Today was Mav's first day back to school since Spring Break he had a good day. Mrs.M said he was pretty chatty she is trying to get him to say "I want chips" He says "No!" Then says "chips" Slowly but surely we are getting there but hey at least he is using some words and he for sure knows the correct way to use the word NO.When I pulled up to pick him up Mrs. M had walked him outside since he was the last pickup and it is beautiful out today, when he saw me he came runnin with a smile saying "Momma, Momma, Momma" gave me a big ol hug.Love it! I missed you too buddy!

Found this very interesting. Another very important piece to solving the puzzle of Autism.
Autism Speaks Spearheads Collaborative Grant with the Allen Institute for Brain Science and Leading Autism Expert to Analyze Frontal Lobe Microstructure in Autism Research May Provide Insight into the Biological Causes of Autism
Read about it here

till tomorrow~

Mav's Weekend Review

• Friday: Dr appointments, Build A Bear,Dinner @ Mamma & Papa's house. Rented movies the Dude had to have a Robot movie has watched it about 20 times since we got it.
• Saturday: Watched toons with Teagan, Avery and Dad. Took long ride to get groceries and shop a little, saw a fish hitch cover on a guys truck chased after it cause it moved was totally cool. Went to TSC with Dad when exiting the doors ran straight for the dirt bikes jumped on all by himself and pretended to be racing with sound effects and all dad was all smiles telling the story. While shopping Mav did great better then the sisters did. Got his new addiction Sour Cream and Cheddar chips mmm delish! Played outside till the bugs came out helped dad put up the trampoline and was all happy getting to do his favorite thing. Fell asleep watching a movie the fresh air wore him out.
• Sunday: The Dude slept in till 10:55 which is crazy for him I kept having to check on him to make sure his was just sleeping and he was off in dreamland the whole time all snug as a bug in his mound of blankets. Got up and was ready to head outside again where he stayed most of the day running around, jumping on the trampoline and hanging out with Teagan. Teagan has been commenting on how much he has been saying she loves him so much it's awesome to watch them together before it was so hard for her. Watched a little more of the Robot movie today too. Had Mamma and Papa over for BBQ dinner today was fun. Took a nice little bath had some thought time in there and was ready to settle down for the night. Fell asleep early which is good since he heads back to school tomorrow morning. Hard to believe spring break is all over but at least there is only 7 weeks left of school till summer break.
• Lots of chat this weekend with everyone even with the Dr's on Friday. Love hearing what ever he may say his big thing right now is Baybee(Baby), DVD, peezza(pizza), sorwee(sorry), I yuv oo (I love you),NO, and we are working on Please and thank you which most of the time I say with of those and he says '"welcome" which is great he is getting that those words are usually used together.He is doing really good I am so proud of him.

That's Mav's weekend in a nutshell nothing much just hangin with the fam enjoying the journey!

Recieved this today...

I knew about this since I have been following their blog since December and shared Mav's story with them too. Here is a link to the blog to read abou thte Bills

http://autisminsurancemichigan.blogspot.com/

Join us on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 from 11 AM to 2 PM in Lansing, MI for a RALLY ON THE CAPITOL STEPS in support of autism insurance reform bills!
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Spread the word! - Our goal is to have 1,000 people or MORE join us at this rally. Pass the word and bring your friends, families, teachers and therapists. We need to show our legislators that WE MEAN BUSINESS with our physical presence supporting this legislation! It is time for insurance companies to stop discriminating against people with autism NOW!
HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR TIME IN LANSING MORE EFFECTIVE?
Set Appointments! - Plan to visit with your local Representative and Senator while you are in Lansing and set your appointments with them today!
NOT SURE WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO GET THERE?
Know Your Stuff! - For more info - including updates on the rally, maps, what to bring and more importantly, the legislation itself, visit these three sites: www.autisminsurancemi.blogspot.com, http://michiganaction.org or visit the Autism Votes Michigan page at www.autismvotes.org/michigan.
GET READY FOR THE BIG DAY:
On Monday, April 7th at 7pm, the Judson Center will host an advocacy workshop in preparation for the rally. The theme is “Taking it to Lansing.” Parents, providers and other interested attendees will learn from the experts how one person can truly make a difference.
Materials will be available this night to make rally signs or you can bring your own. We’ll be discussing how to effectively run a rally, what message we want to convey, discuss effective follow up correspondence and phone calls and do’s and don’ts for face to face meetings with your local representative or senator and much, much more!
Joining us will be JoAnn Murphy, graduate of the Parents in Policymaking class and autism advocate; local Autism Speaks chairperson, mother and autism advocate, Ann Breznai, and Justin Harlan, an 8 year old (soon to be 9) boy who took a day off school to learn what politics was all about on Dec. 13, 2007, when he testified about the need for autism insurance coverage in front of the Health Policy Committee at the Michigan House of Representatives.
To attend, please RSVP for this FREE EVENT by calling 248-837-2047 that you will be coming to this event so that we have enough materials.
Autism Votes – It’s time for lawmakers to listen!
Shelley HendrixDirector of State Advocacy RelationsAutism Speaks

Long Day

Today Mav and I spent most of the day in Grand Rapids starting out at the Devos Children's Hospital and finishing at Build A Bear. Mav had back to back appointments with specialists today first the Behavioral specialist the Pediatric Developmental specialist for a first time visit. Both went good. If you have any questions please feel free to email anytime I am happy to share anything with you. Email Me
Now to the fun part of the day the Dude and I went to Build A Bear Workshop since they donate proceeds to Autism Speaks you can read about this on their website. Mav loved the turtle he was too cute! Mav helped stuff him and love on him. Got a few pictures but it was hard trying to keep mav going with so many people in the store and the noise wow they were busy wrong time to go mom duh but we got through it with only a couple break downs but we did it and I came out with a happy little dude carrying his new best friend a turtle name Louder Then Words or as mav calls him "Baybeee". Yep I know it should have been "than" not "then" but we are different when it comes to things we do it our way instead of the way it should be or the way everyone else does it lol just kidding I screwed up while trying to type with mav in my ear screeching "bye go bye!" but hey that we do it diff stuff sounded pretty good.Lots of fun and a long day but it was ok I was with Mav.

the Dude and Loud

Latest Autism Statistics

• AUTISM OCCURRENCE: One in every 150 children born in the US has autism (read CDC report). It is estimated approximately 1 million in the US have this disorder.
  U.S. FACTS:
  A new case of autism is diagnosed nearly every 20 minutes
  There are 24,000 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. per year GIRLS VS. BOYS: Autism often strikes boys more often than girls – roughly four times more common in boys. With statistics being 1 in every 150 children that makes it 1 in every 94 males.
  The economic impact of autism is more than $90 billion and expected to more than double in the next decade.
  Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases.
  There is no medical detection treatment, or cure for autism.
  
• AUTISM COMPARED TO OTHER DISABILITIES: Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the U.S. today.
• FUNDING RESEARCH: In the late 1990s The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded just $5 million in Autism Research. Today, the National Institutes of Health funds allocation:
  $29 billion Total NIH funding
  $5 billion Funding of relevant NIH departments: Child Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, Neurological Disorders
  LESS THAN $100 million* Portion of the $5 billion allocation that directly or indirectly impacts autism research. *This represents 0.3% of total NIH funding.
  MUCH MORE FUNDING is needed.
• 
  HOW DOES FUNDING FOR AUTISM COMPARE TO OTHER CHILDHOOD DISORDERS & DISEASES?
  Leukemia 1 in 25,000 Funding: $300 million
  Muscular Dystrophy 1 in 20,000 Funding: $160 million
  Cystic Fibrosis 1 in 5,000 Funding: $75 million
  Juvenile Diabetes 1 in 500 Funding: $140 million
  Autism 1 in 150 Funding: $15 million

(Dollar amounts reflect approximate annual funds raised by major private advocacy groups.) Note: it is important to note that there is no suggestion to place an importance on one disease over another. This funding information above is only to demonstrate the disparity of funding towards autism

Info from the TACA website.

World Autism Day

Hung with the dude today. Mav and I headed out to see the sign that my Dad put up at his work this afternoon. I knew Dad did it but it really hit me just how impotant this was to me when we got there. He did this for Mav and so many people will be reading this sign it is really going to make a difference even though Dad didn't really think it was a big deal he was happily doing it for his little man but it is a huge deal really huge it's awesome he's awesome!Love you Dad!

Here's the Dude posing in the Mav fashion with the sign.He is too cool!

Hello April

Wanted to share this today I think it's pretty awesome!

Help Chevy Help Autism

Chevrolet and Autism Speaks Team Up to Drive Autism Awareness Spread the word: Chevrolet has teamed up with Autism Speaks to drive home the message of autism awareness. During April – Autism Awareness Month – visitors to the Autism Speaks website, can click on the “Help Chevy Help Autism” icon and take a virtual test drive of the 2008 North American Car of the Year – the all-new Chevy Malibu. Chevrolet has committed to a minimum contribution of $500,000, but every virtual test drive taken gets Chevrolet closer to its goal of donating up to $1 million to Autism Speaks to support its mission of increasing awareness of autism and raising money to fund autism research. Those who complete the virtual test drive will receive a free 30-day online trial of XM Satellite Radio.

Also Autism Speaks encourages you to support its corporate partners during April including Toys"R"Us, Chevrolet, TJ Maxx, Modell's Sporting Goods, Barnes & Noble, The Bachman Company, and Build-a-Bear Workshop. Our corporate partners will help increase awareness about autism and greatly enhance the organization's fundraising efforts by hosting nationwide promotions in April.

Our family tradition is going to Build-a-Bear and ToysRUs. The Kiddies love going to BAB below is a picture of Mav and his first Bear "Pieces".Last year while donating at ToysRUs I got all emotional and shared our story with the clerk she was a very nice young lady who listened and told me she was glad to do her part to help in any way with raising Awareness she was proud to wear her Autism button. I thanked her because all it takes is one person to read that button and another person is aware. Awareness is key.

*Challenge* to anyone reading this blog tell someone or a whole lot of people about this blog or share something you know about Autism with them post that you have done so or email me and you will be entered into a prize drawing that I will hold at the end of the month.