We just got back from Akron and it seemed to go really well. They are going to help us with all 3 kids. They seem to think this will really help. They saw Emmett John and now we are going back in the morning. That makes a total of 3 doctors appointments a day so far this week.

In this blog I really try to be as honest as possible. I show the good,bad and ugly. I talk about mistakes I make as a parent and what life is like for us. One of the things I have stayed away from in detail was Lizze's health. Instead I have tried to stay focused on the kid's and the daily struggles that we go through raising 2 most likely 3 Autistic children. I talked it over with Lizze and have decided to spend a little time talking about what she has going on. Without going into all the details I wanted to explain what is going on with her. Lizze has had a rough life to say the least. Much rougher then most, I will say that. She was…

This week is going to be a killer week for us. We have at least 3 appointments a day for most of the week. We head back up to Akron Kid's on Tues for "pervasive parenting" classes. These are supposed to help us with Emmett John. Not real sure what the content of the classes is but I'll be sure to let you know how things go. I had conferences at Gavin's school tonight. He is drasticly improved over this time last year. Acidemically he is doing excellant. He does get frustrated and self injure which is pretty consistant with what we are seeing at home. He is really doing well this year and we are very proud of the progress he has made.

Many of you have heard the name Stuart Duncan. Stuart is a good friend of mine. He is a to an Autistic son. Stuart and his family are amazing people and are very active in the Autism community. I wish there were more people out there like Stuart and his wife. Anyways, he has opened up a an online store that sell Autism related things. 50% of the profit go right back to the community. Please check out his blog by clicking his name above and his new store by clicking the puzzle piece. This is a great way to support the Autism community and a very deserving family. --From his store-- Autism Awareness is no longer enough! It's time to be proud of who you are and to demand…

Gavin was up past 1 am this morning. He wakes up this morning and eats his oatmeal for breakfast without a single complaint. It's like nothing ever happened.This is perhaps one of the most frustrating parts for me. The rapid mood shifts are killing me. He was so out of control last night that I was up with Elliott about 6 times during the night. Elliott was freaked out and scared. Gavin finally goes to sleep and wakes up as though nothing had ever happened. I'm still in a rough mood from last night. The rapid mood changes are probably related to the bipolar disorder. He gets like this when he is shifting to a manic phase. It's very frustrating for me because he can freak out for hours and…

Over the past few weeks Gavin has been spiraling out of control. We are gearing up for another Gavin crisis I fear. We are having more and more meltdowns. He is starting to more seriously self injure himself. He is leaving bruises on his face and forehead. He is punching himself in the face and head as well as smashing his head into his knees. Tonight he was caught sneaking into Elliotts room to watch movies while Elliott is sleeping and he was suposed to be. When questioned he lost it. The videos below are what transpired. This was taken with my phone they are dark and grainy but you can see the level of self injury and rage he is showing. He doesn't know he is being recorded so…

We need a break. We haven't had a break in as long as I can remember. We don't sleep or ever just get to relax. Gavin has been having more and more problems and Emmett has become extremely difficult to manage. Speaking for myself, I feel I'm losing my mind. We can't be expected to keep this up forever. There has to be help out there. We can't keep struggling to keep the kids from hurting themselves because our house is not set up for special needs children, one of these times someone is going to get hurt. Emmett has already broken his nose and fallen down the steps twice. No matter how much we try to keep ahead of them we just cannot seem to do that. Honestly, majority…

Since I was already on the topic of consequences what and or how do you hold your child accountable for their actions. Just because they are Autistic doesn't mean they should get a free pass. If anything you probably need to aggressively handle inappropriate behavior. In our case with with Gavin, the rewards system doesn't work because he simply exploits it. Gavin only responds to consequences. Wether or not he learns anything is another post all together. We don't punish things that are outside of his control but do our best to curb socially inappropriate behaviors. Our goal is to have Gavin able to function in the capicity of a responsible citizen (if that's even possible). I say if that's possible because Gavin's future isn't to bright at this point.…