They say God never gives you more then you can handle. I think God is over estimating our abilities just a bit. We are already drowning with Gavin. Now it appears that Emmett John is profoundly deaf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_impairment This means that he only hears certain frequencies. He is scheduled for the audiologist on Wednesday. He is also going to the children's hospital for a hearing test where they sedate him and administer sounds and then measure brain waves to see if he even processes sound. He is also going to go through the autism clinic because he still cannot talk and the family history (though no one thinks he is autistic). We have been teaching Emmett and ourselves sign language because he has no other way to communicate with us.…

As I stated prior Gavin turns 10 in the morning. This morning started with a "tummy ache". This is a difficult situation to manage because Gavin tends to have "stomach aches" when he doesn't get his way. He has learned to use them as a manipulation tool to get something he wants or get out of something he doesn't want to do. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between sick and manipulation. Today his tummy "conveniently" hurt. It seem to come and go depending on the situation. We made him stay in bed for a good part of the day for two reasons. We wanted him to learn a lesson if he was faking and get some rest if he wasn't. He said he was going to "puke"…

I have to thank my beautiful and amazing wife for helping me set this blog up. Be sure to check her out at http//:cheerioconfessions.blogspot.com Thanks Honey Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

A lot has happened this week. Gavin's trip to the children's hospitalfor his heart went very well. Right now we have nothing to worryabout right now. We will re-check next year.We also met with his psychiatrist yesterday. He had the sex talk withGavin. Oh, I forgot, Gavin started puberty prior to his tenthbirthday. He turns 10 on Monday.We have a very small window in which to curb his sexually aggressivebehaviors. Dr. R said we have to embarrass Gavin when we catch himdoing these things. He said its the only way we will be able todiscourage the behavior. If we aren't successful in correcting thisbehavior he WILL become a predator.We haven't seen him do anything yet so we haven't tried this. I feelbad knowing what we are going to have to…

We were graced with a snow day yesterday and so this is a very longweekend for us. Gavin actually did pretty good yesterday. While wehad some issues it was manageable.Today we were supposed to go to my parents for family pictures. Asusual that didn't work out for us. My wife is still sick and Emmett isalso.We discovered that gavin does really well with Wii fitness or WiiResort. He doesn't do well with typical video games (they tend tocause rages). These games are about exercise and control over onesbody. Gavin really needs this type of help. We are going to try thisin small spurts at first and see how he does. If nothing else hesleeps better after wearing himself out.Lost and Tired-- Sent from my mobile device

Today we kept Gavin home from school because we need to meet with his teachers and discuss how he is handled in class. Gavin's teachers this year just don't see through the manipulation. They treat him like a victim. Anyway, Gavin is having issues keeping his hands to himself. He derives a sexual pleasure from physical contact with others. At school he has meltdowns daily. His reward for getting under control is a hug. Also they rub or roll balls all over his body because he likes it and it "relaxes" him. They haven't caught on that he may be having the meltdowns simply to get them to touch him. This is a huge problem. We met with Patti this week and decided that there will have to be a…

I spoke earlier of Gavin's sexual aggression. This is what we are seeing. He is grabbing other mens croches. I don't mean by accident or innocently either. He slowly works his way there so as not to be noticed. He actions are deliberate. He is fond of putting his face in womens breasts and he is not above fondling. The most disturbing is his aggression towards his younger brother Elliott. Gavin is always trying to hug or kiss him to the point Elliott fights to get away. Gavin has been caught sneaking in and out of Elliott's room at night. We have an alarm on Gavin's door but he has figured out ways around it. He is also masturbating to the point of making himself bleed. He's only 10 years…

After all the years of living our lives around Gavin needs I can't help but wonder if we are doing the right thing. To this point we generally know we are being effective because he gets pissed off at us. He's never sorry he did it he is only sorry and pissed off he got caught. Gavin doesn't retain much so we are constantly having to repeat ourselves. For example, I will ask Gavin to go get his shoes on or get something from his room. When I finally get his attention he goes up the stairs and comes right back down. The problem lies in the fact that all he did was go up stairs and come right back down having down nothing. No matter how much we love…