Reimbursement for Your Noah’s World Bed

We understand that having a child with autism can be very difficult at times. We truly believe that this bed will change your life by giving you peace of mind knowing that your child is safe during the night. One of the biggest obstacles that prevents families from owning a bed like this is money. Even though we have tried to reduce the cost to make it affordable for everyone, cost may still be an issue. To help get a bed in your home, we have been working with families to get the Noah’s World Bed paid for by Medicaid. We have been successful in three states–New York, Florida and Virginia–and are working for approval in other states.

We would like to share the steps we have taken to get coverage. This are not difficult, and if you follow these steps, you could have a bed in your home soon. By following these steps, you could have a bed in your home and know your child is safe without spending money that you need.

We would also like to offer you a way to make some money. If you are in one of the states that is not been approved for coverage yet and would like to document the steps needed to get approval.  Please fill out the contact form and let us know. We will pay you.  Read more...

Sensory Processing Disorders in Children with Autism

Many children with autism suffer from sensory processing disorders, which mean they are extremely sensitive to various forms of sensory stimuli—such as touching, texture of food or clothing, lights and aromas—that, for most people, go unnoticed.

This is not necessarily true for many children with autism. According to the BBB Autism website, the three general kinds of sensory processing disorders are:

Tactile—based on a person’s sense of touch

Proprioceptive—based on where a person’s body is within a particular space

Vestibular—based on a person’s inner ear, and how it governs a person’s ability to interact with gravity and keep balance

For an autistic child with hyperactive sensory processing, this can lead to inappropriate social behaviors that can be very embarrassing for the parent. Additionally, this can drastically affect a child’s sleep pattern.

Most research indicates that a significant majority of children with autism have some type of sleep disorder. This can show itself in a variety of ways, such as having problems going to sleep, having problems staying asleep, or just waking up very early. For autistic children who have a hyperactive proprioceptive sensory disorder, there are a few tricks that can help the child go to sleep easier at night; one that parents are moving toward more often are weighted blankets.  Read more...

Use of Melatonin as Sleep Aid for Children with Autism

Sleep disorders in children with autism are a consistent and pervasive problem. According to most studies, approximately 80 percent of children with autism have some sort of sleep disorder. (According to the University of California at Davis MIND Institute, up to 89 percent of autistic children have a sleep disorder.) There a number of different theories on ways to ease the transition into sleep for autistic children: having a nighttime ritual, consistent bedtime, and sensory integration, among others.

One way to aid sleep that is gaining traction is the use of melatonin. Melatonin is a natural hormone produced by the pineal gland (and regulated by serotonin) that governs a person’s sleep pattern. There has been some research that shows that many people with autism have a significant imbalance in their serotonin levels. When these serotonin levels are off, the body will have difficulty regulating the amount of melatonin produced by the pineal gland. This may be one reason why many children with autism have difficulties sleeping.

Recently, there was a small study (12 children) regarding the potential use of melatonin as a sleep aid published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (April 15, 2009) that showed some potential. For this small sample, children ranging from 2 to 15 years old took melatonin for two weeks and a placebo for two weeks. Overall, the study showed some promise.  Read more...

Beginning Autism Awareness

At least three out of every 1,000 children are born with autism; and yet there is not a great deal known about these autistic children by society at large beyond the continued portrayal of our children as being alternately idiot-savants (like Raymond in the movie Rain Man) or verbally incoherent, barely being able to make animal-like grunts. Parents with autistic children know that both of these classic stereotypes are very far from the truth.

Sadly, these stereotypes often hamper the treatment and care that children with autism receive in the community. Therefore, it is important that the general public be educated about autism or else negative connotations and Hollywood-constructed archetypes will continue to be the norm, not the exception.

As such, tired and exhausted though you may be from the day-to-day grind of raising your autistic child, it is still important that we all act to make sure that people understand our children in order for them to have better lives.

Most people are not ready to run a year-round, sophisticated, public relations campaign in order to make our town and city peers aware of what we face every day. However, Congress set aside April as Autism Awareness Month. Therefore, as you seek to increase the quality of life for you and your child, there are some specific steps that you can take to help raise awareness one month per year.  Read more...

Quick Tips to Get Your Autistic Child Asleep

Most studies indicate that between 40 to 80% of children with autism have sleep disorders. This means that an autistic child might have problems falling asleep, waking too early, or wake periodically in the middle of the night. As a parent, you are aware of these issues as well as the fact that no one really knows why autistic children have trouble sleeping.

What researchers know is that it can seriously hamper your child’s health…as well as your own. On average, a 3- to 6-year-old child needs approximately 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night. Many children with autism do not get the requisite hours of sleep, whether it’s due to an inability to read social cues (such as their siblings getting ready for bed); or may it’s because children with autism have a different internal clock.

Perhaps it has to do with a deficiency in melatonin production within the body due to low serotonin levels—there are currently a number of studies researching how melatonin affects the sleep patterns of children with autism. To date, the studies are encouraging but hardly all encompassing. Other reasons for an inability to fall asleep (or stay asleep) may relate to an autistic child’s sensitivity to outside stimuli or even a child’s reaction to that stimuli resulting in anxiety.  Read more...

Parents With Autistic Children Are Not Alone

You and your wife are at a cocktail party. Men and women divide, equally and normally along gender lines. Soon, the conversation turns from work and the economy to how the family is doing. You hate this conversation. As the circle begins to close in around you, you take a step back so that you are on the outside.

One friend brags about how his precious little Brittany is already sleeping through the night at 3½ months. Another friend starts talking about how he is sure that his precocious prodigy, Biff, will be a phenomenal athlete and scholar and he knows this because Biff is way advanced for a 2-year-old and he knows because he read an article once…that would be your friend who read the article, not Biff. Although if you ask your friend, he is certain that Biff can read because he held up a card on your birthday and said, “Dadadadada” meaning that the card was for dad, even though your friend’s name is, Hampton, so…yeah.

You listen quietly, still meekly standing on the outside of the circle while your friends brag about how great their children are. You aren’t sure what to say, because your child is autistic.  Read more...

Autistic Children and Sleep

Autistic Children and Sleep

Research indicates that autistic children have trouble sleeping. According to the Autism Society of American, “Most parents have had some experience with an autistic child who has difficulty falling asleep, wakes up frequently during the night, or only sleeps a few hours each night.”

As parents of autistic children know, troublesome sleeping patterns can affect a child’s ability to learn, communicate, and control emotions. Therefore, it’s important to work on establishing some bedtime habits to quiet and calm a child and prepare him or her for a good night’s sleep. After telling a child “It’s time to go to bed,” try to establish a bedtime ritual that your child relates to for preparing to sleep. For example, bath time or story time can be good and effective ways to help calm a child. In many cases, autistic children like and even thrive on the rituals and patterns in their lives, therefore, creating “events” that a child associates with bedtime might help him or her become accustomed to a series of events that lead to bedtime each night. Any bedtime rituals for an autistic child should be calming in nature. Avoid playtime, games, computers, and television while preparing your child for sleep.  Read more...

Overview

Loving and caring parents developed this bed after spending countless nights awake with an autistic child. This unique bed allows your child to be surrounded by safety while giving you the peace of mind to get a good night’s rest.

“This bed allows my wife and I the opportunity to sleep through the night because we know that Noah is safe and happy. This bed has literally changed our lives as well as Noah’s. I cannot imagine my life the last two years with out this bed!!!” – Matt Volk – Noah’s World Bed Creator

• Do you have a child that has a diagnosis in the Autism Spectrum that prevents them from sleeping a “normal” amount?
• Do you have to be up all hours of the night to make sure that your child is safe?
• Are you one of the thousands of parents suffering from sleep deprivation right now?

If you have a child that needs care throughout the night, this bed was made for you!  Read more...

Resources for Parents

Resources for Parents

In the “old days” (say, before the mid-1990s), there was no such thing as the internet. When a person wanted to find out information, he or she put on hiking boots and started the long uphill walk (both ways in the snow) to the local community library. Once there, he or she had to look for resources and information in a card catalogue, which directed people to various books throughout the library. Of course, libraries continue to be great free resources of information.

Today, we also have the world wide web and all of the resources that are associated with it. Luckily, most libraries have internet connections so new resources and research are also available to everyone—even if you do not have internet access in your home. As autism gains recognition, there are more and more websites devoted to general information about the disorder. Even better, institutions and colleges that used to be virtually off limits to the general public, now throw open their virtual doors allowing hoi polloi to browse their voluminous tomes of information and research.  Read more...

Featured Family – The Sandlers

“Having 3 Autistic children has created an almost constant chaos within our house.  Over the past few years, my wife and I have slept on the living room couches as a last line of defense in case one of the children snuck downstairs in the middle of the night. We tried everything from crib tents to extra  locks, and none of these options created a comfort level that allowed us to let our guard down. Our 5-year-old daughter has been sleeping in the bed for 2 months now and the results have been incredible. She no longer wakes up in the middle of the night nor do we have any concern if she were to. She enjoys being in the bed as much as we enjoy her having it. I would recommend anyone who has concerns regarding their child getting out of bed at night to seriously consider this option.”

Brad Sandler – Indiana
May 2009