Please don’t get any worse

The boys are both home from school today. Emmett's par for the course with his fever flare and Elliott woke up the morning running a fever of 101.2°F and not feeling well. There's shit going around the school and it looks like it may have come home with Elliott. It's going to be a very, very long day. I'm hoping that whatever Elliott has goes away quickly and it doesn't spread through the house. That's the last thing we need right now.

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Caring for an Autistic Child’s Hair

This is a collaborative post and may not reflect the views or opinions of this blog or its author.     Image source If you have an autistic child, cutting hair can be a struggle. In fact, simple hair brushing can often lead into screaming, meltdowns, hitting, biting, and behavior that quite frankly leaves you feeling exhausted. This is understandable, as most children with autism need environments whereby they feel they are in control, and a haircut is not one of those environments. So, how can you look at your child’s hair without WW3 breaking out? Here are some tips to help you get your child’s hair brushed, cut and cared for… Getting your child’s haircut without a meltdown occurring  So, let’s deal with getting your child’s haircut first and…

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I’m so fricking tired of these impossible decisions

I get so frustrated and overwhelmed because there are so many impossible decisions that need to be made on what feels like a daily basis. What are impossible decisions? Impossible decisions are decisions that must be made knowing that there are no good options to choose from. At the risk of sounding cliché, it's damned if I do damned if I don't... Currently, we're trying to figure out a solution to all the problems surrounding the boy's education. I'm not going to go into those problems again right now, but if you're in need of a refresher, you can look here. I spent an hour tonight discussing options with the kid's education specialist/psychologist tonight during our regularly scheduled Tuesday night therapy session. The way I see it, we only have…

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#Autism Parenting: Picking the BEST of the WORST options

We have therapy for the boys tonight but Lizze isn't feeling well and she will probably stay behind. It will likely be the boys and I heading out tonight. Tonight's focus is going to be on school for Elliott and Emmett. We have to figure something out because while the boys like school, they're also miserable at the same time, albeit for different reasons. This needs to be a very serious discussion about our options. I'm hoping Lizze feels up to going but but if not, we've discussed it amongst ourselves already and have reached a consensus. We both agree that the status quo isn't in the best interest of the kids. What we do about it is where we become less sure of ourselves. At this point, I feel…

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Exploring The Great Outdoors With Your Autistic Children

This is a collaborative post and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the author or this blog.. Image Credit Most parents of children with autism will be familiar with one of the major calling cards of the condition: a tendency towards insular behavior. Children (and adults) with autism have a tendency towards over-focus, zooming in on a subject that interests them to the exclusion of everything else in the world. Persuading your child to step away from this interest can be troublesome; it may even cause arguments. As a result, the idea of exploring the great outdoors with your children is troublesome both, for this reason, and for the fact that heading out on a hike or bike ride is a disruption to their routine-- another issue…

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Review: Is the EcoQube C a great project for kids with #Autism? (@DesignADI)

This review is brought to you by EcoQube. They were kind enough to send me an EcoQube C to put together with my kids and help raise some Autism Awareness. I'm always on the lookout for projects I can work on with my kids. I really like to present my kids with things they can do that don't revolve around video games or tablets. When I came across EcoQube, I thought it would be a fantastic project to do with my kids. I reached out to EcoQube and explained what I was looking to do. They were super excited to be a part of raising Awareness for people with Autism and their families. I was sent the EcoQube C because that's a really good place to start and it's something…

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I have enough to worry about already

Elliott is off to school while Emmett is home because of a fever flare. I'm really proud of Elliott because he did awesome this morning. Neither one of the boys likes going to school without the other but Elliott has been be very good about it this week. Emmett is in rough shape but is currently working on his makeup work with Lizze. I sent the school pictures of his mouth and that helps to document his absence. I've been stressed out because of these new truancy laws in Ohio but I've recently decided not to give a single shit about them. Here's the thing - these laws were not written with kids like Emmett in mind. He's living with medical issues that can often interfere with school attendance. We're…

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Special Needs Parenting – What it feels like to watch your kids suffer

I've been working for almost a decade to help people better understand what Special Needs Parents go through. Whether it's Autism, ADHD or even fragile health, there's a story to be told and insight to be gained by reading it. Every family's experience can and will be different. Even families dealing with the same diagnostic challenges can and will experience different problems, even though their kids share the same diagnosis. I wanted to attempt to explain what it feels like having to powerlessly watch my kids suffer. The most recent experience I've had, I'm stilling actively living through, and it's in regards to Emmett. Emmett has been living with a very rare fever disorder known as PFAPA. The disorder means that Emmett runs idiopathic fevers. Idiopathic means that the fevers…

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