Hi Brooke- I have listened to your podcast for some time, read your books and have become a life coach (through another school). Anyway I love your model and it gets me through alot. But I still struggle with my little guy some days. He has severe autism, only says 5 words and communication is otherwise very limited. I try to tell myself, often, that his outbursts are just communication attempts and try to figure out why. However, the screaming, biting and hitting gets a little old when it happens on a daily basis. Sometimes I end up screaming back at him. I know that I am human… but I would like to do it a little less if possible. I feel like we are figuring alot out from where we were 2 years ago and I wanted to end everything. My husband and I are continuing to grow and work on our marriage even though divorce is very common among the autism parent group. I feel like we are continually readjusting to help him where we can. Speaking of helping we have tried meds in the past and it just made his outbursts worse. I also try to do self care and take a break when I need… I just don’t always remember in that moment and sometimes it doesn’t work… or I guess I don’t remove myself enough. For example we had just finished a lesson the other day (I play teacher too) and he had struggled. It was time for his break so he went off to play and I just sat there taking deep breaths because my energy had started to raise during the lesson. He came back into the room to yell (facing me about 2 feet away) and I yelled back. One thought that is really hard to get rid of is that I work so hard for him and these lessons and all that happens is that I get beat up, literally. Sorry for the ramble, Gina