Autism In Our Home - Tap-Out

This is a picture of Josh tapping out Braxton. It's not as scary as it looks! Braxton didn't clean up after dinner, so he gets to wrestle with Dad. It's completely legit! :) When the kids have a rough day, then tend to try to take their dad down. One day last week, Jackson decided to launch himself into our bed to wrestle Josh. The only problem was that I was IN the bed. No bueno!

One of THE most frustrating things about Autism in OUR home is that it is impossible to know what is going on in Colton's mind. It is impossible to try to understand why he does some of the things that he does. It is also impossible to know how to deal with it. At this point, every one of his toys has been taken away. He has lost privileges to all of the gaming systems. He has had to sit on his bed every day after school. Nothing seems to do anything.

This morning, Josh got a call from Kaydon that Colton had taken off on a scooter north on 5000 west. Josh told Kaydon to go get him and Josh left work to head home and deal with it. By the time Josh got there, Kaydon and Colton were getting home. Colton had gone, gotten into a pasture that is owned by who knows who, and pet their horses. YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!!! But, what do we do? What else is there for us to do? Does Colton not understand that those actions are not okay? Does he care? How do we make him understand? How do we make him see that there are consequences? What consequences do we use?

Josh called me after leaving home and told me what had happened. He is so frustrated, so tired. We both said over and over to each other, "I don't know what to do." We both have to work full-time. His brothers can't be with him every minute. Do we start putting locks on doors and cupboards and the refrigerator? Do we hire a nanny for an almost 12-year old? We don't know what to do. Sometimes we feel like tapping out, at least I do! Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air and just yelling at the walls. Sometimes I know my husband feels like doing the same thing. But we keep going. We keep trying.

Sometimes this life with Autism is just plain hard.