Feb 28 2012
Gavin is currently getting hooked up to the EEG machine. They are sooooo nice and understanding. I can stay with Gavin but he’s fine and so I’ll hang in the waiting room for a few hours.
The really good news is that I can actually help out with Elliott test on Monday. Thank God for that.
There was no way that Elliott would ever go through with the EEG without me being right there with him.
They said I can absolutely be there the whole time and even help with the test.
Awesome 
Permanent link to this article: http://lostandtired.com/2012/02/28/gavins-eeg-i-can-stay/
Jan 05 2012
Today’s Victory is brought to you picture-less, by Lizze, Emmett and myself…..
We had a pretty busy day today. Emmett has been having a very rough day do his recent flare up. Lizze has been having a rough week in general.
However, we had an interview with the Canton Repository this afternoon.
I managed to get the house presentable before anyone arrived. Lizze managed to get Emmett dressed -anyone following us for awhile will know difficult that usually is- and Emmett managed to keep his clothes on for most of the day.
Most importantly, he managed to keep his clothes on while we were being interviewed and behaved like an angel. Seriously, he was perfectly behaved. He spent the whole time snuggled up with Lizze under our big fuzzy blanket.
Great team work everyone….. Now we crash the rest of the week and into the weekend. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but things like this are very stressful and exhausting for us.
It was however, a totally positive experience though.
Posted from WordPress for Android
Permanent link to this article: http://lostandtired.com/2012/01/05/todays-victory-01052012/
Nov 08 2011
I don’t know how many of you out there are experiencing the same problem but my kids really have a rough time with the the whole time change thing. I understand the principle behind the time change but I have sneaking suspicion that whoever came up with the idea did not have an Autistic child.
I hate the time change. It throws chaos in to the Lost and Tired family’s otherwise, well oiled machine. Alright, that was sarcasm, but seriously, the time change just sucks.
While my kids don’t necessarily understand the concept, they do feel the change and it disrupts their routine.
It’s like their internal clocks just won’t adjust to the difference. Their bodies are telling them that it’s 5pm and time to have dinner but the clock tells them it’s only 4pm.
Bedtime and waking up in the morning is also a challenge for us as well.
Simply put, anything that’s scheduled to happen at a certain time, meals, school, therapy, bedtime ect, is all thrown off. Last year it took Gavin and Emmett weeks to adjust to the change.
So, time change, I feel that the obligatory, screw you, is called for here. Thank you for once again, disrupting our delicate balance and confusing the heck out of my kids. 
How do your kids adjust to the time change? Do you find it a challenge or do they adjust pretty well?
Any tricks or advice you would like to share with the rest of the class? I, for one, could definitely use it.
Permanent link to this article: http://lostandtired.com/2011/11/08/screw-you-time-change/
Sep 28 2011
I make it a point to never judge someone for their parenting. I feel like, you never have the whole story so how could I possibly begin to understand what is actually going on.
With that said, I became a judge wudgy angry person today. I was at the local WalMart to pick up a few things before getting the kids from school.
As I was leaving the store I heard screaming and I mean screaming. I look over and off to the side there is this woman screaming, at her daughter. This little girl is maybe alittle older than Emmett and Emmett is only 3 years old.
She had 2 other young children with her along with her boyfriend or husband.
This woman is screaming at the top of her lungs, which by the way were filled with smoke because she was smoking right in front of her kids. She was screaming, “you will not hurt yourself” over and over again to this little girl. The more this woman screamed the more this little girl got upset. She had tears streaming down her face as this woman was blowing smoke into her face.
She even got physical with the little girl as well. She picked her up of the ground by her arms and tried getting her to stand.
The whole time I’m standing in the middle of the parking lot desperately trying to keep myself from going over there and giving this woman a piece of my mind. I couldn’t believe it, everyone just walked by like nothing was happening.
I mean, if this woman would be this abusive in public, what do you think happens behind closed doors.
I tired to rationalize what I was seeing by saying to myself, “Rob, you don’t know the whole story”.
I’ll be real honest, I don’t care what the whole story is, nothing that child could ever do would justify what I was seeing. I am very guilty of judging the crap out of this woman this afternoon and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
What I am ashamed to admit is that I did nothing. I figured that by the time the Police would have gotten there, due to their amazing slow response time, they would be long gone.
Perhaps I should have walked over and said something, but that would not have ended well and I was afraid the kid would pay for my actions later and I didn’t want that.
So I did nothing but be very obviously disgusted by what I was seeing and I stood there in the middle of the parking lot until this woman was done.
I know that being a parent isn’t easy… Trust me, I know that. However, at no point have I or my wife ever lost it like that. We all say things we regret but this was abuse, pure and simple.
It honestly took everything I had not to try and intervene.
At what point do you involve yourself in something like this?
Have any of you witnessed anything before that you wanted to go over and knock some heads?
I would love your feedback on this.
- Lost and Tired
Posted by WordPress for Android via Samsungs Epic Touch 4G (provided to me at no charge by Sprint) without the use of proper editing tools and disadvantages of a bastardized version of auto-correct. So please forgive the spelling 
Please Vote for Lost and Tired (just click the link) and help me spread Autism Awareness. Everyone can Vote once a day
Permanent link to this article: http://lostandtired.com/2011/09/28/bad-parenting/
Aug 31 2011
Elliott had is very first visit to the immunologist today. One other reasons he was referred there was of the unusual amount of respiratory infections he gets each winter. There was concern that asthma was involved.
So today we had the pulmonary testing done. Turns out Elliott has asthma and that is the likely explanation for the respiratory infections. He now has 2 inhalers and a slew of new instructions.
The other, much less pleasant part was the actual allergy testing. We opted to test via bloodwork instead of the scratch test. He needed bloodwork anyway, so this was less traumatic….at least in theory. Elliott was an emotional wreck the whole time we were there and all morning leading up to the appointment. He has really been struggling with change lately.
Elliott was so cute though, because as we were walking done the hall to the room, he noticed that he was walking down a hall way filled with automatic hand sanitizer dispensers. He couldn’t believe it. He was in heaven. It was so stinkin’ adorable. He even posed by the one in the room. I just think it’s amazing that he found that much comfort from something that simple.
Now, of course, we have to have one of those dispensers in our house cause you don’t actually have to touch it. Not sure how to get that or where to really look.
On a side note, I spoke with Dr. Pattie last night about the subject of his handwashing. She said to let it go for now because he is experiencing so much anxiety with everything, especially the school change. This simple act provides him with a great deal of comfort.
That’s actually the stance I have been taking anyway. He feels ashamed that he has to wash his hands all the time and I don’t want him feeling that. So I make sure he knows that it’s okay with us and that he has nothing to be ashamed of or be embarrassed about.
This is something that he will hopefully work through as things start to slow down for him. If not then we will have to help him more directly but for now it’s okay and I want to sure he knows that.
- Lost and Tired
Posted by WordPress for Android via Tegra 2 powered Motorola Photon 4G (provided to me at no charge by Sprint) without the use of proper editing tools and disadvantages of a bastardized version of auto-correct.
Please Vote for Lost and Tired (just click the link) and help me spread Autism Awareness. Everyone can Vote once a day
Permanent link to this article: http://lostandtired.com/2011/08/31/elliott-officially-has-asthma/
Apr 27 2011
As special needs parents we need to take everyday opportunities and use them as a means with which to teach our Autistic kids. Everyday lessons can help our kids to be better prepared for life’s everyday challenges. I try each day to teach my kids at least one thing each day. Maybe it’s a new skill or just practicing a current skill. I try to include them in activities around the house in order to show the how things are done. Regardless of my approach, my kids benefit from our time spent together…..as do I.
Yesterday I was cleaning up my computer. We use it for EVERYTHING and so it’s important to properly maintain it. Our house is old and dusty so I regularly hookup the compressor and blow all the dust out. Emmett has a strange fascination with the compressor. I say strange because he isn’t bothered by the noise. In fact purging the air has been one of his favorite things to do. He in Maggie have turned it into a game. Emmett shoots the air and Maggie eats it.
Anyway, I thought I would include Emmett this time. I figured while he’s young, he could still learn to “help”. Hands on experience is really good for kids like Emmett. He blew all the dust out of my computer and did a really good job. I’m pretty sure he felt good because he just smiled the whole time. In fact there was even enough air left in the compressor for him to “feed” Maggie. It was nice to be able to do something together.
I encourage you to include you child(ren) in everyday activities if you can. Everyday lessons are all around us. We just need to seize the opportunity.
Maggie is actually VERY careful with Emmett. It may not look like it but she is.
Permanent link to this article: http://lostandtired.com/2011/04/27/everyday-lessons-helping-hands/
Apr 02 2011
In the week or so since I shared the “My broken Heart” story about the bare handed man I’ve had a lot of time to think. Well…not really a lot of time to think….but thinking a lot of the time. This experience really knocked the wind out of me and has
me really worried about the future of my children. I wanted to share my personal fears about the future as well.. I have tried to articulate exactly what my fears are but I really struggle with finding the words. I very much would like EVERYONE in the world to know why I fear the future. I take that back because, honestly, KNOWING why I fear the future really isn’t enough. I need the world to UNDERSTAND why I fear the future.
Most, if not all special needs parents share at least one thing in common. That one thing in common is a fear of the future. I constantly ask myself, “what will happen to my Autistic children if, God forbid, something happens to my wife and I?”. Who will be there to finish the journey with them, if we cannot? What kind of support will they have? Will they end up like the “bare handed man”? I watched as he simply tried to help someone only to have that person try to run him over with her car. Is this what future holds for our special needs kids?
This is a fear we all have in common, yet rarely ever talk about. It reminds me of a book I read to my kids, “The Monster at the End of This Book”. In this book, Grover fears there is a monster at the end of the book. He spends the whole time trying to avoid even thinking about the end of the book. He does everything in his power to keep the pages from being turned, thus never arriving at the end of the book and having to face his fear. We, as special needs parents, CANNOT stop the pages of time from turning by simply avoiding the discussion. Like Grover, we can’t stop the future from coming no matter how hard we try.
I have been more stressed out then usual since I experienced this event at the Giant Eagle last week. I can’t stop circulating the same thoughts over and over in my head. Will that be Gavin’s future? Gavin is my 11 year old son and the oldest of our three special needs kids.. He suffers from Autism (more specifically Aspergers), schizoaffective disorder and quite a few other, major mental health issues. Gavin will likely never be able to function independently without some type of supervision. What happens if I’m not here to supervise him? I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it. No matter how much I may wish otherwise, I won’t live forever. Avoiding questions about the future won’t prevent anything from happening. No matter how much we as special needs parents try, we will NEVER be able to stop the pages of time from turning. At some point, whether we like it or not, we will reach the end of our book. What we find there will depend on what we do to prepare along the way. While we CANNOT avoid the future, we CAN do things to shape it.
One of the most important things I can do besides prepare my children for the future is to spread Awareness and provide the means necessary to foster understanding and compassion. I will do that by continuing to share our story with as many people as possible. I strongly encourage you all to do the same. We as a society need to teach our children from a very early age to be understanding and accepting of children that are “different”. We need to teach our children to stand up for the weak, comfort those in need and show compassion whenever possible. By teaching this to our children now, we can help to avoid our special needs kids from ever having to endure what the bare handed man did.
We only get one chance at life. Inside of that one chance is our only chance to help make the future a brighter place for our kids. Will you try to stop the pages from being turned or will you face each page with courage and hope? Will you avoid thinking about the future out of fear or will you use that fear to drive change and help build a better future for ALL our children?
Please click the “share” button at the bottom of this post and help further the discussion, spread awareness and brighten the future for all our kids. You may not have special needs children but your kids can make all the difference in the world to ours.
Permanent link to this article: http://lostandtired.com/2011/04/02/the-future-fear-and-autism/
Rob Gorski is a husband and father of 3 boys on the Autism Spectrum. Gorski began his writing career in June of 2010 with his multiple award winning blog Lost and Tired: Confessions of an Autism Dad. Recently cited as the 3rd most influential Autism Blogger on the internet by Dr. Oz's Sharecare website, where he is an expert on Autism.
His mission is to create dialogue, spread Autism Awareness, educate the public on how technology can benefit a special needs family and do so in ways that society can relate to and understand.
Gorski advocates for special needs families and those on the Autism Spectrum, both young and old.
Find Me Here