Lizze and I met with the social worker at Akron Children's Hospital this morning. Over all I feel it was a positive experience. They are still hung up on the oatmeal "issue" but they'll just have to get over it. They have Gavin in the "FYI" program, don't ask cause I don't know what "FYI" stands for. Basically, they have removed almost all social interaction and his time is literally spent reading and doing work. Gavin has spent the entire time trying to manipulate his way out of this "FYI" program and the doctors and staff simply aren't having it. So kudos to them. They said Gavin needs to have in-home behavioral therapy on top of everything else. The don't like the fact the oatmeal is the only form of punishment he…

This morning I'm preparing myself to meet with the social worker at Akron Children's Hospital. Why am I mentally preparing myself? In all likelihood, we will be once again met with resistance to our "outside the box" approach to Gavin. I'm not looking forward to this as I'm already stressed out enough as it is. I know many of you know but many of you may not know what it's like to be judged at every turn. Even well meaning people with the best of intentions judge us simply because they can't comprehend a world where a child would require this type of parenting. It's easier to believe that the parents are to blame. That is what we will be up against today. - Lost and Tired Please Vote for…

This was just one of those precious moments. Lizze was distracting the boys from missing Gavin. This enter on for a while but I only got the very end. I absolutely LOVE to hear them laugh. It does my heart good. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js84VC33U2k[/youtube] - Lost and Tired Please Vote for Lost and Tired (just click the link) and help me spread Autism Awareness. Everyone can Vote once a day :)

I have mentioned on more than one occasion that typical consequences don't work with Gavin. Raising a special needs child can require outside the box thinking. This is a perfect example of what I mean. Yesterday while we were waiting for Gavin to be admitted I made sure it wasn't fun. I shut the TV off and did not let him order his "special lunch". He was angry at first but then simply retreated into his imaginary world. How do you work with that? That's not something we can take away from him. This is the problem we have been facing. How do you punish a child that doesn't care if you send him to his room or take something away. In our case, you replace what he's planning on…

Thought I would share some information with all of you. Some GOOD news for a change. I'm spread pretty thin both literally and financially, so this is taking longer then I would like it to. I can't give out any details right now until I get a few things worked out but I have something in the works that stands to help many people as well as better my family. So stay tuned....hopefully in the coming weeks I can make an announcement and implement some changes, in both the lives of my family and others in the community. Thank You for your continued support......

The highlight of my day has been hanging out with Elliott. We traded in my games and he got "Yoshi's Island" and so he's really happy. On the way home we stopped and walked the track....or rather started to. About 1 mile in Elliott slipped in puddle on the track and got soaked. He was embarrassed (due to the large amount of people around) and just started to sob. So we turned around and I carried him most of the way back to the car, which was roughly 1 mile. He's feeling better and playing his new game. Lizze and Emmett are still sleeping so I'm working on dinner and trying to get the house in order. I hope everyone is having a happy Father's Day.........  

Today has been an absolute disaster. Lizze is not doing well and Elliott and Emmett are at each others throats. My back hurts from having slept on the couch with Elliott who is having a rough time with everything. We aren't doing anything special today and that's ok. Lizze really isn't doing well and I would want her to try to do anything right now anyway. To be completely honest, I probably don't deserve it anyway. As a father, I'm supposed to make life for my family better. I'm supposed to have the strength to just keep going. The sad truth is that I don't. I fail left and right with almost everything I attempt. I can't get anything done that needs to be done and we are CONSTANTLY struggling, financially and physically.…