Living with reactive attachment disorder

Yesterday and today have been very difficult with Gavin.  Yesterday, Gavin was playing with Emmett, both at home and Dr.  Patti's. While playing with Emmett,  Gavin made sure to sabotage Emmett's game play in order to ensure that only he could win. When confronted about his unfair play, he denied everything and began to dance around as he got upset with us for questioning him. This morning, Gavin was being rude and disrespectful to Lizze.  He wasn't even up for an hour before he began messing with her.  He was confronted by me, when I came downstairs and knew he was busted.  Oddly enough he didn't try to deny it. I sent him to his room, where I may just have him stay today. No one needs this right now…

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We had a little emergency tonight

Emmett had an accident today and busted his chin wide open. This happened about 45 minutes before we were supposed to see Dr. Patti.  If you have any experience with kids on the #Autism spectrum, you know that a trip to the emergency room for stitches is not something that's gonna go well. What should be an easy decision to go to the hospital becomes a huge decision that can have very serious consequences. Emmett would be absolutely traumatized by the experience and we wanted to avoid that if at all possible.  Not only would Emmett be deeply impacted but we would be devastated to put him through that.  This was heartbreaking for a number of reasons.  First of all, Emmett was in pain.  I hate any of my kids…

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Total therapy Tuesday: 11/20/2012

Tuesdays are the days that we cram most of the therapy for the boys into. We juggle speech, OT and soon PT as well.  We also see Dr.  Patti in the early evening as well. In total, I think we have 7 or 8 different appointments every Tuesday.  These are the days that the boys typically sleep really well and without much struggle.  By the end of the day, Lizze and I are throughly drained and ready to do nothing for the rest of the night.  UPDATE:  All three of the boys did well at Concorde Kids today.  Even Gavin did well and he's been having problems as of late.  Great job guys.  Daddy's ubber proud of you all.  :-)

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Confessions of a special needs father: My struggle with OCD

I'm going to confess to something that I'm quite embarrassed of and never talk about because I really struggle with this. Something you may not know about me is that I'm rather particular about my things.  Some might consider it OCD but I honestly don't know.  For me personally, I can't deal with things like dead pixels an LCD screen.  While I truly love technology, I dread getting things like new phones, handheld gaming systems or TV's/Monitors.  The excitement of getting something new is drowned out by the anxiety I feel over whether or not the display is perfect. If I see a dead pixel or worse, dead pixels, I simply can't cope with it.  Once I see it I know it's there and can't move passed it. I've been…

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Hating the Holidays

Perhaps I'm alone in my feelings, but just in case, I thought I would put this out there. All of my life, I've always loved the holidays. I loved seeing family and friends that I haven't seen in awhile.  I loved the atmosphere and feeling of togetherness.  I was also quite fond of all the lights, sounds and smells that come with the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now I have a family, a special needs family and everything has changed, at least for me. You see, all the things that I loved so dearly about the holidays, my family can't cope with. The reason for this is that my wife and all three of our boys are all on the #Autism spectrum. Basically, the holidays, in the more traditional form,…

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#Autism, #Anxiety and Epipens

I'm really concerned about Elliott and this new allergy.  We're still waiting to hear from the doctor, as she likes to personally call and explain things. Having said that, when the nurse informed us of the results, she said that Elliott's numbers were extremely high and that he can't have any contact with almonds. What we don't know yet is exactly what this means. We don't know whether or not other tree nuts are on the list and just how carefully these need to be avoided. It does look as though he will need to carry an epipen on his person at all times. Needless to say, this complicates our already complicated lives and has increased Elliott's anxiety.  :-(

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The careful shopper

Emmett is a very careful shopper.  He reads the back of the box to learn what's in the food he's eating.  Actually, he traced the words on the back of the box.  He's got the right idea though. I think it's important for him to learn things like this and even if he's only practicing. :-)

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Moms are the best multitaskers

Lizze fell asleep this afternoon in the middle of multitasking.  She was working on a post, her new book and listening to music, all at the same time.  :-) She's probably gonna kill me for posting this.  However, in my defense, she looked so peaceful and she's working so hard on these things. 

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