Elliott is going through a very hard time.  It was extremely challenging to get him to go to school today. Since being home, he's had a few meltdowns over things that shouldn't really be that big of a deal. He's extremely anxious and overwhelmed. I spoke with his school counselor today and shared my concerns.  She mentioned that she has been noticing Elliott looking distraught and exhausted. Tonight he had a really hard time falling asleep.  He slept for a few minutes before making his way downstairs.  Lizze and I decided to let him sleep on the couch tonight. I will sleep on the other couch and hopefully Elliott will awake rested. I'm really concerned that the stress of everything in our lives is having a profoundly negative impact on…

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole Kelli Stapleton thing.  She is charged with the attempted murder of her 14 year old daughter with Autism. This was an apparent murder suicide attempt. I think what she did is indefensible but at the same time, how can we as a civilized society allow a situation to get so out of hand that a parent feels they have no other choice. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Stapleton family, especially Izzy. We pray for a speedy recovery. No child, regardless of how challenging, deserves to be murdered.  I believe so strongly that we have to raise awareness for special  needs parents. We have to be able to provide relief and support to parents before they reach the…

I wanted to take a minute and update you all as to where we stand on the medication crisis we've been trying to resolve for the past 2 weeks.  Just to recap.  Gavin was forced change insurance carriers as the state of Ohio is making all those on disability to switch off of Medicaid. Since the switch, Buckeye has been refusing to pay for Gavin's Clozapine because he's taking a dose that is higher than  recommended. That said, the higher dose is absolutely essential. Anyway, he had run out of Clozapine and insurance was still refusing to cover this $400 or $500 prescription. Dr.  Reynolds, Gavin's psychiatrist, has been working really hard to get this overturned. Today we received word that after going toe to toe with the doctors for…

One of the biggest struggles many parents with Autistic children have, has to do with feeding or mealtimes. I can say from personal experience, that this is one of our biggest struggles as well.  I think that it's a common misconception to think that kids on the Autism Spectrum are just picky eaters. In truth, I suppose it looks that way to the outsider but in reality, it's much, much more complicated than that. While I can't and won't speak for your child, I can share what I know about mine.  Many, many kids on the Autism Spectrum, also have something called Sensory Processing Disorder as well.  In a nutshell, this basically means that their body struggles with interpretation of sensory input. This can result in extreme overreactions to things…

At some point last night, Emmett climbed into our bed. Normally, that's something that would wake me up. I woke up around 2am because Mr. Emmett has glued himself to my person.  Once I woke up and realized this, I couldn't go back to sleep. Eventually I moved to the couch because the last thing in the world I wanted to do was wake him up. The only thing worse than having to move to the couch, would be Emmett waking up at 2am and not going back to bed.  I'm sooooo tired... This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Follow @Lost_and_Tired Visit the My Autism Help Forums To reach me via email, please Contact Me

I mentioned earlier that Emmett's been really, really grouchy. We weren't sure what was going on but we figured it out tonight, as we were getting him ready for bed. Turns out that he's broken out in a bunch of new and painful mouth sores. I'm not sure how long they've been there but they are definitely there now. Last week he had them along his gum line but they cleared up after about 7 days.  These appear to have popped up today and they are making him very, very grouchy. I have a feeling that it's going to  be a long weekend. :-( This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Follow @Lost_and_Tired "Like" me on Facebook Visit the…

Today has been insane.  Gavin and I seem to be the only ones to survive it unscathed. Emmett's been melting down on and off since he arrived home from school. Elliott's been right there with him. Emmett had an awesome day at school, so I have no idea why he's so upset. Elliott, on the other hand, was being teased today and that upset him. They were talking about their favorite cartoons and Elliott said that he likes My Little Pony.  Everyone laughed at him and his friends have been teasing him today as a result.  While I don't have an issue with Elliott liking My Little Pony, when he said that he announced that to his class,  I was like oooooooohhhhh. Elliott simply likes shows or cartoons with animals.…

After very long morning, we've finally made it home. Gavin had his appointment with Dr.  Moodley and while we have good news to share, I'm uncomfortable with it. Gavin had a neuro exam today and Dr. Moodley says that if we didn't know he had Autonomic Dysfunction, He'd say that Gavin was perfectly normal. He said that we know he's not but that's just how well he's doing at the moment.  Why does this make me uncomfortable? Shouldn't this be good news? Yes this is good news and yes it also makes me uncomfortable. The reason it makes me uncomfortable is because all of a sudden, everything is fine now. Why is it fine now, what's changed? Is this the calm before the storm? Is this a sign that he's…