Overstimulation Archives - The Autism Dad

The truth is I’m really struggling right now

It's been a minute since I've written anything. While this is the part where I usually apologize for that, I'm not going to do that anymore. The reason is because it ends up feeding this insane level of guilt that I feel for not writing and I need to stop that. The truth is that I'm struggling a bit right now. Honestly, I'm struggling more than a bit right now. I don't know why I try to downplay it. I want to try and explain what I'm experiencing, as it might help someone else out there feel a little less alone. I feel like I'm spread way too thin. The reality is that in some ways, I probably am, while in others, maybe not so much. I know that sounds…

0 Comments

July 12, 2022

Because You Asked / My thoughts

A few reasons why your #autistic child may be having #meltdowns after school?

A mom from one of my autism parenting support groups asked why her autistic son has meltdowns after school. This was a really good question and I wanted to share my answer here. If you're following me on IG, you may have already seen this. There could be a million reasons but I wanted to share some insight into why this may be happening. I think we, as parents, can underestimate how challenging it can be for our kids just to make it through the school day. School is not sensory friendly and there's a great deal of expectation during the school day. Simply put, school can be incredibly overwhelming for our kiddos on the spectrum and the fact they hold it together as well as they do is quite…

0 Comments

January 28, 2022

My thoughts

Teamwork is the only reason we survive

Lizze is still under the weather with a stomach thing and was unable to go with us to celebrate my Mom's birthday last night. She needed her rest and the best way to do that is without the kids bringing down the house around her. lol The boys and I had a lot of fun last night, a little too much fun actually. Holy crap were they bouncing off the walls both while we were there and when we got home. After a couple of hours, I had all I could take and we mad a graceful exit. There ended up being a ton of people present and that gets the boys overly excited. Bedtime was a serialistic nightmare but they did finally go to bed. Lizze didn't sleep well…

0 Comments

February 3, 2018

Emmett John / My thoughts / Photography

Behind the Scenes – Downtime with my youngest

There are times where the only thing I can do to help Emmett is to simply stop everything and snuggle. Emmett hasn't been feeling well and on the edge of a meltdown for the last couple of days. Many kids with Autism don't like to be touched but Emmett is someone who responds positively to affection. No matter how upset he is, I've always been able to call him over and hug or snuggle him. It usually helps him, at least to some extent. This is from the other day when Emmett was really struggling.

0 Comments

January 21, 2018

Autism Parenting Insight / My thoughts

Holiday’s can be really tough for #Autism Parents and here’s why

Easter, as with pretty much any freaking holiday that we celebrate, puts my wife and I into a position where we need to decide whether we go to see family or stay at home. At its most basic level, this is the choice between dealing with major fallout, or limiting the amount of fallout we have to deal with. When we go to holiday functions with family, we all have a good time while we're there. The problem arises when the boys become overstimulated and right about the time we get home, the meltdowns begin. I'm not sure there's ever been a holiday for us, where this wasn't an issue, As for this Easter, we will be going to celebrate with my family. The boys will have an Easter Egg…

0 Comments

April 16, 2017

Autism Parenting Woes / My thoughts

OMG…. The overstimulation

The boys arrived home tonight in a pretty decent, but absolutely overstimulated mood. Lizze's mom called to say that she apologized in advance because the boys are going to be a handful, and that they were. 😁 They had gone and done some Easter Egg hunts and one of the places involved dropping thousands of eggs from a helicopter. They had fun but way overstimulated. Emmett wanted to go to bed right away, but it was only 5PM and we weren't going to set ourselves up for him to wake up super early. He may do that anyway but at least we weren't complicit. 😁 Elliott's having a rough time sleeping but Emmett is out like a light. Gavin must have eaten something he shouldn't have because he's dealing with…

0 Comments

April 15, 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…

8 Comments

January 19, 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..

0 Comments

January 17, 2017