Something happened today that has never happened before, at least that I can remember.  Elliott took a 4 hour nap yesterday afternoon.  He's never been relaxed enough to really do something like that. He was snuggled up with his kitten, Dean, and sleeping away like a baby. I was actually quite amazed. Normally, if you even bring up the idea of a nap, Elliott will freak out.  However, with Dean snuggled up with him on his bed purring, Elliott was just out like a light.  I'm really hoping that Dean with have a positive impact on him. If yesterday was any indication, this could indeed be very positive. I also don't mean this in the sense that it's Dean's job to make Elliott feel better.  However, much like Bella helped…

As you know, Elliott has been wanting a kitten in the worst way imaginable.  He used to have a cat and few years ago named Ducky.  We had to say goodbye to Ducky because he was very aggressive and Elliott was getting hurt.  As much as he loved Ducky, he was equally scared of him as well. When the whole idea of another cat came up, Lizze and I were both like oh hell no. However, after my near death experience with mouse in my bathroom last week, I had a change of heart. Anyway,  for most of our lives together, Lizze and I have always had 3 cats and 1 or 2 dogs.  Cleo has been an only cat for a few years and isn't exactly the best moucer. …

Today is the day we put up our sensory friendly Christmas tree. We use an artificial tree that doesn't have the smell of pine, which I happen to really like,  but the rest of my family doesn't.  We have also moved to plane white lights.  Gone are the flashing, chasing or strobe lights.  Bright, Shiney, and noisy ornaments have gone extinct in our house as well.  Homemade paper ornaments are all you'll find on our Christmas tree. While it may not be as bright and festive as most others, it's also not going to push my kids and wife over the edge and into an overstimulated free fall. As far as decorating around the house, we keep things very simple. In a family with 4 people on the #Autism spectrum,…

I wanted to share the information we received from the Cleveland Clinic's exclusive Pain Rehabilitation Program coordinator yesterday. Lizze got the call yesterday afternoon. Here is what we learned. The soonest Lizze will get in to the program is going to be late January. There is a waiting list and they are requiring Lizze to have her sleep study -for apnea- and her follow up appointment with her sleep neurologist before she enters the program. Her sleep study is this coming week and her follow up appointment is still a couple weeks out. We also got a breakdown of expenses as well. This is the list of known expenses as of this point in time. 1) Cheapest Hotel is $70/night x 15 nights = $1,050.00. 2) Various textbooks will be…

It occurred to me the other day that I almost never use the word #Autism anymore.  On occasion, I use it in the title of a post, mostly for SEO reasons.  However, most of the time when I talk about my kids anymore, I don't use the word #Autism. It got me thinking.  Does that mean something? Is me not using the word #Autism as often anymore have some deeper meaning? The only time that I'm aware of using the words #Autism in regards to my kids anymore is usually when I'm sharing stories about our experience or maybe talking to their therapist. To me, my boys are just my boys.  I've never defined them by their diagnosis and so majority of the time #Autism never crosses my mind. Perhaps,…

I try to have this discussion every year about this time.  I personally enjoy and actually learn quite a bit about how your family handles the Christmas Holiday. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, I realize that.  The question is basically, how do you handle the holiday season? This tends to be a very overstimulating time of year for many kids and adults only the #Autism spectrum. It would be great if we could share some tips or tricks on how you minimize the holiday stress for your child on the sectrum. In the comments below, please share with us, how you handle the Christmas/Holiday season? How do you make it easier for your child with #Autism? How does your child on the spectrum respond to all the bright light, noise and…