Disclaimer: I am by no means making a blanket statement about persons with Autism. Every child and adult with Autism is as unique as a snowflake. This is my personal observation,  based on my personal experience. I'm not an expert and would never presume to understand your child better than you. I just noticed something today that may simply be unique to Gavin, but I thought I would share it anyway, in case someone out there could benefit.   Autism and Meltdowns: An Interesting Discovery Gavin has been making some less than good choices lately. I'm not sure if it's the stress of the holidays or just one of those things. However, we are back to having at least one meltdown a day. That is a pretty big increase from not having any…

Elliott is spending the night at Grandma's so I thought it would be nice to spend some time with Gavin. I figured we could camp out in the living room and watch movies. Well,  he feel asleep right away and so I'm watching some Netflix and trying to relax after a pretty grueling week. However,  relaxing is kinda hard to do because Gavin's sorta freaking me out. I've written about this in the past but for those who may have missed it,  Gavin sleeps with his eyes open. It's actually quite unsettling and honestly,  kinda creepy. You know that feeling when you know your being watched?  That pretty much what it feels like. He just lays there with his eye part way open,  as his eye balls are moving from…

I'm so stressed out my head is pounding right now.  I just came back into the house from off the roof.  Emmett ran full force,  right into the window in Elliott's bedroom.  Thankfully,  it was the windows I fixed last winter,  when Emmett did the same thing. I don't understand why he does this.  My thoughts were centering around sensory related issues but who knows. When I replaced the original glass pane the last time,  I used plexy glass for the repairs.  It was way more expensive than glass,  but it more than paid for itself today. If Emmett had done this again with a glass pane,  he could have sustained very serious injuries. Luckily,  the plastic absorbed most of the impact and simply buckled and partially popped out of…

Gavin and Elliott both had Christmas programs this afternoon.  There break begins today and lasts through the first week of 2012. The program was really cute this year.  I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures because Mr.  Emmett John was not interested in sitting still or using his inside voice,  so we stepped out for a little bit. Gavin’s class did a "very Elvis Christmas",  complete with side burns.  Elliott's class sang Christmas carols and Elliott turned into a Christmas tree at the end. The boys had a really good time and it was a great way for them to say goodbye to 2011 and begin preparing for the new year. Do any of your kids have Christmas programs at school?  Posted from WordPress for Android

I meant to write about this awhile ago but never got around to it. It's something I noticed while talking to Lizze on the phone while I was at the store. I often hear people refer to their house as being a zoo. However,  in my case,  it sounds a bit different.  While zoo could definitely be used to describe the Lost and Tired household,  it's not the first thing that comes to mind when I hear all the screaming through the phone. It have you ever walked in to a pet shop,  not a big chain store,  but a old fashioned pet shop?  When you walk in all you hear are birds chirping,  hamster wheels turning and maybe a puppy barking. When I call home to check on things…

Christmas is upon us once again. Typically,  this brings with it lots of stress as we scramble to prepare. This year,  however,  I started shopping months ago online. This is always a rough time for Lizze and so I wanted to avoid as much stress as we could. Luckily,  Santa was smart enough to predict what our kids would be in to.  From what I hear,  he did so with good accuracy.  I'm actually pretty excited. 2012 will be a year of new beginnings for the Lost and Tired family and we are going to begin some new traditions,  so that we can all be together over the holidays.  I want to continue to build on the success of this blog and reach out to help as many people as…

I feel like I should apologize for being absent the past couple of days.  I guess I view all of you as sorta extended family and I haven't talked to you in a little while.  Anyway,  things have been hectic around the Lost and Tired household this week.  It all started with Gavin’s scare a few days ago and transitioned into Lizze being down for most of the week so far.  She's not doing very well and so that doesn't leave me with much time to write.  Emmett entered into another cycle on Tuesday night and has a mouth full of cold sores now,  as well as fever.  Elliott has been struggling emotionally and so I've been trying to spend as much time with him as possible. Gavin is not…

Today, Elliott and Gavin received martial arts promotions. Below is a brief part of Elliott's promotion (Gavin's is still uploading). Both boys attend Summit Academy, which is a charter school for kids on the Autism Spectrum as well as kids with things likes ADHD ect. The school bases much of it's teachings on martial arts. This helps the kids to build self-esteem, self-discipline, respect for their bodies ect. This has been an amazing journey for Gavin and new beginning for Elliott. The kids earn promotions based on things like helping others, participating in class, doing their best and things of that nature. One of the things that the kids get to do during promotion is break a board. The board is symbolic of the obstacles they will face in life. By smashing through…