According to Gavin, he had a pretty massive meltdown or tantrum at school yesterday.  The juries still out on which it was however, due to this being triggered by frustration,  I'm leaning towards meltdown. Apparently, Gavin got so frustrated in Math class that he had to leave the classroom and get a drink.  Once in the hallway, his meltdown was so loud and intense that the principal heard him, from his office on the first floor and got involved in calming him down.  I'm waiting to hear back from the school on what actually happened.  He disrupted the other classrooms and probably frightened some of the other students as well.  We spoke with Gavin about this and explained that this was not okay and that we need to find better…

I wanted to share what I think is a really interesting teaching approach that Elliott's teachers are taking with homework. The sad reality is that many parents at our school aren't super involved with their kids education. Elliott's teacher, in an effort to get the parents involved, has changed the approach to homework in a way that I find fascinating.  Instead of the typical nightly homework assignments, she has introduced Project Based Learning. Essentially what happens is the child does a simple research project that requires the assistance of their parents.  This is such a cool idea because it's never too early to introduce research skills and it's always good to have the kids working with their parents.  One of these projects are assigned each month and they have the…

Lizze went to Elliott's IEP meeting alone because I was unable to walk. I know this sound crazy but I love going to our kids IEP meetings.  Our experience with Summit Academy Schools has always been positive when it comes to IEP's. For me, it's a chance to learn about my kids and better understand what their individual educational needs are.  I truly wish all of you could have this IEP experience because I know how badly they can go in other schools.  I know what our experience was with the Canton City School System and nightmare doesn't quite do it justice. What did we learn about Elliott today? We learned that Elliott is loved by his teachers and is the model of good behavior.  We also learned just how…

I wanted to share with you Gavin's latest work of art.  This piece is a blueprint of sorts. He is designing his next Lego masterpiece, The Golden Bladecycle. You know, I really hope Gavin pursues this path in life because he has a talent and he really seems to enjoy doing these types of things.  Good work Gavin..  I can't wait to see this turn into a Lego creation. :-) This site is managed almost exclusively from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Please forgive any typos as auto-correct HATES me. ;-) Follow @Lost_and_Tired "Like" me on Facebook Visit the My Autism Help Forums To reach me via email, please Contact Me

I've literally been down all day and that means that Lizze has had to do all the things I normally do.  That may not seem like a big deal but there is a very good reason she wasn't doing them anymore. She handled the IEP meeting this morning and did a great job. This isn't downtime isn't something that I'm enjoying. While I can deal with the pain, my legs keep (the left one in particular) giving out.  I have no control over that.  It's like my body is physically enforcing limitations on the rest of me.  I have an L5/S1 left sided herniation.  The pain was supposed to go away inside of six months but that was 12 years ago.  There is a genetic component to this because my…

As you may or may not know, I suffered a major back I jury in 2001. The injury requires surgery to fix and because of how complicated our lives are, surgery was a risk I wouldn't take.  I simply played through the pain. I did so for over 10 years.  I can't begin to describe the amount of pain I was in for so long, except to say that I experienced some pretty dark times and it got to the point that I wanted to end my life.  When I began about 2 years ago, I finally experienced relief.  I've been doing pretty well since.  This past weekend, I knelt down to take a picture with my grandmother, while at my Dad's surprise birthday party.  That was all it took…

Shortly after dropping the boys off for school in the morning, Lizze and I will be attending Elliott's IEP meeting.  To be completely honest, I'm a bit confused by this.  Apparently, either Lizze or myself scheduled the meeting for yesterday morning without telling the other or putting it in the calendar. Neither Lizze or I remember doing this but we were reminded on Tuesday morning and decided to reschedule it for today at 8:30am. IEP meetings are a cake walk for us at Summit Academy Schools.  We never have to fight for anything and the process is smooth and pain free. Believe me, this is not something we take for granted. The one thing that we are going to push for is testing for reading dysfunction.  Elliott's still reversing both…

Last week we were going over Elliott's spelling words and even though he knew them inside and out, he freaked out because he didn't want to review them.  We reviewed them once a day and that was it.  Here's his spelling test from last week.  Looks like he did a pretty darn good job.  :-) This site is managed almost exclusively from my Galaxy S4. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Follow @Lost_and_Tired "Like" me on Facebook Visit the My Autism Help Forums To reach me via email, please Contact Me   Setup of an account with Bluehost and I get paid. If your looking for a host for your website or blog. Click the image below and check out Bluehost. It's what I use.