April Salzano

A couple  of  weeks ago, my husband put one of those extra sturdy metal dividers in my Jeep. I think it says ,  “Kennel Guard” on the bottom, a double-layer grid that in my rearview mirror, really looks like a cage. It’s made to keep one of those big, unruly dogs in the back seat  to keep you safe  while you’re driving.  Except,  I don’t have a dog. What I do have is an angry , autistic  sixteen-year-old who is so addicted to YouTube that having it has made him as violent as not having it. Before we got to the point we are now, deep in the throes of  what can only be called  withdrawal , he was only  allowed  YouTube  when he earned it  as a reward, three times a day, five minutes at a time, at the exact same times every day —after completing his morning routine, after successfully sitting at the table for dinner, and after bath.  It   had been  that  way for about a decade. There have been times when we have slipped, of course—doctors’ appointments, hours-long infusions for his medica