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When you have five kids, there is no chance that you won’t be kept awake by worries over at least one of them. The worries are not limited to the child with the neurological disorder.

My 20-year-old daughter, Lauren, will ask “Why do you sound panicked when I call?” Well… it could be that the call is either a) she has had an incident with her car, b) she has had an incident with her horse or c) she is sick.

Our trip here was pretty uneventful - so nice. We made it through the security check in Milwaukee easily. I explained that my son had liquids in his bag. He is on a special diet and has some meds along. The TSA agent asked if he had diabetes, I said, no autism - she immediately understood! This is a big difference from San Diego 4 years ago. San Diego TSA has my letter in their training materials - one of those "how could we have handled this situation better" situations.

We're all familiar with the meltdowns/tantrums of those on the Autistic Spectrum...varied though the behaviours may be, parents of those on the spectrum know exactly what a "meltdown" in their child looks like. Many can "feel" their children building to an inevitable outburst. Some tantrums are short-lived; others can continue for hours.

We are taking our first real family vacation ever. Kyle, my son with autism, is 8. And Ella, my daughter who almost had autism, is 6. We're flying to Orlando and taking advantage of the great military rate on Disney tickets. We are staying at a condo about a mile away and renting a car. I plan to do most of our dinners at the condo and pack lunches for the parks during the day. I'm excited! I've heard from more than one person that this is the best place to take an autistic child for vacation. Wish us luck!

Summer was rough this year. Lots of rain and a groundhog that ate EVERYTHING we planted. I'm working on that!

What we did find in the midst of the unforgotten patch in the woods was the pumpkin plants Caleb planted back in May.

http://tomatoland.net/~oltv/irc/pumpkin1.jpg

We will start over again and start planting crops to overwinter.

And I WILL catch that groundhog!

Establishing a Homework Routine

1. Set up a quiet, organized, and distraction-free work station.
2. Provide color coded, labeled containers and file folders for materials.
3. Turn "in/out" work baskets into "work-in-progress and "finished" baskets.
4. Assign a specific time period for doing homework that works for the child and the family.
5. Make sticking to the time frame and routine top priority.
6. Provide a concrete homework plan by breaking down assignments into manageable units.
7. Provide a visual template of the plan with estimated time frames and built-in breaks.

Tonight I watched some of my family’s past home video. It took me back to a time in my life that was extremely stressful, lonely, tumultuous and rigid. Allow me to share a few experiences with you! Autism, in my household looked something like this:
Everything in our house has its place. The furniture, our cookie jar, delightfully framed family photographs sitting on each end table. I think you get the idea. If you were to move anything out of its original order, my child would have a tremendous meltdown. Sometimes these meltdowns could last over an hour!

I have been working with children for over ten years, including direct work with children who have had a variety of disabilities, including: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Cerebral Palsy, and visual impairments.

I have been working with children for over ten years, including direct work with children who have had a variety of disabilities, including: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Cerebral Palsy, and visual impairments.

It seems these days everyone is exploring and jumping on the Social Networking roller coaster... well we are no different!!! I've had Dr. Stewart as a Fan Based Facebook page for a few months now and it's starting to really take off.

If you'd like to be a fan or find out a little more on how we are treating Autistic Patients and getting great results, I recommend you check out a few sites we have.

Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-TX/Dr-Kendal-Stewart/63052711529

Dr. Stewart's Clinic Website:
http://www.drkendalstewart.com