I've only been up for a short time and already Gavin has managed to ask me the same question,  over and over and over and over.  To his credit,  at least he's asking the same question in different ways.  Although,  it doesn't make it any easier to take.  It's like listening to a scratched record,  repeating the same chorus,  over and over..  It drives me to the brink of insanity. It gets to the point where I just have to send him to his room.  What do you folks do to survive the repetition?  Posted from WordPress for Android

I love all of my kids,  I really,  truly do.. With that said,  Emmett is requiring me for absolutely everything.  He is glued to my side and I can't seem to get any alone time until he goes to bed. I don't know where this phase came from but he won't let Lizze help him with anything right now.  I love having Emmett's unending and undivided attention,  however, I'm gonna need a break or an Emmettectomy if you will. :-) Posted from WordPress for Android

Gavin just came downstairs to tell me that he just had a scary thought.  Scary Thoughts are Gavin's way of describing his visual hallucinations. He told me that he was walking in the bathroom and spikes went through his feet. What the hell do you even say to that? The scary thought I'm having is that his meds are no longer working. Posted from WordPress for Android

I've been a special needs parent for almost 11 years now. In all this time I have learned so much,  not only about my kids,  but also about myself. I could say that special needs parenting is such a pleasure and just so rewarding.  The problem with that is that it's simply not true,  at least for me and my experience.  While it's true that special needs parenting can be rewarding,  in my experience,  it's also tedious,  overwhelming,  exhausting as well as financially and emotionally draining.  My experience raising three boys in different places on the Autism Spectrum, has been one of great challenge.  I often find myself constantly putting out fires as apposed to actually making forward progress. I was thinking today about why that is,  and I think…

Screaming.  That's all I have heard this weekend.  Between Elliott whining,Emmett screaming and Gavin melting down,  the little bits of sanity I had left are now refugees fleeing to safety somewhere far away. I used to love the holidays,  however,  now all I can see is the overstimulation it brings.  Someone needs to invent something like sunblock,  only it would filter out all the things that would be deemed overstimulation. Thus preserving my children and subsequently my sanity. Sadly there is nothing out there that can provide the same results other than avoiding the activities that contribute to the overstimulation.  That just sucks. The main issue at this point is just how fragile Gavin has become. It takes nothing to set him off anymore.  We narrowly avoided a meltdown already…

I thought that I would share a cold Ohio winter welcome with all of you. We have our first snow storm that has actually brought with it accumulation. We have a long winter ahead of us and it's already pretty cold. I hope you are all staying warm if it's cold where you are. Posted from WordPress for Android

Disclaimer: I am by no means making a blanket statement about persons with Autism. Every child and adult with Autism is as unique as a snowflake. This is my personal observation,  based on my personal experience. I'm not an expert and would never presume to understand your child better than you. I just noticed something today that may simply be unique to Gavin, but I thought I would share it anyway, in case someone out there could benefit.   Autism and Meltdowns: An Interesting Discovery Gavin has been making some less than good choices lately. I'm not sure if it's the stress of the holidays or just one of those things. However, we are back to having at least one meltdown a day. That is a pretty big increase from not having any…

Elliott is spending the night at Grandma's so I thought it would be nice to spend some time with Gavin. I figured we could camp out in the living room and watch movies. Well,  he feel asleep right away and so I'm watching some Netflix and trying to relax after a pretty grueling week. However,  relaxing is kinda hard to do because Gavin's sorta freaking me out. I've written about this in the past but for those who may have missed it,  Gavin sleeps with his eyes open. It's actually quite unsettling and honestly,  kinda creepy. You know that feeling when you know your being watched?  That pretty much what it feels like. He just lays there with his eye part way open,  as his eye balls are moving from…