Autism – Page 435 – The Autism Dad

My son’s broken heart kept him up last night

It was a rough night and a tough day. Elliott was unable to fall asleep until well after 2 am. He was very preoccupied with something that kept his brain churning throughout the night. The most impactful thing he's stressed out about is the death of my parents dog, Bailey.. That was a couple of months ago now but Elliott's still heartbroken. He won't talk about it and doesn't like to even admit that he's as upset as he is. Last night, he spent a lot of time drawing a pictures, which I'm allowed to share and a beautiful slideshow that he's wanting to remain private. I didn't even know he knew how to make a slideshow but it made me tear up because it was very clear how much…

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January 21, 2017

How I’m dealing with my son’s bully

I've been largely absent the last day or so because I've been busy. Most everything can wait until a bit later today, but I did want to talk briefly about the bullying situation at school. I met with the school this afternoon and had a thirty-minute discussion about what's going on with Elliott and this bully. While I'm not happy at all, I will say that since I know how to handle this and who to talk to, the process is much easier. The person I spoke with today is very genuine, and I truly believe that she's as horrified about this as I am. In fact, she may even be more upset than I am and I'm pissed off. We decided that she would meet with Elliott on Monday…

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January 21, 2017

#Autism Discussions / My thoughts

Can you identify the 2 reasons we experienced massive meltdowns this week?

While I feel as though we had a pretty good week, there were two things that I can pinpoint that triggered meltdowns from my youngest of three with Autism. Meltdowns are a very dynamic phenomenon because while it's common for kids with Autism to experience them, the triggers, duration and severity of the meltdowns can and will vary from person to person. As parents, I feel like we're always on the lookout for things that will trigger a meltdown and then do whatever we can to avoid those triggers. Sometimes triggers are obvious and other times, not so much. There are times when our kids will have meltdowns and we never know what's triggered it. Typically speaking, we're usually looking at sensory issues as the trigger to many, if not…

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January 19, 2017

Bullying / Elliott / My thoughts

My son is being bullied again at school

It's been a couple of months since we've had any issues with this kid that's bullying Elliott at school. I thought we were past all this crap. In fact, I even stopped asking about it because every time I asked Elliott, there wasn't a single issue. As Elliott was getting into the car today after school, I could see on his face that something was wrong. Before I could even ask what was wrong, he said don't bother asking about my day today because it was a terrible or something to that extent. 🙁 Of course I asked him anyway and he unloaded his frustration. Apparently, this same kid began taunting Elliott in class. He was telling Elliott that he had taken something from him and it was in his pocket.…

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January 19, 2017

General Update

Huge Update: We need to get caught up

Rather than break this into a few different posts, I figured I would write these updates into one post, complete with videos and pictures from the last few days. So much has happened this week and as usual, I've fallen behind a bit. Now it's time that we play catch up... Let's begin with the boy's return to Occupational and Speech Therapy this week. They've been off for a month or so due to the holidays and sickness. Both Emmett and Gavin were thrilled to get back at it. Gavin's in Speech while Emmett's in Occupational Therapy. Both of the boys did well and they had a great time. Check out the video and pictures of the boys in action.. ☺ https://youtu.be/4KibPu9MGag Next up is family therapy. Dr. Pattie gifted…

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January 19, 2017

Gavin / Happy Birthday

Today’s a very special day

I wanted to share a something about why today is so special for our family. It was on this day back in 2000, that Gavin was born. Mr. Gavin is seventeen years old today and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. He's come such a long way over the years and I couldn't be any prouder of the young man that's he's becoming... ☺ Happy Birthday Gavin. We love you very much..

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January 18, 2017

Gavin / My thoughts

I was absolutely horrified by what my son with #Autism told me today

Gavin shared something with us that came out of nowhere and caught us completely off guard. Gavin's always talking about something and honestly it gets to the point where we have to filter him out at times. The other day, Gavin was talking to me about the random things that he always does. I had started to tune the talking out and had just about done so successfully, when I heard a name that I hadn't heard in a really long time. I was instantly snapped back into the conversation and this is what Gavin told me. Continued on page 2 He explained that he had a really bad nightmare. In this nightmare, someone was slicing his (Gavin's) hands open with the a large knife. That was creepy enough but it's…

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January 18, 2017

My thoughts / Quick Update

I completed my Daddy-Do list today

My day is finally winding down and aside from dinner and putting the kids to bed later on, my Daddy-Do list is finished. I was able to put a check mark in every single box today, except time on the treadmill. I just wasn't home enough today to do that. I'm hoping to check that off the list in the morning. The boys have done really good today and I'm super proud of them, especially considering how nonstop today has been. After the kids go down, I'll bring you all up to speed on how therapies went today and something worrisome, Gavin told us about. Stay tuned..

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January 17, 2017