Read more about the article Here’s an update, it’s been a minute
My thoughts

Here’s an update, it’s been a minute

It's been a minute since I've been here. Life is taking me in multiple directions and to be completely honest, I've been struggling. So much has happened over the last few weeks. There's been joy, heartache, victories, COVID, setbacks, and even major milestones. Objectively speaking, life in my house of autism is going well. We had our first battle with COVID since the pandemic began. Elliott, Emmett, and I all experienced mild, allergy-like symptoms for a week or so. Elliott is the only one to actually tested positive for COVID, and Gavin was the only one who didn't appear to be affected. Thankfully, we're all out of quarantine. Elliott missed the last two weeks of the school year because he kept testing positive but everything worked out, and most importantly,…

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May 31, 2022
Read more about the article Summing up my experience at The Converge Autism Summit
My thoughts

Summing up my experience at The Converge Autism Summit

At the end of April, I drove to Greenville, South Carolina. They invited me to attend and promote The National Converge Autism Summit, put on by Springbrook Autism Behavioral Health. This was the first time I agreed to attend anything like this before, especially in person. It's been a few weeks, and the dust has settled. I wanted to share how the trip went, and talk a little about my first experience of attending a conference. First, my purpose for being there was to promote the conference. That included documenting my experiences, sharing on social media, and interviewing the keynote speakers. This was a great opportunity to grow professionally, and I took full advantage. It's not every day that I get a chance to sit down with Temple Grandin and…

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May 23, 2022
Read more about the article One day at a time
COVID19 / My thoughts

One day at a time

I spoke with the schools this morning and there's a better than average chance that we're done with school for the year. It ends next week and with Elliott testing positive yesterday, odds are he's done for the year. The same goes for Emmett because he's showing symptoms as well. Emmett, Gavin, and I will retest tomorrow. Gavin's doing fine. No symptoms and he's just carrying on like normal. I feel like shit, if I'm being honest. It's mostly a headache that I can't seem to shake right now but I feel run down, and I could sleep all day, if life allowed. Elliott's been sleeping a lot as well. Emmett seems to be doing okay, but he's always miserable when he has a cold, and his symptoms are similar…

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May 20, 2022
Read more about the article #COVID has struck my household for the 1st time and I’m feeling overwhelmed
My thoughts

#COVID has struck my household for the 1st time and I’m feeling overwhelmed

I'm going to be honest. The level of overwhelmed that I'm currently at is tough for me to manage. There's a great deal of change occurring in my life all at once and while most of it is positive, not all of it is. To top it all off, we got hit with a whammy tonight. I'll just start out by saying that I realize that I'm not thinking about all this as clearly as I could be. I'm distracted and exhausted. I had to move a meeting this morning because Elliott was home from school and I need to take care of a few things that came up at the last minute. After that, I crashed for a good chunk of the day. Elliott was home sick, Emmett was…

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May 18, 2022
Read more about the article I had an unbelievably good day and yet I’m struggling a little bit
My thoughts

I had an unbelievably good day and yet I’m struggling a little bit

I've had an unbelievably good day. I'm starting a new job that I can't wait to talk about, and it's perfect for me. I'm so freaking excited because it's going to allow me to build a better future for my kids and grow my efforts. It's been a long time coming and I hope I can live up to the expectations. I was able to spend some time talking to my friend Kate Swenson from Finding Cooper's Voice on the pod this morning. She's one of my favorite people and we had a fantastic conversation. I'll let you know when to expect the episode to drop. Can't wait for you to hear it. My friends from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will be on the pod again tomorrow to update…

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May 17, 2022
Read more about the article I couldn’t be prouder
Elliott / My thoughts / Proud Dad Moments

I couldn’t be prouder

I want to remind all the parents out there to never lose hope. This will be very short and I feel like the picture says it all. My kids have been in a charter school for kids on the spectrum, since kindergarten. The idea of mainstreaming seemed scary and frankly, impossible at times. I always pushed the idea aside thinking I was doing what was best for my kids. I genuinely felt I was doing what was best. Fast forward to Elliott's sophomore year at the charter school and he became the target of bullying that was relentless and not handled well by the school at first. He decided that he wanted to transfer high schools, more than 3/4 of the way through the year. I wasn't very comfortable with…

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May 15, 2022
Read more about the article Seeing this made me feel good
RemasterDirector_V0
My thoughts

Seeing this made me feel good

It's been a long week. It's had some amazing highs and some heartbreaking lows. I'm currently sick, but tested negative for COVID. I really started not feeling well yesterday and I was up all night coughing, sneezing, and generally miserable. It could be worse and I'm grateful it's not. Last night, we were going to have a bonfire, the first bonfire of the year but between me not feeling well and it being in the 80's outside, we opted for a different path. Instead, we had a movie night. I had recently worked with the Uncharted movie and was sent some really cool stuff. The boys and I decided that movie night would be centered around the Uncharted movie. Gavin's a bit reclusive when it comes to watching movies as…

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May 14, 2022
Read more about the article 4 Ways to Prepare Your Autistic Child for College
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Pexels.com
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4 Ways to Prepare Your Autistic Child for College

If you are like many parents whose autistic child has decided to join college, you might be filled with anxiety and lots of questions. You might wonder what college has in store for them and wonder if they will find enough accommodations once class starts. There are all valid questions because every parent wants the best for their children. The best thing you can do as a parent is to ensure their college experience is great, and for this, you need to prepare them for the new experience. Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Pexels.com Discuss Their Courses Many autistic people want to know what to expect so they can prepare in advance. Doing so helps stop them from becoming overwhelmed which can make experiences worse for them. To avoid…

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May 14, 2022