Autism Reading Program

We have a son with Autism; he was in school here in Texas for 5 years. He is high functioning and is verbal. Yet, the school's (he attended 9 schools here) here in Texas could not do anything with him. When he was 10 years old we sent him to live with family in New Mexico. At the time my husband had found out about a program in New Mexico for children with Autism and with us getting not being able to get him the services that he needed here, we felt that sending him to NM was the best thing. He was not reading at all, he could recognize words but could not "read" them. The school's and the local ISD "professional's" told me that he would never read at best he would sight read.

Well, after he started school in NM we found out about the Wilson Reading Method through a family member who is a Special Education teacher. He started the program at school and a home with a tutor. WOW, viola!!! He began to read, I mean really read and understand. He is now 15 and reading almost at a 4^th grade level. Hopefully, some day he will be reading at the level that he should be at for his age. But, even a 4^th grade level is a lot better than nothing at all.

Here are some links that I have found for the Wilson Reading Method. I just learned that it is used for dyslexia, poor spellers, ESL (English as Second Language) students among others.

• Wilson Language Training
• LD Online – this is a really good website for all kinds of info and lots of LD’s
• IDA Discussion Forum – From “The International Dyslexia Association”

I will add more links as I find them. Hope this is helpful =)

Here are some new links:

• FAPE defined
• This is a really good link to Autism and IDEA information from the Autism Society of America

A great idea that I received from one of my eBay friends

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following: 

A Recovering American Soldier 

c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center

6900 Georgia Avenue, NW 

Washington, D.C.  20307-5001 

If you approve of the idea, please pass it on to your friends.

Before you send your Christmas cards, read this soldiers blog first.

Some of my favorite eBay sellers

In my spare time, I buy and sell on eBay. Here is a list of some of my favorite eBayer's:

• Manse de Weese: This eBay store mainly has books, all sorts of books. This sellers prices are very good, excellent communication and the shipping is very reasonable along with being very fast.We just purchased a copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, for our son after he watched the SciFi channel's mini-series Tin Man. We all enjoyed the s, I would recommend it for any SciFi nut and older children.
• 2163baskets: I just recently found this eBayer, again very good all the way around.
  

Phone Bill Cramming

Recently, I looked at my phone bill...I found two charges for "voice mail" services from two separate companies (third party charges). I called my phone company and they are reversing the charges but, told me that I still had to contact the companies to cancel the services (the ones that I never ordered or approved in the first place!). Well, I have yet to be able to get anything other than a busy signal...
So, I called the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and made a complaint. They told me that they can not really do much about these complaints unless they have multiple complaints about the same companies. One of the companies I finally found only through looking them up with the phone number listed on my phone bill. The first one shows up as Voicevox Voicemail Service, here is their real name and link to the Better Business Bureau page for them ESBI. The other company is Nations 1st Comm., LLC., here is their real name and link to the Better Business Bureau page for them American Premium Warehouse.
I still have more people to call and I will post updates and any new links.
UPDATE!
I just found this phone cramming website

Hysterectomy - the Experts Speak Out

Hysterectomy - the Experts Speak Out

Feeling Like Menopause In Your 30's and 40's

Recently, I went to our family doctor and asked again "why do I feel like I am going through menopause?" Even though, my lab work shows that I am not? I have menopause symptoms and constant periods without the wacky hormones. She told me about a procedure called Her Option Office Cryoablation Therapy, and is a Cryo Endometrial Ablation (CEA) and gave me a name and number to a local OB/GYN that does this procedure. I have an appointment but, I have not been yet. I will post about this again after I see him. I have no idea if this will fix my problem or not but, I thought that it was very interesting. Who knew that you could stop your periods after you are finished having children without having a hysterectomy???

The following is from the linked website:

The procedure is called Her Option Office Cryoablation Therapy, and is a Cryo Endometrial Ablation (CEA), a freezing procedure, performed in the office under local anesthesia. It is 94% effective in decreasing the amount of bleeding, the number of bleeding days and the cramps associated with menses. In our experience, 40-60% of patients develop amenorrhea (NO MORE PERIODS) without affecting the patient’s hormone levels. In the past, endometrial ablations have been thermal in nature and required either general anesthesia or IV sedation in a hospital or ambulatory surgery center setting. Research has shown that cryo ablation is very effective and easier on the patient in regards to perioperative and post operative pain tolerance. Patient tolerance of cryoablation in the office is excellent-only 4% of patients were uncomfortable during the procedure without IV sedation. The procedure usually lasts only 30 minutes, and the patient can go home and later in the evening be up and about. The next day the patient has no restrictions on activity. There are only 7-10 physicians in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area that performs the cryo endometrial procedure. Channel 5 recently ran a piece on CEA on 10/10/06.The website is www.nbc5i.com; click on Newslinks and go to Tues, 10/10/06 to the story “Procedure Promises to End Periods”. You can read a transcript of the story and a screen is available to watch the interview. You may also go to www.HerOption.com if you would like additional information.