today is on teaching your kids to listen to and follow instruction.

To get the free audio teaching just click here: Teaching Kids to Listen and Follow Instructions

Autism Awareness, Children's Ministry, Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

April’s Autism Awareness: Alex’s Brutal Honesty

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One more today for April’s Autism Awareness. Today Andrea will be sharing with us about Alex’s Brutal Honesty…

Autism Awareness Month: Alex’s Brutal Honesty

alex honest

If you know a person with Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, then you most likely know that they are often very honest, brutally honest. They often are only interested in telling the truth in a situation no matter how it affects people’s feelings. I am not trying to lump everyone with Autism into this category, but Alex definitely fits in with those who are like this. 

In the past, Alex will typically tell me the truth about anything I ask him. If I ask him if he spilled something on the floor or messed something up, he will answer, “yes” (if he did it). If he didn’t do it, he will throw Annika or Lincoln under the bus in a heartbeat. However, there have been times lately where he does lie to us.

For example, Alex does a lot of oral stimming (I will discuss this in another post).

He likes to chew on zippers a lot, and you will often find him chewing on his jacket – he seems to like to do this on the bus. He will get off the bus, and half of his jacket will be soaking wet. We get up to the house, and I will ask him if he chewed on his jacket. He will typically answer, “No”. I then make him look me in the eye, and I ask him again, and he will then tell the truth. So, I guess he is starting to learn things from his brother and sister .

alex honest 2

 

I have to admit that we do sometimes get excited when he does tell a small lie – I guess it makes us feel like he is doing something that “typical” children often do.

Alex is typically very honest with his answers to questions and things he tells you. At times, I have to admit that his brutal honesty has been embarrassing. Alex loves to be the person to push the buttons when we get in elevators. When we are at the hospital, the elevators are typically busy, and there are often people in them when we get in. I try to explain to Alex that he can’t push around people to get to the buttons (he doesn’t understand a person’s personal space or social etiquette). He will look at the people and scream, “I DON’T LIKE PEOPLE!!! Why do they have to be in here and push the buttons?”. Thank goodness a lot of times people can’t understand what he is saying because he is yelling so fast and loud .

There have also been a couple of times in church where we tell him it is time to go in front of the church for Children’s Church, and he slams down his iPad, screams “I don’t like church! Why do we have to come to church?” as he walks up the aisle and hits the back of seats when he comes to them.

Yes, we sometimes want to crawl into a hole …

I have also learned that Alex can tell when people honestly care about him and really want to be his true friend. But, I will talk more about this in a later post.

alex honest 1

 

To be continued…..

Autism Awareness, Children's Ministry, Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

April’s Autism Awareness (Alex’s Obsessions)

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We are still in the midst of April’s Autism Awareness. Today Andrea’s shares about Alex’s obsessions…

Autism Awareness Month: Alex’s Obsessions

If you know a child with Autism, you have probably noticed that they often get fixated on certain items. To kids with autism, these objects are familiar and predictable. They often help them in dealing with anxiety or get them calm in an environment that is uncomfortable to them.

Alex has had several different fixations/obsessions over the years. At one point, he was obsessed with salt shakers. When I would leave the room to change Annika’s diaper or something, he would scoot a chair over to the cabinet. He would then crawl on top of the countertop, grab for the shaker, and pour as much as he could out before I got to him. “Salt” would be the first thing he said when he came downstairs in the morning.

Alex also went through a stage where he was obsessed with balls. It didn’t matter what kind of ball, what shape, etc. He just loved balls. I can’t tell you how many balls we owned. He would sleep with them all over his bed. 

Then, his next obsession was lawn mowers. He would sit and talk to them and play with them for hours. He would go back and forth in the yard mowing with them. We always joked that he would be a landscaper when he grew up.

Alex Obsess

 

I think we counted we had around 16 or so between our house and my parents’ house. He still likes them, but we have been able to get rid of most of them. When he was in the hospital for his cancer treatments, he would have to sleep with one most nights!

Alex Obsess 2

The latest obsession which has lasted quite a while is balloons and inflatables. He really became obsessed with balloons while he was in the hospital. This may have been his way of coping with all of his treatments – I am not sure.

Alex Obsess 1

 

I just know that no matter what his little body was going through, a balloon made him very happy, and he would sleep with it and talk to it. He loves inflatables which range from bounce houses to pool rings and floats.

Alex Obsess 3

I can’t even begin to think of how many beach balls, swim rings, inflatable seahorses, etc. that we own. When he isn’t blowing one up, he is looking them up on his iPad and doing screen shots of them. He knows the manufacturer and model of each ring, float, etc.

Alex Obsess 4
For a while, we struggled thinking we should move him away from these little obsessions, but we realize they are his calming mechanism. I think his surroundings often over stimulate him or confuse him, and this is his comfort. So, we go along with it.

If you see us at the ball field, you will most likely see Alex with one of his inflatables. I apologize if you get knocked over by it or hit in the head . We get odd looks when we go places with these things, but so be it. When I asked Alex what he wants for his birthday this month, he listed various inflatables. It makes him happy, and in the end, that is what we want for all of our kids.

 

Children's Ministry, Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

It’s A Sin To Bore People With The Bible

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Do your children enjoy Bible study? Do they enjoy the teachings of Scriptures in your home? Do you teach them the Scriptures at home?

Does Deuteronomy 6:4-9 terrify you and heap loads of guilt upon your shoulders?

Let me assure that it does not have to. The Bible is full of amazing and fun truths. It doesn’t have to be taught through boring monotone dry teaching… nor does it have to be taught through red faced emotional pounding. The Bible is alive. It should be taught with life.

The Scriptures are relevant for life… for us and for our children.

I will never forget the time that I was sitting at my co-op office desk and my then four year old nephew was sitting in front of me eating his lunch and was telling me something he watched in a cartoon and what he shared with me reminded me of the true story of David and Goliath so I began telling him the true story from the Scriptures.

By the time I got through his eyes were big as saucers and he said, “Nay-Nay that’s a true story?” And I said, “Yes sir, it sure is!” And he was like, “Whoa!”

As I listened to the Teaching Spiritual Truths audio from the National Center for Biblical Parenting I heard Scott Turansky share a saying of his father, “It’s a sin to bore people with the Bible“. I never want anyone to walk away from my teachings of the Scriptures and say that the Bible is boring… especially my own children.

If you find it boring or are afraid that you don’t know how to teach it to your kids in a fun and interesting way… please listen to this teaching that is available for you for FREE! It’s one hour of your time… and it could make an eternal difference in your heart and in the heart of your children or others children if you teach. You can find the spiritual truths download in this blog post: Teaching Spiritual Truths To Children

Not just that, but today I have another free download for you. This week I am offering another audio teaching from the book Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes, In You and Your Kids. The first audio that I offered was focused on resolving sibling conflict and it touched a little on honor, but this audio is focused on honor.

teach honor

 

To download this audio teaching just click here: Honor, the Secret Ingredient for Family Life

Please don’t pass up these opportunities to download these teaching and parenting tools. Trust me they are well worth your time.

 

 

Autism Awareness, Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

April’s Autism Awareness (the marriage)

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In today’s Autism Awareness post through the life Alex Kallas, his mother, Andrea, shares with us the effects of autism on a marriage…

Day 11 of Autism Awareness Month: How it Affects a Marriage

I apologize that I missed a few days. The flu bug decided to take me and Alex down, and I finally feel like sitting at the computer and typing for a few minutes. Today I am focusing on how Autism affects a marriage. When Alex was diagnosed, Erik and I were told that 80% of couples that have a child with Autism divorce. EIGHTY PERCENT!!! That was very scary. First, your child gets this diagnosis that breaks your heart and then you hear that most couples don’t come out of it together.

As I look back over the last 6 years since Alex was diagnosed with Autism, I can see where the divorce rate could be higher. Autism is financially and emotionally draining, and that just adds to the strains that are typically put on a marriage. When you add how differently men and women typically handle situations, it is tough!

I am a very emotional person. I cry when I am hurt and when I hurt for others. There have been times that I have laid on the bathroom floor in the fetal position crying and crying about how I want things to be “normal”. Erik doesn’t understand those moments. He is more analytical and realistic. His thoughts are we have been dealt this hand and we need to accept it and move on. Needless to say, we have had some issues over the past few years. And that statistic seemed to always pop into my head. I decided a long time ago that we were not going to allow that statistic to take place in our family – I think we both did.

When you have a child with Autism, there is often one parent who is more involved in overseeing the diet, therapy, etc. I am that person in our family. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. However, when you are that person and you deal with Autism every minute of the day, you can have some resentment build up towards the other spouse. And yes, that happened with us. I remember when Annika was just four or so months old, I was at my breaking point. I had a four month old, a 19 month old, and a four year old who required an enormous amount of my time. I had been getting little sleep, and I was overwhelmed.

I was tired – tired of spending hours doing therapy with Alex and researching diets and other treatments, tired of trying to be a good mom to Lincoln and my new baby girl, Annika, when I wasn’t giving them near enough attention, tired of acting like we were the perfect family, and tired of fighting with Erik. At that point, I think we were both afraid that we were going to be in the majority. We were letting Autism and our “life” come between us – we weren’t taking the time that we needed for our relationship.

It was at this time that we got involved with some couples at Thompson Station Baptist Church. I believe these couples were sent to us to help save our marriage. We started the study “Fireproof Your Marriage”, and we were given contact information to a Christian marriage counselor in the area. I am not going to say it was easy – the counselor told us at one point that we are wasting our money if we didn’t start working on our marriage. He was right. Something finally clicked, and we decided we didn’t want to be in the majority. We fought to get back our relationship and to start being a team again.

Has it been easy? No. Life isn’t easy, and we are often thrown curve balls. I am sure some people would ask why I would share the fact that we have had problems in our marriage. I do it because if we can help one couple decide it is worth it to fight for their marriage, then it is worth sharing. Autism isn’t easy. Marriage isn’t easy. But if you are willing to put God first and work through the tough times, you will come out on the other end much stronger. I am thankful for the couples that were brought into our lives when we needed them the most. They and our counselor allowed us to get back to a firm foundation. We had NO idea what laid ahead of us that next year. That is when we heard Alex had cancer, and I won’t even go into the statistics regarding the marriage when dealing with a child with cancer.

To be continued…

Autism awareness 11

Children's Ministry, The Romans Study For Kids

Romans Study For Kids (Romans 12:1-2)

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We begin our final section of the The Romans Study For Kids. We now are in part 5… the Service of Salvation!

We have just completed our study on the first eleven chapters of the book of Romans. Today we are beginning our last section of this very important book. Let’s do a quick review of our section outline. In Romans 1:1-15 we were introduced to who God used to write this book and who he was writing to. Then in Romans 1:16-17 we discovered why this book was written. The main theme of the book of Romans is to teach us that the righteous live by faith and the gospel is the power of salvation.

We titled our first section, The Need for Salvation. In Romans 1:1 – 3:20 God uses Paul to teach us our need for salvation. He shows us why we all need saved, no matter who we are or where we came from.

Our next section was, The Way of Salvation. In Romans 3:21 – 5:21 God uses the writings of Paul to teach us that the only way of salvation is by faith in His Son, Jesus.

Our third section was, The Life of Salvation. In Romans 6:1 – 8:39 God uses the writings of Paul to teach us how we are alive in Christ. He teaches us how we become His children. He teaches us how His Holy Spirit lives in all His children and how His Spirit gives us power to live our new lives in a way that pleases God. He also teaches us that nothing will ever separate us from God once we are His in Christ.

Our fourth section was, The Scope of Salvation. In Romans 9:1 – 11:36 God uses Paul’s writings to teach us that He is sovereign, or in total control, of who is saved. He also teaches us that He is not done with the people of Israel. God will never break His promises to us and He will never break His promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the children of Israel. He is going to graft them back in to His family one day very soon.

We closed section four with one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible:

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. 

(Romans 11:33-36)

God uses this passage of Scripture to close up all of what Paul has written about salvation and God’s sovereignty and God’s ways. It’s perfect because it reminds us that it is okay if we don’t understand all of this yet. It’s okay if what God says doesn’t make sense to our human mind. It’s okay, because He is God and we just need to trust Him and take Him at His word.

Now after these first eleven chapters on all the why’s, and explanations, and teachings, that God gives us about our sin and His salvation we come to Romans 12 and our last section of study, The Service of Salvation.

Now that we know the need, the way, the life, and the scope of our salvation… we need to know how we live it out in our every day lives and within His church. God uses Paul to teach us this in Romans 12 – 16.

Are you ready?

Let’s go!

Romans 12:1-2 

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

Read Romans 12:1. What word does this verse begin with?

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Do you remember what we have learned about this word? If there is a “therefore”, we need to know what the “therefore” is there for!

I believe this “therefore” is connecting us all the way back to everything we learned in the first eleven chapters. Let’s look at the rest of the verse to see why I believe what I do 🙂

 

Read all of Romans 12:1. 

What does Paul urge us to present to God as a living and holy sacrifice?

our __ __ __ __ __ __

 

What does Paul say this is?

spiritual __ __ __ __ __ __ __  of __ __ __ __ __ __ __

 

From what you learn in this verse how much of you does God want? Circle your answer.

all of you       some of you     just a little of you

 

Listen to this version of the Hokey Pokey and think about what all you have learned in the book of Romans and especially this first verse of chapter 12.

In this song we sing that we give our hearts to Jesus and we give Him our hands, our feet, our head, our whole selves. When we give our hearts to Jesus we give Him everything. We worship Him with our hearts, our minds, and our bodies. God wants what we think, what we say, what we do, and where we go all to be for Him. He wants all of us to honor Him.

 

Read Romans 12:2. What are we not to be conformed to? 

do not be conformed to this __ __ __ __ __

 

What does it mean to be “conformed”? Take a moment to look up the word conformed in a dictionary. Write done what you learned.

___________________________________________________________

 

Why would God not want us to be conformed to the world? Look up and read John 12:31, John 16:11, Ephesians 6:12, and 1 John 5:19. Who is the ruler of this world?

Satan         President Obama      Superman

 

Look back and read Romans 8:29. Who does God want us to be conformed to?

__ __ __ __ __

 

Read Romans 12:2. What are we to be instead of being conformed?

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

 

THINK ABOUT IT…

The word “transformed” in the Greek is metamorphoó. This Greek word might sound familiar to you. Have you ever studied what happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly? 

What is this called? 

Yes, metamorphous! 

Below is a picture of a caterpillar.

caterpillar melonheadz colored

 

During the process of metamorphous this caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. The caterpillar becomes a whole new creation. It used to be a worm like creature that could not get off the earth… and then after being transformed it becomes a beautiful butterfly that can now fly!  

Now color in the butterfly below in all your favorite colors!

butterfly to color

                      

Read Romans 12:2 again. How are you transformed? 

by the __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ of your __ __ __ __

Before we know Jesus our minds are full with all the things of the world. We live in the world everyday. We see television shows and movies. We listen to songs. We go to school and hear things from other kids and learn things from school books that may or may not be true. What goes in our eyes and ears goes into our mind and into our heart and becomes our belief system which then controls our actions.

What has God given us so that our eyes and ears can be filled with what He says is true?

bibleforbulletinboards

The  __ __ __ __ __

 

What does Romans 12:2 say we will know if we renew our mind with God’s word? Circle all that apply.

will of God                      what is good

our favorite color             who we will marry

what is acceptable                 what is perfect

what the weather will be like

God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that His thoughts and His ways are not our thoughts and our ways. He also tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6 that we are not to lean on our own understanding but to trust in Him. The only way that we can learn what God’s thoughts and ways are is for us to read His Word, the Bible. He has recorded for us His thoughts and His ways and not only that He sent Jesus to come and show us His thoughts and His ways. Remember that John 1:1-3 and 14 teaches us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

That’s enough for today! 

Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

The Last Adam

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 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.”

The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:45

Last March my family visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky with our church. This museum is designed to teach the Biblical account of creation through scientific evidence. The building is filled with huge dinosaurs, artifacts, and theaters. They do a wonderful job of making this place fun and educational for the entire family.

In one of the theaters they played a short film entitled The Last Adam. This film was so powerful that it kept even our 1st graders still and mesmerized.

We are approaching the Easter season. The season where we remember the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The One who left the glory of heaven and put on flesh so that He might dwell among us. The One who lived among and loved us even when we questioned Him, mocked Him, denied Him…

The One who died for sins He never committed… because He was the only One who could and rise again. He took on our iniquities so that in His life we might have life. The first Adam brought death to all mankind. The last Adam… brought eternal life.

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22

Answers in Genesis is offering an Easter special until April 30… but until April 14th you can download The Last Adam for free. I have downloaded my copy. I plan to play it this coming Sunday during my children’s church time.

Special FREE Video Download
The Last Adam MP4

last adam

Use code EASTER20

Download | Forward to a friend

Reminder: Available only until April 14, 2014.

I also am an affiliate with AiG… you can find more Easter savings here:

Audio/ Video Teaching, Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

Teaching Spiritual Truths To Children

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This past Monday in our Co-op chapel lesson after I taught a little on Proverbs 6:12-15, I had a little boy come up to me after chapel and let me know that he was really listening to what I was teaching and it made him want to hear more. The greatest encouragements I have ever received have come through the mouths of children… Usually there is no concern for an hidden agenda in their words… they generally say what they mean and mean what they say.

This young boy came up, and as he talked with me about how what I had shared that chapel lesson had made him realize the kind of person he wanted to be, he said something about anger being a very bad sin… with this I had another opportunity to teach him one-on-one about anger and about forgiveness. I relish those mini moments, not just with my own children, but with any child, and really anyone who the Lord allows me the opportunity.

Last week I shared a post that contained an audio teaching on sibling conflict… This is a FREE one hour teaching on teaching your children how to use their anger as a problem identifier not a problem solver. It teaches parents how to teach children and treat them fair but not equal, special according to their individual needs not identical. It teaches parents how to stop becoming a referee, and how to instead become a coach. 

Even if your child does not have a sibling they still need these tools. Having siblings is a built in home study in learning how to relate to others that are different, so a child with no sibling receives no practice here… therefore how much more do they need to learn these tools from you so that they will have them for life?

I have listened to this teaching… and I don’t care how good of a parent you think you are or how good you think your children already are… there is info in here that you need to here. We all have room to become better for the glory of God.

You can still find this download here: Resolving Conflict Learning Honor

This week I am offering another free audio teaching from the National Center for Biblical Parenting. This audio download is based on how to make teaching spiritual truths fun for your children and really just for your whole family. They just might even help you learn how to see the great joy and excitement in studying the Word of God in an “out of the box” kind of way.

This audio comes from the Family Time series.

BnrFamilyTime

 

Click here for your free download: spiritualtruths-mp3

Enjoy!

Autism Awareness, Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

April’s Autism Awareness Day 6 and 7

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Continuing with the focus on autism awareness through the story of Alex Kallas…

Day 6 & 7 of Autism Awareness Month:

I am playing catch up today because we have had a crazy weekend and some sickness at our house. Before Alex got his official Autism diagnosis, I had not only started researching different diet options, but I also started looking for different therapy options.

We chose Applied Behavioral Analysis as the route we would go with Alex’s therapy. This type of therapy is designed to help with the child’s social skills, communication, academic, reading, fine motor, dressing, eating, potty training, etc. There was only one problem when we decided to go this popular route – COST!! 

The number of hours recommended for ABA therapy each week was between 20-40 hours. At the time, insurance didn’t cover any of the therapy. To do a comprehensive program where therapists would be provided, the cost would range from $1000-2000 per week (and sometimes more). Needless to say, we didn’t have that kind of money, so that wasn’t an option. However, I was very lucky because I was able to talk to the wonderful lady who wrote one of the books I read about Autism, and she lived in Middle Tennessee. We were able to hire her for for around $4,500 for a year, and she would develop “programs” for me to do with Alex, and she trained me so that I could do the therapy with him. Erik and my parents also took time to do therapy sessions.

I learned over time that some people don’t like this type of therapy because they compare it to training a dog. You use a lot of repetition along with positive and negative reinforcements. But, the fact is our children on the spectrum do learn through repetition. Our consultant would set up programs for “Attending”, and then there would be trials such as “look at me” and “wait”. I would use that throughout the session. Then, there would be a “Imitation” program where the trials would consist of waving with a certain hand, clap hands 3 times, build the same figure out of blocks, etc. We would have a “matching” program where a trial would be “put with same”, and he would match Verb flash cards, Emotion cards, etc. And the list goes on and on. For each “trial” within each program, we would do it 10 times. I would have worksheets to fill out for each trial. Then, our consultant would come weekly to observe and see how we were doing.

Alex responded very well to this type of therapy. I will not say it was easy. It wasn’t. The actual therapy isn’t really that difficult, but it is just the time that it takes. I had a 6 month old, and I sat him in the room with us while I would work with Alex. Then, at what I thought was the most difficult time in our lives, I found out I was pregnant with Annika at the same time Alex was officially diagnosed. I quickly learned that God truly does work in mysterious ways. After all of our trouble conceiving before we adopted Alex, he gave us two back to back surprises. I always thought he was probably looking down on us and having a good old laugh!!!

To be continued….

~ Andrea Kallas

Alex Autism

 

I have to smile at Andrea’s last paragraph. I know several families that could never conceive a child and so they decided to go through adoption… and then after the adoption they became pregnant!

I have no doubt that God knew Alex was to become Erik and Andrea’s and if they had of conceived Lincoln and Annika first… they would have never even considered adoption… and where would Alex be?   

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Autism Awareness, Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

April’s Autism Awareness Day 5

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We continue Alex’s story…

Day 5 of Autism Awareness Month:

Autism Day 5

 

When I realized Alex had Autism, I dove into researching everything I could find about it. I was very angry and sad, but I used those emotions to fuel me as I read all of the books I could find and searched on the internet.

I think most parents would be willing to do ANYTHING within their power to pull their child out of the grips of this Autism monster. That is what we do. That is our job. The problem with Autism is treatment is extremely expensive – out of reach of most of us that don’t have the amount of money someone like Jenny McCarthy has.

Before I looked into different types of therapy, I decided to start with a least costly option first – Alex’s diet. In September 2007 (one month after we figured out what was going on), I started Alex on a Gluten Free Casein Free diet. If you are like me, you might not know what Casein is. It is proteins that are found in milk. I admit that I was overwhelmed at first when we changed to this diet. I didn’t realize how wheat and dairy are in so many things!!

This diet made a HUGE difference in Alex! It doesn’t affect all kids with Autism the same way, but Alex is one of those kids that truly benefits from this diet. Before going on the GFCF diet, Alex was drinking close to a gallon of milk every two days – he was constantly asking for milk. He also ate a LOT of yogurt. He was getting terribly constipated, and when we put him on this diet, it got much better.

The amazing thing about this diet was the effects it was having on his mood and his speech. Before going on it, he only spoke one or maybe two words together. Within 2-3 weeks of going on this diet, he started putting more words together. We learned that milk often has the same effect as heroin with Autistic kids. They crave it, and it creates this fog in their brains. The changes we saw were amazing!!!

I have to admit that we haven’t been the best about sticking to this diet since Alex’s cancer diagnosis. When he was in treatment, we just wanted him to eat something to keep a little weight on, so we did get off of the strict diet. But, we are working our way back to it because we know how well he responds to it. I know it is overwhelming to a parent as you start thinking of doing this diet, but I would encourage you to try it. You never know how it will effect your child!

~ Andrea Kallas