I'm writing this from timeout.  That's right, timeout. At this very moment, I'm in a really bad place and so I've placed myself in timeout while Lizze sits with the boys and puts them bed. Elliott and Emmett have been fighting all evening.  To be honest with you,  I just can't take anymore right now.  There is so much screaming in this house that it's maddening.  I don't even know why they are fighting in the first place.  I'm sure it has something to do with the Gavin Effect, at least in part.  The Gavin Effect is the issues that stem from Gavin being present in the house.  The stress and tension that is produced by his behaviors, even when he's making good choices, could be cut with a knife. …

This week begins our return to the Cleveland Clinic.  Lizze has moved all her specialized care from Canton to Cleveland.  This was done because she was receiving inadequate care locally.  We will begin a sting of about half a dozen appointments in the morning with a return to the Cleveland Clinic's Headache Clinic. We are still waiting for insurance approval in order her to get into the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program.  Currently, she's on the waiting list and we don't expect her to gain entrance for at least another month, even if it's approved by insurance. Tomorrow's appointment will be a medication check and removal.  She needs to be off all her preventatives  because they are what is likely causing the migraine cycle.  We need to know now to safely…

I'm generally a happy person but sometimes I really hate the holidays.  Those sometimes tend to be when we begin experiencing all the fallout from all the overstimulation and excitement. I mean, it never fails.  No matter how hard we try to avoid this, not only for our sakes but for the sakes of the kids as well, it seems an inevitable fate. Right now, Elliott and Emmett but especially Elliott, are tippy toe dancing on my last nerve.  I love them but how crap are they driving me crazy right now.  Elliott is literally whining about everything and refusing to eat.  He's also super clingy right now as well.  Emmett is very easily frustrated and also seems to relish pushing Elliott's self-destruct button. Lizze is just physically so far…

Chloe is a very good friend of mine, who just happens to be living with Autism. Chloe has provided me with a great deal of invaluable insight that has helped me to better understand my own kids. I value her opinion greatly and I very much support the message she is delivering in the following post. :-)   My name is Chloe Rothschild. I am a young adult who has Autism. I write for www.special-ism.com. I advocate for Autism. I want to help people understand Autism better. Rob asked me if I wanted to write a guest post and of course I said I would be happy to. J   The shooting in Connecticut was shocking, heart breaking, awful, horrible, tragic and so much more. When I first heard about the…

I wanted to take a few minutes and say something to all the parents that are new to the #autism journey.  I'm not an expert by any stretch of the word, however, I have accumulated a great deal of experience over the past decade.  One of the first things I can tell you is not to listen to everyone who tells you what to do.  I know that ironic, considering I offering advice but let me explain.  Autism is profoundly different for every person that's diagnosed.  This means that no two people with autism are exactly the same.  I find that all too often, people forget this truly important autism fact. They will try to tell you what to do because it worked for them.  Maybe it will also work…

Elliott and I have been playing MineCraft on Android for awhile now.  However, he just discovered that it's on the xbox 360 as well. I used the very last of my Microsoft points to grab it off of xbox live. Elliott is thrilled. MineCraft is a great game that anyone can play.  It encourages use of his imagination and fosters creativity.  He essentially get a blank pallet and can create anything his amazing mind can think up. I would recommend this game to anyone with a child. More importantly, I would recommend MineCraft to anyone with an autistic child that likes games and enjoys creating things.