I wanted to share this video with you all. This video is by a man named Stuart Chaifetz and is in response to to his son Akian being bullied by his teachers at school. This is so important to watch because Stuart is making this public in order to shine the spotlight on what is happening to kids with Autism while at school. Obviously not all teachers and schools are a problem but Stuarts story is not uncommon at all and that's really sad. Please watch and share this video and help Stuart in his quest to end bullying. He is handling this very, very well and with a great deal of tact and class, which is much more than these teachers involved deserve. I have crazy mad respect for Stuart…

Every single school year for the Lost and Tired family ends the same way, with summer break. Despite our best efforts to prepare ourselves for this period of time that is any but a break,  we always end up a day late and a dollar short. What I mean is that our plans always seem to fall through and the summer just seems to drag on forever. When your dealing with kids with special needs,  despite how much you may enjoy having them home,  time slows to a crawl and your sanity,  patience and energy slowly erode away.  This often find myself driven to the very edge of sanity and then kicked out of the car while it's still moving,  leaving me stranded and trying to locate all my missing…

The weighted blanket has returned to every day use.  For the longest time,  Emmett refused to use his weighted blanket.  I'm not sure why he stopped wanting to use it but he did. However,  as quickly as he stopped using it,  he started using it again. For the last week or so,  he's been using his weighted blanket at night and nap times.  I'm not sure why he has chosen to use his blanket again but I wonder if it has anything to do with no longer having OT? It really seems to help him sleep and that's always a good thing. Do you folks have any stories to share about weighted blankets?  I would love to hear them. **Thanks for reading**        -Lost and Tired Please join…

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning,  I just know how the day is going to go. For example,  this morning I woke up to Elliott running into our room yelling "emergency, emergency.  Emmett just jumped on Gavin's testicles". Poor Gavin,  that's not a really good way to start the day.  He took it like a champ and when he was able to speak again,  he told Emmett it was okay.  Sorry buddy,  I know badly that hurts but I'm really proud of how you handled it. **Thanks for reading**        -Lost and Tired Please join our Autism Help Forum Look for "Autism Help" app at the Google Play Store Posted from WordPress for Android so please forgive any typos as auto-correct and I don't see eye…

While I was giving my riveting speech (sarcasm)  last night at Stark State College,  Lizze was home with the boys. Unfortunately, they were less than well behaved. The highlight of the evening had to be Emmett biting Gavin on the butt.  That's right, on the butt. He actually broke the skin,  and he bit through all his clothes. For obvious reasons,  I don't have a picture to share,  but pretty ugly.  You may remember about a year ago,  Emmett had bitten Gavin on the stomach and broken the skin. Gavin needed and received a tetanus shot.  So he's okay as far as that goes.....thankfully. That doesn't however,  address the issue of Emmett biting again. If Elliott had been bitten,  he would have needed a tetanus shot and that wouldn't have…

I wanted to briefly update everyone as to the current status of Emmett's speech and OT therapies.  As you may recall, Emmett has been denied any further speech or OT because he hasn't made enough progress and so the insurance company doesn't think he will ever improve.  I don't think I need to say just how I feel about that.  Anyways,  I have formally filed for an appeal.  I figure that I will make every effort to go about this in the right way. The process was really easy and only took a few minutes over the phone. Having said that,  I'm not afraid of making this as ugly for the insurance company as possible and in a very publish way. To many kids are being denied essential services due…

As many of you know,  I was a guest speaker at Stark State College tonight for a class of education majors and preschool teachers. The topic was #Autism and this was my very first time public speaking. If any of you reading this actually sat through my talk,  I apologize.  It was pretty rough as I'm not used to speaking about #Autism in person.  Plus I was really tired from a day spent at Akron Children's Hospital. Hopefully,  it wasn't to bad.  :-) Having said that,  I think this was a really positive experience for me and for #Autism Awareness. I would honestly like to do this more often.  I think that I would do a better job going forward as I would be better prepared. What a great way…

At this very moment,  I'm recovering from a crazy busy day and preparing for my guest lecture tonight at Stark State College. I'm also,  literally,  buried under two dogs.  This is what life looks like from my perspective,  at this very moment.. :-) **Thanks for reading**        -Lost and Tired Please join our Autism Help Forum Look for "Autism Help" app at the Google Play Store Posted from WordPress for Android so please forgive any typos as auto-correct and I don't see eye to eye. :-)