This is one of those days days where I find myself overwhelmed and frustrated by all that goes into special needs parenting. As many of you know,  I'm a father to 3 special needs boys. All 3 are on the #Autism spectrum.  My oldest is very medically complex and my youngest has a rare fever disorder. Life is so complicated that at times I literally feel as though we will never get through this. What has me the most frustrated,  at least right now, is Gavin's health. Gavin is dealing with Asperger's, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, ptsd, conduct disorder, ocd, adhd, epilepsy, asthma, autonomic disorder, primary immunodeficiency, cognitive regression, memory loss,  neurological degradation and most likely mitochondrial disease.  As you can no doubt imagine, this presents many, many challenges in…

First of all, I want to say that this was totally Gavin's idea. He's wants to share something that is helping him to manage his anger and frustration. I really think he likes the idea of being able to help other kids that are challenged by anger and frustration. I'm really proud of him. :-) Here's a little background. This came about the other day while at therapy. Because Gavin is struggling with neurological degradation, one of the issues is that he has lost some control over his tongue. This means that sometimes he can be difficult to understand. This can be very frustrating for him, especially if someone asks him to repeat himself.  That's what prompted him to work with his  speech therapist and create this list.  He came up…

I wanted to open up a dialogue about #Autism and medication. I receive many emails asking for advice about whether or not I think it's okay to medicate their child for #Autism related behavioral issues etc. I wanted to open this up to discussion.  What is your personal experience with deciding whether or not to medicate your child, for whatever reason? What were your concerns? Was your doctor helpful? Have medications benefited your child or not? I think this is an important topic because so many of us struggle with deciding whether or not to medicate our child. Hearing from other parents can really be a positive thing, regardless of opinions. Knowing that your are not the only one that has had to make this difficult decision can be comforting.…

I was recently interviewed by Shane B. Kulman from Your Beautiful Child Radio. I discuss things ranging from parenting, relationships, #Autism Awareness, Lost and Tired, schooling, discipline and much more.  Shane is an awesome person doing an amazing job in the special needs community and I really enjoyed this opportunity to share my thoughts on many #Autism and family related issues. I want to thank Shane for this awesome opportunity and fantastic dialogue. Please check my interview out below. By clicking the link you will be taken to contact talk radio and the interview will play. I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings on the topics discussed. Click here to listen to Shane and I speak on these topics ----------> Your Beautiful Child Radio