A Mom's Journey From Joy to Alert: The Day That Changed Our Autism Journey Forever

Meet Lacie and Krissie. Lacie tells us about her daughter's autism and other struggles, how that inspired Lacie to higher learning, and how a sudden incident that brought on noise induced seizures with an onset of Tourettes affected their family. Learn what happened and how to protect your family from a similar incident.

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A special thank you to our sponsor Neural Balance with Anandanol. Anandanol is a patented herbal/mineral/vitamin blend that helps support natural calm, focus, and sleep for people on and off the Spectrum. You can learn more here: www.neuralbalance.com

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:00:08
Speaker 1
Thank you for joining us. We have a great guest today.

00:00:03:13 - 00:00:16:29
Speaker 1
one of the main reasons I asked Lacie on was she had a pretty tragic incident happen with her daughter, Krissie, at a place that you normally wouldn't expect something like that to happen.

00:00:17:01 - 00:00:46:06
Speaker 1
And something that occurs all the time is what triggered it. So we're going to talk a little bit about that today, too. My name is Gabriel Williams and I'm the CEO of Spectrum Research Group. We are the makers of Neural Balance with Anandanol. Anandanol is a patented herbal mineral vitamin blend that was created to help kids with calm, focus, sleep, anxiety, sensory overload, things like that.

00:00:46:06 - 00:00:49:28
Speaker 1
So we'll talk a little bit about that today. If you want to learn how Anandanol

00:00:49:28 - 00:01:06:26
Speaker 1
works, you can just check out our website Neural balance dot com and click on the How it Works tab. You can also, of course, learn more about us on Facebook. And if you want to interact with other parents, get some support. Find out what strategies they use to help their children flourish.

00:01:06:26 - 00:01:27:19
Speaker 1
And maybe if you have a strategy that you can share yourself, check out our Facebook group, Neural Balance Support. You can check out the Spectrum Report TV on YouTube. And of course, if you want to head over to Rumble, we do have a page there that has some uncensored content stuff that would get us in trouble on YouTube or Facebook.

00:01:27:19 - 00:01:31:29
Speaker 1
What we think might be helpful to you. So you can check us out there.

00:01:31:29 - 00:01:49:19
Speaker 1
And I would like to introduce now Lacie to the show. She's going to tell us a little bit about her journey. Her daughter, Krissie, as I mentioned, a particular incident that happened to them as they were just out enjoying a weekend

00:01:49:19 - 00:01:49:29
Speaker 1

00:01:50:01 - 00:01:58:14
Speaker 1
We're going to talk a little bit about like about that. And without further ado, I would like to introduce Lacie. Hi, Lacie. How are you doing?

00:01:58:14 - 00:02:00:08
Speaker 2
Hello. I'm good. How are you?

00:02:00:10 - 00:02:15:10
Speaker 1
I'm doing all right and looking forward to this. So thank you for being willing to talk with us. Now, you you've been a long time user, Chris. He's been using neural balance now for about five, five and a half years. Usually half.

00:02:15:10 - 00:02:15:23
Speaker 2
Years.

00:02:15:29 - 00:02:18:06
Speaker 1
Okay. And how old is she now?

00:02:18:08 - 00:02:22:08
Speaker 2
She is a little over seven. Her birthday was in September.

00:02:22:11 - 00:02:46:09
Speaker 1
Okay, So I guess I'll ask you kind of tell us your story like or how did you why did you seek a diagnosis? How did you figure out that she needed extra support? Kind of bring us up to speed. If you were meeting another parent for the first time and you were kind of given her your background so you could give her some support, let us know.

00:02:46:12 - 00:03:10:17
Speaker 2
When Krissie was born, her sugar didn't register at all on any device in the hospital and she was a limp rag doll. Nobody could tell me what was wrong besides that her sugar was too low. So we were in the Nick u for I think it was 14, 17 days, something like that. And she had stopped breathing at one point.

00:03:10:20 - 00:03:31:02
Speaker 2
She still didn't really cry very much. Nobody still could explain anything to me and once they got her sugar up and going, we were able to take her home with proper training and CPR classes. And we also had to have a heart device that we took home with us to stay with us for a while. And I thought it was really weird.

00:03:31:02 - 00:03:59:03
Speaker 2
When I got her home, she slept all the time. I would have to wake her up to feed her every feeding. It was like she was never hungry. She didn't ever have any issues. She didn't move very much. And that continued her whole entire infant life. And no doctor could explain anything to me why she was this way, that it was probably just because of the sugar issue.

00:03:59:05 - 00:04:34:19
Speaker 2
And Krissie had all of her jabs throughout her whole infancy. And when she was she was just almost 12 months old. And I took her in to the doctors to have those done. And when I took her in, my child at 12 months, almost 12 months old, was walking, saying words. She could walk up stairs, she could hold her own bottle like she was doing decently well.

00:04:34:21 - 00:04:50:28
Speaker 2
And I took her in there. She had what she needed to have, and I had to carry my child out of the doctor's office. And she just didn't respond.

00:04:50:28 - 00:05:18:06
Speaker 1
I'm curious because something that I hear a lot is when they brought their child in for those certain milestone visits where they do get certain jabs and things like that, I hear often The perfect storm is my child is already sick and I had been on antibiotics and when we got in there they said, well, we're going ahead and do this.

00:05:18:06 - 00:05:45:29
Speaker 1
It's safe, but we'll give them some acetaminophen, acetaminophen to bring down any fever, discomfort and those three things together. I hear often from parents that say, like you did, my kid was different from one moment for the next, one day to the next. Everything changed and those three things occurred often together. Is that the case? What you're seeing here?

00:05:46:02 - 00:06:10:22
Speaker 2
At the point when I had taken her and Krissie had only ever been sick one time, and it was just an inner ear infection and it was probably about three months before that. It was the only time I ever had to take her in for anything before this issue happened. And at that time she was like, I try to do as much even before we found out as natural as possible, even in my life.

00:06:10:24 - 00:06:36:04
Speaker 2
So I didn't give her Tylenol and Advil and a whole bunch of things, even when she was teething, because, you know, I just I did more natural frozen fruits and those little teethers and stuff. And it worked okay for her, but the jabs didn't work. Okay. But afterwards, I found out that there's a thing called the heifer gene.

00:06:36:07 - 00:06:52:19
Speaker 2
And if I would have known and she could have been tested, I would have known that it's not a good idea to get the MMR vaccine along with all the others when you have the empty heifer gene.

00:06:52:22 - 00:07:13:06
Speaker 1
so I knew that there was a correlation between how their body breaks down and utilizes B vitamins B in particular. But I didn't realize that the MTA for gene mutation also had a problem in relation to the jabs.

00:07:13:08 - 00:07:55:12
Speaker 2
Yeah I, i. I will never. And when I explain everything to people, I will never be somebody to say jabs cause autism because I know that's not the case. But I will say they amp things up, they bring on some symptoms and my child is absolute proof that that happened. And if during the whole time before that second place, before that, if a doctor just would have informed me that they could have tested her for MTA fr, I would have already been researching it and I would have known this stuff before I took her in.

00:07:55:14 - 00:08:08:18
Speaker 1
Do you know what's the alternative? So if you have your child tested and you find that they do have the MTA for gene mutation, do they do things differently? Do they spray amounts them?

00:08:08:18 - 00:08:23:26
Speaker 2
Yes. You can space the MMR vaccine with I think it's influenza and one other one, you have to spaced them out within an hour.

00:08:23:29 - 00:08:26:21
Speaker 1
So she got the MMR at 12 months.

00:08:26:23 - 00:08:31:00
Speaker 2
They gave it to her and then they got mad at me.

00:08:31:03 - 00:08:32:11
Speaker 1
Why?

00:08:32:13 - 00:08:54:01
Speaker 2
Because I wouldn't take her back in for any others. And they dropped me as a patient and they even I asked them not to. At the time. My other daughter was 15, 14 years old and I had asked them not to give her that jab and I had taken her in for another one that she had needed at that time.

00:08:54:03 - 00:09:11:20
Speaker 2
And they actually gave her the MMR jab and she passed out cold on the doctor's floor. And right then, right when they gave it to her, she just passed that. And she doesn't ever they were like, kids do that all the time. And I was like, No, she doesn't.

00:09:11:22 - 00:09:14:05
Speaker 1
And kids might, but she doesn't.

00:09:14:07 - 00:09:15:29
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:09:16:02 - 00:09:20:27
Speaker 1
And did she have any long term after effects that you're aware of?

00:09:20:29 - 00:09:48:16
Speaker 2
I think now she she's she'll tell you she's a little off sometimes after that had happened she she forgets things a lot and we'll joke back and forth because you know in our household the things we deal with daily is autism and ADHD and things like that. So sometimes I'll look at her and I'll be like, Maybe you need test it.

00:09:48:18 - 00:09:57:29
Speaker 2
Like maybe we just need to see and she'll laugh it off and I'll laugh it off. But you know, it's a reality. Sometimes people don't even know that they have it.

00:09:57:29 - 00:10:07:14
Speaker 1
And I think that's the case. And a lot of a lot of it, especially when you get into the realm of what we would call high, it's hard to

00:10:07:14 - 00:10:22:18
Speaker 1
it's hard to know what the correct terminology is this week. But. Right. I know we're we're not seeing Asperger's anymore. Now. We say high functioning. But then I've also been told that high functioning, low functioning can be a potential problem.

00:10:22:18 - 00:10:53:00
Speaker 1
So I don't know. But I think a lot of times the people who are very smart and a little quirky are often on the spectrum high functioning and and maybe just don't realize it. So it might be more prevalent even than people realize. Right. But that's why we do things like this, though, because, you know, when I first started working with this company, Rainman was about the extent of my understanding, and that's nothing, you know?

00:10:53:01 - 00:11:13:15
Speaker 1
So we want to do everything we can to bring awareness to not only people who are dealing with it, but people who don't know about it, but might have the opportunity to be helpful to someone or something like that. So so they what was the recovery like after that? I mean.

00:11:13:18 - 00:11:15:25
Speaker 2
You guys were my recovery.

00:11:15:28 - 00:11:18:25
Speaker 1
you started with Neural balance. Like right away.

00:11:18:29 - 00:11:54:08
Speaker 2
She was about a year and a half old when I started because nobody could give me any answers. Nobody I knew a week after probably what the issue was and what I needed to start researching, she became completely nonverbal. Like she she didn't even really make very many noises and all textures had started bothering this child while she was eating like mashed potatoes and yogurt and cottage cheese, which were things that she absolutely loved.

00:11:54:11 - 00:12:24:25
Speaker 2
And I, before Chris even came along, I had previously worked in an autism school, which was absolutely crazy that my past had tied into this. I had actually babysat an autistic little boy when I was in high school. I had at the time that Krissie came along, I had my teaching degree already and I went through some special education classes, so I knew what I was looking at very fast.

00:12:24:28 - 00:12:52:15
Speaker 2
And when no doctor could help me out, I mean, the county that we live in, in Michigan isn't up to date. I guess will say their special needs things in the county. And so I just started researching everything that I could, and I don't even know it had to have been on Facebook or a Google search that I did or something.

00:12:52:15 - 00:13:23:16
Speaker 2
And I found you guys and I watched almost every video you guys had on your page, and I cried along with the other parents. And I took the jump and I said, We're going to do this. We have to do this. This is hopefully going to change our lives forever. And it besides the big storm in the beginning, it has been absolutely wonderful.

00:13:23:18 - 00:13:36:26
Speaker 1
So, you know, when you first started, then I don't even think we have the capsules yet. So if she had suddenly become such a picky eater, was it difficult for you to get her to drink the drink powder At first.

00:13:36:29 - 00:13:59:16
Speaker 2
No, because, Kristie, she's her entire life. Besides, when she was a baby taking bottles, the only thing that she'll drink is juice. And still, even though she's seven, I water it down with like three quarters water and a quarter juice. So when I would put that into her juice, it kind of just I can take a drink of it and I can't even hardly tell that it's there.

00:13:59:18 - 00:14:38:21
Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean, a lot of people like it just mixed with water because it kind of tastes like a fruit punch or whatever, but good clean stuff. So. So how have you and how do you reintroduce different textures of foods and different things like that to her? I mean, that, that I mean, your whole life changed overnight. So lately there was and, you know, other parents I talked to, they see gradual changes or they the way that their child is developing from the get go, things are a little different, a little quirky or whatever.

00:14:38:21 - 00:14:53:06
Speaker 1
But the overnight change that you experienced, I do hear that as well sometimes. And the the common thing that I hear is that it's just such a jolt. I mean, everything literally changes. You have a different.

00:14:53:06 - 00:15:18:13
Speaker 2
It was insane. We couldn't listen to music anymore. No more movies on TV. I have to. Well, now she knows how to spell some words, so I have to change the word. She can't watch people cry o can't hear people cry. So to find a show on a TV that has no singing, no music, no loud noises, no fighting, no crying, we don't watch TV, right?

00:15:18:16 - 00:15:37:16
Speaker 2
She can't deal with any of that. We're really lucky if she finds a song that we like on the radio. So like, Mama only gets to watch a movie or listen to the radio if Krissie stays with Grandma and then Krissie can't be away from me for more than about 3 hours without having a complete meltdown. So I.

00:15:37:18 - 00:15:43:12
Speaker 2
It's me and Krissie, right? Single mom and, yeah.

00:15:43:15 - 00:16:08:01
Speaker 1
They're doing a great job, so yeah, you're doing a great job. So what what kind of changes did you see in her? Because when you started giving her neural balance, you were also doing other things. So I don't want anybody to think that, you know, neural balances is the cure or it's the end all, be all. It's part of many things.

00:16:08:01 - 00:16:12:12
Speaker 1
It's there's a lot of moving parts to having an autistic child. And we knew it was a.

00:16:12:12 - 00:16:29:08
Speaker 2
Huge part in the beginning, like it was my one of the first things I say, I will say the whole tumor or two week storm, you guys talk about and I'll ever tell anybody any different. That is the most trying time in your life.

00:16:29:10 - 00:16:29:21
Speaker 1
Right?

00:16:29:22 - 00:16:50:10
Speaker 2
And I cried probably every single night. She cried every day. We stuck it out. I wasn't going to stop because I knew that it just had to get better from there. There was no way that we were going to go down, right? So I just kept giving it to her. I mean, she she had days and days where she would hardly sleep at all.

00:16:50:13 - 00:17:19:00
Speaker 2
And then she would sleep all night long. And I'd be like, yes, finally she's sleeping all night long. And then, you know, she would like things would change off and on. The first thing that I seen that I knew I couldn't give up was she started walking up steps again and her coordination was kind of coming back. She couldn't after that day of the jabs, there was no stairs involved in this kid's life.

00:17:19:00 - 00:17:23:22
Speaker 2
We had to carry her up and down them for months.

00:17:23:24 - 00:17:28:23
Speaker 1
Was she unwilling or unable or like she kind of forgot how to navigate them?

00:17:28:27 - 00:17:55:27
Speaker 2
It was almost like when she would look down, she would get vertigo and she'd go to try to step up the steps and it was like her feet wouldn't even work. She was anchored naked and clumsy. She was so clumsy. We had a teacher. I actually have videos of her at her one year birthday party, which was about a month afterwards, and we're clapping and rejoicing because she's learning how to walk again.

00:17:55:27 - 00:18:19:28
Speaker 2
She literally stopped walking. So it was it was a big, big deal that when I seen her take a couple of steps up the stairs, I knew that it was working. It was helping her because we weren't doing anything else besides teaching her sign language and using Neural balance for probably the first six months.

00:18:20:00 - 00:18:25:06
Speaker 1
And so that's how you open the lines of communication with her. Again, that's our.

00:18:25:09 - 00:18:26:16
Speaker 2
Language as a family.

00:18:26:24 - 00:18:51:04
Speaker 1
That's outstanding. I read that often parents who have a deaf child don't even learn sign language. So that's I mean, that's awesome that that you guys did that. The lines of communication are important and they the kids need to Yeah that's it's it's a shame so that's neat that you all did that so the whole family learned.

00:18:51:06 - 00:19:28:18
Speaker 2
Pretty much my mom I mean there really isn't very many of us at that time when we found out about Krissie. Well, I already knew, but my husband was still in the picture, and then once we definitely knew what was going on, he decided that that life was not for him and took off, which I know a lot of people are going to be like, what a but I would rather now, looking back on it, being the bigger person in the situation, I'm glad that he had that in him to let me know that he couldn't do it.

00:19:28:20 - 00:19:33:08
Speaker 2
Then it wasn't for him. Instead of sticking around and making life miserable for. Right.

00:19:33:10 - 00:19:34:08
Speaker 1
Right, right.

00:19:34:10 - 00:19:48:11
Speaker 2
So, I mean, I'm okay. I'm happy. Krissie's is happy. We're doing great. You know, it's it's just what happens. There's some people that can't deal with it. And I completely understand. It's hard.

00:19:48:13 - 00:20:13:05
Speaker 1
Yeah, it is. I hear that a lot. I have a lot of respect for autism parents. And when single moms, especially because it's I was a single parent for a while and I my child, you know, my children didn't have autism. And being a single parent as tough as it is, but then all of the additional support that they need is definitely wears on you.

00:20:13:08 - 00:20:26:12
Speaker 1
So what? Okay, so you you saw that she was making progress. She was starting to walk upstairs. How was she? What other ways that you kind of see Krissie coming back?

00:20:26:15 - 00:20:52:08
Speaker 2
She would I think she started saying mom, which was not a new word. I mean, she was saying mom before it all happened, but she was saying mom again. She was calling everybody mom instead of just me. But I was still happy that the word was coming out. We started noticing that it was almost impossible for her mouth to form the words that she needed to form.

00:20:52:10 - 00:21:17:24
Speaker 2
And you could tell that she wanted to talk and she was trying to talk and she was making more noise, but it wasn't coming out and she'd get really, really frustrated. So that's when we started with the sign language and I think the sign language took away a lot of her insecurities and her frustration, and I think it opened the door for a lot more things to come through.

00:21:17:24 - 00:21:40:16
Speaker 2
And I think it helped the neural balance in a way because there wasn't so much held in frustration in this child's body that she was trying to fight with every single day. And we didn't go with a pick system or anything like that because at the time, with her being as young as she was, she just she didn't get a lot.

00:21:40:18 - 00:21:43:06
Speaker 2
This is being recorded, right?

00:21:43:09 - 00:21:44:08
Speaker 1
Yes.

00:21:44:10 - 00:21:46:12
Speaker 2
Can we pause this? She's screaming for me.

00:21:46:14 - 00:21:48:26
Speaker 1
yeah, sure. Go for.

00:21:48:29 - 00:22:16:14
Speaker 2
All right. We made a lot of things easier. The next thing after her walking upstairs, I remember this like it was yesterday. And I just I couldn't even believe it because at that time, she couldn't take off clothes, put on clothes like she stopped everything. And I had walked into the living room after making her her lunch and she was sitting on the floor trying to put her socks on.

00:22:16:14 - 00:22:38:08
Speaker 2
And she had had one on halfway on her foot. And I just like started jumping up and down and screaming and telling her, yeah, that she was a big girl because it was like her hands. She lost everything, all form of it was it was weird. She couldn't even she didn't even nod or shake her head anymore. Two questions.

00:22:38:10 - 00:23:04:09
Speaker 2
So when I see her putting her socks on, I knew that, you know, we just we had to continue with the Neural balance, obviously, because I absolutely refused to put my child on any form of medication. We haven't had her on any medicine at all for anything besides Neural balance. And at this time, still, doctors weren't listening to me.

00:23:04:11 - 00:23:34:25
Speaker 2
Nobody was seeing her. And they said, you know, that she was just a slow learner, that things would get easier for her. So I had taken it upon myself and I had contacted our local special education school, if that's what she would like to call it. And that is the and they had sent out an occupational therapist to my house to start working with Kristi.

00:23:34:27 - 00:24:10:11
Speaker 2
And after she had been there for so long, telling me that, you know, well, she's just developing slower than most children and she'll get the hang of it and everything like that. They had brought in a speech therapist and Christie at this point, I don't know. We were like to probably maybe a little bit over two years old and they both of them had told me that I needed to stop teaching my child sign language.

00:24:10:13 - 00:24:23:28
Speaker 2
And that sign language wasn't going to get her anywhere in life. And their exact words to me were, How is she ever going to order anything at McDonald's if she doesn't know how to communicate?

00:24:24:01 - 00:24:50:11
Speaker 1
I think that's probably the least of your worries at the time. Right? McDonald's food that is. Yeah, that that doesn't make any sense to me. It seems like the ability to communicate would be one of the first things. Right. Right. And that's going to open the doors to everything. I mean, really, that just doesn't make sense. Well, and, you know, that goes along with you.

00:24:50:11 - 00:24:56:22
Speaker 1
You didn't just settle for this is life now. You're like you're like, how do I push her? How do I teach her? How do I helpers?

00:24:56:22 - 00:25:18:12
Speaker 1
And that's huge because have I mean, we've gotten blowback from people who are like, you shouldn't try to do anything. The people who are autustic are who they are. We need to love and embrace that and not tell them they're they're less than or other than and and I'm like, we're not telling anybody they're less.

00:25:18:15 - 00:25:46:17
Speaker 1
But if you're so crippled with anxiety that you won't leave the house, then how can we come alongside you to help you and support you? I've never run into anything like this in my life except for honestly, the some of the autistic community because you wouldn't tell someone with cancer or with gangrene or, you know, a myriad of other things you wouldn't say, Don't treat that.

00:25:46:17 - 00:26:15:06
Speaker 1
That's just who you are. It is part of who you are. And it's not it's not to be ashamed of, but if if it's keeping you from flourishing and thriving and enjoying life to the fullest, then how can we come alongside support? So I'm, I very much respect that you took the initiative to learn sign language because you realized communication is going to be key as we help her work past all of this.

00:26:15:08 - 00:26:17:13
Speaker 1
How did she take to sign language?

00:26:17:15 - 00:26:40:08
Speaker 2
She learned so fast. It was absolutely amazing. Within one day she was doing the sign for more and eat and drink and using them correctly. That was the big thing. She just wasn't running around. And to tell me that she loved me, she was signing more like she completely understood it and I was blown away. Yep. And you're still doing the sign Right now?

00:26:40:11 - 00:27:08:21
Speaker 2
We don't communicate that much in sign language. Now because Kristi has flourished so much. But at the time, sign language was our main thing. And when they told me that, I kicked them both out of my house that second, like I told them that I didn't need them with Kristi anymore and they could leave my house and I was going to continue to do what I wanted to do and I was going to figure out a way to do it better.

00:27:08:23 - 00:27:25:17
Speaker 2
So I got my degree in special education and I went to college and I started learning. And I have been Krissie's teacher for five years now because I refused to take no for an answer.

00:27:25:20 - 00:27:28:01
Speaker 1
That's great. And she's doing great.

00:27:28:04 - 00:27:30:22
Speaker 2
She's doing a lot better now.

00:27:30:25 - 00:27:39:07
Speaker 1
Yeah, so are you. So then you're homeschooling, plus you're doing like an ABA. Is it ABA type therapy?

00:27:39:07 - 00:27:42:11
Speaker 2
I actually got my ABA license. Okay.

00:27:42:14 - 00:28:08:26
Speaker 1
And that's another thing too. I had no idea that that was such a controversial thing. And then, of course, I hear I hear some what I find often happens is it's a good system is only as good as the worst people that use it. Right. So I've heard some of the things that have occurred in the name of ABA, and I thought, well, that's garbage, but that's not really ABA either.

00:28:08:26 - 00:28:39:00
Speaker 1
So I mean, you just you take any kid and you teach them so that they can function in the world and be happy and get along with people. And it's not. And for me, I just don't understand all the pushback. No, I do understand if someone's being oppressed or abused or it's going too far. Sure. But if you know that that you can expect more from this person, then you're going to try to push them in that direction if you want them to succeed.

00:28:39:00 - 00:28:49:07
Speaker 1
So I really respect that you took such initiative. I mean, you became an ABA specialist so that you can help your daughter. That's awesome.

00:28:49:10 - 00:29:24:04
Speaker 2
A lot of people have the issue because they feel that your teeth are you're treating the child like a dog. I mean, ABA, you are rewarding them with a snack, a treat, a reward for doing that to trick you, ask them to do, right. I mean, I'm not not treating my kid like a dog, but I do tell her and you heard me in the beginning of this before we started recording, If you're good and we can get through this and Mommy can finish, I'll give you a cookie when we're done.

00:29:24:07 - 00:29:50:19
Speaker 1
Which doesn't sound that different from many parents. Right. But I mean. Right. That's where I guess some people are looking to be offended or some people only have that view that they've heard where it was taken too far. I don't know. But it seems to me that you want your kid to be more resilient. You want them to learn as much as they can and be able to function and even be around people and be a joy to be around.

00:29:50:19 - 00:30:12:23
Speaker 1
So people want to be around them. It just makes sense that that's what you would want for your for your child. So I do commend you for all the work that you've put in and the love and the support that you've given her. And I'm happy to hear that we were a positive part of that. I'm I didn't realize what a need there was for a product like neural balance until I started working with this company.

00:30:12:25 - 00:30:15:29
Speaker 1
And it's getting it's more and more prevalent too

00:30:15:29 - 00:30:36:01
Speaker 1
there was an incident that happened this was last year, right? Was it as far back as September? Okay. And I was very surprised by it. And it was what the parade was kicking off the fair. Yeah. So this was a pretty big deal. And it was something that just totally blindsided.

00:30:36:07 - 00:30:37:02
Speaker 2
Huge thing.

00:30:37:08 - 00:30:42:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. Explain to us what happened to you and Krissie that day.

00:30:42:18 - 00:31:16:25
Speaker 2
Okay. So the day before was Krissie's birthday, and it was while her birthday party. And it was the first time that Krissie had ever, ever had a birthday party. And there were children there. And I had invited all of my friends that had autistic children to come to the party and play with Krissie. And I bought this huge bounce house and we had water beads in a pool and the kids just had a sensory filled day that was a lot of fun and there were no meltdowns at the time.

00:31:16:25 - 00:31:51:10
Speaker 2
Everything was great. Now that I think back on it, I mean, I might have made a wrong decision in filling two days in a row full of sensory and too much for her, maybe. But the following day the fair in the county that we live in was having their parade to start the fair off. And Christie had been to a parade and I think only one other time.

00:31:51:10 - 00:32:14:13
Speaker 2
And she was little. She was in a stroller. And we made sure when we went to that one that we were far out enough that it wasn't right downtown where all the noise and the fun stuff was happening. This time we had taken headphones because she has just gotten over putting headphones on her ears because ears are her big thing.

00:32:14:13 - 00:32:49:12
Speaker 2
You can't touch them. It's hard for the doctors to look in them like her ears are huge issue. And we finally got some headphones and she had agreed to put them on and things were going good and I had heard and so had everybody that the county that we are in had agreed from now on at parades and things that they were doing that sirens and horns and all of that stuff, it wasn't going to be a thing anymore.

00:32:49:15 - 00:33:18:09
Speaker 2
They were going to do sensory free with that kind of stuff because of children like Krissie. And I was like, Well, we can take her. She can see the horses, she can see people walking and the floats and the band, and we'll have her put her headphones on. And we were there and Krissie was loving it and a huge one of the big fire trucks.

00:33:18:09 - 00:33:43:18
Speaker 2
Not not just like the ladder truck. The huge, huge fire truck came around the corner where we were. We were on literally we were downtown on the round part of the curb where the two roads came together, sitting on the curb with our feet on the road. And this fire truck, the only there was a ton of fire trucks and didn't have one issue with any of them.

00:33:43:18 - 00:34:21:14
Speaker 2
And he come around this corner to turn I this man was so close in the fire truck to us, somebody probably could have spit on the fire truck. And he didn't do the honking fire truck horn. He did the shrill loud whistle that like I thought I'd gone deaf for a minute. And as soon as it happened, I looked at my kid and her eyes were rolling back in her head and she started having a seizure.

00:34:21:17 - 00:35:00:03
Speaker 2
And I just I froze. And he kept this noise up. And everybody that was around us, babies were crying. Little kids were running adults. Like I thought my ears were bleeding and Krissie couldn't come back. So I grabbed her and my mom and I started walking away from everything. And Christie was walking at this point, but she was twitching and making like these really weird Tourette's noises with, like, vocal stims.

00:35:00:03 - 00:35:21:00
Speaker 2
She has never done anything like this entire life. And we get back to the vehicle, which was because so many people were parked. The vehicle was, I would say, at least a half a mile away from where we were at. So I had to get my kid back to the vehicle and she's still twitching, still making vocal stims.

00:35:21:00 - 00:35:48:05
Speaker 2
I'm like, This is completely messed up, my child. And I thought it was just a sensory overload, like people say. And I was like, I'm going to give her some time. We took my mom back home. We went back home and she kept it up. And I have videos upon videos of this child making vocal stims and like she was repeating like Tourette's.

00:35:48:05 - 00:36:09:21
Speaker 2
People do things that I was saying and noises that were happening outside. And this was just that day. So I put her in the bathtub. This was an hour after we got home from it, and I put her in the bathtub and I used, you know, lavender Epsom salt and tried to calm her down and use some essential oils on her.

00:36:09:21 - 00:36:32:04
Speaker 2
Like I was trying everything I possibly could and nothing was working. And she just she went she didn't have an epileptic where she was thrashing around. She ended up having an absent seizure and I was watching her and she just was completely zoned out and I couldn't get her attention. I was right in front of her face trying to talk to her.

00:36:32:06 - 00:37:04:11
Speaker 2
When she finally came to, she acted like absolutely nothing had happened and started playing again. And I took her to our emergency walk in clinic and I get her in there and I'm telling them what happened and she's in there doing the vocal tics. And I am a complete mess because I know that some autistic children, they do do vocal stims and they do, you know, Twitch and Krissie handclaps.

00:37:04:11 - 00:37:34:00
Speaker 2
That's the only thing she's ever done in her entire life is slapping her hands and like, humming. She'll hum when she does it. But what my child was doing, I think, was Tourette's, 100%. It was crazy. So finally, the doctor that was in there, thank God for this woman, Doctor Nye. She looked at me and she said, Do you know what a noise induced seizure is?

00:37:34:02 - 00:38:14:24
Speaker 2
And I was like, I have never. And she says, You know, a lot of children with autism have seizure tendencies. And it's very, very well known that children with autism can have seizures at any given time, and especially ones that are brought on by lights and loud noises. And what now has has been diagnosed. And she has noise induced seizures and the noise induced seizures and the noise from the firetruck has also now brought on Tourette's.

00:38:14:26 - 00:38:43:10
Speaker 2
So we deal with her autism absent seizures and Tourette's at times. And I still don't have all the answers. We still haven't got into a pediatric neurologist. I just there's not enough I feel there's not enough care for children like my child. And we're taking this one day at a time. I'm trying to take this one day at a time.

00:38:43:10 - 00:39:07:05
Speaker 2
As you can tell, I'm still very emotional about the whole thing and I guess as soon as I can get in to a pediatric neurologist that wants to take me seriously instead of thinking like most of them have, since I have talking to them that my child is just doing what autistic children do, then I'll find somebody that cares and we'll get to the bottom of it.

00:39:07:07 - 00:39:35:07
Speaker 2
But until then, we mostly sit at home because I'm very afraid that when or if I take my child out to do something, that there's going to be an ambulance or a cop car or anything at all. And I don't have answers and I don't know how to prevent things. And, you know, when gets really stressed now or, you know, something loud happens under something that she doesn't like.

00:39:35:10 - 00:40:12:09
Speaker 2
The Tourette's amps up like crazy. And she since September, I have noticed. I mean, obviously she's not in my sight. 24, seven. But I have noticed since September she's probably had, I would say, 6 to 8 of the absence seizures. And after she has one of those, the tics and the vocal stims are really, really bad. They're facial tics and like her eyes will blink a whole bunch and her mouth all kind of twitch around and her head will jerk side with It's it's crazy.

00:40:12:11 - 00:40:13:08
Speaker 2
It's absolutely.

00:40:13:08 - 00:40:47:01
Speaker 1
Crazy. And this is all new that new behaviors that began that day. Yeah. Yeah. So it's hard I guess, then to determine did she have this before and the fire truck triggered it or the fire truck triggered it and that's when it began. The whole sound induced because it sounds now like she's more prone to seizure based on certain external stimuli than she would have been before.

00:40:47:03 - 00:40:49:01
Speaker 1
So, yeah, you know what I mean?

00:40:49:05 - 00:41:12:25
Speaker 2
Like the doctor told me, you know, that autistic children are more prone to seizures than other people. I get that because I know that a lot of autistic children do have seizures, but I had no clue that this was even a thing like you don't hear. I have never in my life heard.

00:41:12:25 - 00:41:48:28
Speaker 1
This is the first I've heard of it. And I've talked to hundreds, if not thousands of parents and heard their stories of, you know, how the how they've adapted to help support their children and things like that. And I've never heard of it either. That's why I thought, you know, I'd like to get you on to raise some awareness about it, because if you know what's going, the thing that's heartbreaking hearing this story is you're so excited about being to do this thing right, this thing that you have not been able to do.

00:41:49:00 - 00:42:14:25
Speaker 1
Now you're able to do it. Go to a parade. You're thinking all the precautions have been taken care of, Right. The city has said we're going to make things a little more sensory friendly. But, you know, and so it sounds like you had someone who probably was well-intentioned and want to just give everybody a party but something that loud can affect kids that aren't autistic.

00:42:14:25 - 00:42:15:26
Speaker 1
I would assume.

00:42:16:00 - 00:42:16:11
Speaker 2
All the.

00:42:16:11 - 00:42:29:11
Speaker 1
Kids around us. Right. Well, are hearing issues. I mean, I would assume that a sounded do seizure would not be exclusive to a person with autism.

00:42:29:13 - 00:42:30:16
Speaker 2
For other people, too.

00:42:30:18 - 00:43:01:19
Speaker 1
Right. So you have you people, someone in the audience with epilepsy or whatever. I mean, so so for parents, that's one thing they have to think about is the environment that they're going into. You can never be too safe because when it comes to certain triggers, potential triggers. So you may have somebody worried that this is going to be more sensory friendly, but you also have to come into it with a plan or.

00:43:01:19 - 00:43:19:20
Speaker 2
Right. So I had actually called the fire chief when I found out what was going on, and I explained it to him and I was crying, bawling on the trying to get this out. And his words were, Well, I'm sorry this happened. I don't know what to tell you. What are you going to do about it?

00:43:19:23 - 00:43:20:29
Speaker 1
Both?

00:43:21:01 - 00:43:25:00
Speaker 2
And I was like, I'm doing this so that I can educate you on where.

00:43:25:00 - 00:43:28:04
Speaker 1
Yeah, be aware of it. Tell your people that.

00:43:28:06 - 00:43:31:17
Speaker 2
I'm sorry that it happened.

00:43:31:19 - 00:43:55:05
Speaker 1
See? Well, and that's the that's the. That's the spot that also people are at in today's litigious society. If you say I goofed, then you're potentially opening yourself up for liability. So if he were to even say to you, Thanks for making me aware, I'm going to make my guys aware so we don't do that again, potentially. You know, he's assuming liability because he admitted that they did something wrong.

00:43:55:05 - 00:44:15:13
Speaker 1
Right. So I can in a way understand, but not so much. He should have then more kind with you and certainly more willing to ask, you know, how can I communicate to my guys so that we can avoid this in the future? Because that's really I'm assuming the only reason you were calling anyway was to make them aware of it.

00:44:15:13 - 00:44:18:24
Speaker 2
Hey, this is a possibility. I didn't know it was.

00:44:18:27 - 00:44:39:12
Speaker 1
So a day at the fair and that was the kick off of it, Right? So you guys probably had a whole day planned and that really threw her for a loop. So now it's, gosh, it's five months later and you're still experiencing some of the additional symptoms that it.

00:44:39:15 - 00:45:00:01
Speaker 2
So pretty much diagnosed with Tourette's now. Okay. So officially seen the pediatric neurologist because nobody's seen me yet, but the behavior actor has said that they that her diagnosis would be noise induced seizures with an onset of Tourette’s.

00:45:00:03 - 00:45:10:02
Speaker 1
So has the behavior escalated or plateaued or decreased or where do you think you are in this? Is it do you think it's something? Well.

00:45:10:05 - 00:45:30:08
Speaker 2
It depends on our day, Right. Like, I know if I was to take her to a fair today, we would probably have huge problems with it. So we try to sit home, stay calm, do because I don't know what to do. Nobody. Nobody has told me what to do. No neurologist has agreed to see me because of this.

00:45:30:10 - 00:45:39:00
Speaker 2
No. And because of this and me being a single parent, I am on state insurance. So it's even harder.

00:45:39:02 - 00:46:00:13
Speaker 1
Right. And now you have to also be conscious of the it could if if she's this much more prone to seizures now, then you also have to think about the lights and flashing lights and things like that could potentially be a problem. So this is just adding a whole other layer to things for you.

00:46:00:17 - 00:46:19:12
Speaker 2
Yeah, I, I was joking, you know, with my mom, but deep inside of me, I wonder if I'm joking because I'm like, what am I going to have to get licensed in now so that I know what I'm doing? Right? I kept bettering myself for her and I thought that I had gotten to the point where, I can I can do this with ease.

00:46:19:12 - 00:46:37:14
Speaker 2
Now I know what I'm doing. And now that this is added, I'm like, What other classes do I have to take and what else can I do to make my child's life even a little bit better? And I just we just stay home pretty much now after this.

00:46:37:16 - 00:46:44:28
Speaker 1
Does she are you able to like does she like to play outside, get out and get in the sun, or is that too much stimulation service dog?

00:46:44:28 - 00:47:07:29
Speaker 2
So we take the dog places we went we had a park day the other day and it was during school, so I knew a bunch of kids wouldn’t be out, people went in and everything and we went to five different parks and she ran around and then, you know, once all the kids started coming out, we had home because, you know, they bring on a lot of anxious feelings for her.

00:47:07:29 - 00:47:14:00
Speaker 2
And I don't need her having a seizure in the middle of a park playground. So.

00:47:14:03 - 00:47:20:23
Speaker 1
So would you say she's fairly up to speed verbally now for her age? No.

00:47:20:25 - 00:47:45:19
Speaker 2
But but if she sat here with me right now and tried to carry on a conversation with her, you probably wouldn't understand anything. But. Well, some things you might, but I understand it because I know her words. But she doesn't just carry on a conversation like you have to initiate stuff and then like, you have to almost tell her what to say.

00:47:45:20 - 00:48:09:16
Speaker 2
Like yesterday she turned around to me and she was just like she said, change it. And she kind of stopped there for a little bit. So I had to walk over to her and I was like, How do you say this better? You know? And you have to walk her through it and there's sounds. She can't bs these PS K's C's like she can't pronounce them at all.

00:48:09:18 - 00:48:33:29
Speaker 2
We're getting better because I didn't even think that it was this fast. And I actually seen a memory on my Facebook of a year ago and we were just like starting to say ABCs And she whizzes through ABCs now and she counts and she can, which she wrote her name for the first time like three weeks ago.

00:48:33:29 - 00:48:40:14
Speaker 2
And I cried. And so we're we're getting there a little bit at a time.

00:48:40:16 - 00:49:04:00
Speaker 1
Well, you are like I said, I can't say enough. You're doing a great job. I it's very impressive what you've gone through yourself and everything that you've put to learn more so that you could be more effective for her. The love and the patience autism. Moms are a whole different breed now, so that that kind of makes me wonder.

00:49:04:03 - 00:49:11:14
Speaker 1
So like, I mean, what do you it sounds like you don't have any time for yourself or to recharge for yourself or like, how

00:49:11:14 - 00:49:43:25
Speaker 2
Well, the whole thing is, is that on top of her and her autism and her issues, I have fibromyalgia and lupus and shorten syndrome and Hashimoto's these. So we're both just struggling all the time. Right. And I just have to step it up and ignore how I feel and get the job done for her. And then even though I'm tired when she goes to bed at night, Mama stays up till 4:00 in the morning because I don't ever get time for myself.

00:49:43:28 - 00:49:56:10
Speaker 2
So, you know, I'm up until 4:00 in the morning scrolling Facebook or reading or, you know, getting in the bathtub. That's like the dream of all dreams, if I can actually get a bath in that.

00:49:56:12 - 00:49:56:17
Speaker 1
Right.

00:49:56:19 - 00:50:10:06
Speaker 2
So that's what we do. I mean, she has it right now. At this point. Her and I haven't been apart for probably a month.

00:50:10:08 - 00:50:15:18
Speaker 1
So is she. But she sleeps through the night now. Okay. And all of that.

00:50:15:21 - 00:50:33:22
Speaker 2
Most of the time I mean, there's times that she'll wake up four or 5:00 in the morning and she'll holler for me because she she's scared so she doesn't get out of bed, which is a wonderful thing. And she'll holler for me and I'll go get her and she'll come into my bed with me and we'll fall back asleep.

00:50:33:22 - 00:50:40:01
Speaker 2
And but for the most part, yeah. You'll come into my room, But for the most part. yeah.

00:50:40:10 - 00:50:46:16
Speaker 2
That's good for her farm animals and mama. Yeah, she does.

00:50:46:17 - 00:50:48:20
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah.

00:50:49:13 - 00:51:12:09
Speaker 1
So cute. It's so you're one of the other autism moms that I’m friends with. I asked her the same question. What do you do for self-care? And she said, Suck it up, buttercup. Yeah, that was that. And so I and I kind of hear that a lot. And I know to laugh about it more impressed by it than anything.

00:51:12:09 - 00:51:25:04
Speaker 1
There's just this resilience and and like, you don't have a choice. What you know, what do you, what are you going to do? You got to do it for your kids. So you do. And I'm impressed by that.

00:51:25:06 - 00:51:51:22
Speaker 2
Well, now, I had found out also from teaching her sign language and everything. One of the main reasons, I mean, well, one of or two of the main reasons she doesn't have all of her jabs. So obviously, you know, they're going to turn us away. But another reason why she's not in any kind of schooling is because I have not found even special education, schools, autism schools, anything where anybody can communicate through sign.

00:51:51:25 - 00:51:58:17
Speaker 1
Really. I mean, sign language is pretty prevalent in the autism community. From what I understand.

00:51:58:20 - 00:52:02:07
Speaker 2
There's none they want to do. The system always now.

00:52:02:10 - 00:52:04:02
Speaker 1
So what is that?

00:52:04:04 - 00:52:11:05
Speaker 2
That's what the picture. Krissie Hey, go get your go get your schedule with arts and crafts on it. Go get it.

00:52:11:05 - 00:52:29:05
Speaker 2
Yeah, get it and bring it here. It's a system that uses little pictures and when they want something, they just pull the tag off. somebody would say to me, You're not even trying to teach my kid to talk, right?

00:52:29:05 - 00:52:36:08
Speaker 1
That's not really. I mean, it is a form of communication. But it's very simple. I mean. Yes, useful. Yeah.

00:52:36:10 - 00:52:51:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, we have one because obviously there's words that sometimes she'll get so frustrated with me and I'll look at her and I'll be like, I do not know what you're saying. Is there something in the house that you can show me that's like this? Do we have something? Is there a book that has this in it?

00:52:51:21 - 00:53:17:22
Speaker 2
Because I try to go over everything. She gets so frustrated with me. Can you go put it back, please? Thank you. And I get it for some things. But now they even have pick systems and playgrounds around here so that they can just pull an adult over to the board and point at something. And then their communication is that.

00:53:17:22 - 00:53:42:26
Speaker 1
It can't be the end all, be all. That's the thing. I mean, I'm okay with, I guess that in some limited rapacity you can use it alongside, but the more advanced kids that can handle it, they should that you should teach them sign language because right. It's just I mean, you're not relying on having the right table or whatever, you know, to communicate.

00:53:42:26 - 00:54:10:21
Speaker 1
So I yeah, I think more people should learn sign language. And my my son and I my youngest is 19 and he's talking about one when they're when he has kids, one day he's going to teach them sign language. He's not hearing impaired. But he just said, I think it's such a valuable thing to be able to to use sign language and communicate with people who aren't used to just meeting someone randomly.

00:54:10:21 - 00:54:42:10
Speaker 1
They can communicate with them and that he thinks that more for. And, you know, he had a good idea, too. It would be neat if there was just a universal sign language rather than like American Sign Language or this or whatever. Because if you're learning sign language, you're you're learning a new language, right? So whether you're French or German or American or whatever, if you all learn the same sign language, then everybody that knows sign language can speak to anybody else in the world who also speaks sign language.

00:54:42:13 - 00:54:48:10
Speaker 1
And I just think that that would be a very helpful tool for a lot of reasons.

00:54:48:10 - 00:54:52:15
Speaker 2
But the ABCs are the best to learn because everybody uses the same.

00:54:52:18 - 00:54:53:17
Speaker 1
Right? Okay.

00:54:53:21 - 00:54:54:24
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:54:54:26 - 00:55:20:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, it doesn't. And like we talked about earlier, it doesn't make sense to me parents that have hearing impaired kids that don't. So why your doctors would be, especially when you're teaching or that you're using your brain, you're exercising it. We're always told, you know, it's like a muscle. You got to use it right? So now they're dissuading you from teaching her something that would help her communicate more effectively.

00:55:20:08 - 00:55:21:18
Speaker 1
It makes no sense.

00:55:21:20 - 00:55:37:26
Speaker 2
Yeah, I would have her when she was younger, when she was learning the signs, I would do the signs, say the word and then do the sign in the word together. And then when she would sign it, I would at least make her make a noise so that she could attempt to say it at the same time, right?

00:55:37:29 - 00:55:39:04
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:55:39:06 - 00:56:10:27
Speaker 1
That makes sense. So I to ask you too, about this here. We're recording this on the last day of February 29th, leap year. And so this is still about a month away, April Autism Awareness Month. But I've also learned that people have strong opinions about that. Some people do. Some people are pretty indifferent. But I always thought it was a great idea because during that month, many companies are focusing on autism awareness.

00:56:10:27 - 00:56:31:01
Speaker 1
So people that normally wouldn't give it a thought now are exposed to some of the ideas and hopefully given some more understanding. But then other people just hate it altogether. So Autism Awareness Month for April Do you love it or do you hate it or do you care? And if so, why?

00:56:31:03 - 00:57:06:06
Speaker 2
I mean, I have to care because it's my life. But I don't feel that even though is autism awareness Month, that there's really any awareness to people that are not affected with it every day. If everybody and I don't want anybody to take this wrong because my brother had cancer and I, I get it. But everybody knows the cancer ribbon knows, you know, cancer awareness, knows everything.

00:57:06:08 - 00:57:42:04
Speaker 2
And then you get people that don't even have a clue about autism. And even though there's an Autism Awareness Month and a Down's Syndrome Awareness Month and Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month only, I think it's only mostly important to those that deal with it. And even though some companies try to push it and you see your friend post something on Facebook about wearing blue that day or so, it's not it's not thought of.

00:57:42:06 - 00:58:08:20
Speaker 2
It's not after after the month's over with. And everybody's tired of seeing the blue little puzzle pieces all over the place. Nobody bats an eye at it again. And the education for for autism I think is almost nonexistent, especially to people that have no clue. I mean, I've had people in the store say hi to my child and I have to look at them and tell them that she's nonverbal.

00:58:08:27 - 00:58:35:21
Speaker 2
And then adults look at me and they're like, she's a mute or the like. I've had a man. After I told him that she was nonverbal, get down in her face and clap his hands in her face. So I know I can't get mad because they don't know anything. You know, you don't see people that have cancer saying, I have cancer.

00:58:35:21 - 00:59:02:09
Speaker 2
And then somebody, you know, clapping their hands in their face like people get it and they know what that person's going through. But I don't think very many people understand and I don't think very many people most of the time now want to even understand, because it inconveniences them or their lives. And they just they just don't want to hear them make noise or have a meltdown in public.

00:59:02:09 - 00:59:25:25
Speaker 2
And they don't want to acknowledge that, you know, it's it's part of them. Instead, they want to look at the parent and be like, well, can't you just tell them now? Can't you, you know, disciplining your child can't? You and I, I don't think autism awareness helps them very much except throwing the blue puzzle piece out there. I hate to say that because I really wish it did.

00:59:25:28 - 00:59:53:23
Speaker 2
And I wish that it did more than what it does right now. But if I didn't have a child with autism and just like you said, you only knew of like Rainman at the time, that's probably what most people don't have to deal with autism in their daily lives, even think of now is Rainman and, you know, Temple and like that, because it's not in their face, it's not in their lives, it's not in their family, it's not anywhere.

00:59:53:23 - 01:00:19:00
Speaker 2
So they don't have to be aware of it until they need it face to face in the store and then they make the wrong decision. I think that maybe even us that have loved ones with autism need to probably strive a little bit harder to spread awareness and education about it. I try to all the time and sometimes most of the time falls on deaf ears.

01:00:19:03 - 01:00:39:25
Speaker 2
But I don't shut up and I don't care how controversial it is. And I most of the time don't care if somebody else has a different opinion than me because I'm the one that's going through it. And I will I will answer any and all questions. You know, if I tell somebody that Christie has autism in the store and they're like, can she talk?

01:00:39:27 - 01:00:58:00
Speaker 2
does she have a learning disability? I will be more than happy to answer any question that anybody has about it anytime in my entire life. But when a man gets down in my child's face and claps his hands, I just got to grab my kid and walk away. And I don't think that's fair I don't think it's fair to me or Christie.

01:00:58:03 - 01:01:08:14
Speaker 2
And I think that maybe a lot of autism awareness companies and places could maybe do a little better.

01:01:08:17 - 01:01:43:08
Speaker 1
Well, there you go. I and that's one of the complaints that I hear about it, is that I it's not it's not enough. One month is not enough, really, to truly raise awareness. And, you know, that was one of the things at our church. I it just kind of occurred to me, you know, there's probably a lot of families that would like to go to a worship service and they feel like they can't because either they're embarrassed or they're afraid they'll bother someone or somebody will be mean or the reasons are so many, right?

01:01:43:11 - 01:01:51:26
Speaker 1
Yes, the self doubt. So I started asking and I found that there were a lot of folks who wanted to

01:01:51:26 - 01:01:58:09
Speaker 1
wanted to start going back to church again, and they felt like they weren't able. So we started.

01:01:58:12 - 01:02:16:05
Speaker 2
We have a church actually right down the road. There was a man down there one time in a car and Chrissie has wanted to see we've never been to a church and she wanted to see the inside and we walk inside and she was just in awe. But I was telling the guy, you know, because he was like, you can come to church.

01:02:16:12 - 01:02:35:18
Speaker 2
And I'm like, Yes, but you guys sing, You're loud. The bell rings, the, you know, there's babies crying. I can't have a baby crying around my kid ever. Like 0% chance of christening me with this. And I was like, I know that this is part of your life, but I can't have it be part of mine. And it sucks.

01:02:35:20 - 01:02:54:28
Speaker 2
But we walked up those stairs and everything and she seen the cross and she seen him hanging out and she knew who he was. And she pointed it out and she said the word. She prays every single night with my mom over the phone. They say their nightly prayers and she always wants to go to church. And I know she can't.

01:02:55:00 - 01:03:19:18
Speaker 1
Right. I'll have to send you a link. She can watch ours on livestream, maybe, but yeah, and what we ended up doing. So my question was, how can we make this more friendly? And one of the first things I thought was setting up a separate place that's a little quieter. We can live stream into that room and the lights can be down and it wouldn't be as loud.

01:03:19:20 - 01:03:53:01
Speaker 1
But then I thought, you know, there's more to it than that. That's great for the families who would want to retreat to something like that and still be part of a body. Like after the service is over, you come out and you're around people and everything. If if your kids can handle it. But another piece of that I thought was the ones that don't need to retreat but want to be in the main sanctuary, we need to educate also our congregation to be patient, to be understanding, to be supportive, to be loving.

01:03:53:01 - 01:04:16:29
Speaker 1
And because, you know, this is might be a new thing that we're we're going to go through. And we we did present that we do have a little boy who sometimes gets loud but he sings and he's vocal he stims vocally and things like that. And we just have learned to love it. I mean, we'd rather that he's there than not right?

01:04:17:01 - 01:04:41:20
Speaker 1
He's part of a beautiful family. He's a great little kid. So that's that's why I think that's why I kind of wondered about the autism awareness thing. Like I can see it being good on a certain level, but that's the biggest complaint that I've heard, is it doesn't go far enough. It's kind of lip service. And now, like everything, it's become a marketing thing.

01:04:41:27 - 01:05:01:18
Speaker 1
So companies can throw that up and make a little donation and be seem like they're part of the community. But the month is over and they're done and they're not talking to anybody with autism or any of that. So I can see where it's also become a ploy. So more needs to be done, I think, every everyday level.

01:05:01:20 - 01:05:15:25
Speaker 1
So I do appreciate you meeting, meeting me, being on the show, telling us your story. You're you're pardon my French badass. Thank you. Appreciate you some of these.

01:05:15:25 - 01:05:17:25
Speaker 2
I don't feel like a bad ass, but.

01:05:17:27 - 01:05:24:12
Speaker 1
You just have to remember that you are, you know, because that's what badasses do. They just get back to it.

01:05:24:12 - 01:05:26:12
Speaker 2
So I don't have a choice.

01:05:26:15 - 01:05:35:14
Speaker 1
Yeah, well, we're glad that neural balance has helped. Did you mention that you've taken it, too? Have you ever tried to just.

01:05:35:14 - 01:05:56:03
Speaker 2
Tried her drink? I wanted to make sure that it didn't taste funny and didn't. Right, Initially. I still try it sometimes if I like switch juice to make sure that it's not. But I also use one of those coffee. Frother the milk Frother. Okay, so like we really, really blend it up because I have noticed that sometimes it's filling little balls.

01:05:56:06 - 01:05:57:12
Speaker 2
Yeah, floating around and.

01:05:57:14 - 01:06:17:25
Speaker 1
There's a little trick to that. Like

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