The family training went well, thanks for asking. Supervisor M ran a squadron of us through all sorts of therapy techniques such as incidental learning and natural language paradigm/pivotal response training. This is the kind of stuff that we can throw at Leelo any time, anywhere and maintain an airtight, 24/7 therapeutic environment.

Many chuckles from the group of friends when Supervisor M kept giving directions about keeping it positive (e.g., "Let's get our clothes on so we can go frolic and be with nature" as opposed to "put on your clothes NOW or there will be NO playing outside for the next seven weeks!"). Anyhow, I am now feeling cocky about using natural language paradigm. I get it. I think everyone else does too. The amazing thing is how many people came to Supervisor M's training sessions. All four grandparents, C the world's greatest babysitter, Ep, Jo, LH, JP, plus both therapists. We've got an army.

Small bump in that our second therapist (Therapist E, who was to work with Leelo 16 hours/week) bailed on us after the second day of training. APPARENTLY her fiancee surprised her with an out-of-the-area academic appointment that he couldn't turn down. All I can say is that he'd best pray I never meet him in a dark alley. This surely would have been good information to have two weeks ago before we hired her, or four weeks ago when we'd found a great therapist but to be fair waited an extra friggin' week for Therapist E to return from vacation. This is also what I get for ignoring my gut feelings and instead going along with the person with a smidge more experience. GAAAAAH! But darling Therapist F, who currently puts in 6 hours/week, is offering us more hours starting in Sept. In the mean time I wrote an obsequious email to the therapist we turned away (who, it turns out, is in Chicago for a week), and Supervisor M is trying to help us find an interim therapist blahbitty blah lah. AAAAAIGHTTGHPLT. If we don't find someone by August 11 when Therapist F goes on vacation we will have a largely therapy-free August. NOT IDEAL.

It's been some week and I'm totally behind on all these postings, I know. I am one of those people who goes into total inertia when blindsided or overwhelmed. In the last week we've been put on a gluten-free/casein free diet that also excludes soy, peanuts, and all sugar; I've had three meetings of 12 people or more in our tiny house; and our bulk-hours therapist flew off. I've been drifting along in a cloud...somewhere out there are bills to be paid, blogs to be updated, & dietary attack plans to be written, but I'd rather just spin around inside my head.

Dear darling LH has proffered company and/or movies tonight. My folks have offered to take the kids so Seymour and I can get away. I would rather go see a move with LH. I am grouchy and Seymour reads too much into my frequent silences, but I suspect LH would not mind if I didn't chitty chatter on all night.

Starting to crack open Treating Autism: Parent Stories of Hope and Success. I guess this would be the less-crazy biomedical take on autism for laypeople (I find the DAN protocols impenetrable, which is fair since they're written by and for the medical/scientific communities). Folks, if you've any interest in a biomed approach, do yourself a favor and read Treating Autism first. Chapter after chapter hands out measured, qualified, calm bases for trying therapies such as vitamin B6/magnesium on your kids. Sure, there's some sputtering, and some "oh, come ON"-style anecdotes, but the main point is that the therapies they're advocating are safe. No harm in trying them.