Understanding Sensory Processing Disorder in laymen’s terms

What Is Sensory Processing Disorder? Sensory Processing Disorder is hands down that most frustrating part of being an Autism parent, at least for me. For those unfamiliar with what I'm referring to when I say sensory issues, let me explain. Sensory processing disorder is a condition that is very common in both kids and adults with Autism. What happens is their brains don't properly interpret Sensory input correctly and this can be very problematic for them. Sensory Processing Disorder can impact adults as well. I'm specifically referring to kids because that's where my experience lies. Please don't take that as anything else. Kids with sensory processing disorder are hypersensitive to things like color, sight, sound, light, taste, texture, smells, and especially touch. How these sensitivities impact their lives can and…

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#Depression is bad but I can’t give up

I have a confessions to make. Since our trip to Florida at the beginning of October, my fitness and weight-loss efforts have been out of sync. Prior to our trip, I was doing pretty well. It wasn't easy, and I still struggled sometimes, but I was moving in the right direction. While we were gone, sticking to my diet was not really possible because of options available at the time. That being said, I still could have made better choices. I had been telling myself that once I get back home, I'll pick up where I left off. As it turns out, that's easier said than done. My discipline has gone right out the window and while I'm not gaining weight, I've stopped losing it. Lizze and I talked about…

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Gavin’s brain is getting worse

Gavin has been having serious mental and physical health problems for almost his entire life. As far as Elliott and Emmett are concerned, they've never known any different. To them, Gavin has always been like this and they never knew him before he began to change. Something that we have probably not done enough of, is sitting the two youngest down and explaining to them what Gavin is going through. There are times that they tease Gavin because they don't realize that Gavin has zero control over his inability to do or not do certain things. As an example, Gavin can't tell the difference between two of our ferrets. Tiny and Lemme do look very much alike but their faces are different. The rest of us can see the difference…

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Gavin did something truly awesome today

I wanted to share something really cool that Gavin did today. Actually, it's a couple of cool things. I don't want to short change him. ☺ This afternoon, Akron Children's Hospital delivered Gavin's IVIG infusion supplies. I physically received them and signed the paperwork. When I brought them into the house, I handed Gavin the inventory list and told him to make sure we received everything we were supposed to get. It was a slower process for Gavin in because he doesn't process things very quickly anymore. That being said, he went through everything, matched it up to the list and identified supplies we were missing. I knew we were missing a few supplies because they were out of stock and scheduled for delivery next week sometime. I didn't tell…

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#Autism Parenting: Let this be a lesson in what not to do

I wanted to take a minute and talk about a mistake I made in regards to my kids with Autism, specifically Emmett. I've been working on this unboxing project and have had an unbelievable response from really big companies. A huge box arrived today from the awesome people behind Hexbugs.. Here's where I made my mistake. I was so excited to hear that they wanted to take part in this project by sponsoring a video, that I couldn't wait to tell Emmett. Emmett is a Hexbug fanatic and has been since he first discovered them years ago. I knew they would be arriving today, but I didn't know what was going to be in the box. I wasn't thinking when I told Emmett about this because I told him about…

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It all worked out well

For the first time in a long while, we were able to sleep in today. In fact, Lizze is still sleeping. She's been sick for awhile now and because of the weather, she's been in a tremendous amount of pain. She's deserves to have a day like this. We have nothing to do and it's not hurting anything. ☺ Gavin been playing a new game in his tablet and keeping updated about his progress every few minutes. Yes, it's super annoying but he's so excited and proud of himself . I'll just continue to suck it up, it's for a good cause. Right now, I'm just waiting for the boys to get dismissed. We have to swing by my parents house and pick up their clothes from last night. After…

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Why the NeuroPsych testing is so important

I know is there isn't anything that I can do but I'm really upset that Gavin's testing was canceled. The last time he had NeuroPsych testing was on 7/01/2014. I know that because I pulled his report. I thought it was longer than that but I guess not. There are a few reasons that this test is so important. The first is that it gives us a complete picture of where he is, how he thinks, what his capabilities are, where his weaknesses are and what we can do to help. One of the big take aways from last time was learning how Gavin's memory worked. He struggles with memory big time but at the time of his precious testing, they discovered that his brain is retaining the information but…

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We had a big surprise tonight

It's a school night and we are down two kids. Even though Gavin's appointment was canceled, my parents took the two boys overnight and will them to school anyways. This was really amazing because we haven't had a break from the boys in a long time. Gavin stayed with us and we decided to take advantage of this. We took Gavin to dinner and then to see the new Thor movie. He was funny because the movie didn't start until 8:30 PM and he was so worried about missing his bedtime. lol The movie was amazing and Gavin was so tired after. Gavin is very focused on his schedule and routine, disrupt it at your own peril. It's good to sometimes disrupt his schedule or routine every once in awhile…

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