daddy blogs – Page 162 – The Autism Dad

My son with #Autism has bizarre pain perception

My boys all have their unique challenges but one of the ones that's the difficult for me to personally understand is pain perception. This particular challenges is isolated to Gavin alone and I'm really grateful for that. Well, I'm not grateful he has this issue but instead that it doesn't impact the other boy's as well. Anyways, this particular issue is very much sensory based from what I understand and I don't think there is much that can be done to help him with this.. Here's the problem. Ever since Gavin was little, he would freak out over the most minor of injuries, like a hangnail or paper-cut. More serious injuries like a sprained ankle, serious cut or dislocated joint.. He didn't like any of these but never gets too…

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August 21, 2015

Blood Work / Gavin

Waiting for blood work

We had to get up extra early this morning and head out to get Gavin's biweekly blood work done. This blood work is required before he can get another two weeks worth of his antipsychotic, Clozapine. The process sucks but it's a necessary evil and I understand why it has to be this way. The boys are in the back seat and waiting isn't exactly their strong suit. Emmett is playing the same song over and over and over again on his tablet O_o. Elliott is knee deep in his list of requests for the morning and I can't indulge any of them but that doesn't stop him from relentlessly asking. I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna lose my mind here.

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August 21, 2015

Inspirational Posts

The Special Needs Parenting Creed

This is something that I struggle with quite a bit but this is what I tell myself in the really bad days.. I truly hope it helps you to find the strength to make it through those really bad days.. ❤️ Please help me share this post, especially if you know someone who could really use the encouragement... Thank you.. 😀

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August 21, 2015

Inspirational Posts

I’ve been focusing on my failures a lot lately

I've been focusing a great deal on my failures lately, as the title of this post states but I'm not doing this intentionally.. I could be wrong but I suspect many of us (single and or special needs parents) do the same thing from time to time. Frankly, it's kinda hard not to, especially when you know that you can't always or ever for that matter, meet your kids needs. I can't easily explain what it feels like to know that you will never be enough to meet all of your special needs child's needs. It really isn't even a shortcoming because sometimes their needs are so demanding that it's just not possible to meet all of them.. That's a pretty logical argument but there's no logic when it…

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August 21, 2015

Divorce / My thoughts

I probably need more help than I’m getting

I had a really bad night, amounting to less than 2 hours of sleep. Emmett got up extremely early and was not going back to bed. The boys let me nap this morning and I'm grateful for that beyond words because I couldn't even get my eyes to focus. I'm lucky because as long as I'm right there, I can close my eyes for a short period of time without the universe imploding. I say I'm lucky because not everyone will even get that.. 😟 The sleep that I did get was shrouded in a disorienting theme that I'm struggling with, long after they ceased to be. Truthfully, I probably need to get a bit more help with this than I am and perhaps I'll be better able to…

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August 20, 2015

Gavin / Meltdowns / My thoughts

Gavin had his first meltdown in almost a year :(

While at therapy tonight, Gavin was building with this castle set. It wasn't going together easily and he began to get frustrated. I asked him if he was okay and suggested he take a break. Gavin got really upset and started standing on the side of his ankles, if you can picture that. When he does this, it looks like his foot was just snapped off. Anyway, he was starting to hit himself but nothing too serious. I tried to de-escalate the situation but the meltdown engine had already turned over. This is scary for me because I'm beginning to see him slipping more and more. On the positive side and much to Gavin's credit, this wasn't anything super significant. Dr. Pattie and I eventually back out of it and…

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August 20, 2015

Autism In Real Life

#Autism In Real Life: How Anxiety Impacts Decision Making

My goal is to help people better understand the impact of Autism on a daily basis. I use my family as an example and while no two people are alike, many of us face similar challenges. This is my sweet Emmett. We were going to have a special dinner before therapy tonight and I was letting the boys pick out a frozen dinner. Emmett went for the Kid Cuisines because that's his favorite. What you see in the video below is what happens every single time he has to make a decision about anything. He panics because he can't decide and is afraid of making the wrong decision. This absolutely interferes with everyday life and makes things extremely challenging.. I never get angry with him because he's doing the best…

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August 20, 2015

Gavin / Today's Victory

Today’s Victory: Putting Others First

This is a bit early for a Today's Victory but I was so impressed that I pulled the trigger and gave the award to Mr. Gavin. We all know how picky Emmett is about everything in his life and if you don't, he's really, really, really, really picky. I'm talking so picky that it's very often, literally impossible to meet his needs, especially when it comes to food. Emmett's in a fever flare and so he's eating a lot of ice cream and Popsicles because his mouth hurts so badly. He's so picky about the color of the Popsicles and the condition they're in. For example, if the Popsicle is bent, cracked or otherwise imperfect, he won't be able to eat it. Gavin asked for a Popsicle this afternoon and…

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August 19, 2015