I am feeling extra itchy this morning, so I decided to post this rhyme I wrote to help explain allergies to one of my students. If you are feeling creative and want to add another line or two, feel free to post in the comments!
Gluten-Free is Good for Me
Some foods make me sick, make me sleepy, make me silly, and make me itch.
I don’t know why, but I sure know how; I can’t have gluten or milk from a cow.
If I do by mistake, or because I didn’t know, my face gets hot and hives start to show.
I itch and itch but I just can’t catch the source of that itchy, itchy scratch.
My tummy might hurt, or I’ll get a foggy head; the light will hurt my eyes and I might just go to bed. It makes me mad because I like to eat bread, so the gluten-free version is what I’ll have instead!
I can’t eat some chips, most pasta it’s true; but I did adapt and so will you. I love to eat rice, pizza, chicken and stew; I love to eat rice-pasta, quinoa and beans too!
At first it was different, but now it’s sort of cool; I even bring a gluten-free lunch with me to school.
By: Alley Dezenhouse
P.S. Please note: this post is about allergies, and not meant to support the theory that the removal of gluten and/or casein from a child's diet will alleviate symptoms associated with Autism. That being said, if an Autistic child has never been tested for allergies, you may want to consider the various ways that an allergy could manifest (hives, digestion issues, loose BMs, rashes, grumpiness and tiredness, foggy head, stomach ache, bloat, nausea, headache, joint issues, and on and on and on).
It's your job as a parent to be extra aware of these symptoms when your child is non verbal; even if your child is verbal, he or she may not be able to properly articulate the source of the problem (or even worse might just think that's how everyone feels all the time, it's all relative, right?).
It takes time for neurotypical kids and kids with Autism, to develop a sense of what a headache feels like, what a stomach ache feels like, what a rash looks/feels like, how to articulate feelings of nauseousness verses a bruise. One of my staff recalls being 3 years old, and telling her parents "my knee hurts" and proceeding to throw up all over the back of the car.
In short, be a detective because it's your job to make sure your kid is functioning as his or her best possible self.
By: Alley Dezenhouse
P.S. Please note: this post is about allergies, and not meant to support the theory that the removal of gluten and/or casein from a child's diet will alleviate symptoms associated with Autism. That being said, if an Autistic child has never been tested for allergies, you may want to consider the various ways that an allergy could manifest (hives, digestion issues, loose BMs, rashes, grumpiness and tiredness, foggy head, stomach ache, bloat, nausea, headache, joint issues, and on and on and on).
It's your job as a parent to be extra aware of these symptoms when your child is non verbal; even if your child is verbal, he or she may not be able to properly articulate the source of the problem (or even worse might just think that's how everyone feels all the time, it's all relative, right?).
It takes time for neurotypical kids and kids with Autism, to develop a sense of what a headache feels like, what a stomach ache feels like, what a rash looks/feels like, how to articulate feelings of nauseousness verses a bruise. One of my staff recalls being 3 years old, and telling her parents "my knee hurts" and proceeding to throw up all over the back of the car.
In short, be a detective because it's your job to make sure your kid is functioning as his or her best possible self.
No comments:
Post a Comment