Overnight respite?? HA!! Even IF we lived close to our family, my mom has admitted that she cannot handle our boy. She's in her 70's and there's no way I would place that much on her. My brother and his wife would possibly be candidates, but everyone also has their own lives and it would be very hard to coordinate. Not to mention, IF he does get aggressive, then what?
And I just have to share this moment of progress with my kiddo. Last night I handed him a trash bag and told him to clean up his room. He had been shredding boxes up there and pieces were all over, so he was told to clean it up. He DID IT! All on his own without me standing over him directing every little thing! I sat in the stairwell to make sure he stayed on task and help if needed, but he did it on his own. I was quite pleased with this sort of independence. Also, he asked for a "pen" on his AAC device, so I gave him a crayon and showed him which book he could color in. He was content with that. He has been using more buttons on his AAC device so we encourage that by talking about whatever he pushes and going over where he went/how his day was/how food tastes/etc.