A question of safety

Having children with special needs comes with a lot of things, therapy after therapy, doctors appointments, State Insurance reviews, form after forms, 504 and IEP meetings, stress and often a great deal of worrying about the child.

Then there are the typical concerns for your typical kids that parents try to teach their child about. Stranger danger and bullying. We ALL have to worry about our kids at school and the new threats they face with "active shooters". For parents like myself, we worry a great deal about safety. I worry about my youngest running away, darting out, hiding in the woods or heading to a body of water, not responding when called or asking for help. It's scary. I'm constantly in Emergency Management mode for E more so then N. I worry that I concentrate so much on the boys that sometime I forget to check in on my daughter. So I have to overcompensate and make sure she is taken care of as well.

When placing your child in the hands of so many different people, for so many different things, there is this unspoken trust. You expect that they know to keep your child safe. That the protocols you put in place will do just that and with a little common sense, there can be some reprieve in the stress and worry for a little time.

Children with Autism often come with more then one issue/diagnosis. If you have been keeping up with my blog you know that my youngest son has a number of issues. We started with his speech loss. He went from no speech to speaking up a storm. Yet, he still is working on his expressive language and communication skills. E will tell you what he wants to tell you, in the way he knows best how. He isn't able to express pain like others do either. He isn't able to say "Mama my head hurts" when he has a headache or know not to touch a hot grill because he doesn't feel the burn sensation like others would immediately. Because of things like this, I often worry that he will not be able to tell me if someone hurts him. He wouldn't think of telling me or so I thought.

Recently, those fears of him getting hurt and not telling me were tested. As any parent would, you would be extremely concerned when receiving a call from the school that your sons bus was being turned around and that you needed to pick him up instead. What could have happened? Did he do something unacceptable? Was something done to him? They know what he requires and the bus people should know how to meet those requirements. These are just some of the things I thought to myself as I drove to go get my son on the day the school called me to come get him.

When I arrived he was flush, very red, sweaty and hot to the touch. The teacher told me that the bus was hot and that with the windows not open, it appears E could not regulate his temperature causing behaviors. I had no choice to believe her because she told me this and he was sweaty and red still. She also told me that "something seemed off" when she entered the bus, "all the kids were upset" so I took a mental note of that.

As we prepared the kids for bed, the Health Aide and I got E into the shower. It's then when I noticed them...bruises on his shoulder. As I turned to examine him with aide present, I noticed even more bruises around his neck and on other shoulder as well as face and elbow. I was infuriated at this point, grabbed my phone, took pictures and text them to a family member and teacher. I asked E, how did you get those bruises and he responded to me "The big man on the bus. He hurt me.". A fire ignited in me.

Immediately, I wrote a letter to hand to the school the next day to pull video from the bus to see exactly what happened to my son. With a slew of excuses about the bus breaking down and not having access to it, it took nearly 72 hours to finally gain access to the video. Then came the time to watch it. We gathered in the principals office where I requested that the SRO (School Resource Officer) see the video with me. Sitting there having to watch your child be mocked, tormented, ignored and physically assaulted was a nightmare. I wanted to be able to help him but there was nothing I could do. All the time he screamed and wrestled, sometimes even fighting back. I wanted to strangle, no I actually wanted to do a lot more than strangle the man that had done this to him. I wanted to rescue E and all those children who began screaming along with my son echoing his pain. I needed to be calm and rational.

I watched as E became limp fighting for his space, to be heard, to be free of his tormentor. I prayed there would be a savior as the bus driver failed to intervene and help my E. That the harness that held him would snap and he could hide under the seats. I watched as he was mocked as he requested space. As his body was slammed (body checked) and wedged between the attendant more then once and window of the bus, slammed into his seat, elbowed into chest and neck, forced down from his neck. All the while, my son offering up solutions to the adult unheard. It wasn't until the bus turned around that my son was rescued. Pulled from the seat that he was tortured in. E sees his teacher and when she asked "what happened? My son with a listless body, raises his arm with no words, simply points to the man that had hurt him. She takes control of the situation, releases him from his harness and takes him back into building.

That was my nightmare realized. My son hurt and I am no where to be found. Not there to help him, not even aware. It is a tremendous amount of guilt that I carry. I keep going back in my mind looking for signs. Like his recent bought with school teacher, refusing to get on the school bus. We just thought he was focused on something else. He was afraid.

Now we are seeing the nightmares, he can't or doesn't wish to discuss them. If he does mention something, it's in his way which sometimes takes some decoding. He wakes up at night saying that he is "scared" but can't say of what. He's taken to sleeping in our bedroom, just to know we are near. He recently mentioned to his teacher "It's not right for bears (his Stuffy) or people to suffocate, right Mrs. L?" For his teacher and I, we heard a little boy trying to voice his experience. When a 6 year old runs into a bathroom stall so he can cry, fearful that something may be done to him, it’s hard. I want to cry right along with him but he needs me strong and able yo assure him that he is okay.

I'm doing everything I can do to help him. Seeking out therapies and making sure that the man that did this never goes anywhere near him or any other child ever again. I'm angry. It's a tough time for us. There were so many players in this but I just have to be calm and get it done the right way. My priority is his safety and his emotional health wellbeing.

I am still grateful though. Thankful it wasn’t worse. That though we are living with emotional scars at this point, that the physical abuse didn’t leave to permanent physical injury or worse. We have a long road but we will do it together.

We are blessed for sure!

With love and dedication anything is possible!

A full day, play by play

This morning started off with great calm. First E woke up but still wanted to cuddle which was fine with me as it bought me a few more minutes of sleep. Much needed rest since I stayed up most of the night worried he would wake up and "explore" his way out of the room.

We headed out to eat which was surprisingly not a disaster. I am not sure if the coffee drop I gave him helped him relax and enjoy or if it was still early and we sat far back in the restaurant where it was less noisy. Either way, he sat ate some of his meal without raising a fuss. N just kept reading so we had to constantly remind him to eat. Only towards the end when we all were wrapping up did E start to get a bit difficult. Fortunately, it was just as we were getting ready to leave so that saved us from public scrutiny.

After breakfast, we went to the beach, which was nice for the kids. I am not sure I handle the beach well at all. Actually, I am positive I didn’t but with good reason, I think. My husband and I disagree here. I feel it is important to teach basic rules first and then we can explore extending those rules. For instance, I believe it is important that E be aware of the dangers that the beach presents and the importance of NEVER going into the water past his ankles because he can’t swim and can easily be slept away. Also, if he understands these rules as Gods word, then my hope is that if he ever finds himself alone near a body of water, he will not enter it with out his grownup. On the other hand my husband believes that I should let him have fun as he inches his way past the acceptable zone just because he is present and allows E to set the limits. If I wasn’t there, I am sure he would have been further out. I should note that my husband can barely swim, so having him on swim guard is a bit unnerving.  An adventurer himself, he forgets about the dangers or the importance of rules and structure for a child like E. Either way I was stressed. N kept asking me if I was OK which made me feel even worse. I wanted to have fun with them, it was just hard.

Then they were supposedly going to the playground but E hoodwinked my husband and took his chance and ran (Dad gives E way to much space between them), E proceeded to run up a twenty foot staircase to go down a slide I forbid him from doing. Then when I tell them both that I saw what happened, my husband tells E, “I told you that we would get in trouble.” That didn’t seem very supportive but I guess someone had to be the bad guy. My husband does try and I know he is just trying to be the best dad he knows how to be. I just wish he would really hear me when I express my worries and concerns in situations like this.  I’m sure he has a few choice complaints about me as well. In any case, I tried to push through though under my breathe I did say a few choice words to my husband, who I think desperately wishes I was a bit easier to deal with too.

After a short break in the hotel room for lunch, the kids wanted some TCBY. We wanted to see them enjoying themselves and needed to get out of the room so we went. All three were wonderful. They picked their flavors and sat , most of the time. My daughter was wiggly but ate with out being told. E was overjoyed but became fixated on where the man went that served the ice cream. At this point, he started searching the TCBY for him. Wanting to go behind the counter.  So that was small, but we easily redirected him and were able to get out with no issues.

Ripleys - E was in no mood for pictures

Then against MY better judgment, we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not. Honestly, I was going to divide the kids up at this point but E wanted to go. I hated the idea of leaving him out in the first place, so I said we would try it. Worst thing is we would have to leave. Actually, the worst thing would be us tossed out for E breaking something but I was hopeful he wouldn’t.

Things started off wrong right from the start. E wants space. He rarely likes to hold hands. Often I am tugging him back or running after him. He refuses to where a harness so the moment I tugged him and reminded him to stay close or to stop trying to put things in his mouth, he screamed as if Lucifer himself had shown up. I gave him some space while cornering him off waiting for calm and speaking to him with a gentle voice, reassuring him that we were going to go in. Once in, I tried not to restrain him to much but stay close. Dad did his job in monitoring E while I tended to the other kids. E always looked for me when he wanted me to see something but I don’t think he would have called for me if he was lost in the crowd. He was like a pinball, bouncing from one exhibit to the next. The stress was elevating for all of us and I could see he was excited. Excitement often leads to unpredictable behaviors. We are still working on expressing excitement.

Ripley's was over and I was relieved. As we walked back down the stairs, it led us to....an

Of course it’s an alien game

ARCADE!! Oh the horror. Forget the spooky Oddities they had, this felt like a nightmare. Immediately, the chase was on. It was “Oh, can I do this one?” as he ran from us to do it. My loving husband, who wants to see his kids happy said yes before I had a chance to reply to the request. I could have done without the running around but the kids did OK for a bit.  My daughter was a champion player  on the nerf game and even beat her big brother a few times. It wasn’t until the money ran out that E had a full on meltdown. First sitting on the floor staking his claim to the game he didn’t get to play. Here it became a challenge for me. Usually, I try to remain calm as strangers with their judging eyes glare at us but this is often anxiety inducing. I get down to his eye level but he turns from me. Pro move. Then I touch his arm and he screams as if I was trying to abduct him. He starts hitting and tried to bite me. Now I’m having hot flashes and tell him, “I’m sorry E but we are done. I have no more money to spend here. Enough!”

He walks out only to sit outside and protest a bit more. I tell him that “we can go home now if he likes or we can do one more day of vacation. those were his options. that he needed to help us help him calm down.” He sat frustrated but eventually surrendered, gave me a kiss and held my hand down the steps. Then told me “I don’t want you, I want daddy”, i replied, “If you want daddy right now, that is okay with me.” And he walked over to his dad, held hands and got in the car easy. We went back to the hotel where he soon after fell asleep next to his daddy. It was a long day for him.

As the twins slept, I took the time to go shell hunting alone with N. It was so great to be out on the beach with the calming sound of the ocean,  now able to enjoy my oldest son in his element, exploring nature. We talked for two hours and I even let him have chocolate cake at 9 pm. Wild fun! Haha!

We hit a few rough batches today but over all, it was a good day.

We are blessed for sure. With love and dedication anything is possible!

Endless battles

Today has been a rough day. The entire summer has been difficult. I’m tired and we are only a few weeks into the summer. I’m just trying to keep the kids busy. Show them a fun summer but E, well, he can be a lot. He requires me present every second of the day not because he actually wants me present but because I can’t trust to leave him for long. He’s high energy and impulsive which is a recipe for trouble.

It started this am with E wanting to watch TV. We didn’t want him to start morning off that way, especially not with the show he was looking to watch. Now the show itself isn’t bad, it’s just that it does something to him. He responds negatively to it. It hypes him up even more than normal and he starts jumping and climbing things. Sometimes I leave him watching tv for a minute or two when I have to go to the bathroom and I find him spinning out of control while laughing. It looks like a happy insane person. I immediately turn tv off and that turns into another outburst. That was this am.

Then we had to battle it out just to get E out the door to go to school for Extended School Year work. You’d think that asking him to put his shoes on is comparable to me putting him in a pit of snakes. He just didn’t want to do it and acted as such.

Finally, we made it to the school and E proceeded to run from teacher into the playground and do what he wanted not what was needed of him. Generally, I like to pick my battles with him and address but I tagged the teacher in. When he wasn’t listening to her, I had to do the count down from 5 and issue the threat of consequence. Today the consequence would be that he would not be able to do camping in the yard. He ran back into the classroom. He was now with his teacher and I would get sort of a breather for about an hour. At least it should feel this way, I spent the time running an errand with the other two kids and worrying about whether or not E was spinning out of control. The teacher later shares with me that he was “High energy” but managed to get all his work done today. A huge relief for me but I knew that this “High energy” was coming home with me and the day was only half-way done. As we try to walk him to the car, E decides he wants to have a picnic, tosses his snack over into the fenced playground area, climbs the fence to retrieve it, opens it and laughs. I mean, he found a way to get back into the playground and get what he wanted. Dumb he is not. Did I yell? Nope just told him he was loosing his camping adventure for that choice. He came running to car.

We get home and I have to prep the house for speech. Thankfully, the speech therapist canceled, vacation, so that was a huge break. For a moment I actually thought about how nice it would be to go on a vacation. Then my day dreaming about a vacation was taken over by anxious thoughts of my child misbehaving or making poor, impulsive decisions that would lead him to flying off a balcony or into the ocean. So there’s goes that....but I will leave my thoughts on my anxiety for another day because the days running around isn’t done yet.

Last part of this day is Occupational Therapy for E. I already was dealing with his “High energy” and also dealing with some really bad choice making. Punching his brother, biting his shirts and food refusal. Now we were off to OT and I was hoping all would go well. He seemed quiet in the car and went in without any issues. The room he was in was silent. Things seemed to be going well for him and the therapist. It’s 4 o’clock, it’s over. He did well. Then I walk in the room, therapist asks him to put the item away and show me what he completed today. E proceeds to scream and kick that he wasn’t finished. While holding him back, she tells me what she is trying to get him to do. He catches her off guard and 1,2, PUNCH! She quickly and quietly walked past me holding her mouth and the look in her eyes said “I’m done!” She didn’t return and though I was worried about her, I knew we needed to leave. I’ll wait and see what the OT says. Wouldn’t be the first OT to let him go. I needed to get him calm, so I did I spoke to him with a firm and direct voice. He said “I’m sorry, I will make it right Mama.” The calm lasted about 2 minutes. He was in the hall and mad again because he WANTED to play. I drag him out, sit him down, and wait for him to be calm again.  We walk to the car and he is enraged again. I wait...I buckle him up and go.

Now E’s trying to get out of his seat-belt and I am reminded that I need a better car seat for him, a better car to go with it. I feel that pain I get in my throat just before I am about to burst out into tears. I know I am not the only parent going through something similar. The only bonus is that he hasn’t bitten anyone today. He gets unbuckled and then I have to stop car and address it.

Make a quick stop at my parents to pick something up. Now E wants to get out. But I just want to run in. While I do that, he is punching his siblings. I don’t fight, I wait him out. He knows what he is doing is wrong. I know he does. The thing is, he’s improved. He was much worse a few months back. I’m just not sure what else I can possibly do to help him with these endless battles. My only hope is that he now shows remorse. That’s progress.

Then we get home. I’m watching him right now playing with his sister and brother. E is doing such a great job and so full of joy. He’s happy despite it all. Oblivious to all that he puts us through. I love him and I just want to help him reach his potential while meeting the expectations of the world. Problem is, I don’t think the world is ready for him because of their expectations.  I have faith and confidence in him that he will get there. It is just going to take him a little more time.

And that was just this Wednesday.

We are blessed for sure.

With love and dedication anything is possible!

Divine Intervention

This afternoon I was feeling really low, after I was told my son would not be able to stay in his current Occupational Therapy sessions unless I signed a Safety Agreement. The agreement is to protect the staff and patients from him. Ultimately it says, they would kick him out if he showed any aggressive behavior and or possibly call the police, if warranted.

You hear it and you get it, they have to protect themselves and the other patients. I even went in thinking they were going to ask him to leave. Instead, I get a generic boiler plate. The wording enraged me. He’s 5, he’s Autistic and he is impulsive, with current aggressive outbursts emanating from behavior extinctions. A well trained staff would know how to deal with this. Working with an Autistic child that has aggressive tendencies can be challenging but you expect the professionals to be prepared to deal with such issues prior to taking them on as clients/patients.  Trust me, if I could change that about him, I would. I know no one ever wants to be hit by someone else. Believe me you, we have tried to help him and continue to try each and every day. 

This place has been working with him for nearly two years now. He has a major meltdown and they just sit me down next visit and give me a letter. I sat there for as long as I could, then just got up as they talked, told them I would look it over, maintained politeness and just walked away. I was scared for him while he received therapy that hour. I was not going to sign this letter. I wasn't going to give anyone the right to threaten me or my son with arrest for behavioral issues. With all they said and with what the agreement said, I just felt as though I was failing him. I felt awful and frustrated. 

Along comes a staff member, who recently started working with my son and tells me that she loves working with my child. She said “I really give it to you, after last week, I realized it can’t be easy and you’re such a great mom with them. I just love your kids. They are such good kids. You are doing such a great job. I don’t think I could do the same.”

She may not realize how much I needed to hear that at that moment. All I could tell her was that I appreciated her saying so. She provided the boost I needed to shake it off and do what I needed to do for my son. As he was receiving therapy, I decided it would be his last there. As he was working, I got to work too. I found a place that was properly trained to deal with a child like mine.

These things are often hard to hear though you understand the rationale behind it. You just hear your child is not achieving the required goals. Your child isn’t behaving like the other kids. Your child is not accepted. It’s crushing. And yes, I know they may have never actually said that to me but that’s what it comes down to in the end. He just doesn’t follow along. So they refuse to work with him, they discard him.

I can't be alone. Can I? Has this ever happened to any of you parents out there with a young child with Autism?

We clearly have our challenging days but we get through them and move on. Sometimes with a little push of support from someone or maybe, just some divine intervention.  

We are blessed for sure.

With love and dedication, anything is possible!

Outbursts can be a learning moment

Watching my son have therapy some days is a delight. He seems to be on point and his behavior is calm and attentive. Often, E will be laughing and giggling with his therapist. But when he is out of sync with himself and therapist, it becomes far from a delight and more of a tense and painful situation to watch. 

Today E was receiving his speech therapy and I really thought it would be easy sailing for this session and it was, eventually. When he wants what he wants and is unwilling to transition and return to therapy, rejecting to sit is when things become challenging. Refusing to cooperate isn't uncommon for even a “typical” kid. For an autistic child, it can easily be a trigger into a long uncontrollable tantrum. In our case, it is currently dealing with fighting, screaming, head butting, hair pulling and the occasional biting. They can range from one minute to twenty minutes. Sometimes, we have no idea what has triggered him off and it can happen anywhere and at any given time. 

When you see your child behaving this way there is a level of embarrassment but also desperation to help them gain control of themselves. I want to scoop him up and soothe him but I would be doing him an injustice. He needs to learn how to calm down, to control his thoughts and body in order to get himself to hear what others are asking of him. Examples of what I say are “E, look at me” or “E, calm please, calm.”

For me, I find that “E, look at me.” is a great starting point to get him to calm himself. I whisper it so he focuses more on my voice, then I follow up with the request. Once I have his attention, I say it again followed by “calm please”.  Sometimes it works right away, other times it takes what feels like an eternity making me feel like an epic failure. While he is working on calming, my internal volcano is reaching its eruption point. 

Ironically, we must incorporate the same rules for ourselves. My husband and I will tag in or tag out like wrestlers when we see that one's frustration level or tolerance has maxed out and take a breather. This is the thing about parenting, that if you're fortunate enough to have someone to tag in it's helpful. If not, I give all you single parents big props because it's not easy. Each moment with our kids is a teaching moment from us but also for us. If we show them how to stay calm they learn. And of course, when I erupt like Mount Tambora, they are watching and absorbing mamas’ actions. 

Just as I don't expect my children to be perfect, they know and see that their parents aren't either. I take blame and show that I am remorseful. After all, we are trying to raise caring human beings. So after my son has his outburst or tantrum, he almost always says “I sorry mama.” If not, we explain him what he has done and ask him to say sorry. 

A few days ago, my son had a really big outburst because I wouldn't let him run into the street. He tossed himself onto the ground in tantrum mode. As I tried to block him from crawling to the street, he bit my leg, mad dog style. It was awful. Not because he was biting me, all though that was painful. It was because part of me thought, “My God, what must the neighbors think?” He was out of control and my frustration and embarrassment grew. I grabbed him and caught myself. I was worried about the wrong thing. I needed to refocus on E and not care about neighbors. 

After I pried him off of my leg. I told him “No E, you hurt me. No biting. Calm please, calm.” And after several tries, he responded, “Calm, okay.” When we entered the house, I checked my wound to find my leg bleeding. I show him and repeated what I had told him outside. He looked at me said “Kiss?” Gave me a kiss and rubbed my leg “All better. Sorry mama.” And I am reminded that he is still not always in control of himself but learning. 

By no means am I claiming to be a great mom or that my experience will fit someone else's. I am merely sharing how things work or don't work for us, at the moment. I would love to hear from other parents on how they deal with outburst. What have you found to be successful with your child? What has been a teaching moment for you both or as a family?

With love and dedication anything is possible!

Vacation was a learning experience

Vacation Travels 

My husband and I use to love to travel. With our first son we continued to travel though most trips were kept within the states. Yet, since the twins birth, we as a family have not taken any trips. The past three years have been strictly focused on adjusting to life with multiples and my singleton. We decided it was time to take a vacation.

We headed to Pennsylvania to visit my friends, then to New York and New Jeresy to visit more family and friends. 

The road trip wasn't as bad as I imagined. We stopped five times so we could allow the kids some play time. Making sure the boys got in some sensory time. We went to one park near Madison University that my kids absolutely loved. It was completely made of wood and it was like a jig-saw puzzle and maze in one. Great fun.

Pennsylvania went great. My friends house is pretty big and full of stuff for kids, so my kids were entertained. E seemed to love the staircase. We all must have gone up those stairs at lest 10-15 times. I was so proud of E because despite it being a new place with sort of new faces he adjusted fairly well. He even gave out some hugs and hand holding. If you knew him a year ago,  you would know that this is a huge deal. 

Then came Jersey and seeing grandparents. He loves them and so I know he would be excited to see them. But we didn't give him much time to adjust to new space or place. We dragged him in hotel room, then dragged him back out to take him to a park. I went on the insistence of others but was weary of how he would do. He didn't like the change of car,room,car, stroller. He fought us on that but once we let him play he was happy. He was running from one end to another because it was a great deal of stimuli for him. He was happy and enjoying himself so I let him have his fun. 

The next day was when things went bad for a moment. I thought that we were going to the zoo. I planned mostly quiet and serene activities for kids.  What I wasn't prepared for was the amusement park next to the zoo. It's nothing big just a few rides for kids and a few games. But for E, it must have been a nightmare. Kids screaming, bells going off, the rides making their own specific noises and then the voices, so many. He went on one ride ok, the train. E really liked it but I think it was so exciting for him that it spun him out. We tried the carousel but he wanted no part of it. He wanted to go on a car but he couldn't decide which one he wanted and then refused to be buckled in. "I want red car." I took him to red car but the inside was yellow, "No, I want red car!" Now I was questioning his knowledge of colors. Switching from car to car, finally I got him buckled in, he freaked. I asked them to stop ride. He was wailing and kicking. Scratching at my face and glasses. Even ripped some hair out. That's when I experienced it. I started to see people as if they were talking about us, starring, pointing, perhaps even criticizing. One woman was even bold enough to say "Wow,  looks like you have wild one there. Is he always like that?" Not sure why people feel the need to comment or shame you. She was lucky I was with my kids.  Then E ripped and tore at me again as we tried to leave park. His dad then took over. I broke down in tears. This place, a place most kids would love, was obviously painful, perhaps even tortuous for E. We had to get him out of there. 

I sucked up my tears and jumped back into super mom mode. His dad tried a ride with him but that didn't go well either. I grabbed him and took him out of amusement park. Found a quiet spot and calmed him. He was wound up bad. So I let him walk a bit but he was running and tossing himself on ground. I took him and sat him in the stroller. Hydrated him but he tossed the bottle around instead. I let him. Even made it into a bit of a silly game. We started to move. Things got quieter and calmer. He was finally silent. We looked at animals and eventually he fell asleep. It was all to much for him, exhausted by his outburst he slept. Kind of like how a computer has to reboot after a system crash. 

After that,  the remainder of the trip went fairly easy. E had a few small outburst but nothing like the one he had at the Flushing Park. My new mantra "Face, Space and Place." Give my son E enough time to adjust to people even if he already knows them. Don't allow people to come at him fast, loud or touch him. And be sure to find a quiet place were ever we go. 

I recently watched this video from The National Autistic Society and I found it to be very insightful. It gives the Autistic perspective of the world around them. Whether you know or don't think you know anyone with Autism you should watch this. I watched it in a dark room with headphones and held the smart phone close to my eyes to really try to give myself the feel of the video. Try it, see if you can make it to the end comfortably. It changed the way I see everything now. Click HERE for video

NOTE OF THANKS:

I want to thank the staff at the Fantasy Forest Flushing Meadow Carousel and Amusement Park. They gave me a red band to wear that noted to staff that we had a special needs child that would require more time to adjust to rides, require a gentle approach and made them alert incase of wondering/dangers. They were super with E. Even when he was screaming and fighting,  they remained calm and supportive of us. Though it was a nightmare for E, my other two kids loved it. I appreciated the care they showed us. 

Now all I need is a vacation from my vacation. We arrived home and happy but emotionally and physically drained. It will be awhile before we go on any vacations again.