I know there is at least one mother of an autistic child here. So it seemed semi-reasonable to ask here.

My cousin's daughter, almost 3, has just been diagnosed with autism. She is completely non-verbal and has multiple sensory disorders. The little girl's birthday is coming up and we've always bought all my cousin's kids some clothes, a toy and a book for their birthdays and holidays. My mother mentioned a dvd program that was aimed specifically at autistic kids, but she can't remember what it's called and wasn't sure if it was worthwhile anyway.

Anyone know what this program is and if it works?

She has just started therapy. At this point is only speech therapy, which seemed odd to me. Is that normal? What can we give her that will help her progress in conjunction with her therapy?

Any other resources?

Background for those concerned:
I've tried about 6 times to describe the situation, but there's no way for me to say it without making my cousin sound like a bad mother. She is not, she is a victim of very unfortunate circumstances. She is not nearly as involved as the parents here. Her children are watched by someone even less involved during the day (because they cannot afford better care), and her husband is not a hands-on, play with the kids type of person either (and he works nearly 100 hours per week between 3 jobs). My family honestly thought her youngest hadn't started talking yet because she was rarely spoken to. When we heard the diagnosis, we decided that we need to do something to help her (the daughter) no matter what the cost, but we still don't want to be wasting our money. My cousin would not be able to afford anything that is not covered in the therapy. Before anyone asks, my cousin lives halfway across the country from me and has too much pride to accept financial help. Otherwise I would watch her kids for free, or pay for a better daycare, or something. We've already turned holidays that are typically not gift-giving holidays into excuses to send things for her kids. What kid doesn't love a Canada Day gift?

We have this one http://vtech-toys.org/vtech-toys/v-tech-toy-story-3-buzz-spaceship-laptop/ for my one year old. At his age it's just a decoy to keep him from trying to take mine.
I think your daughter might actually get some use out of it. The thirty activities are:
Laser phonics, Spanish Buzz, Capital and small, Letter blocks, Letter doors, Letter code, Typing and dancing, Laser numbers, Spanish numbers, Piggy bank, More or Less, Number doors, Largest number, Smallest number, Number code, Add the blocks, Hide and Seek, Spot the difference, Big and small, Bonnie's backpack, Where is Woody's hat, Shape puzzle, Grab the shape, Matching Shadows, Rock-Paper-Scissors, Fruit find, Speed matching, Toy attack, Left/Right, and Music fun.
It covers letters and their sounds, numbers to 10 in English and Spanish, some self explanatory ones, and some that I've never tried.

We waited until 6 months to introduce solids as per the current recommendations. We skipped purees. We gave him what we were eating from the beginning. Zed loves meat. We made no concessions for supposedly allergenic foods. He's had eggs, strawberries, peanut butter, citrus, wheat, etc. He has not had shellfish or chocolate. We don't eat the first. And the latter is because DH eats milk chocolate, and Zed is dairy intolerant.

If one of them is mentally ill, wouldn't the other have said no to this ridiculous scheme? Which does leave the possibility that they are both mentally ill I suppose. The odds are slim, but it could happen.

Regardless I hope Child Protection Services gets involved once the child is born. Such carelessness (and or mental illness) makes for lousy parents.

Real leather would be the safest choice. All waterproof fabrics are either entirely plastic (ie Polyester, Nylon or Polyvinylchorate (PVC)) or coated in plastic (Polyurethane laminate (PUL) and some vinyls) All plastics are toxic. However I think PUL is less toxic than PVC. We used Naugahyde brand fake leather because it is the least toxic vinyl we could find.

From the Naugahyde website FAQs (http://www.naugahyde.com/faq.html)
Q: What does environmentally friendly material and processes really mean?
A: "Environmentally friendly" applies to top coat technology. Naugahyde does not use solvent chemicals (VOCs) or ozone depleting chemicals (ODCs).

Foam rubber has toxic offgassing as well. The crawling track as recommended is surprisingly toxic.

Sigh. It's not real. There is no one in the world that stupid.

It is very obviously a publicity stunt, and it worked. Sensationalism for the win.

What sickens me is that a woman who has had two miscarriages is willing to even pretend that she'd abort her child. If she didn't want kids, she'd have started on birth control after the first miscarriage. No one who isn't actively trying gets pregnant three times in eighteen months. Added with that the fact they've been married 10 years and have managed to avoid any other pregnancies in that time. Clearly they know how not to get pregnant, which means this pregnancy was no accident.

Why would someone get pregnant on purpose to maybe abort it? They wouldn't. Once again, no one is the world is that stupid. So they have no plans to abort the baby, making it a publicity stunt.

You can pick your own reasons as to why they want the publicity, if there's a meaning behind it or not. I personally think they just want the attention. It's sad and it's sick, but not because the baby is at risk.

We've chosen a different path than you have, but I trust that you know your baby well enough to know if he needs comforting or just to be left alone. And I don't know you. One would expect that your family (even family by marriage) would have as much respect for you as strangers on the internet. But it appears your nana-in-law does not realize that questioning your choices is saying that she does not respect your decision-making abilities.

I have the same issues with my MIL. I have no advice, just commiseration.

That's a great story Twinergy. It's amazing how much little bits over time can add up. It's a great lesson for money (works both ways though, overspending by tiny bits at a time can still ruin someone), but it's also a good lesson about perseverance in general: anything can be accomplished in tiny intervals as long as you commit the time.

I also want to add that Monopoly and the Game of Life, are both good for teaching about money. And that if one is teaching their children to be entrepreneurs then strategy games are well suited as well, things like chess, Risk, and go.

There used to be a computer game where you had a lemonade stand. You had to buy lemons, sugar and ice, then decide on a recipe. The ideal sugar to lemon ratio, and how many ice cubes per cup. It told you the temperature and you could chose where to park your stand (some places were free others charged rent). You adjust your price and sell away.
Does anyone remember that game? Does it still exist? That would be a great game for helping kids with business concepts.

My sister and I are very close in age. It sucks. We both hated it, and still do. We have always crossed paths in life. She was ahead of me for a while, then I was ahead of her, then she regained the lead, etc. For 22 years, until I finished my master's degree. At which point she decided to continue and get a doctorate and I did not have any inclination to do so. That was the first time we were not directly competing against each other. Now that our lives have taken very different paths can we finally be friends.

My parents didn't mean for us to be spaced so closely, in fact we were both accidental. And it's not like someone pitted us against each other or anything. We're both very competitive and who is better matched than your own sister. That's just how it was.

On the other hand, my husband is quite a bit older than his brother. And they hate it. Although they became friends sooner than my sister and I. Once they were both adults they got along okay.

Based on that we were planning for a greater than 2 year gap but less than 5 years. That seemed like the best spacing given our differing histories. Doman recommends at least 3 years in one of his books. The idea being that you have finished the most important early learning tasks with the elder before the younger is born. We are likely going to be close to Doman's recommendations. I do not plan on weaning Zed until he's at least 2 (the minimum recommended by W.H.O., the A.A.P, and the Canadian Paediatric Society) and I am not ovulating while breastfeeding, at the closest we would be just under Doman's recommendation.

Keep up with English for sure. It is, at current, the most valuable language.

Your husband speaks French, everyone she meets while out and about speaks French, she'll learn French in school, etc. She needs you to speak English to her. The more you speak it the faster she will learn, but if you are uncomfortable speaking English to her outside (because of stares, comments, or what-have-you) you can make up for it with consistency while inside your home.

Kiyosaki has a cult following that I just don't understand. He has lots of books that could all be condensed into a single paragraph if you take out all the filler, illegal things, BS and lies. And none of his ideas are new or even uncommon. I would not under any circumstances buy any of his products. He's a charlatan.

If anyone is curious all of his advice in a single paragraph:

The less work it takes to make money, the better it is for you. Once you make money minimize the tax you have to pay on it. Then take the proceeds and buy yourself appreciating assets, but minimize the cost of carrying these assets. Start a business in which you are expendable so you can pay someone to do your job, and you can collect the companies profits without having to do any work. Repeat. Or buy stocks, preferably ones that have dividends as well as capital gains. Maybe try joining an multilevel marketing (MLM) company to make money from other people's work. Or buy rental properties. Or just write a book about money.


For kids to learn to use money correctly they need to be given money to use, and expectations on how it should be used. I think the most important thing to explain to kids isn't investing, or business, it's budgeting. Once your child can do math they can write up a budget.

A 5 year old's budget will be very simple.
Income:
Allowance - $5

Expenses:
Charity - $0.50
Savings - $1.00
Gifts - $1.00
Treats and toys - $2.50

But the older they get the more money they can manage, and the more responsibilities they have for that money.
By 12 a child should be buying all their own books, toys, treats, clothes, shoes, school supplies, gifts, toiletries, etc. Everything other than the roof over their heads and the food the family ordinarily eats. Depending on your family and your kids, this could be a significant amount of money. Once the child is old enough to get a job (typically 16) they should start working* 4-8 hours per week during the school year, and at least 20 per week during the summer. At this point the allowance remains steady, or even decreases. The child will slowly begin to buy more and more of their own things with their own money. And after college (or 18 whichever is later) they are on their own. If the child still lives at home they are expected to pay their share of the utilities and food.

* By working I mean a job, self-employment, or a business. Anything that requires time and generates income.

Worked for me. I have never been in debt. I have chosen not to work repeatedly since I left school because I could afford to spend out of my savings. I have never wanted for anything. I have my own businesses in which I am only marginally active because I can value my time more than my money. I'm not a millionaire (yet  )  but I have what I want for my kids.

Depending on where you live French, German, Russian, Hindi, or Mandarin would be good choices for the fourth language. Latin is a great language to know as well. Both because of the current uses (biology uses latin for extensive swaths of nomenclature) but also for all the original texts that were written in Latin. But its use is primarily as a written language.

We do one language per day, plus sign language everyday. We have 10 languages we would like to teach Zed (11 if you count sign). We just picked the 7 we wanted most for him to develop fluently. Right now we do Spanish, English, French, German, Mandarin, Russian, and Japanese. We're going to drop the English day (and do some activities in English each day) and replace it with Arabic or Hindi (depending on who we can locate to help). Then we will drop the French day (and do some French every day as well) and add in the other language. And last we will add in Latin everyday in little bits. Once he can speak and read each language then we will reduce the day to just an activity or class and a bit of reading to maintain fluency and increase vocabulary.

We've opted to do a lot of audio and/or video resources for our non-native languages. Plus classes and playgroups. There are a few read-a-long books in each language we are teaching at the library. The stories are great and sometimes I can find the same story in multiple languages. We end up reading the same book three times, in three languages.

We live just outside of a million person city, so there are a lot of different cultural groups. We haven't had any issue finding people who want to share cultures. We have a little girl who plays with Zed on German and Mandarin days because her family speaks Mandarin. They learn German from us on Thursday and we lean Mandarin from them on Friday. For extra culture, I cook traditional German foods for them. And the little girl's mom cooks us traditional Chinese food. Otherwise we mostly attend classes and groups designed to teach children languages their parents do not speak.

Mouse is gestured with the whole arm, and funny with just the finger bending at the knunkle.

Wish and hungry are the same sign. There is no ASL word for wish. I hunger for world peace and I wish for world peace meant the same thing when ASL was first created, although do not quite mean the same thing anymore. Most people wish with less intensity than they hunger with.

ASLpro (http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi) has a video sign dictionary. I find videos tend to be more helpful in discerning differences between similar signs.

[For my 3 year old]

There was quite a number of curricula discussed in this post http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/infant-to-preschool-curriculum-by-the-month/
and this one http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/homeschool-pre-kkindergarten-curriculum/
and also this one
http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/everything-preschool-theme-units/

Some people were discussing the place read alouds can have in a preschool curiculum, here http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/read-alouds-before-prek/

Luv2Read shared her curiculum choices in this thread http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/comparing-homeschooling-curriculums-what-do-you-use/

For my 3 year old

Brillkids/Your Baby Can Read/Hooked On Phonics

Reading, Language Arts, and Math

Everything for Early Learning Workbookhttp://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=everything+for+early+learning+ser&box=everything%20fo&pos=1

Writing, Colors and Shapes, Math

As did purple fungi

I have been doing Montissori activities with my toddler, however I have recently had the urge to start more preschool/kindergarten projects. My son is almost 2.5 so this would be pretty age appropriate. I have really liked Brightly Beaming Resources http://www.letteroftheweek.com/ for ideas.

Since he doesn't get the concept of writing so much, we have been doing the following:

1. Prewriting exercises printed from http://www.kidssoup.com/ (It's a ~22.00/year membership and has been worth every penny)
2. Jump Start Advanced Preschool World computer program (I click for him) This costs around 40 USDs, but my son really enjoys it. http://www.jumpstart.com/
3. I make my own manipulatives by printing activities from Kidssoup and Kidsparks http://www.kidsparkz.com/index.html Kidsparks (cost 50 USDs) has over 10,000 pages of printable resources. I then laminate the activities and cut them out. For instance, this week, we are playing concentration with different kinds of apple pictures, sequencing different kinds of apples against a control, sequencing how an apple is made, and matching different colored "As" with their lower case partner.
4. I also go over a page or two a day of Get Ready for Pre-K. We don't mark anything at this point in the book. We just talk about things. http://www.amazon.com/Get-Ready-Pre-K-Interactive-Illustrations/dp/1579125492/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247087632&sr=8-1

There's also the Jones Geniuses reading and math program discussed in multiple places including here http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/jones-geniuses-math-and-reading-programs-are-you-interested/

If you're interested in creating your own curriculum, here is a post by Trinity with the learning outcomes for preschoolers (ie what the child should know when they finish the program)
http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/preschool-curriculum-guide/

As for languages, I love Little Pim. We have spanish. It's fantastic. I know they have French, but I don't know about Arabic.
The library post has some French resources as well.

http://www.masteranylanguage.com/cgi/f/pCat.pl?tc=MALArabic&vm=fc&la= (Arabic-English)
Doman's french bits
http://www.gentlerevolution.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=G&Category_Code=CDR
(buy)


French
http://www.boowaquoila.com/
http://www.radiojunior.com/
http://www.onlineradiostations.com/radio-stations/canada/ontario/ottawa/moussesmusique-french-children/details.html
http://www.pour-enfants.fr/chansons/musique-1.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/languages/french2/Aisfor.shtml
(dictionary with pictures for many languages)
www.podcast.com
http://schoolrunfrench.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=podcasts
http://library.thinkquest.org/12447/intro.html
http://www.masteranylanguage.com/cgi/f/pCat.pl?tc=MALFrench&vm=fc&la=
http://www.mamalisa.com/?p=22&t=ec&c=22

Hope this helps.

For which ages is the booklet relevant? Zed has taken a keen interest in making marks.