Blog - Page 463 of 1611

Talking safety and peace of mind for special needs families

As many of you know by now, I'm working very closely with Vivint, and the Vivint Gives Back Project. I'm also intimately involved with Guardian Locate, and we are partnered with Project Lifesaver International. This puts me in a unique position to help your voices be heard. I would like to know specifically, what you think you need to make your lives easier in regards to the battle of keeping your kids from letting themselves out of the house and wandering off or getting into things that could be harmful. What kinds of things would help you more easily keep an eye on your kids and frankly, sleep better at night? While technology can't fix everything, it can make things easier to manage. I'd like to know what you would…

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January 23, 2017

My thoughts

As an #Autism parent, do you ever just feel like crying?

I fully realize I'm a grown man but I'm so far over the edge today that I feel like breaking down. As a father to three boys with varying special needs, but all with Autism, I'm in over my head on most days. I feel like I'm being crushed under the weight of the load I have to carry. The boys have been having a rough day and that means I'm having a rough day as well. Elliott has been struggling quite a bit as well, especially in the sleep department. Rather than trying to repeatedly justify our struggle with sleep issues, I going to ask that you simply take me at my word that were doing everything we can to work through these issues. Sleep has been placed on…

28 Comments

January 22, 2017

Elliott / Emmett John / My thoughts / Sleep Issues

#Autism and Issues with Sleep are Killing Me

This is going to be very short and to the point. I'm fucking exhausted. Both Elliott and Emmett are awake and show no signs of slowing down. It's currently 2 am and my body just wants to shutdown. Elliott's not been sleeping well at all since the bullying thing started up again. It may just be coincidence but that's just when this particular sleep issue began. Emmett was actually sleeping until he woke up at midnight to use the bathroom and realized Elliott was awake. I basically had a choice of making them go to their rooms and try to sleep, while I did the same or just cut my losses and move to the living room. I chose the later because it had the best chance of sleep. Elliott…

18 Comments

January 22, 2017

Bipolar Disorder / Gavin / Manic / My thoughts / Schizoaffective Disorder

He’s driving me f@#king crazy today

Let me start things off by reminding everyone how much I love my kids. I've got tons of new readers and I just want to be clear on that because of the tone of this post. That said, and with my profession of unconditional love for my children, here's the deal. They are driving me fucking crazy. More specifically, Gavin’s driving me fucking crazy. The other two are actually doing okay today. Gavin is having a really tough day, in several areas of his life. Veteran readers will probably already guess that a large part of this is in regards to his constant, incessant need to talk to me. No one has this much to say and neither does Gavin for that matter. He's just talking about totally random things…

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January 21, 2017

Elliott / My thoughts

My son’s broken heart kept him up last night

It was a rough night and a tough day. Elliott was unable to fall asleep until well after 2 am. He was very preoccupied with something that kept his brain churning throughout the night. The most impactful thing he's stressed out about is the death of my parents dog, Bailey.. That was a couple of months ago now but Elliott's still heartbroken. He won't talk about it and doesn't like to even admit that he's as upset as he is. Last night, he spent a lot of time drawing a pictures, which I'm allowed to share and a beautiful slideshow that he's wanting to remain private. I didn't even know he knew how to make a slideshow but it made me tear up because it was very clear how much…

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January 21, 2017

Bullying / Elliott / My thoughts

How I’m dealing with my son’s bully

I've been largely absent the last day or so because I've been busy. Most everything can wait until a bit later today, but I did want to talk briefly about the bullying situation at school. I met with the school this afternoon and had a thirty-minute discussion about what's going on with Elliott and this bully. While I'm not happy at all, I will say that since I know how to handle this and who to talk to, the process is much easier. The person I spoke with today is very genuine, and I truly believe that she's as horrified about this as I am. In fact, she may even be more upset than I am and I'm pissed off. We decided that she would meet with Elliott on Monday…

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January 21, 2017

#Autism Discussions / My thoughts

Can you identify the 2 reasons we experienced massive meltdowns this week?

While I feel as though we had a pretty good week, there were two things that I can pinpoint that triggered meltdowns from my youngest of three with Autism. Meltdowns are a very dynamic phenomenon because while it's common for kids with Autism to experience them, the triggers, duration and severity of the meltdowns can and will vary from person to person. As parents, I feel like we're always on the lookout for things that will trigger a meltdown and then do whatever we can to avoid those triggers. Sometimes triggers are obvious and other times, not so much. There are times when our kids will have meltdowns and we never know what's triggered it. Typically speaking, we're usually looking at sensory issues as the trigger to many, if not…

8 Comments

January 19, 2017

Bullying / Elliott / My thoughts

My son is being bullied again at school

It's been a couple of months since we've had any issues with this kid that's bullying Elliott at school. I thought we were past all this crap. In fact, I even stopped asking about it because every time I asked Elliott, there wasn't a single issue. As Elliott was getting into the car today after school, I could see on his face that something was wrong. Before I could even ask what was wrong, he said don't bother asking about my day today because it was a terrible or something to that extent. 🙁 Of course I asked him anyway and he unloaded his frustration. Apparently, this same kid began taunting Elliott in class. He was telling Elliott that he had taken something from him and it was in his pocket.…

14 Comments

January 19, 2017