My son is self injuring again. It didn't stop for long but he picks up something different after a while. It started with head banging, then biting himself as well as others, then pinching his skin and now he skin picks. There are other things he does as well but these actions were very constant. He will stick touch hot things and sharp nails. He also can go outside in the freezing cold half naked.(NO... I don't let him. He slipped onto the screened in porch once or twice LOL) I was really concerned in September because he had made marks all over his arms, legs, and back of neck, so I brought him to the doctor who discussed meds. I am really not sure how I feel about them. They talked about Tenex which is pretty safe from what I have read but I would rather not put him on meds.



Without medication, what do I do to ensure that he does not self injure? I have tried using stickers to encourage him not to pick and I have tried giving him alternate ideas to satisfy his sensory needs but I think it is the feeling that he perceives when he is picking. I am going to try redirecting him to a positive alternative. Not so sure what that  may be but there has to be something. He used to have a pacifier and we stopped that because of his speech therapist which is when the biting started. Eventually he was biting his pillow case and now that that stopped he was pinching himself. I would honestly rather give him a pacifier again. I know that won't work now though.

Questions remain and answers are hard to find. When parents talk to the doctors they are so quick to put the child on medication without looking into the root of the problem. I am looking for more natural remedies to resolve this. Last night he was playing with a rubber band. I thought it was okay because he wasnt making himself bleed. That's an improvement, right? Wrong.... instead he left a welt on his arm. He didn't even react to it as if he were in pain. I found this concerning. Although I don't like to make a big deal of these situations to my son I did feel it would make a great awareness video for others to see first hand how a child on the spectrum's words, and facial expressions can mean two different things. Here is the video of my son when I asked him how it felt when he flicked himself.



I told him that it wasn't nice to hurt his skin and that it makes mommy sad to see him hurt himself. I am not sure that he understood and I am sure that I will have more situations like this in the future but at the moment I will continue to encourage him to engage in positive ways to stim. I think this is a stim.  Any thoughts on this???

We tried doing this activity with him the other day and it ended in a huge melt down. It went wonderful yesterday and he was interacting with his sister.

This is Orange Bear

This is a full size pic of the two comfies

Charlie went to school this morning with both of his comfies. Their names are Orange Bear and Doggie. I am on an all out hunt for these poor missing friends of my son's. When he came home from school he did not have them with him. I called the school and they said they were in his backpack, but they were not. I also called the bus company but no luck there either. We have no clue where they are and my son is NOT happy!!! He cried after school and then he was crying at bedtime. I did happen to purchase a spare "Doggie", and I gave it to him, but he wants his old Doggie back. Truth is, so do I!!! The questions remain, "Will he last through the night?, Is he gonna get on the bus in the morning?" These questions will undoubtedly be answered tomorrow. They also result in my desire to reunite Charlie with his comfies. These comfies keep me sane and keep him comfortable.


 As important as they are for him, I want you to understand why they mean so much to me as well. I know I have spoken about his comfies before briefly, but I want to be a little more descriptive. Doggie has been in our house the longest and he was bought when Charlie saw him at a shopping trip. I thought I could get away with buying him a one dollar matchbox but nope, he wanted Doggie. Doggie was a ten dollar dog toy, that is actually a fox (don't tell my son that though). He is very soft and comfy and his head and tail have squeekies in them. Charlie doesn't like that part too much.

You would usually find Doggie wrapped around Charlie's neck. It was Doggies favorite spot and Charlie loved how comfy Doggie was. Doggie kept my house a little calmer and helped Charlie go to sleep easier too. Doggie went everywhere with my son, school, therapy, the store, the park, ect. They share many memories. Just last night Charlie was insistent that Doggie, and Orange Bear needed vitamins as well and they even help him eat his eggs in the morning. They are active members of my household and we want them back.

I have told you the story behind Doggie and feel compelled to share Orange Bears story as well. Orange bear belonged to Charlie's Dad, then his brother and now him. He stumbled upon Orange Bear at the very bottom of his brother's toy box and has been stuck to him ever since. Orange Bear has even gone on the horse with him. He loves him. A good part of this is because he is orange and orange is Charlie's favorite color, but also how soft and comfy he is. Charlie has Sensory Processing Disorder and he really likes soft items. If you have something really comfy and want to keep it in your possession, don't let him see or feel it.

These comfies are like people to Charlie. He talks to them, talks through them and loves them. They sleep, eat, and play with him. They are his best friends. Children on the spectrum tend to find it difficult to gain and maintain friendships. Charlie counters this difficulty with his comfies. He will talk to another child through his comfy. I found this interesting. He is problem solving sort of, cause he is attempting to socialize.  What could have happened to his precious friends is a mystery. Many thoughts wonder in my head. One is that maybe this was the teachers way of finalizing the fact that she didn't want the comfies in school, but I don't want to accuse. It is also possible that the aide put them in the wrong backpack. I like the later explanation better but whatever may have happened I do hope that they will come back home.

This is a picture of my son, he has sensory issues that involve certain sounds and this picture speaks very loudly.

Today was a pretty rough day. Charlie woke up and didn't want to got to school. I am not sure that I blame him. He said that his teacher will not allow him to have his comfy at school. While I can try to relate and understand what the teacher is trying to accomplish this is putting an emotional stress on my son. He uses his comfy as a calming technique and although I may not understand it completely, I don't see it harming anything. Earlier this year Charlie started coming home with wounds on his legs, neck or arms. After some thought and investigating we realized he was picking his skin during nap time. Now, he does this at home and we were working on it, but it wasn't occurring at school. I approached the teacher and spoke to her gave a few suggestions while I was at it.

Soon after the teacher stopped nap time, which was when my son was picking, and told him he didn't need to bring his pillowcase into school. I visited the school and observed my son in class. He was sitting in circle time and not participating. They sing certain songs every day so he should know them, and when his classmate went to shake his hand he didn't even reach it out to the kid. The other child actually picked my son's limp hand off his lap and shook it as they said hello to him. Charlie didn't even grin. I then listened as the teacher yelled at my son for chewing on his shirt. I approached the teacher about this at a later time and told her I didn't see a problem with it and unless she was going to redirect him to an acceptable "stim" then leave him alone. The teacher was not happy but I feel as if my son needs this stimulation in order to process what is going on around him. Anyone else have these issues with teachers? What do you feel is acceptable for our children's comfort? I mean this is an integrated special needs school. This teacher is in a setting where she must adapt to the children. I thought. Am I wrong?

Tonight, he came home from school and was not in a good mood at all. He wanted pumpkin pie and well, I didn't have any. Watch for yourself.... I stopped recording after a while because he wasn't calming and I needed to intervene differently, but, in the end he was happy eating an ice cream sandwich and orange sherbert. The funniest thing is I had asked him if he would like that instead like 5 times. Grrrrrr...........

TSo, We did it!!  We survived the whole day and I am alive, with hair!!! Charlie really tried to sit at the table tonight to eat but well, that did not work. So I had him sit away from the other children,but with me!! He loved the sweet potatoes and stuffing. He only ate a little turkey. It was a big step though. He tried the corn but says he doesn't like it anymore. I don't understand it, but maybe it is a texture thing. It went pretty good. I wanted to start by sharing the video of my children and what they were thankful for. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


There were a couple spills and a lot of craziness but I chose not to have any family over because it always seems to overwhelm my son. The other kids were a little disappointed but I am sure they appreciated not having food fly or shrieking shrills through the house. It just gets pretty crazy. I do feel guilty at times for the other children but I think that is better than them dealing with the behavior that follows over stimulation.

All of the children seemed to be very content and happy. I mean we had our fights over Mario Brothers and who was gonna be first, but that is normal. Then we had a couple melts over little issues that were easily resolved and then well.... Then we had the topper of the evening.

Charlie and Jacob had decided to carry moon sand from one room to another and had it everywhere. What a mess but I cleaned it up and Charlie and Jocelyn helped me too. It wasn't that bad. So... looking at my day this year and remembering my day last year, ummm... I think we had an extraordinarily Thanksgiving. So, What do I have to be thankful for?

If I had been asked this question about a week ago, I would have laughed. Thankful, yeah right!! But looking at my children today and hearing the laughter in their voices made me think about this. I asked my children at mealtime as we do every year. My daughter said she was thankful for me and that just made my day. While I do have my bad days it is days like this that make it all come together. Days like this that make me remember why I accept the title Mom. Looking at my children and knowing I do have a lot to be thankful for.

I am thankful for lasting through each day, sometimes I don't feel as if the end will come. I am thankful that my youngest son is who he is. That might confuse some but I don't want a cure for his autism. I want people to accept him for who he is. He wouldn't be him without his quirks. I am thankful to have two wonderful little girls. They are complete opposites so I get the best of both worlds. Although both of them are moody as hell and have a nasty attitude when they get upset. I am thankful for my son Jacob because he makes me see the sensitive side to life and his sweet eyes lighten my heart when I feel like everything is crazy. Lastly I am thankful my sisters, those whom I recently came in contact with again as well as all the others. It was my first Thanksgiving that I said Happy Thanksgiving to my sister in over 6 years. It was definitely a great feeling. It is nice to have family and friends who will stick by me no matter what I am going through. Thank you to all who have helped me and those who continue to help me jump over the hurdles of motherhood and life. Motherhood is not easy but it is wonderful to have people supporting me on my journey on another planet.