Big Red Saftey Box

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 The National Autism Association is granting some Big Red Safety Boxes away to families with autistic children.

Limit: one box per family.  Our grant inventory is limited to 2,000 boxes. In order to provide these resources to as many families as possible, only one (1) safety box request per household will be processed. If you have more than one child with autism and need additional ID’s, wristbands, etc., they can be purchased separately in our Big Red Safety Shop.  All printed materials can be downloaded for free at http://awaare.org.

NAA’s Big Red Safety Boxes have a retail value of $53.00.  They include extensive resources for caregivers to help prevent and respond to wandering incidents.  The contents of the box are as follows:

1) Educational materials and tools:

A caregiver checklist
A Family Wandering Emergency Plan
A first-responder profile form
A wandering-prevention brochure
A sample IEP Letter

2) Two (2) Door/Window Alarms with batteries (Please be aware that Door Alarm packaging contains three batteries small enough to swallow. Use extra caution when opening the packaging, and keep the batteries well out of the reach of children.)

3) One (1) RoadID Personalized, Engraved Shoe ID Tag*

4) Five (5) Laminated Adhesive Stop Sign Visual Prompts for doors and windows

5) Two (2) Safety Alert Window Clings for car or home windows

6) One (1) Red Safety Alert Wristband

*You will receive instructions to submit a custom personalization order online at roadid.com. Your tag will be quickly engraved with your emergency information and mailed to you at no charge.

 http://nationalautismassociation.org/big-red-safety-boxes-now-available/

There is more to read on the website before submitting your applications....   but I wanted to be sure to pass it along.  

Nathan's Hearing Test ....

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 Nathan recently had a hearing test.   Well, he had a follow up with the doctor who did his cleft palate surgery, uvula repair & put tubes back in his ears.   Everything looked great.  At the end he says, would you guys mind waiting around and doing a hearing test just so we can see where it's at.  Sure....

Cuz, he's going to pass!  His palate has been repaired, he's got new tubes in his ears so there should be no reason why his hearing should be bad!!

Except he has a brother who's got hearing loss in one ear ...

So what...

Nathan will pass, even though.... he's ....... never....... passed.

So we get called back, pulled into the little room ....  she asks me if I'll go sit with Nathan.  In my head I'm screaming NO I WANNA SEE ... but of course I say sure... cuz he's my little man!

So we go into the sound proof room with an assistant ...  and Nathan is very engaged, doing what he's suppose to - looking this way or that... depending on the sound.

From the other side of the glass I can see the Audiologist and her face .... was full of concern.

And I knew....  he wasn't passing.

You come to a point where you are sure - absolutely sure - they cannot diagnosis a child with ANYTHING else ...  and then, they do ..... and you realize, the diagnosis mudslide will never stop.

Ever.

So we get out in the little room and she asks me "Did he pass his newborn screening?"  No...  "Has he ever passed a test?"   No....  "Has he done the test where they put the kids to sleep and..."  no... "Well they might want to do that."

Okay.....  I can accept this.   I've been through it before. 

 Nathan has hearing loss in both ears.  You want it to be above the gray area... you can see he is completely in the gray area.  The red circles is his right ear, the blue x's are his left ear and the red arrows are the bone conduction in his right ear. 

 I don't know if I should be thankful that his hearing isn't as BAD as Noah's ... Noah's hearing loss is a little deeper...  but ... he only has it in one ear.  Nathan has it in both - so does that mean it's worse?   I don't know....

He has another hearing test in mid-September... so we'll see.

Here is Noah's latest hearing test - to compare. His is severe in his left ear (under the gray) ...  and his right, although he has some loss, he's pretty normal.  And they fall in different directions - one hears better with higher pitched and one hears better with lower pitched.....