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| Before | During | After |
I had Christian when I was 19 years old. For the first year of his life I couldn’t imagine anything being wrong with my baby. He smiled; he laughed; he rolled, crawled and walked on time. At age one he had a massive overload for his little immune system. He had two ear infections, a high fever, back to back treatment of major antibiotics and he was given his MMR, varicella and HIB vaccines while he was still very sick. Christian faded away for the next 6 months.
At age two he was diagnosed with full syndrome Autism. I met an amazing mother who introduced me to the group Talk About Curing Autism. Before I found out about TACA, I had no clue that there was hope for my child. From that day on I knew that it was my job to get my son back and undue what had been done to him.
It has been three years since Christian was diagnosed with Autism. I had taken what I had learned from TACA, found wonderful therapists, began a diet, found a DAN! Doctor, and took control of my child’s health. I heard his first word when he was 38 months old, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
Today Christian attends a typical private preschool. He is the only child in the class with a diagnosis…and none of the other parents know that. He speaks clearly, has friends, reads, pretends on the playground and even knows what he wants to be when he grows up (which of course changes weekly).
I can honestly say, if I had not found that mom (you know who you are), and not been introduced to TACA, I don’t know where Christian would be today and I don’t know if I would ever have been able to help other parents starting this journey. Thank you TACA, thank you my hero mom, and thank you Christian for fighting this with me. I love you.
Chelsi, Washington State
Here are some simple games that with help and enthusiasm all children can play:
RED ROVER:
This is not your traditional Red Rover game. It is a bit modified and great for developing listening skills/conditional directions.
1. One-two people lead the game. Suggest starting with an adult, but kids can take turns leading once they get the hang of it.
2. All the kids line up side-by-side at a starting spot (*not* holding hands like traditional Red Rover). Designate a stop line.
3. The leader (if two leaders they take turns) calls out "Red Rover, Red Rover, send someone on over who is ______." (Examples: wearing blue, a girl, name starts with A...the possibilities are endless)
4. Everyone who is wearing blue, or whatever runs from the start line to the stop line. The goal is to get there before getting tagged on the shoulder by the leaders. When you get to the stop line you stop (of course) and sit down to wait until everyone is over. When we play nothing happens if you get tagged, you just sit on the stop line and wait with everyone else. We like games where no one "loses."
5. Once everyone has made it over we turn around and start again. This is a good time to switch leaders if the kids are leading.
WHAT TIME IS IT MR. FOX?
This is another great game for following directions and enhancing your listening skills. This is similar to Mother-May-I but easier.
1. Choose a "fox"-- a leader/leaders. Best if an adult leads until kids are very familiar with the game.
2. Kids line up side-by-side at a starting line.
3. The "fox" stands some distance away. The kids ("chickens") yell "What time is it Mr. Fox?!?!?!?!" (To get the kids to really yell it out instead of mumbling, I used to have them say it again and once they were loud enough I'd pretend it was so loud it knocked me over-- a little physical humor goes a long way!)
4. The fox says "It's time to _______." (Bearwalk three steps, walk like a chicken for one step, hop on one foot backward two hops....you get the idea.) And the kids, of course, follow the direction.
5. The game is over--switch foxes-- when the kids reach the fox (or the fox has had several turns if you get one of those kids that makes everyone go backward as soon as they get close.) We always had the kids take turns rather than let the first person to the fox be the leader so that everyone got a turn.
FRUIT SALAD/CAR LOT
1. Another leader game, so choose a leader(s). Kids line up side-by-side. Choose a stopping point.
2. If the game is, say, fruit salad (you can call it just about anything) the leader chooses 3 fruits and tells the group to think in their head to themselves which fruit they would like to be-- say, an apple, a banana or a pear, but don't tell!
3. The leader shouts out the name of a fruit, and all of the kids that chose that fruit run to the other side. Anyone tagged gently on the shoulder by the leader goes into the fruit bowl to be a part of the fruit salad (or the car lot, or the zoo, or whatever theme the game is.)
DRAGON TAILS
This game sounds so simple, but next to Red Rover it was one of the all-time favorites!
1. Give everyone a scarf to tuck into their pocket, belt, waistband, whatever. It must be easily pulled out.
2. Everyone chases everyone else out to try to pull out their tail. When you pull out someone else's tail you drop it gently on the ground so that they can pick it up and tuck it back in.
DISAPPEARING ISLANDS
1. Have a certain number of hula hoops scattered on the ground.
2. Explain to the kids that when you say "Go!" they are to run, hop, skip, bear crawl, whatever movement you choose around the area.
3. When you yell "STOP!!" All the ground turns into an ocean except the hoops. Run to a hoop so that you don't sink into the sea!! As long as some part of your body is touching the island, even a tiny toe on the edge of the hoop, you are safe from the sharks!
4. Yell "GO!" and have the kids do a different movement around the area. Remove 1-2 hoops.
5. Repeat until all the kids are in 1-2 hoops (you'd be surprised how many kids you can get to a hoop). Talk about how you all managed to share only one (or two!) hoop! Wow!
OBSTACLE COURSE
This is probably kind of self-explanatory. The only item that is a bit different is to try to incorporate a swing. Have the kids do a particular circuit through the playground equipment. You could get creative, add equipment like jump ropes (snake pit), hula hoops (jump in/out/over/through), carry a ball (throw it over or under parts of the obstacle course, balancing on a little beam is different when you're carrying an object, etc.) You could also do an obstacle course as FOLLOW THE LEADER.
FREEZE TAG
There are probably as many variations of freeze tag as there are kids playing the game. If the players get tagged you freeze and your un-frozen classmates must perform a certain act (ex: crawling between your knees, or high-five on an outstretched hand) to unfreeze you. One of my favorites is difficult to teach at first but teaches great teamwork-- it's called Dead (or Sleeping, if you prefer) Ants. The kids who get tagged lay down on their backs with all four limbs in the air. To get un-frozen/wake up four teammates, one for each limb, must come rescue you. The catch is that until there are four, the people hanging onto you are vulnerable to the tagger. If there are four people holding onto an "ant" they cannot be frozen and the ant becomes unfrozen.
AUTHOR NOTES
Special thanks to a variety of parents for their help on this document including Bennetta Bensen from the ME-LIST.
