Art, autism and vision: Raymond’s artwork Friday, Jul 13 2012

I know I posted a while back about our search for an art teacher. Well, we found one and she rocks! We go to The Creative Side in downtown Fredericksburg and work with Miss Kathleen. Raymond really enjoys it, and he seems to have a real talent for it. I’ve posted some of his art below.

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Art, autism and vision: seeing the world differently Thursday, Sep 2 2010

I call that one “Stairway Picture on cellphone camera with random camera effect.” I’m not a photographer, but this stairway looks different through the lens of my camera than it does when I’m looking at it. Throw the effect on and its a totally different place. (Bonus points for whoever can tell me where this was taken. The points aren’t worth any money, only social media meets real time l33t/\/355. )

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The Feingold Diet Phase 1: Week 2 Monday, Jan 26 2009

Raymond lost in thought

Okay, this diet is amazing. We are getting some cognitive and creative things we have never seen before. However, there is still a down side. We are still having some behavior issues. However, after talking to his pediatrician last week, we feel that those may be due to the fact that these chemicals are passing out of his body, and once the six weeks of Phase 1 is over it should improve.
In fact, it has improved somewhat. We made one big discovery this week. Monday was tough, as he was active, all over the place, crying and out of sorts. Tuesday at about noon I knew something was going on. I called another mom we know who has been on the diet for years and started talking about what we were giving him, what his diet was like,etc. She had some great suggestions.
We had been giving Raymond a cup of lemonade in the morning with all his supplements, and then sending him off to school. This mom suggested that maybe he was getting too much sugar without the stabilizing influence of a protein. She said her kids were great as long as she paired her sugars and carbs with proteins. That made a lot of sense to me, so we tried it.
Wednesday we skipped the lemonade and sent a bagel with egg in to school for his breakfast. He had a turkey sandwich for lunch, and when he came home he was calmer, more possessed and more well behaved all the way around! Success!
We have since determined it is not just sugar, but he has a specific reaction to lemonade. I don’t know what it is, but we switched his drink to pineapple juice and he tolerates it better. He still needs protein, but its nothing like the lemonade.
We also had to take him off some of his supplements. This diet is more work intensive than anything I’ve done yet, but the rewards are outstanding. Raymond is pooping in the potty, which we had despaired of ever happening. He also has made some major changes in his art.
Raymond loves to draw, paint, color or do anything involving art. He normally draws trains. Although they are very detailed, he is totally limited in his subject matter unless we insist he draw something else. That is, until now. He spontaneously drew the front of trains, with faces, instead of the sides. He also drew mountains, animals, and people on his own. We were ecstatic!
Not only that, but he is also expressing a new interest in math. Raymond has always loved numbers, but now he is trying to add and subtract. We are overjoyed that he is finally growing this way, and look forward to more.
Oh, and I made one more discovery. Instead of sweetener in my pancake batter, I started using butternut squash puree. It is more fibrous and gives a greater nutritional value to the pancakes. Plus, Raymond can’t tell its in there and he loves them! Thanks to Jessica Seinfeld and her book Deceptively Delicious for the idea.

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