"1001 Tips For The Parents Of Autistic Boys" by  Ken Seri is a fantastic and informative read. He literally has collected 1001 tips for raising Autistic Boys. These tips are compiled from various sources and put together in a way that is really easy and enjoyable to read.  He touches on some very important topics along the way ranging from diagnosis and intervention to planing for life after their 18th birthday. Not only is this a must read for anyone starting this journey but also those involved in their lives. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and even teachers could get a better understanding of life on the other side of an Autism diagnosis.  As a single father to an Autistic son, Ken has been there. I can personally relate to much of…

So today we are celebrating Thanksgiving with my family cause my mom will be working on Thanksgiving.  I knew it was a bad idea to think we could actually go some where for the holiday's. Anyway, Emmett John is ALL over the place and we are the ones that have to chase him around. We get little to no help. Everyone gets to relax and visit and we get to chase the kids around. We could do that more easily at home. So after dinner Gavin had a meltdown and literally almost took my mother out. Gavin was mad cause he wanted more desert and we said no.  We got him into the back room and he lost it for about 20 minutes. We then packed up and left. Happy…

We have another battle ahead of us. At this point I'm hoping we can still avoid this conflict but our past just keeps rearing its ugly head... When you have special needs kids you try to avoid conflict as much as possible. Not only do you not have the energy for everyday life now you have to spend what little you do have left in places other then basic survival. I wish that I could be in charge for a day. I would make it so that families like ours have much less to worry about. I would make it so money meant nothing and everyone had compassion and understanding for the plight of the special needs family. Sadly, I'll never be in charge and the world will still revolve…

So I have been trying to put together a logo for "Fit 4 Autism". A friend of mine from high school stepped up to help me out. Denise isactually very talented and had some really good designs. While we were trying to figure out the final draft I had an idea and it kind of fell together. I was inspired by one of her designs. So here it is. I think it is going to maybe evolve a bit over time but I really like it. I think it fits and is really appropriate for what I am trying to do. I want to say a huge THANK YOU to Denise for all her help. She put a lot of time into these designs and totally inspired this Fit 4…

Lost and Tired was selected to be part of a blog tour for a new book on Autism. I feel quite honored to have been selected for this. I won't reveal anything just yet but check back sometime Sunday morning. I may even get to give-a-way a copy of the book.

Akron Children's Hospital went really well today. We learned a lot but were left with a lot of questions. 1 step at a time I suppose. Everyone had a pretty good day except Lizze. She was struggling today. She was in a lot of pain. She still has the same migraine she had last week and now she is getting a sinus infection. I wish she could catch a break. Gavin had a great day at school today but struggled a bit at home. He kept injecting himself into private conversations. Elliott struggled towards bedtime and Emmett was a handful all day. We made it through the first half of the week and we have 2 more days to go.

I have an opportunity to sell a BRAND NEW sprint Blackberry Style (9670). If you are interested check it out on ebay here. We could really use the money to help with everything we have going on and we are donating 10% directly to The Northeast Ohio Autism Group. If you are in the market for a new Blackberry and your on Sprint then please consider this auction. The auction has begun and will last 1 day only.   Thanks

I met with Gavin's therapist tonight, Dr. Patti. We were going over Gavin's behaviors and discussing the direction he is going in. The topic of the conversation was meltdowns and self injury. These two areas in Gavin's life seems to be getting worse as of late. The thing that really bothers me is that I really believe these meltdowns are willful acts. Gavin has these meltdowns where he screams, stomps, kicks and hits himself. Many would say that this is part of the Autistic behaviors we would expect to see.The problems is that Gavin is starting to "slip up". He is showing us in various ways that he has the ability to turns these meltdowns on and off at will.  I feel very confident that he has control over most…