So far today, Gavin has had 2 "accidents" where he wet himself. He wasn't sleeping or anything like that. In fact he had been awake for a while. I know it's not uncommon for ASD kids to get wrapped up in what they are doing and maybe "forget" to go potty but is that something common in older kids as well? I concerned for a number of reasons but mostly because this is not typical for him. I think we'll call the doc today and see what, if anything at all, we should be doing. Maybe he's drinking to much water? I mean, he does go through a ton of water, mostly due to the lithium. I'm going to start setting a timer and making him try potty just to…

I have been reading my friend Stuart Duncan's posts lately about theautism "studies". I have to once again, agree with Stuart on this. I have many concerns about SOME of these "studies" and their, perhaps, unintended impact. In my opinion these "studies" are more then just annoying and misleading, they can also be dangerous. Anyone remember a certain ex-medical doctors "study" finding a link between the MMR vaccine and Autism? Look at how profoundly that fraudulent "study" affected the world as a whole. Even after the study was COMPLETELY debunked and he was PROVEN to be a fraud people still believe it and blindly follow him. Just look at how many people don't vaccinate their children now because of this. Now we have kids dying from preventable disease, all because of a "study". autism is…

Autism presents many challenges in our lives but none more challenging for me personally, then the communication barriers. Emmett, especially, is VERY difficult to communicate with. Most of the time we kinda just learn to interpret the sounds as even the words he does use aren't always used appropriately. However, there are times, like now, where that just isn't good enough. Emmett is once again running a fever and not feeling well. Despite all of the words he has learned this year so far, he still can't tell us what's wrong. We know he's running a fever but we don't know if anything hurts or if his tummy is upset. This is beyond frustrating and promotes a rather helpless and distressing feeling for me as his father. When your child can't talk or talk…

Emmett is sick and sleeping upstairs. Lizze took Gavin and Elliott to my parents house for a cook out and I stayed back with Emmett, who was already asleep. Apparently we forgot to turn the night-lite on so when Emmett woke up it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything. I ran upstairs and realized what had happened. I couldn't see either so I found the light switch and I see Emmett sitting there shaking.  I can't tell you how bad I felt. As hard as I try, sometimes things like this happen. Believe it or not, I'm not perfect.....just ask my wife. :-) When Emmett laid back down to sleep he brought with him his flashlight.....you know...just in case. He fell back asleep holding onto it for dear life. So…

I've been a bit stressed out today and I just started writing down everything going on inside my head. I thought maybe that would help me to....maybe...process them a little better. It turned into a list which tuned into this. Sometimes just writing down how you are feeling can go a long way towards feeling better.   I wish we could sleep through just one night. I wish I knew how to better help my family. I wish I could remove my wife's pain and carry it myself. I wish I had friends to get together with every weekend. I wish I could just take the kids to the play ground. I wish my wife and I had date night. I wish my house was safer for the kids. I…

When Elliott was younger he called hide and seek "eddy & Knots". This was a couple of years ago when Lizze was playing "Eddy & Knots" with Elliott. He is so stinkin' cute. These are the moments that I already miss. I thought I would share this as it's one of my most treasured memories.   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1ld0ahiqMk[/youtube]

What do you guys think about these proposed (view them below) changes? Both PDD-NOS and Aspergers are currently on theautism spectrum. In May of 2013 when the DSM V is released that could all change. PDD-NOS and Aspergers would no longer be considered Autism. So then your currently Autistic child with Aspergers would no longer be Autistic...at least as I understand it. How do you feel about this? What does this mean for all the kids currently diagnosed and receiving services under the Autism diagnosis? What about those on SSI, like Gavin? The symptoms will remain but the label may change.  If this happens, Autism as we know it currently, will change. The question remains, will these changes be for the better?  I'm very interested in hear what you all have to say.…

This is where Emmett John said his very first word EVER. I was just randomly filming him playing with Maggie and he said "doggie". I was so focused on making sure they were playing safely and Maggie wasn't getting to rough that I don't think I even realized he said that until later on. This was a HUGE turning point for us. We NEVER thought we were going to hear him say anything...ever. I'm so glad my timing was "on" that day.   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kznRO6fXsA[/youtube]