Josiah wears a batting helmet with a face guard.  He wears it all day, every day.  It’s big, bulky and cumbersome.  It makes eating and drinking a bit more interesting, navigating around the metal guard, but it works.

It protects his face and ears from self injurious behavior.

Prior to the face guard, it was extremely difficult to protect Josiah from himself.  For reasons still unknown, he constantly punched his ears and cheeks.

It’s heart wrenching to witness someone inflict self harm and not know how to help. When it’s your child it’s devastating, overwhelming and exhausting.  It was beginning to feel hopeless.

The face mask helmet idea was an ingenious solution from one of Josiah’s amazing caregivers who is always thinking, always researching, always looking for ideas to ‘fix’ problems.

It has been a huge blessing. It keeps him safe which gives us all peace of mind.

If even briefly without it, Josiah will automatically punch his ears and cheeks.  Sometimes he doesn’t but often times he does. I don’t know if we will ever get him out of his helmet for good, but for now, it’s a great solution to a frustrating situation.

Recently, Josiah had his hair cut, something he rarely enjoys and barely tolerates. The more recent hair cuts have taken a few days to complete; a token board, fruit snacks and lots of positive reinforcement.

This hair cut was much different.  This one was seemingly effortless.  Josiah sat patiently while his amazing caregiver buzzed away.  He barely flinched.  He didn’t require a single token or fruit snack.

It started out like this.

Then Josiah turned his head unexpectedly and lost a little too much hair in one large patch in the back.

The only way to fix it was to keep cutting. 

She salvaged what she could, leaving the hair on the top of his head longer while closely shaving off everything else.

Little did I know this hair cut is a ‘thing’.  Josiah’s caregiver sent me a picture to prove she had not butchered my son’s hair.

Thankfully, Josiah wears a helmet!