Have you ever experienced what it feels like to have your hope shattered? Sometimes, when things are so bad, I cling to this light I see at the end of the tunnel. It gives me hope that there could be something positive around the corner. However, sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be a train. Today was one of those days and I got head of by a freight train. I heard back from Akron Children's Hospital today and it didn't go the way I had been hoping, praying and needing it to go. Despite all that has been going on,  we had this flicker of hope that Gavin would be seen by Dr.  Cohen, the mitochondrial specialist at Akron Children's Hospital and we…

Elliott is our 7 year old aspie.  He's brilliant and amazes me each and every day with intelligence, insight and compassion. Having said that, Elliott suffers from rather extreme anxiety. That anxiety was kicked into overdrive last night when a large, loud and very active storm system moved into the area. It was all we could do to get him to go to sleep last night. This morning, he woke up, came into our room and checked out my phone for the forecast. Once he saw that the outlook for today was more storms, he began what ended up being an anxiety attack that lasted for about 1.5 hours. We couldn't even get him dressed for school, let alone eat breakfast. Lizze called the school while I was trying to…

We've had some pretty crazy thunderstorms tearing through tonight. The boys have been on edge and very nervous as a result. It probably goes without saying that they are sensitive to the loud noise and bright flashes of lightening. Lizze and I were lucky to get them to sleep tonight. I was wondering, how your kids handle storms? Are they easily frightened by the noise? Have you found a way to help them feel better about the loud , scary noise? This site is managed via WordPress for Android, courtesy of the @SamsungMobileUS Galaxy Note 2 by @Tmobile. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Check out my #Autism Awareness Store to find really cool and unique #Autism Awareness Clothing and Accessories, designed by me. ;-) For more…

This afternoon I've been on the phone with Akron Children's Hospital, Neurological Department and may have made some major progress. As you may or may not know, we have literally exhausted all of our options in regards to Gavin's health crisis and further diagnostics that could finally uncover what's going on. The one remaining hope we have, has also been the one thing we haven't been able to pull off. The one area left relatively unexplored is Gavin at a mitochondrial level. There has been some basic things check out along the way but we have not been able to get in to see a mitochondrial specialist. We have locally, the world's foremost authority in all things mitochondrial. Dr. Cohen is director of Pediatric Neurology at Akron Children's Hospital. It's…

I was asked to post this by someone  who wishes to remain anonymous.  Out of respect for their privacy, I'm happy to respect their wishes and will not reveal their identity. I'm no stranger to guest posts as I open my blog up to almost anyone that wants to share their story. This one however, is unique in the sense that it's a confession of sorts about this individuals personal struggle with being Autistic. This isn't an easy read and it will probably  be upsetting to some.  It's also important to note that this is one Autistic individuals feelings  and  doesn't necessarily represent the feelings of anyone else.  Having said that, I feel strongly that this is a very important message because if even one person feels this way, it's…

I received a call from Summit Academy this morning.  Gavin is in the office, in tears because his eyes hurt so bad.  The secretary told me that Gavin's eyes began hurting and we're really itchy.  Now they were extremely read and he was calm but upset. I had to go bring him home.  Lizze was sleeping because she's not feeling well and I had to wake her up.  Because of the RAD and the dynamic that their relationship has taken on as a result, I needed to prepare her for him to come home.  She was 100% on board and told me to bring him home quickly so she could give him some benadryl and hopefully relieve his distress. At this point, Gavin is medicated and sleeping in his bed.…

Emmett, my 4 year old with Autism, seems to cycle through a few different stages before returning to where he started.  When he was younger, he was afraid to do anything on his own, especially go potty.  As he got older, he moved past that and excited to do things all by himself.  As even more time has gone by, we find ourselves back where we began. Emmett will not do anything by himself. He won't go potty by himself or even be on the second floor by himself.  I'm a special needs parent and don't know anything else. Is any of this "normal"? Do you folks see this type of reversion back to older behaviors in your ASD kids? It's sometimes really hard to know what's "normal" and what's…