introducing myself

[Guest guest]

Hello- we've been running an ABA program for almost 4 and a half years. We

initially started with CARD, and saw great progress in our son , who was 2

and a half at that time. After two years, he went from a 42 on the CARS to a

26, falling out of the range into mild PDD. As well as our son has done, and

he has done so very well( we were told he was probably severe and would

continue to decline) he has not developed conversational speech ( other than

rote conversations). Also, we had some skills that were not self

maintaining.As well, his acquisisiton of general knowledge was behind. We

now believe all this is due to incorrect therapy procedures that were used

with our son for his particular issues. No, no prompt we now know really

slowed his program down( even though he made excellent progress) as we have

seen by only a few months of s/p and complete errorless learning. Our son

is in a private school where they know him to be speech delayed and hyper,

but because we emphasized academics in the beginning( they did not come

naturally to him) and his behaviors are controlled, he is doing well there

with a fading shadow. I am so very pleased to be on this list and am here for

gains of technical knowledge. At this time , I do not have a s/p consultant.

I am both a therapist on our team and the administrator of the program. I

have a WONDERFUL team, very committed and they have learned this therapy

quickly. I'd like to complement them here for when we discussed the " change "

they were all very open to it, made efforts to get trained and have put 110%

behind it, despite that they ( including me) had been trained in the UCLA

tradition. And they have made the switch in our program beautifully.

Much love,kat

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/5/99 7:37:01 AM Pacific Standard Time,

jack@... writes:

<< Kat, just a few questions for you (I know you're REALLY busy, so I'll keep

them short, and I'll understand if you don't respond):

1. How old is your son? >>> Our son is about to turn 7

2. How did you organize your therapists to work so fast that they had

materials for 20 questions a minute (or could invent 20 questions a minute

to ask your son)? Scripting the session yourself for everyone seems an

immense tasks -- how did you get the therapists to be able to come up with

follow-up questions quickly?

>>Let me see if I can explain- I had observed Carbone tape of children in

therapy and used this as a basis. I put all of our program targets on index

cards, with target questions/ info. on the back of the tact. Each program

has it's own cards. ( programs are different- so this does not always hold

true. If you are doing my/your, the target is on your face, or whatever, but

you can still have an index card to direct it). So, placing those cards on

the table, in stacks, there are multiple questions/targets available. We take

no pauses, shooting those questions off rapid fire. overprompting like after

2 seconds. I need to say here that in Carbone tape I " ve seen, all this is

written on a board on a wall or paper on the wall. But where my son is in

the program, this was not practical for us. He moves around, doing therapy at

the playground, backyard, etc. Our program had to be mobile. Plus, I was

uncomfortable with the therapist looking past the child at the board. My

therapists merely glance at the cards to get the questions. This is best for

our son at this time. I should say that working on multiple programs at one

time is multi-tasking. It is much harder than the therapy we did before.

Moment by moment problem solving skills are a must, ability to handle many

different tasks at one time is a must for a therapist. We practice ALOT in

front of each other. And we take full responsibility for techinical problems

we are having, not saying " well, he can't handle so many tasks " . Our son is

doing great with this...if there is a problem, we look at ourselves. But

this is where your team has to leave pride at the door.( I know you didn't

ask about this but I felt I should throw it in here:)

3. Could you please give a example of " multiple targets within a program >>

Yes, this is an area where I've had to probe. My son candle handle more

targets in certain programs than others. We were trained in the past to

introduce ONE target in a program at a time. So if it was body parts, we

would do nose until it was mastered, eye until it was mastered. Now, we are

doing more advanced body parts( jaw, heel,etc.) and we have multiple targets(

working on jaw, heel, fingernail, etc.) at the same time. I do think that you

have to study the child. We are working on recognizing quantities in various

patterns and he appears able to handle less targts there. I often here Dr.

Carbone as he spoke at conference that rate of aquisition determines if they

will keep the knowledge. This is according to research.. If it takes them too

long to get the skill, they may well not keep it. So I monitor constantly.

Does this help? I know I don't expain it very well. My apologies. much

love,kat

[Guest guest]

Debbie, Sorry that you're another victim of mold exposure, but glad

you found this group. There are a lot of people on this board that

have been through what you have had to endure. You're not alone. Any

questions you need answered please feel free to ask. You would be

pleasantly surprised at the amount of tips and hints that I have

picked up on this board. (the Nystatin for oral yeast candida was

mentioned from someone on this board and my Doc agreed to it, what a

relief to be getting rid of that infection! A BIG THANK YOU to the

person that put that suggestion on the board!) Things that I had not

thought of and that are helping me deal with this life change. (I

too have brain fog at times, my son calls them " BRAIN FARTS " LOL)

I also have a problem with insurance from work. If I prove that my

illness is related to the building where I worked they will cut off

my health coverage. Workers Comp may or may not cover my medical

expenses. I am worried about my prescription costs if I lose my

coverage. I also may get fired shortly because I missed so much

work. I already got approved for Employment insurance, so my income

is there(something to live on at least) but medical expenses are

$$$$. I am very lucky that my son works also. I figure that if I

don't go back there to work, I'll find another job elsewhere when I

get better. I really can't see me going back to a mold building,

that's just like playing Russian Roulette with my health.

Take care, SW

[Guest guest]

Hi Debbie and a warm, safe welcome to Sickbuildings. This is a great group

and you'll soon learn your symptoms are not in your head, they a real,

You'll discover of our members are willing to share with you their knowledge

to help you understand your symptoms and dispell any doubt that you are

imagining your illness or have some rare disease which they doctors cannot

diagnose.

I hope Dr. will be of assistance to you.

You take care of yourself,

Rosie

[Guest guest]

Does anyone have Dr. e-mail address?

Thanks,

Marcie

panhandlepeddlers <djdeen@...> wrote:

Hello,

I have been reading your messages for awhile and would now like to

introduce myself.

My name is Debbie and I live in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Not a place you

would think of mold exposure.

I worked for 2 years in a building that was full of mold. It was

everywhere and disgusting. The building had a flat roof and was prone

to flooding when it did rain or snow. It took me 2 years to figure out

that mold was making me sick. I was healthly before working there.

My situation is different because the people I work for rented an office

space at this location. The location being owned by my employers

brother. A year and half after I started working in that location my

employers brother suddenly died. No autopsy done. The Coroner said

possible aneurysm. His wife was constantly sick with sinus and runny

nose.

I started getting sick with sinus infections, respitory problems, ear

infections, menstral problems, depression, nausea, ect about 6 months

into working there. Also had blurry vision in my left eye.

A few months after the brothers death one of his employee's mentioned

something about sickness from black mold. I asked what it was. I

started reseaching it and there was all my symptoms. I took that info

to my doctor and he agreed with me. He prescribed Lamisil. I told my

employers that I would not continue to work in that building. 2 months

later they moved me to a new location.

Within a short period of time my symptoms started clearing up. I did

fine for a few months.

Later I started experiencing extreme fatigue, blurry vision. This went

on until Jan. of 2004 and then I could hardly motivate and I went to

anther doctor. I was severly anemic at that time.

I then started having horrible gastrointestinal problems, times when I

would just pass out after putting a few bites of food in my mouth.

I was like a drunk. Panic attacks. I could hardly talk and I became

dyslexic.

I have had all the symptoms that others on this borad have mentioned.

I started seeing doctor after doctor.

In March of this year I realized that I would have panic attacks after

getting into a filing cabinet. It is a fire safe filing cabinet so it

is lined with some kind of material. I pulled out all the drawers and

low and behold it was full of dried mold. I got a sample of it and sent

it off. With that info I went to see an Infectious Diesese doctor.

He did a tithers test on botrys only and my IgA came back high and

the report said I had been in recent exposure. The doctor assured me he

did not think mold was my problem. In fact he wrote in his notes he

thought I was delusional. Wonderful!

I did test positive for RA and anemia. I was sent to a Rhuematologist

for further testing. Still anemic and my protein compliment test was

just under the normal range. with that info she thought i was in the

begining stages of Autoimmue, but what autoimmune she did not know

because I did not fit the pattern of any one. She said the RA was a

false positive. Meaning the inflammation I did have was causing the RA

test to read positive. on and on and on!!!

After a couple more visits with her she now believes the mold is my

problem, but she does not know where to send me. I told her I will find

my own doctor.

I have been to see an Opthomolgist, Rhuematologist, Infectious Disease,

3 Internal Medicine and now a Neurologist. I have never been to so many

doctors in my life.

My employers removed the mold filing cabinet from my office and many of

my symptoms cleared up the following week. I am doing lots better, but

still have some problems and I don't know what this has really done to

the inside of my body. I know I have scarring at the base of my lungs

and I have some kind of nuerological damange, vision problems, feet and

1 hand stay cold.

I am going to see Dr. . I just faxed them my health

background.

Now, if I can prove that mold exposure is what caused all this....who in

the world is responsible for it. The owner of the building is dead, the

wife had to file bankruptcy and has no assets. She gave the building

back to the bank. They have sold it. The people I work for do carry

workers comp.

What a confusing nightmare.

So far I am out-of-pocket $6000+ the last 2 years. I can't even bring

myself to

go back any further and figure what my doctors expenses are. Thank the

good lord I have health insurance. I also fear if I do prove it to be

work related my insurance will not pay any more claims.

I just read a post about Houston being full of mold and now I will be

paranoid about going to Houston to see a doctor. Ha!!

I enjoy reading the posts on this board and so glad I found it. I have

a hard time remembering things I have read so I have to re-read several

times.

What is VEGF? My brain don't comprehend that one.

Debbie

FAIR USE NOTICE:

[Guest guest]

Hello,

My name is Jayne Lytel and I'm from Lorain. My now 8-year-old son was

diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old.

I admit I no longer live in Lorain but my parents do and when I come

home I'd like to connect with others in Lorain.

There is much more about us that I'd like to share but I'll wait a bit.

Thanks, and this looks like a very resourceful group.

Jayne