Red Licorice

Shane had his end of the baseball season pizza party Saturday afternoon. The food for the event included: pizza, cake, cookies, red licorice and watermelon. Mr. Shane can't have pizza, cake or cookies (at least the gluten variety) and watermelon is hit or miss with him. The seeds freak him out, and yes, I know they are "seed-less", and yes, I've told him that, but those little white seeds can send him over the edge. That left on the menu red licorice. That has red dye in it and we attempt to avoid that with Shane as much as possible. Kenny felt that letting him indulge in some licorice was the best bet given the situation.

This really has been the first time we've been presented an event like this. Usually I'm prepared and bring something for him.

What happens when you aren't prepared...you spend all day Sunday paying for it.

Shane and his Sensory Processing Disorder were in full blast on Sunday. Every...little...thing sent him into a tizzy. Shane let's go outside, where are your shoes at = MELTDOWN. Shane it's time to eat = MELTDOWN. Wanna ride your bike on a walk = MELTDOWN. He spent numerous times in time out for hitting.

You could see that his little neurons weren't firing right. The "roads" in his body were bumpy and his brain was NOT functioning.

Kenny looked up the ingredients in red licorice. Red dye AND gluten!!!! What?? Who would have guessed. We knew we would take a hit with the red dye, but gluten, too.

We've come a long way with Shane in the best 3 months between his gluten free diet and the best parenting program EVER, called The Incredible Years (I hope to blog more about that soon). Yesterday was proof of how far we've come. We haven't seen Shane in that aggressive, agitated, over the top state for months now.

Yesterday wasn't fun by any means, but having proof that what we are doing is working sure feels good.