Silverfrog!

[sphil]

Thank you so much for the recommendation you put on here a couple of weeks ago for the Little Speller app for the iPad. It is completely fantastic for DS2. He demonstrated it to his TA at school today and she was very impressed.

One question - I've customised it so that it uses phonics and put both the phonic sounds and the reward phrases in my own voice. I am right in thinking that you can't do blends aren't I? I was thinking of putting in various motivating words/photos like ' chips' but it would come out as ' ker - her- i- per- s '
rather than ' ch - i -per - s ' wouldn't it?

How do you get round this?

I don't

glad it was useful for you though.

dd1 is hooked, as have put all manner of family photos on, and she is spelling out the names...

it is so very nearly perfect, but blends would really be the icing on the cake, wouldn't they?

ooooh - just had a thought (dd1 currently playing with ipad, so can't check myself) - in the customisation bit, can you add in extra letters? so could add some in there, maybe? not sure how that would work out with the spelling bit, but might be able to work through that?

so you could add 'ch' in, but not sure how, when you make up a flashcard, you get it using 'ch' rather than 'c' 'h' etc.

will have a play later and see what I come up with.

Steven suggested writing to the developers (this was regarding another app, with some tweaking needed - the iwrite one, as school would rather that used phonics instead of letter names), so might be worth a mass email campaign

the app is marvellous otherwise, isn't it? not come across one so easily customisable before now - was very excited!

the only other solution I have come up with is to turn the letter sounds off, and only have the reward phrases etc - would that work for your ds?

I set all my phonics last night, and then this morning it wouldn't load

Will try again though.

yes, I've had a couple of stability issues.

but it seems to have settled now.

I have that loading problem too. Will have a go with the extra sounds. DS2's teachers are very keen for him to learn the correlation between letters and sounds (he already knows some ) so I think they would rather have the sounds on. My instinct is that he will learn by recognising the whole word rather than by sounding out, as he already does this with his bookmarks menu and video labels. I wonder if it's a good idea to mix the two methods?

No problem mixing the methods. 'Tricky' words (non-phonic) like 'the' and 'was' have to be learnt by see and say methods anyway. Phonics are an extremely useful, even essential, tool for decoding unfamiliar words. My DS3 learnt to read by recognising the whole word and took ages to use phonics, but he needed them to help him with more complex words he'd never seen written down before when he started 'free' reading.

Thanks - that's very reassuring. This is the first time DS2 has shown any interest at all in spelling words, so I'm quite excited..

And no stair-gate! He's having a good week.

Yes , he's on good form at the moment. We even bought shoes today with only a few tears! I'm wondering whether it might be down to the magnesium supplement I've started giving him - he is a lot calmer than he has been in recent months. Focus and attention seems much better and he even tried to play with a bat and ball today in a friend's garden - which is unheard of!

That's all really positive.

Magnesium works similar magic on my with DD with ASD. We had a similar shoe buying experience. I nearly cried with happiness in the shop!

We have also started adrenal support for my DD too and am similarly loving the results. I think the need for supplemental magnesium can sometimes be a sign of poor adrenal function.

oh thats interesting - what are you giving her for the adrenals?

I give adrenal cortex extract (ACE) by Thorne and lots of vit c.

I?ve been tinkering with supplements for ooh at least 18 months and it?s only been within the last couple of months that I feel I?m getting somewhere. Magnesium and ACE are key to this. My DD(5) is SO much calmer and more compliant. And like your DS has shown some nice examples of play that I've not seen before. Also sensory behaviours for DD (massively sensory-seeking) have diminished.

I read about adrenals on some yahoo groups - before that I didn?t know they could be a problem. If your child craves salt (my DD really did) that can also be a sign of adrenal issues.

Yes, he really does! We have to hide the salt pot (he loves the sea sat crystals) and he loves crisps, chips etc. i didnt know that salt cravings were a sign of adrenal dysfunction - I have them too, and have been struggling a bit recently with low mood/anxiety issues which Im pretty sure have a physical cause.

Ive been tinkering too -and like you am just feeling that Im getting somewhere. DS already takes saccaromyces, folinic acid, probiotics, Vit C and fish oils -and now the magnesium. I have a different probiotic and Vit B complex up my sleeve to try later. For now Im seeing what happens if I increase the mag to 3 caps a day.

Do you use a particular website or book for guidance about dosages etc? Ive been using the Treating Autism and Autism Research Institute sites, both of which are good, but sometimes the advice is confusing. Can I ask how much mag and Vit C you're giving your DD? I read on one of those sites that calcium should be given with mag at a ratio of 2:1, but then another site advises caution when using calcium with autistic children. DS is dairy free, so would imagine he needs it, but not sure...

So nice to have another biomed person to chat to who seems to be doing similar stuff! . There are a few on here, but everyone seems to be doing such different things.

sphil, do you still use nutri-link?

I have been meaning for ages to re-visit dd1's supplements. they fell by the wayside a bit, and now her bowel health has improve dof its own accord (bizarrely, she cannot eat Genius bread for some reason - does much better with the DS bread), and is a better consistency, and smell overall. (this has also led to her toilet training for poo! hurray! thought we would never get there...)

must give her nutritionist a call...

TBh, and I have to be a bit careful here, I don't. Will tell you more on FB if you like - nothing dramatic, just a slight frustration! Ds2 cant eat Genius either - seemed fine at first, then gradual deterioration in bowels and behaviour. I think its the yeast. Its taken a few months to get him back on track - think he must be very sensitive to yeast.

It?s the yahoo groups I get the info from ? autism biomedical and autism mercury. IMO they are some seriously knowledgeable people on there. I?ve not read about the importance of supporting the adrenals anywhere else.

The thing about craving salt is very interesting. The good news is that it?s deemed beneficial for the child to have a good amount of sea salt (but not iodized table salt) to support adrenals. So for once their craving isn?t actually bad for them!

I am going to be doing Andy Cutler (AC) chelation with my DD soon so have been broadly introducing the recommended supplementation to go alongside it. The comprehensive supp. list is found in link though we are not doing everything on it or indeed in frequencies suggested. But I think the dosage amounts are really helpful. www.autismbiomedicaleurope.com/#/supplements/4544179200

There?s no mention of adrenal support on it but I think it?s an oversight because everything else I?ve read on AC chelation says it?s essential. My DD is currently on six(!) ACE capsules a day with fab results. Incidentally, some of the mums in the yahoo groups have taken ACE themselves with excellent results. I keep meaning to start myself as am sure would benefit.

I don?t know if you know about AC chelation but it?s all very interesting stuff. I would never do DAN! style chelation but AC is different ? very safe and science to fully back it up. Andy Cutler is at the Treating Autism conference this year and also doing a stand-alone one day conference the day before it. DH is booked to go on it. We?ve worked our way through so many biomed interventions over the last two years and certainly had some gains but nothing that has really helped our DD take off (ASD, non-verbal, SLD). I may be deluding myself but I?m excited about this intervention.

Whoosh sorry I?ve gone on a bit!

Not at all - that's very helpful and thanks so much for all the details. Will look up that link now. Dosage is the one thing in biomed that worries me - it seems such an inexact science. Ds2 (ASD, SLD) is 8.5 and has been on biomed regime since he was 4 - like you we've seen some gains, especially physical (bowels pretty normal now, eczema much improved, asthma gone) and he is quite a sociable child now compared to 4 years ago, but no dramatic improvements.
The speech is the thing I would like to see progress - he does talk, but mainly using single words and it's not very clear to people outside the family.

He's been VERY excitable at bedtime since I increased the mag dose - lots of mad laughing and jumping about. But I can't find anything that says this is linked to high mag.

We periodically get the mad laughing and giddiness at bedtime. It's very wearing. I'm no expert but all I can think of is a)could it be a form of magnesium he doesn't tolerate? magnesium glycinate seems well recommended, I use magnesium citrate at mo as it has good absorption b)could it be his dose is being upped too quickly and it's a sign to go low and slow? c)this might be off-beam but could it be that as magnesium is involved in so, so many metabolic processes in the body that its introduction has kick-started a metabolic reaction to something else he is taking? (food/ supplement) or d)could he be having a current issue with yeast/candida/fungal issue (whatever you want to call it)?

But as I said I'm a neophyte in these matters. I would so recommend posting on either of those yahoo groups. People are so knowledgable about biomed.

One more off-beam thought is have you ever looked at low oxalate diets? My DD was on it for a few months (in addition to being gf/cf/sf/mf!) and it helped a lot with bedtime giddiness and it improved her muscle tone immensely.