Power of Surrender

A couple of years back I met a father who has seen his daughter go from special needs to a very happy, typical child. I was so excited to find out how, and asked him, “What was the biggest intervention you did you help you get to recovery?”
I was expecting to be listening to speech on dietary interventions or biomedical protocols. But I was surprised that he answered, “We surrendered everything to God!”
I couldn’t grasp it back then. I believed I had to work super hard and do my best to get my twins to recovery…But I get it now.  
I now know that His love for me and my twins is greater than the health conditions that they have. Life is simple and easy. By His grace I have been lead to the easiest, yet most powerful autism interventions. He has made my journey so much easier. My twins have been progressing fantastically. Surely He will continue guiding me to become a better parent. I know that everything else that I cannot do, He will take care of! At last, I have learned to Surrender everything to God! What a powerful feeling 😉! 

Spot the Special-Needs Child???

One of the “controversial” principles of the Son-Rise Program® is that specials needs kids grow best in a distraction-free, one-on-one environment. That means keeping them at home, no parties, no crowded gatherings UNTIL the child can handle over sensory stimulation and can better relate to people.

I have never doubted that principle. Amor always responded well in a distraction-free, one-on-one environment like bed time. At school, when there are more kids and more parents around, I used to get puzzled why Amor couldn’t follow simple instructions, couldn’t hold a conversation, became irritable and could not transition to next tasks.

I happily chose not to go to parties with Amor. I also did not like the idea of Amor grabing party food out that was outside her special diet.

But today she’s ready…with just a bit more assistance. I assisted her at the beginning of the party so she could participate in games. 😅

When the relay games started, however, I watched Amor as she studied the kids in front of her. I felt confident that she didn’t need assistance to participant in the game. So I got video to capture the fantastic moment!….Now, try to spot the child with special needs.

You can hear me in the background cheering as if my daughter just won the Olympics! True enough, I know she is already a champion!

God is good!

“Mommy play with me”

First thing in the morning, Nathan asked me to wear the tarsier shirt. That’s the old green shirt with a drawing of the smallest monkey in the world and its large eyes. That is actually Nathan’s way of telling me, “Mommy play with me.”
   

I asked him where it was and if he could help me find it. He led me to my closet, opened the door, pulled out the shirt saying, “here it is!”I put on his favourite shirt for me, jumped into bed with him and played many silly games that HE INITIATED.  

Younger brother, Ian was next to us, laughing as he watched us. When I got the opportunity, I asked Nathan to invite Ian to play. Nathan obliged, “Ian squeeze hug please.” Ian was more than happy to give him his crazy squeeze hugs and continued to help me son-rise Nathan!

   
 
Imagine that. Four years ago, in the year that he got his autism diagnosis, I used to sing my song to him:

Do you know Mama Chris, Mama Chris, Mama Chris? She loves you very much. 

I was hoping that song would get him to understand that I was his mother and I was right there next to him loving him. It felt like the song was falling on deaf ears. It felt like my future was doomed.

But miracles happen and keep happening!

What a blessed morning!

Pushing buttons

Summer was spent with my family. I thought it was one of the nicest experience especially for Amor.  
Amor could look like a typical child who is simply stubborn. Sometimes we forget, and we take for granted that she still has special needs. She is still unable to fully express herself using the form of communication that is “acceptable” by our social norms. Her brother Ian, for example, easily expresses, “Can you play with me?” while Amor still has to find ways to get attention. She usually gets that attention by pushing people’s “buttons”. Yep…that’s my daughter!

Throughout that summer holiday, everyone was always busy. So Amor pushed those buttons to get attention. She would pluck and throw flower petals on the floor and call out, “Lola Elvie, look….” Because Lola Elvie was the one who made the beautiful flower arrangements. As soon as my mom entered the room, Amor would switch the lights on & off because she knew my mom would rush to her telling her to stop playing with the lights. She would toss and spill the cat’s water bowls and call out “Tita Sana….” because those where her cats. When my sister was around, Amor would kick the dogs, which are practically my sister’s children. My sister would give an knee-jerk reaction saying, “I won’t love you anymore if you do that!” When my sister-in-law heard Amor calling her name, she feared, “Oh, no I wonder what Amor did this time?”…That time Amor threw all of her cousin’s toys down the stairs. My brother though he was doing a good job keeping his cool while Amor kept trying to find that perfect button to push. He was…until Amor came over to hit her cousin on the head 😁. That made my brother’s eye just twitch a little while he was still trying his best not react.

It was my sister’s words that made me think and express to her that in common situations, people are going to have a hard time finding reason to even just like Amor. If my family were not able to love Amor, who then will? And it’s precisely the unconditional love that Amor needs right now to continue her journey and hurdle over her special needs and get to recovery.

With time and more explanations, my family did great! They all learned to turn off their push buttons. And yes, Amor kept trying and trying until it was no longer fun because all the buttons were off. And no matter how “naughty” she might have seemed, they learned to love her even more. 

I thought it was a nice opportunity for everyone to understand and appreciate Amor better. I’m also amazed at how smart Amor is at really understanding everyone and finding what it was that made each person tick.  

In the photo, Amor in a purple dress  and her loving extended family. 

 

Gift of Healing

Amor had fever last Friday. Nathan had fever last Sunday. Last night was Ian’s turn.
With all kids all I did was Jin Shin Jyutsu (energy healing) and the wet sock technique. Fever was gone after holding my kids for about 20 minutes (a little longer for Nathan’s fever).  

The fever medicines are still on the cabinet. Today they are coughing but essential oils are doing the trick.

I was always a worrywart especially when my kids get sick. I have never been so relaxed and confident in healing. God designed our bodies so perfectly. Our bodies instinctively moves towards healing. I should have known this earlier in our journey. But that’s ok, now I do. 

All in a day of learning 

While mom “stims” away on fb 😁, Nathan usually finds something mischievous to do.  
Yesterday I found him in the shower (Left of photo) so I told him that if he wanted to take a shower, he should take-off all of his clothes first. Then I assisted him in doing so.

Today, I found him in the shower again but this time he followed instructions (Right of photo)! Clothes in the floor, diaper on the trash can, and he was in the shower….all in a day’s worth of learning. How awesome it that? To think that I used to worry about who would take care of him when he gets heavier and older and I get too weak to assist him.

Did I tell you that Nathan’s cerebral palsy gives him a super hard time taking-off his shirt or simply standing up while trying to remove his pants?
  

Amor came home from school excited to report “Mommy we made Milo Cake today at school. I didn’t eat it.” She follows a strict GAPS diet.Son-Rise has an amazing way of helping kids follow our wants because they WANT TO (intrinsic motivations) and not because they HAVE TO (following out of compliance but not necessarily enjoying what they are doing). 
 

Homeopathy

My consultation with my homeopathic doctor:
Dr: Did you give Nathan the MMR (Measles Mumps and Rubella).

Me: In Japan they give MR so I went looking for the separate M (Mumps). Is it helpful that it’s separated like what they do in Japan?

Dr: I think the measles vaccine in itself is an issue. Did your give chickenpox vaccine?

Me: Yes. I didn’t know that had issues.

Dr: I have doubts on that one. Did you give the flu vaccine?

Me: Yes, twice…you can shoot me now!

Dr: (smiles) it’s ok you didn’t know back then.

We’re going to undo Nathan’s #VaccineInjury that caused #RegressiveAutism.

While Nathan was talking in sentences at age 2, he lost all his words by age 4.

It’s only been a month with few homeopathic remedies and it’s amazing how I can feel old circuits waking up. Like Nathan recalled all the signs for banana, water, milk, bread, monkey, rhino, giraffe…stuff I taught him when he was a toddler! He has also started to make spontaneous comments… something he was already doing at age 2 before he regressed into autism and lost all his speech.

Why me? Why not?

Nathan has Autism.Amor has Global Developmental Delay (GDD).

Just when I though my healthy, neurotypical son, Ian, was doing fantastically socially and academically…he develops a terrible case of eczema.

You might think the world is playing a joke on me.  

When Nathan got his autism diagnosis, I asked why I was given 2 kids with special needs. I thought maybe if I only had 1 child with special needs, I would be able to focus and really help that child. At times I asked: Why did we not have a comfortable amount of financial resources to afford various therapies and autism interventions? Why is there not enough hours during the day to do interventions and research about autism recovery…not to forget time for me? Why? Why? Why?

Today I have my answers. I’m no different from any other parent out there who have a special needs child and tons of other problems on top of that.

But I have been given all these for a reason. I do have somethings that I take pride of. I have patience to research and dig through thousands of autism/health resources and parent testimonies. I have the open mindedness to keep an autism/health intervention open until I fully understand its full potential or decide if it is snake oil and if I should take it out of my list. I have the willingness to try interventions and stick to it for as long as need be, to see results. I have the keen observation to see gains as soon as I try new interventions. I have the intuition to understand what’s going on for each of my children…even before the lab results come out.  

Every child is different, that’s why the jigsaw puzzle represents autism.  

Nathan’s core issues have to do with his cerebral palsy and the brain-nerve circuits that need to be reconnected…or created int the first place. That’s why energy healing, homeopathy and osteopathy works wonders for him.

Amor’s tummy is always bloated and she still tip-toe walks. That’s why GAPS diet is of core importance for her.

Ian is sensitive to Electromagetic Fields (EMF). I have correlated his nose bleeds to his use of iPads and iPhones. That must be pulling down his immune system. We are now making simple adjustments to hopefully minimise his expose, in heavily wired Singapore, while working on addressing the symptoms is his falling immune system: allergies and dry itching skin.

Hours and hours of researching has helped identified the different “kryptonites” of each of my children and to zero-in on what will work for each of them.

So I have 3 kids who have very different developmental/health issues. That gives me the experience to understand all the autism/health causes and appropriate interventions, then zoom-in on the right approach. We don’t have the money to try all the autism interventions using trial and error approach until we find what works for our kids….but I can narrow down options. We don’t have the money to try the latest tests and interventions for autism….but that has helped me put these new, expensive treatments on hold and focus on older and cheaper alternatives. I have found that the best remedies are the cheapest: 

– dietary interventions, 

– energy healing (after the training fee I spend on myself, we get free healing with just the touch of our hands), 

– homeopathy (remedies are cheaper than the shipping cost), 

– osteopathy (except for the consultants fee, hands of the osteopath is practically free), 

– running your own home-based program (Son-Rise. When parents are empowered to be their child’s therapist, it’s amazing how fast kids progress!), 

– addressing primitive reflexes (BrainHighways).
Life is good and I have been blessed mightily with my 3 children. We have come a long way and continue to pray for recovery.