We had to run some errands this afternoon.  As we were pulling off the freeway and stopped at a red light waiting to turn, Elliott noticed something. Elliott noticed that there was a man standing on the corner holding a sign.  The sign said,  anything helps.  Elliott peppered me with questions as to what that meant and I explained that some people have much less than we do.  Elliott was puzzled by this and asked me how it was possible to have less than we did. That kinda stung a little bit,  but he didn't mean it that way. I explained that sometimes people can lose everything they have and be left without much left.  He then wanted to know what the sign meant.  I told him that this man…

Gavin had another meltdown this afternoon and this has brought to the surface a problem that I want to share.  Basically,  Elliott complained that Gavin touched his chest. If you recall,  we have to have very strict rules about Gavin touching anyone. This is because,  he doesn't understand boundaries and has a long history of inappropriate touching. After discussing with the specialists,  we decided to allow for hi-fives,  handshakes and things of that nature.  It's not easy to enforce a zero tolerance policy. This adjustment,  allowed for the occasional contact but only on the hand and nowhere else. Gavin claims to have no memory of touching Elliott and honestly,  I wanted to believe him. The problem is that he's not giving us reason to believe him.  Just this weekend,  he…

While this is more directed at the people in the USA,  I think it would also apply to just about everyone at some point throughout the year. With the 4th of July holiday just 2 days away,  how do you and your family handle all the fireworks and loud noises? Do your kids enjoy the fireworks display? Does the bright lights and loud noises bother them? This can apply to those who don't celebrate the 4th of July as well.  Most people around the globe,  regardless of where you live,  have the opportunity to view and experience a fireworks display.  So please feel free to share your input and experience as well. Also,  if any of you out there are living with #Autism yourself,  I would love your insight in…

Emmett is having one of his really bad days. He has more blisters in his mouth and they are lining the inside of his lips.  He’s absolutely miserable. The Lost and Tired family has a saying and it goes like this,  if Emmett ain’t happy,  ain’t nobody happy. The poor kid is in a great deal of pain and so the only way he knows to deal with it is either bullying Elliott or screaming at the top of his lungs. Obviously,  we are trying to provide comfort to him but nothing is really working. The screaming is stressing everyone out and making Lizze’s migraine even worse. With any luck and if God is indeed merciful,  this will be over for Emmett and subsequently the rest of us,  in the next few days. Please keep Mr. Emmett John in your thoughts this week and if you don’t mind,  it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to…

Good morning everyone,  I hope your weekend went as well as can be expected. I know it's a Monday but please try to have a great day anyway.  :-) I have a week full of phone calls and planing a head of me. However,  those phone calls should bring with them progress on the Gavin health front. There is much to discuss this week but I truly hope,  at least for now,  this post finds you doing well.  :-) **Thanks for reading**        -Lost and Tired Please join our Autism Help Forum Look for "Autism Help" app at the Google Play Store This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsung's Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct is…

I received a phone call from Dr.  Glazer,  former head of pediatric psychiatry at the Cleveland Clinic on Sunday. He will be officially retired from the clinic this week and if anyone deserves it, it's him. He personally returned a call I made to his office last week,  before I knew he was leaving.  I never expected to hear from him personally but it was really appreciated. We discussed Gavin's current state and he was able to provide me with the name of an local psychiatrist that comes highly recommended. This is really,  really good news.  If that doesn't work out,  he's also emailing his successor and passing along our information and we should be able to get Gavin into the Cleveland Clinic for his psychiatric care. He also is…

Sometimes,  well actually,  most of the time,  I find myself having to improvise in order to survive.  Without the ability to think outside of the box,  I shudder to think about where we would be right now. While I never understand at the time,  there seems to be a rhyme and reason for many of the things that occur in our lives,  all the way down to the decisions I make. Truthfully,  much of the time I'm shooting from the hip.  People seem to think that I always know what I'm doing and honestly,  much of the time I don't. Sometimes all I can do is throw whatever I have left at the wall and hope something good will stick. When we brought Bella into the family,  there were those…