Girl's menstruation/puberty

SPECIAL NEEDS GIRL
As a parent of a AS girl, I realised there are many things I would like to find out eg puberty but it is quite impossible because nowadays I don't take my girl to school.  Thus, I don't get to meet parents of older special needs girls.  During Club Rainbow outings, I didn't get to chit-chat either because by chance, those that I met, although few years older than my girl but were 'blessed' with no menstruation .... not yet.  I wish my girl has no menstruation forever,  I was frighten of that big day.  What if my house is stained with blood every month?  What if my girl end up with severe pain like a 12 years old normal girl that I met in KK Hospital, year 2014 ....worries and fear.

KKH doesn't recommend that I remove my girl's ovary.  They felt I am cruel. Gynae commonly prescribed pills (contraception pill).  What about the inconveniences and 'horror' .... nobody cares how I felt and the long-term stress, the ordeal with blood! Do take note, my maid is taking care of my girl when I am working full-time.  Nowadays, maids want an easy job.  She may leave and the next person may also be frightened off.

I chat on Facebook with some AS parents in the overseas, they recommended giving pill with some wipe cream for easier swallowing.  By eating pills, the menses will not come every month.  Tried to get into the puberty Facebook page that they recommended but was rejected because I refused to use my real name.  The page owner felt I wasn't sincere or afraid I am a pervert (fake AS parent) trying to learn their secrets/invade their privacy.  Can't blame them.  I have my privacy to protect so I am not using my real name or real pictures in this blog.

I decided that her milestones, our experience may benefit other Spore parents with a special needs girl.  Till date, I am still learning.  Each special child is unique, they may not develop the same 'symptoms' or learning hurdles but parenting them is the same .... lonely and may not be fully understood, supported by other family members and friends.

One of my friend's girl (same age) had her first menses one month later than my girl.  From a girl who is 8 years seizure free, the start of menses triggered seizure.  Another friend warned me to be careful.  Said she knew a child who died due to the 'kick-off' of puberty.


FIRST MENSTRUATION
20 Nov 2015, my girl had her first menstruation. Probably the obvious sign she displayed was scratching her private part - vulva.  Few days ago, a quick glance, I thought her vulva has wrinkles.  Day 2 of her menses, when I was washing her bottom before wearing a new diaper, I realised it was newly grown hair.  My girl's breast started to develop a few months after her 12th birthday.  I was getting cold feet, fear and worries .... finally her big day arrived.   Once thing good about not being toilet trained is that she's still wearing diaper.  Thus, maid was able to detect blood on her diaper.  Phew .... Don' be too happy, who knows my mischievous and highly curious girl decides to pull off her diaper to examine or play .... faint!

Day 1 - her 'lady' transition was not that frightening.  Didn't see her show any obvious sign.  Touch wood, no pain detected.  Sleep wasn't disturbed.
Day 2 - morning, her soiled adult diaper contained more urine than menses.  Night time, due to prolonged diaper wearing, bottom starting to see redness and itchy.
Ended on Day 5.  The whole cycle was manageable.  Maybe as my girl grows older, I'll face more challenges then I'll have to make some drastic changes, eg removal of womb.  Not something I look forward because she'll be in pain and I need to ensure she doesn't touch the wound... could be harder then changing diapers.

2nd and 3rd MENSTRUATION
Dec - just a bit of stain.

12 Jan 2016 - menses that is not heavy, lasted for about 24 hours only.

**Update**
11 months later... Menstruations were manageable.  My teen is now wearing adult S size diaper.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
When will menstruation start?
No one can say exactly when your child gets her first menstrual period but she will get it sometime during puberty.

First period usually happens about 2 years after the breasts start to develop.  Some girls may get their period in less than 2 years. For other girls, it may take longer. Every girl is different, and there is a wide range of normal development during puberty.  A period usually lasts from 2 to 7 days. About 2 weeks after the last period, a new egg is released as the cycle repeats itself.

Puberty
Some girls start puberty at age 8 and others may start as late as 13 or 14. Each girl goes at her own pace. So don't think you're weird if you start puberty a little earlier or a little later than your friends.

Boys and girls both begin to grow hair under their arms and their pubic areas (on and around the genitals). It starts out looking light and thin. Then, as kids go through puberty, it becomes longer, thicker, heavier, curlier, and darker.

Girls' bodies usually become curvier. Their hips get wider and their breasts develop, starting with just a little swelling under the nipples. Sometimes one breast grows more quickly than the other, but most of the time they even out. Girls may start wearing bras around this time, especially if they are involved in sports or exercise classes.



Update on 25 Aug 2016
The only + I have for wearing diaper ...a the age of 13+ is that it captures menstruation, fully wrapped and my life didn't turn out scary and gloomy.

It was really hard to find an adult diaper that is slightly bigger than Drypers Wee Wee XXL (a cheap and biggest XXL diaper in the market), that is about 22" waist.  Most hypermarts, supermarkets, etc sell diapers from M size onwards.  Parents like me are stuck with a diaper too small or a gigantic diaper with waist 32" onwards.... you simply can't wrap well.  It is too big so urine will flow out.  Big doesn't mean good coverage and great protection.... useless, waste of money!  I have purchased adult diaper of waist 28"... that's the smallest online... not cheap, no good, too big.

Just want to share I found Dr P 包大人 adult diaper S size, 18 pieces at Giant IMM S$10.80.  It is big (for my girl) but not that huge compared to M size.  When I posted this post, I have visited Giant IMM a few times but the pink packing small size diaper wasn't available for sale.  The only thing no good about this Dr P is that it is in non breathable plastic.   Also the tape can't be resealed if you're toilet training.
Was told this size can be found in Fairprice Joo Koon warehouse/mega store.  You need membership to buy.... would anybody be keen to waste money on membership and don't forget, you can't teleport the diapers home.  You either drive to stock up or take a taxi back.... it is a chore and heavy!


2019
It's really not easy to buy Small size adult diaper from the rack (supermarkets) so after doing lots of homework, last year, I found Dr P diapers online.  Buy 6 cartons with discount from the website, each pack cost around $9.50, WITH DELIVERY.  This is a good deal for parents like me who don't own a car.  Now small size is just nice for my teen, I think I need to look for medium size soon ... well, on the bright side, medium size can be purchased much more easier than small size adult diapers.

Behavioural issues

It Changed My Life: Man with the brainy moves, Straits Times, 26 Jun 2016
The "roller coaster years" usually allude to adolescence, but in Mr James Tang's case, is an apt descriptor of his life until three years ago.  His academic journey - from primary school to university - is a series of peaks and troughs: he flunked and aced exams in equal measure.  His career, too, had many ups and downs, traversing both the public and private sectors, chasing at times after money, and at others, after meaning.

His personal life lurched between confidence and insecurity, anxiety and nonchalance. Even his weight vacillated: now a trim 84kg, the 1.8m-tall man once tipped the scales at 105kg.  The turbulence, he believes, is driven in large part by his ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). The 42-year-old has never been formally diagnosed with the neurodevelopmental disorder - marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity - but is convinced he has it after reading tomes on the subject.

It probably explains, the former teacher adds, why he has a soft spot for students with behaviourial issues or special needs.  A passionate pursuit ensued when Mr Tang - who has a post-graduate diploma in education and sports science - chanced upon research which shows there is a relationship between exercise and cognitive abilities.

Today, he is the founder of Brainy Moves, which provides personalised training to improve fitness as well as psychomotor and cognitive skills.  About 70 per cent of his clients are children with conditions ranging from autism to ADHD to dyslexia. He also conducts programmes for schools and institutions, including the Calvary Baptist Kindergarten, East Spring Secondary School and Institution of Mental Health.

The elder of two children of a couple who ran a handicrafts business, he was a handful as a child. In primary school, he was extremely talkative and hyperactive and got up to all manner of mischief like slashing the arms of classmates with metal rulers and leaving mounds of staples on the chairs of his teachers.

"To cope, my parents sometimes caned and scolded me," he says with no hint of resentment, adding that the thought of testing him for ADHD probably never crossed their minds. "They just thought I was lazy, talkative and not focused on what I was doing," he says.

That he was intelligent, however, there was no doubt. When he applied himself, he often excelled in his studies. Restlessness and playfulness, however, often tripped up the former St Andrew's student. He flunked quite a few exams but always pulled through when it mattered.

"Fundamentally, people with ADHD are not dumb, we just have issues," he says with a laugh.  Until his teens, he led a fairly cushy life. The family lived in a three-storey corner terrace house in Bartley and could afford holidays.  But when he was 18, his mother told him she had to cash out the insurance policies she had bought for him and his brother to save their troubled business. The family also downgraded to a four-room HDB flat in Lakeview.

"I had to find my own means to go to university," says Mr Tang, who took a five-figure loan to study mechanical engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 1995.  A six-month attachment with an ammunition design firm in his final year convinced him that he wanted to work with people, not machines.  He ended up selling insurance but quit after eight months to become an untrained teacher at Hua Yi Secondary. It was not his first teaching stint. While waiting for his A-level results, he did relief teaching at Teck Whye Secondary and enjoyed it immensely.  "I was then teaching Maths to Sec 5 students. I was 18, they were 17," says Mr Tang, whose students included many who came from dysfunctional families.

Teaching at Hua Yi Secondary offered fulfilment, he says, but something gnawed at him. "I felt that I was not equipped with work experience and I was not adding value to my students," he says.  Although he was about to enter the National Institute of Education (NIE) to get his post-grad diploma in education, he quit and became a management trainee with Borneo Motors in 2002. "But I left with the intention to come back to teaching," he says.  The car distributor gave him the corporate experience he craved. Over four years, he worked in various departments, including workshop, marketing and sales.  

His four years in Borneo Motors were prosperous, in more ways than one. He drew an ample salary which helped him to clear his student loan and get married to a marcoms executive; he also piled on the kilos because of the drinking and entertaining.

Despite the good life, he nursed a deep desire to help children. He went on several humanitarian trips to Cambodia, organising summer camps and distributing food and other essential items to poor communities.  His next gig was a regional one - as country manager in Indonesia - with a German equipment company. "I learnt a lot; I also saw a lot of the dark side of the corporate sector," he says.  That and health reasons - his weight had ballooned to 105kg - prompted him to call it a day.

"A colleague just collapsed and died. I developed hypertension and couldn't even finish running 1km even though I was a track and field athlete in school. It was time to leave," he says.  True to his word, he returned to teaching even though it meant a substantial pay cut. "I felt I had experienced enough to share with students. I don't know why but I have a lot of heart for kids who need help."

He got himself admitted to NIE in 2008 to get his post-grad diploma in education and sports science. But before that, he overhauled his diet and started exercising to lose 25kg in three months.  After graduation, he was posted to Ang Mo Kio Secondary to teach PE and Maths. He told his department head he wanted the most challenging class.  "He laughed and said, 'You don't have a choice. PE teachers are always sent to the most challenging classes'," he says, adding that some of his charges wrestled with conditions such as dyslexia and ADHD.

The turning point came when, over time, Mr Tang noticed changes in his class of 20 students which had their PE lesson just before Maths. "I saw changes in their motivation, in the way that they engaged with me in class. I was curious and started to read up more."

Through a trainee teacher, he met a Korean professor researching the relationship between exercise and the brain. The latter introduced him to the works of Dr John Ratey, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who has published several books on ADHD as well as the relationship between exercise and the brain. They include Spark, Driven To Distraction and A User's Guide To The Brain.

"The books gave me a lot of insights into my work as a PE teacher," he says, adding that he also ploughed through scientific papers on neurological conditions. "When I read about ADHD, I realised how many symptoms I had."

He began to incorporate what he had learnt into his class. Except for one student who did not sit the Maths examination, all his students passed their N-level Maths paper.  Three years later, in 2013, with encouragement from his wife, he decided to strike out on his own.

In the first few months, the father of three children - aged between four and 10 - earned just $800 doing fitness coaching with a few clients.  One of his first clients, referred to him by his wife, was Dr Jia Jia, the Singapore youngster best known for his series of YouTube videos on Singlish.  Then eight years old, Dr Jia Jia - whose real name is Chua Jin Sen - is dyslexic and has ADHD. His parents wanted him to be more focused.

Mr Tang got the boy to take a psychometric test before putting him on his programme. "After eight weeks, I administered the test again. There was a huge jump in the score. It gave me the confidence to know that my programme works," he says, before launching into an animated discourse on how different exercises can stimulate different parts of the brain to help it become more malleable and supple.

After seeing the improvements his son made, one client got Mr Tang to write a business proposal to formally set up Brainy Moves. He became Mr Tang's business partner and Brainy Moves was officially incorporated in November 2013 with a paid-up capital of $160,000.

The centre in Joo Chiat opened in March 2014 and Mr Tang beavered away, calling on schools and speaking at roadshows and educational fairs to promote his programme. He recruited more than 20 students in its first month of operations; today, the number averages 170.

In November 2014, his wife urged him to write to Dr Ratey to come to Singapore to train him and to give a talk. The public workshop that the Harvard clinical psychiatry professor gave at the SportsHub in November that year was well attended not just by the public but also folks from NIE and the Ministry of Education.

Dr Ratey was so impressed by what Mr Tang had done with Brainy Moves that he agreed to become an ongoing consultant for free.  Word of mouth spread. Last year, Dr Zachary Walker, an associate professor in early childhood and special needs education at NIE, invited Mr Tang to give a couple of guest lectures to his students.

Dr Walker says Mr Tang does three things really well.  "He follows the research which has always shown that movement is critical to learning. He relates very well to children and adults so he establishes a connection with them quickly. And he is always willing to learn more and modify his own practice for the children he works with in his centre," he tells The Sunday Times.

Mr Tang - who has secured a couple of licensees for his programme - says he takes great pride in what he does.  "I interview every single candidate and I tell the parents I will not give them a schedule unless I meet their children and understand their competency and personality," says the entrepreneur, who now has three trainers on his payroll.

Although 70 per cent of his clients have a condition, he has no objections from parents of children who are neurotypical.  "Parents know I have a mix of kids in my class. But I think it's a good thing to let children know from a young age that there are different people out there. They need to learn to accept differences; they should accept differences," says Mr Tang who intends to get his master's and doctorate in special needs education.


He believes more needs to be done to raise awareness of children with special needs who are often misunderstood.  "I really hope that our education system will become more inclusive. The number of people with special needs is huge and many fall through the cracks. I hope the Government will allocate more funding for early intervention."

***********************
SPITTING
Ever since the school speech therapist taught my girl to blow whistle, she learnt how to spite saliva.  The therapist left and position was vacant for a few months.  As usual, Yishun Park school said unable to slot her in when a new therapist was recruited.  So spitting saliva became a bad habit since my girl was 9.5 years old, a way to express her excitement or draw attention.  My girl is an attention seeker.

The school physiologist said I should distract her, teach her the proper way to express her happiness, anger and sadness.

I can imagine a stranger, family or friends who were 'mouth washed' by my girl.  If you scold her, she gets your attention and will be encouraged to do more.  Slapping her mouth or apply chilli sauce on her tougue aren't usual but how many of you understand?  To you, I didn't discipline her.  You felt I failed my duty as a mother to correct her.  You get irritated and angry.  There are some kind strangers (rare) who assured me "No problem, don't worry" or say "it must be hard to take care of such a child" .... thanks for being so understanding.  You have made me less guilty.


REFUSAL TO TOILET TRAINING
Have reminded my current maid to get my girl to press on her toy phone to indicate she wants to pee or poo.  Haven't achieved results as my maid wasn't that keen to 'educate her'.  As she gets older, it has become really tough to train her.  Now a teen, she is stronger.  She can resist and there's no way I or the maid can get her to get up to walk to the toilet.  Previously, school advised to get my girl to get a certain item, eg toilet roll to indicate she wants to go to the toilet.  As a non-verbal child and maid not constantly eyeing her, it is hard to catch her holding the toilet roll or picture card.

My naughty girl likes to pee in my bed so if I'm not around her, I'll close my bedroom door. She also has the bad habit to poo in her bed, with diaper .... almost everyday. Noticed that many times, her poo wasn't that smelly so maid failed to detect.  The weirdness part is, my girl can sleep well with poo in her diaper, doesn't cry.  She has a toy phone hanging on her bed but she refused to cooperate and do something good.

While diaper-free during the day, she pee or poo in her pants even though not long ago, she was asked to go to the toilet.


HITTING
My girl will hit her own head, mine, surrounding eg chair or table when she's angry or didn't get her way.  She seems like not in pain when she hits something hard.... didn't cry.  My girl has short attention span (doesn't sit and watch a show throughout) and good memory on shows/songs/MTV that she has watched on Youtube so if I don't play some new or interesting ones, she'll start hitting.  I have tried holding her arms tightly but she is really strong, during the struggle she could hit something and end up with bruises. Sometimes, in her resistance, her head could accidentally hit my jaw and I end up with painful ulcers.

Baby to 10 years old

I can remember my girl's, vaguely...
My girl was born full-term, no implications.  During my confinement, I don't understand why my girl regurgitate so much and why she can't suck well from her bottle.  Her sucking on my breast wasn't strong.  After she was diagnosed, I found out from internet, it was due to her tongue thrusting.  Polyclinic referred my girl to KK Hospital for milk regurgitation at three months old

6 months old - cannot sit up or flip.  Told KKH doctors but they said it was too early to comment anything, some kids are slow
11 months old - FISH test, CT scan, EEG.  Seeing my girl being poked to draw blood made me cried. Forgot it was 2 or 3 person trying to get blood from her almost invisible veins.  My girl was struggling and crying while I was asked to wait outside.

19 months old - attended Rainbow Centre Margaret Drive
21 months old - able to flip
My girl was given physio and occupational therapies.  When she was almost 2 years old, after she managed to walk with strong support, we rented a K-walker every school holiday so that she could exercise.  3 months after she turned 3 years old, she was able to walk without any support, wide gait and both hands upwards.
 something like this, gently push and move forward.  Can't find the model that my girl used.  It looks more study/heavy.
My girls hates this, need to hold tight and pull along.

3 years old - first seizure.  She turned purple, jerked but eyes could trace the parents. Admitted to KKH.  Had CT scan and EEG.  Prescribed Epilim.  Till-date, has been drinking this syrup.  Heard some other AS were given tablet.  She had fever before her seizure started.

5 years old - Had a severe seizure, no fever, just walked too much.  That day, for convenience, I didn't bring her stroller because I can't manage her and a stroller on the bus.  My girl had involuntarily jerks that occurred throughout the night.  I was alone, hubby was doing his night shift.  Even though sleeping, my girl could be jerking.  Once a while she would be startled and cried.  I sling her, kept her close to me and we slept on a reclining chair.  Read from internet that seizure could be triggered by fatigue.  Learnt my lesson, ensure my girl has enough rest or I go out with a stroller so that she can sit and rest.... till now, 13 years old, she goes out on her push chair.  Many strangers/onlookers often gave my girl weird looks, some bluntly said "so big still sit on stroller".  I wish they could pretend we are invisible, otherwise, just nod or give us a friendly smile.

We joined Club Rainbow.  KKH doctors didn't tell us there's such an organisation.  I learnt from a mummy, same AS.  Also realised there's a CRS desk in KKH, near Social Work dept .... after wasting so many years!  Once my girl hit 5, she was kicked from EIPIC to PCMH.  I realised some others 'graduated' when the student hit 6 but mine was earlier.  Reason: to make way for other EIPIC new students, my girl was doing quite well.  Ever since my girl left EIPIC, her progress were not noticeable.

6 or 7 years old - transferred my girl to Rainbow Centre Yishun Park (YP) because it was tough to squeeze into the crowd mrt ... office peak hours.  Ever since we left Margaret Drive (MD) school, most of her therapies were on waitlist.  By the time was managed to get weekly therapy, her progress was greatly slowed, we lost the momentum.

   Learnt to climb stairs and cycle.

As my girl gets older, it became very hard to train her, get her to do things right or be given weekly therapies.  Soon, her therapies were cut from weekly to alternate week.  Occupational and Speech were removed for the benefit of other students.  I am not working, how to enrol my girl for private therapies?  Govt isn't giving subsidy for private therapies or equipment.  Am I suppose to sell my HDB flat to get money?  One special needs family sold their condo at a loss and got themselves a HDB flat.  They converted one room into a therapy room.  Some parents sent their kids for external support eg Glenn Doman.  KKH advised us not to go for therapy session when they found out my girl was attending special school.  Anyway, the therapy i KKH was once a month so at that time (still EIPIC), I was fine to be out because the therapists and class teachers were fantastic, really helped a lot.  At least my dark days weren't that bad.

At this age, I think her first milk tooth that dropped one year ago, grew!

10 years old - YP stopped all my girl's therapies.  After repeated feedback, YP placed her in group consult, meaning not one to one but a few students in the session.  Attending YP was something I felt like killing time.  My previous ex-filipino maid was of great help during employment.  She learnt from therapists and teachers and enforce work time at home.  Due to her misunderstanding or sudden change in personality after taking home leave, she left me.

My advise to parents
It is fine to cry and trying to accept such a child.  Denial would cause delay in receiving training and therapies that will help the child to learn and grow.  Don't rely on special school if you are financially capable, give him/her external support.  If not, learn from teachers, practice at home, daily.  The momentum and regular practice is important.  Don't count on govt, govt and its offices look at your monthly income and often give excuses of insufficient fund.  In case you didn't notice, govt is fond of giving lip service by throwing out goodies but not everybody benefit from its policies or special grant.  The older your child gets, the lesser you can tap on the fund or grant.  Early intervention is important, as long as your child is diagnosed with special needs!


This is what I've copied from another AS parent:
Scotty was the product of a full term uncomplicated pregnancy.Weighed 7lbs 15 oz and 19.5 inches long.  Had some jaundice and difficulty regulating temperature.Had a lot of difficult breastfeeding switched to formula.  Still had difficulty and it seemed like more formula dribbled out of his mouth than went in but he was gaining weight and content.

2 Months- starting laughing
3 Months- developed huge contagious belly laugh, turned towards sounds and made gurgling noise when "talking"
4 Months holds toy, hold bottle, reaches for objects, put objects in mouth, started solid food, slept all night
5 Months rolled from tummy to back, could sit up with help
7 Months rolled back to front, play peek-a-boo
9 Months Says "AH", sit alone , waves bye- bye, rolls all over house as a means of getting somewhere
12 Months starts to G.I. Joe crawl favoring right side, eats finger food, drinks from a cup, stands leaning on furniture if we stand him up, shakes hands, high fives, follows simple directions like..Get a diaper, or find the dog...Screams AH to get our attention. Can identify eyes , lips, nose and mouth, points to pictures in a book like duck frog tiger and all the Sesame Street characters ( This is just a sample of his cognitive development)
G.I. Joe crawling 13 months
14 Months first tooth
16 Months pulled himself to standing
17 Months started climbing on furniture and crawled on all fours
21 Months walking around furniture and climbing up and down stairs taking a few steps
23 Months he started walking unassisted.  He had a typical Angelman's wide gait arms up.
2 years started saying "B" sound.  2 years 10 months  he could feed himself, play basic games like patty cake, Itsy Bitsy Spider etc.  Unfortunately this is when his sleeping problems also began....BAD!
3 years noticed how incredible his memory was for people and places.  He could ride a big wheel and a little red trike, he was taking horseback riding lessons and competent in basic sign language-eat, drink, more, please, thank you , sorry, to name just a few.  He probably had about 20 signs at this time.
12 years toilet trained and mostly dry at night


Scotty Today
Bathroom Issues
Those without Angleman kids might want to skip this...trust me on this unless you like to talk about poop!
This is ALWAYS the first thing everyone wants to know.  He is completely trained and does not use a diaper.  He sits down to pee. He still needs help pulling up his pants, washing his hands and wiping his bottom, but he is pretty much self sufficient.  He occasionally wets the bed, but not very often.  Our biggest struggle right now is getting him to wait to pull his pants down until he gets in the bathroom.  It is almost as if he thinks I have to go and drops his drawers wherever he is at the moment.
It took us about 10 years to train him and it wasn't pretty.  The worst of it lasted a few years when he decided to use his poop as an artistic medium and we would walk into his room and everything was covered in poop including him.  That was absolutely the worst, grossest thing we have ever had to deal with.  Not something you can talk to your friends about that's for sure.  My mother designed pajamas that zipped up the back so he couldn't access it, but of course he was able to bypass any attempt we made to fix this situation.  Finally he just stopped. Thank the Lord!

Sleep
Or lack thereof I should say.   Scotty stopped sleeping when he was two and didn't pick it up again until he was 8 and that was with the help of medication.  For those years he slept 4 hours a day...A DAY!  And they were never in a row.  We were the walking dead and he was the happiest sleep deprived human I have ever seen. We tried absolutely everything.  Sleep training, music, warm baths, exhausting him, a water bed (which actually worked until he figured out how to take the plug out!)  What finally worked and for the most part still works today even though we still have nights or a series of nights when he barely sleeps at all and I must say that was a lot easier to handle when I was younger.  We medicate him about an hour before bed.  He takes clonodine and one benadryl that usually gets him through the night. He has a TV/DVD/VCR in his room and weirdly enough he knows how to work it.  We used to put a gate up in his room until he learned to climb over it, now we lock his door.  It is for his safety, if there is an emergency we need to know where he is at all times.  I also worry that he will leave the house.  We have locks and alarms but I swear he is a reincarnated Harry Houdini and is quite an accomplished escape artist...just ask the neighbors:)  Bottom line, we can usually get a decent night sleep although we will never be able to catch up for all the lost hours over the years.

Eating
Scotty will eat anything and everything, we have all cabinets in our house locked...although he can get in them if he tries hard enough.  When he was younger he would literally eat until he threw up.  He has no button that says stop you are full, hence the locked cabinets.  As he has gotten older that has changed he doesn't eat nearly as much as he used to and will get up from the table when he is full.
He can feed himself with a spoon and a fork.  He still needs his food cut for him.
His favorite foods are bananas, pizza, salad, hamburgers,cookies, donuts and water.  He really will eat anything.  The only thing he turns his nose up at is bacon.

Dressing
Scotty gets a shower everyday as soon as he gets up.  We assist in all aspects of his grooming.  He washes his hair, dries himself (mostly), brushes his teeth (we redo it), puts on deodorant, and my husband shaves him and cuts his nails.  We lay his clothes out and can completely dress himself.  He can't do zippers or buttons.  We have velcro sneakers and he can put those on, usually on the wrong feet.