Day #305 – You Want Fries With That?

The interoceptive sense.  One of my favorites – mostly because it answers questions that had been looming over my head for quite some time.

As a refresher…

The interoceptive sense is our internal sense.  It regulates thirst, hunger, body temperature, and even pain.  For more read information read these posts…

Day 113 – The Greatest Treasure?  Knowledge 
Day 116 – Baby, It’s Cold Outside 
Day 137 – Yeeeooouuuch 

Tucker’s interoceptive sense is WAY out of whack.  For real.

Today’s post is not about thirst, pain, or body temperature – it’s about hungry.

Tucker also happens to be 13.

Double Whammy

He was born hungry.  I tried to nurse him, but could not keep up.  I was drinking water like crazy, doing all I could do – I COULD NOT fill him up.  So, we decided to supplement with formula.  He would suck down a bottle in 90 seconds or less.

He was waking up every 90 minutes because he was hungry – still at six weeks.

My mother (bless her heart) finally said, “You have got to get some sleep.  Give him some cereal.”

I knew this was ‘against the rules,’ but I finally decided that I would try.  Besides – there is something about the age-old wisdom of our grandmothers and mothers.  A physician may say it’s against the rules…but they also say teething doesn’t cause diaper rash (I call COMPLETE bull on that).

I made the call.  She said, “Just cut the hole in that nipple a little bit bigger.  Add some cereal to your milk or his formula.  Not so thick that it would have to be spooned – but thick enough it doesn’t come rushing out of the bottle.  Just play with it until you get the right consistency.” Call me in the morning.

He slept for 3 hours.  I did it again.  He slept for another 3 hours.

I called my mom.  For the first time in six weeks I wasn’t in absolute tears while talking about making supper, or the grocery store, or doing laundry – I was human again.

The next night he did the same thing and on the third round of cereal he vomited.

Not because he was sick – but because he was finally full.  I gave him another round because I ‘figured’ when he was full he would stop.  Little did I know…

He is still hungry.  Today we celebrated his birthday at Zombie Burger.  Today is NOT his birthday – but this is what he wanted for a present.  He didn’t want anything – just a trip to this crazy burger joint AND the ability to order whatever he wanted.  So, that’s what we did.

He ordered a triple Dawn of the Dead Burger

Three beef patties, bacon, egg, American cheese, red onion, and mayo.

When it arrived I asked if I could cut it in half for him to eat.  He looked at me with the “REALLY, MOM?” look.

He ate it all…in under five minutes.

Fries?  Of course.

Before the burger and fries he ate nachos and a Chocolate Nutella Marshmallow Shake (ummm…yum…).

We left and within an hour he wanted the leftover nachos.  I’m not kidding.

So – here is where I’m left wondering.  His interoceptive senses are all screwy and he honestly can’t tell when he’s hungry (or not).  So, was a day like today because of this or because he is a growing, 13-year-old boy?

Here is how I know the difference.

Today was teenage hunger, not the interoceptive sense.

When it’s interoceptive taking over he cannot sense his hunger – so much like when he vomited his cereal he will still vomit.  Not because he is sick, but because it is his body’s reaction to being full.

Imagine that just for a moment.  Your brain not receiving the message that you are full – until it’s way too late and your stomach simply rejects.

There are also days where he will eat only an apple.

This is a tough reality of life on the spectrum.  So, if you are struggling with this with your own child here is what we have done.

I do, in fact, still monitor his intake – to a degree…because again, he is a hungry 13-year-old boy.

He can eat all of the healthy food he wants.  Our refrigerator is stocked with fruits and ready to eat veggies.  He can eat ALL of the healthy food he wants.

He has to ask to eat anything other than that – that way I can at least attempt to regulate.

The best news of this is that 13 years of this and he’s beginning to learn.  He will actually say, “Mom, what have I had to eat today?”  We’ll quick calculate and he’ll say, “Yeah – I don’t really need anything else, I guess I’ll just have some water.”

Patience and teaching – and doing it TOGETHER.

That’s how we got there (at least on most days…)

Day #304 – Snuggles

First – I must write that I did in fact write yesterday.  For some reason the WordPress server and my server were not being friends – so there will actually be two posts today.  This is actually yesterday’s post.

Day #305 will be today’s post.

When Tucker was seven we decided to ‘plunge’ into pet ownership and get a guinea pig.  Little did we know what would happen.

The guinea pig came home and snuggled into Estelle’s sweatshirt – thus our beloved pet, Snuggles, became ours.

Snuggles passed away last year and let me tell you – it was traumatic.  For all of us.  I never thought we would grow that attached to a stinkin’ guinea pig, but we did.

Tucker and Snuggles had a very special relationship – he would beat his toys (See Tank, the Toy Tester), but was amazingly gentle with Snuggles.  The way he talked to her was the way others talk to a baby.  The way he cared for her gave me much hope about his ability to care for another living crature.

Last week this article came across my news feed and I became a bit weepy.  So many ideas that I ‘knew’ about Tucker and Snuggles…but this research in many ways, proves what I already knew.

While Snuggles excited Estelle, Snuggles calmed Tucker and gave something him something to talk about with his peers.

Read on for more…

(From:  https://www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-item/guinea-pigs-reduce-stress-kids-autism-says-study)

Guinea pigs do not judge.

They do not bully. They are characteristically amiable, social and oh-so-tactile. They tuck comfortably into child-size laps and err on the side of the seriously cute.

When playing with guinea pigs at school, children with autism spectrum disorders are more eager to attend, display more interactive social behavior and become less anxious, according to a series of studies, the most recent of which was just published in Developmental Psychobiology.

In previous studies, researchers in Australia captured these results by surveying parents and teachers or asking independent observers to analyze videotapes of the children playing. In the new report, however, the researchers analyzed physiological data pointing to the animals’ calming effect on the children.

The children played with two guinea pigs in groups of three — one child who was on the spectrum and two typically developing peers. All 99 children in the study, ages 5 to 12, wore wrist bands that monitored their arousal levels, measuring electric charges that race through the skin.

Arousal levels can suggest whether a subject is feeling anxious or excited.

The first time that typically developing children played with the guinea pigs, they reported feeling happy and registered higher levels of arousal. The researchers speculate that the children were excited by the novelty of the animals.

Children with autism spectrum disorders also reported feeling elated, but the wrist band measurements suggested their arousal levels had declined. The animals seem to have lowered the children’s stress, the researchers concluded.

Geraldine Dawson, the director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, described the work as “very promising.” Autism, she said, is often associated with high levels of arousal and anxiety that interfere with social interaction.

This modest intervention, she said, could readily be adapted by teachers coping with a scarcity of resources.

“We don’t know what the mechanisms are,” Dr. Dawson said. “Maybe it’s easier to interact with others when you have a third object, rather than face-to-face interaction.”

Yet when children on the autism spectrum played with toys in the presence of the other two children, their levels remained elevated. “They found something about the animal itself that was helpful,” Dr. Dawson said.

The project began because the lead researcher, Marguerite E. O’Haire, now an assistant professor at the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University, wondered whether there were measurable benefits to having animals in the classroom, a common practice.

Her studies unfolded from 2009 to 2012 in 15 schools in Brisbane, Australia, where the trend is to include children of all abilities in a classroom whenever possible. Over eight-week stretches, groups of three children were pulled out for twice weekly sessions to play with two guinea pigs.

The overall results, which included 64 children with spectrum disorders and 128 typically developing children, showed improved sociability for all children, according to surveys of parents and teachers.

The activities with guinea pigs were low-key and unscripted. The children could feed, pet, photograph, groom and draw the animals, and clean their cages. After eight weeks, said Dr. O’Haire, a research psychologist in human-animal interaction, many children, both typical and on the spectrum, described the guinea pig as “my best friend.”

“If you ask the children what the guinea pig is thinking,” Dr. O’Haire said, “a common answer would be, ‘That he loves me.’ ”

Children with autism, who have difficulty interacting socially, are vulnerable to being teased and excluded by mainstream peers. But after 16 sessions with guinea pigs, parents would tell Dr. O’Haire, “‘Now my child feels like she has friends she can sit with at school.’”

In the new skin conductance study, arousal levels in the groups were assessed with four tasks. First, the children read silently. Then, each had to read aloud to the others. Next, they played with toys.

Each time, the arousal levels of the children with autism became elevated. Being with the other two children, no matter the task, made them anxious.

But when the guinea pigs — antically chirping, squeaking, purring — were introduced, these children’s arousal levels dropped. Dr. O’Haire and her colleagues suggest that the animals may function as “social buffers” for these children, for whom social engagement is bewildering and taxing.

Many studies in the emerging field of human-animal interaction address the benefits of companion animals. But much of the work has been theoretical, or with small samples, or without a control group.

Hal Herzog, a psychology professor at Western Carolina University and author of “Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat,” about humans and animals, commended this study’s rigor. “They didn’t overextend their claims,” said Dr. Herzog, noting that the researchers were careful not to describe play with guinea pigs as a type of therapy.

Deborah Fein, an autism expert at the University of Connecticut, underscored that distinction. “People might think that if you lower the anxiety of these children, they’ll pick up social skills incidentally,” she said.

In fact, she said, they still need direct teaching of those skills. The presence of the guinea pigs would offer “a great ancillary treatment to practice those skills,” said Dr. Fein, a clinical neuropsychologist.

God Bless Snuggles.