I met with Gavin's therapist tonight, Dr. Patti. We were going over Gavin's behaviors and discussing the direction he is going in. The topic of the conversation was meltdowns and self injury. These two areas in Gavin's life seems to be getting worse as of late. The thing that really bothers me is that I really believe these meltdowns are willful acts. Gavin has these meltdowns where he screams, stomps, kicks and hits himself. Many would say that this is part of the Autistic behaviors we would expect to see.The problems is that Gavin is starting to "slip up". He is showing us in various ways that he has the ability to turns these meltdowns on and off at will.  I feel very confident that he has control over most…

I got VERY LITTLE sleep last night. Elliott kept having nightmares and crawling into bed with us. That translates to me getting no sleep. I put him back in bed and sat with him till he fell back asleep but that didn't matter cause he would have another one and climb back into bed with us. Then Emmett pee'd through his diaper all over me. I finally gave up about 3am and laid down on the couch. One of the problems with Lizze's sleep disorder is that she is dead to the world and impossible to wake up. So she got to sleep and I was up with Elliott. Even though she slept all night she have been struggling to keep her eyes open. She has been literally falling asleep…

We just got back from Akron and it seemed to go really well. They are going to help us with all 3 kids. They seem to think this will really help. They saw Emmett John and now we are going back in the morning. That makes a total of 3 doctors appointments a day so far this week.

In this blog I really try to be as honest as possible. I show the good,bad and ugly. I talk about mistakes I make as a parent and what life is like for us. One of the things I have stayed away from in detail was Lizze's health. Instead I have tried to stay focused on the kid's and the daily struggles that we go through raising 2 most likely 3 Autistic children. I talked it over with Lizze and have decided to spend a little time talking about what she has going on. Without going into all the details I wanted to explain what is going on with her. Lizze has had a rough life to say the least. Much rougher then most, I will say that. She was…

This week is going to be a killer week for us. We have at least 3 appointments a day for most of the week. We head back up to Akron Kid's on Tues for "pervasive parenting" classes. These are supposed to help us with Emmett John. Not real sure what the content of the classes is but I'll be sure to let you know how things go. I had conferences at Gavin's school tonight. He is drasticly improved over this time last year. Acidemically he is doing excellant. He does get frustrated and self injure which is pretty consistant with what we are seeing at home. He is really doing well this year and we are very proud of the progress he has made.

Many of you have heard the name Stuart Duncan. Stuart is a good friend of mine. He is a to an Autistic son. Stuart and his family are amazing people and are very active in the Autism community. I wish there were more people out there like Stuart and his wife. Anyways, he has opened up a an online store that sell Autism related things. 50% of the profit go right back to the community. Please check out his blog by clicking his name above and his new store by clicking the puzzle piece. This is a great way to support the Autism community and a very deserving family. --From his store-- Autism Awareness is no longer enough! It's time to be proud of who you are and to demand…

Gavin was up past 1 am this morning. He wakes up this morning and eats his oatmeal for breakfast without a single complaint. It's like nothing ever happened.This is perhaps one of the most frustrating parts for me. The rapid mood shifts are killing me. He was so out of control last night that I was up with Elliott about 6 times during the night. Elliott was freaked out and scared. Gavin finally goes to sleep and wakes up as though nothing had ever happened. I'm still in a rough mood from last night. The rapid mood changes are probably related to the bipolar disorder. He gets like this when he is shifting to a manic phase. It's very frustrating for me because he can freak out for hours and…

Over the past few weeks Gavin has been spiraling out of control. We are gearing up for another Gavin crisis I fear. We are having more and more meltdowns. He is starting to more seriously self injure himself. He is leaving bruises on his face and forehead. He is punching himself in the face and head as well as smashing his head into his knees. Tonight he was caught sneaking into Elliotts room to watch movies while Elliott is sleeping and he was suposed to be. When questioned he lost it. The videos below are what transpired. This was taken with my phone they are dark and grainy but you can see the level of self injury and rage he is showing. He doesn't know he is being recorded so…