I've been talking a lot about our reinstated,  zero tolerance policy for touching. This policy applies to Gavin only because he is touching people in inappropriate ways. We have tried to work him through this and explain the issues,  however,  Gavin simply does it over and over again,  anyway.  Regardless of his intentions,  we had to institute the zero tolerance policy,  in order to not only protect the rest of the world from Gavin but also protect Gavin from his own behaviors. As Gavin gets older and these behaviors continue,  he will find himself in very serious trouble. We have worked very closely with his therapist to create this zero tolerance policy and the consequences for violating it as well. As one might expect,  this is not am easy task…

There are many people in the world that would criticize me for feed my son chicken nuggets for breakfast.  They would do those because they either have no experience with special needs children or simply don't understand how difficult it is, to get a special needs children to actually eat sometimes. Emmett John is by far,  our most sensory sensitive child we have.  He is the most difficult to feed as he is so extremely picky. If his food isn't perfect,  he will refuse to eat.  Most people say that if he's hungry,  he'll eat. However,  this doesn't always hold true for kids like Emmett. My little Emmett is on the #Autism spectrum and is not going to operate in a way that always makes sense to those of us…

Today marks the end of Elliott's school year. Tomorrow is a field trip that Elliott doesn't want to go on. This year started out in a not so good way. If you remember,  Elliott was booted from his old school for having Asperger's.  We were left with only a week or two to relocate him. Thankfully,  we got him into Summit Academy.  It started off rough,  because Elliott was angry that he had to change schools and leave all of his friends behind. He had a hard time transitioning and struggled with some behavioral issues. However,  things soon smoothed out as he became comfortable.  Now he loves his new school and all of his new friends.  His teachers are top notch and were amazing this year as we all worked…

Elliott and Emmett got along really well this weekend,  at least for the most part. I just loved these pictures and wanted to share them with you.

Today has been one of those days.  Things have been pretty tense around the Lost and Tired household.  We have been having dealing with meltdowns from Gavin all day.  The reason for the meltdowns were the same each time.  Gavin violated the no touching rule. He actually violated this at least half a dozen times,  that I known of,  today alone. We have had to implement a zero tolerance in regards to touching.  This rule applies to Gavin and is in place because Gavin has been inappropriately touching people again. We have tried to explain boundaries and good touching and bad touching.  He either doesn't get it or doesn't care to follow the rules.  Either way,  he keeps doing this and testing the limits. Today he actually told me that…

I spent some time this afternoon building castles with Elliott and Emmett.  We just used wooden blocks and I was teaching them how share what they each had with one another.  If Emmett had a block that Elliott needed,  I showed Elliott how to ask for it and even offer Emmett one of his blocks in trade. It went off without a hitch,  mostly.  :-) Here are some shots of the castles we built together as a team.

I've been a special needs parent for longer than some people and short than others. Sometimes I miss my old "normal"  life. I miss things being simple,  at least comparatively speaking, to the way they are now. I miss having friends.  I miss having a career and brotherhood of the fire department. I miss being financially secure and the ability to plan for my future without having to worry about making sure we don't lose insurance coverage for the kids. I miss not knowing what half of the medical conditions we deal with every day now,  are. I miss being able to pick up and go camping or going to work out,  without having to worry about anything. I miss having hair and being in shape,  both of which have…

I know that my kids tend to be a bit more complicated than some.  However,  I was wondering if your child on the #Autism spectrum struggles with allergies? Elliott and Emmett both have seasonal allergies and do not respond to typical allergy medications. Their immunologist has them on plain old benadryl.  Elliott gets it at night,  until schools out and then he will join Emmett in taking it in the morning and at bedtime. I was wondering if their lack of response to other allergy medications has anything to do with #Autism?  Do anything of your kids experience similar things?