This year I’m giving myself a gift for the holidays. I’m getting a puppy! I’m excited about having another companion but I’m terrified about adding more responsibility to my already full plate. But, I’ve met the little puppy and now I’m head over heels for him.
I encourage you to treat yourself special this holiday season and to give yourself a gift. Here are a couple of gift ideas for busy moms of children with special needs like me:
a) Concierge/House Help Services - Hire a concierge service for around your house to plan and to prepare meals, run errands, shop, organize your home, clean or supervise vendors. Here’s an example of concierge services being offered on Special Needs Neighborhood.com: http://www.specialneedsneighborhood.com/welcome/resource_view/435.
b) 2010 Self Renewal/Exercise Class - Sign up for a 2010 class on self help, balanced living or exercise. Commit yourself to finding more time for you.
What gift are you giving to yourself this holiday season?
What toys are you buying for your kids with special needs this holiday season? Do you target toys that appeal due to their uniqueness, your child’s likes and dislikes, because they relate to your child’s therapeutic goals or, all of the above? If you’re unsure about what things to consider when buying toys for children with special needs, The National Lekotek Center recommends the following things to think about when toy buying for kids with special needs:
”1. Multi-sensory appeal
Does the toy respond with lights, sounds, or movement to engage the child? Are there contrasting colors? Does it have a scent? Is there texture?
2. Method of activation
Will the toy provide a challenge without frustration? What is the force required to activate? What are the number and complexity of steps required to activate?
3. Places the toy will be used
Will the toy be easy to store? Is there space in the home? Can the toy be used in a variety of positions such as side-lying or on a wheelchair tray?
4. Opportunities for success
Can play be open-ended with no definite right or wrong way? Is it adaptable to the child’s individual style, ability, and pace?
5. Current popularity
Is it a toy that will help the child with disabilities feel like “any other kid?” Does it tie in with other activities like books and art sets that promote other forms of play?
6. Self-expression
Does the toy allow for creativity, uniqueness, and making choices? Will it give the child experience with a variety of media?
7. Adjustability
Does it have adjustable height, sound volume, speed, and level of difficulty?
8. Child’s individual abilities
Does the toy provide activities that reflect both developmental and chronological ages? Does it reflect the child’s interests and age?
9. Safety and Durability
Does the toy fit with the child’s size and strength? Does it have moisture resistance? Are the toy and its parts sized appropriately? Can it be washed and cleaned?
10. Potential for interaction
Will the child be an active participant during use? Will the toy encourage social engagement with others?”
For more information about toy buying tips for children with special needs or fun ways to play together with kids with special needs, click on this link to The National Lekotek Center: http://www.lekotek.org/.
How are you making toy buying decisions this season?
Do you know what gifts your kids want for the holidays? Let me recommend a couple of favorites around my house:
1) Bop It TM by Parker Brothers - This toy is loads of fun for all ages. It came out a few years ago but Parker Brothers has updated its look and added slightly more functionality. Bop It TM is an electronic toy that you can play solo or with friends. As the toy calls commands, your child has to react fast to turn, twist, pull or shout her way to victory. This toy is good for practice with oral directions, motor planning, reaction time and social skills. There’s an extreme version too that offers more challenge.
Amazon sells the toy for $17.78, but I found it at Target for $14.
2) Rush Hour ® by Think Fun - This block puzzle is designed to challenge kids of all ages. The object is to drive the “target vehicle” out of the playing grid to win. But, you will need to shift all blocking trucks and cars out of your way to exit. This game is good for improving logical thinking skills, memory, attention, focus, language, visual perception, spatial reasoning and reaction time; just to name a few things. Try out the free online versions at http://www.puzzles.com/products/RushHour/RHfromMarkRiedel/Jam.html. Keep in mind that the online samples may be harder for kiddos with visual perception challenges.
Ready, set, GO! Are you ready?? The holidays are here!
With Halloween just a few days away, it’s time to prepare yourself and your family for the upcoming holiday season. Halloween can be a challenging time for children with special needs. There are lots of things to contend with…sugar, spooky costumes, crazy schedules, parties…so planning is key to keeping things from getting too scary.
Here are some tips for making Halloween “a treat”:
Write a social story around Halloween that explains what people do on Halloween–they wear costumes, they say “Happy Halloween”, they might try to pretend to scare you, they go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, include details on what your family does.
Plan for schedule changes at home, school, and with extracurricular activities. Some schools have parties and therefore, the school day is disrupted. For many children with special needs, these disruptions are very difficult. Prepare your child for what the schedule will be in advance by creating and reviewing a calendar of events.
Provide healthy treats to replace sugar candies where possible. Here’s my GF/CF trick for “trick-or-treating”…I carry one bag and my son carries another…when we get to the door, if I see it is something he cannot have, it goes in my bag (that he never sees again) and if it is something he can have, it goes in his bag.
And finally…accept peacefully if this year’s holiday festivities are too much for your child–they may be ready another year.
Are you thinking about how to protect your family this year from the flu virus? If so, the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities offers the following information and advice about how to safeguard yourself and your loved ones:
“Flu is caused by the highly contagious influenza virus and usually spread by respiratory secretions. Individuals are at a significant risk for developing severe and potentially lethal complications from flu if they have significant cognitive disabilities, difficulties with swallowing their secretions, challenges with coughing and excreting respiratory secretions, or impaired musculoskeletal systems (i.e., cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, severe scoliosis).
Importantly, individuals in close contact with others, as well as individuals who exhibit challenges with hygiene measures, such as difficulties using tissues when coughing or sneezing, increased oral secretions, mouthing type behaviors, etc., may require additional attention during this time of year.
With rare exception, everyone who helps support individuals with developmental disabilities can play an important role in reducing serious illness and possibly death by considering a few important facts.
General Information:
* People at greatest risk are Individuals with chronic illness (diabetes, heart problems, Etc)
* Many individuals with complex disabilities
* Individuals residing in congregate settings
* All people 65 and older.
* Following vaccination, it takes approximately two weeks to develop immunity.
* Vaccination will not protect you 100% from getting the flu -but the more people immunized, the better chance we have of protecting our families, communities and people we serve.
* Remember, vaccination for flu will not protect you from other common infections during the flu season.
How can you help?
* Ensure that good hygiene efforts are supported
* Use tissues when coughing/sneezing
* Wash hands frequently and sanitize community areas and shared objects
* Protect individuals from respiratory and oral secretions
* Stay home when you have flu-like symptoms and help protect others from individuals who manifest flu-like symptoms.
* Seek Medical attention promptly for yourself and individuals you serve, when you suspect the flu - there are effective medications available that help reduce the spreading the flu, decrease chances of serious secondary illnesses and reduce the duration of flu symptoms.
Editor’s Note: This information was prepared by Angela English, LPC, LMFT, Executive Director, Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities. See, http://governor.state.tx.us/disabilities. It’s reprinted here.
Thank you for suggesting ways to enhance your Special Needs Neighborhood.com experience. We are pleased to announce that we’ve updated the following features:
“Events” - You can now post an Event to the Special Needs Neighborhood.com site in more than one major metro area. To post an Event to more than one major metro area, you will need to sign in. Then, click on “add events” located on the top or left-side navigation bars. Complete event name, date, description, location, cost and contact boxes. In the “major metro area” field, hold down the “Ctrl” key and highlight as many cities as you wish from the list. Then, click on “add event”. Your event will appear on the resource pages for the cities you chose.
“Ask the Community” - You can follow discussions among neighbors around questions asked! To follow, you will need to sign in. After signing in, go to the “Ask the Community” page and find the question(s) that interests you. Click on the “see answers” button that appears beneath each question. You will be taken to the “answer” page. Appearing above the answer you will find the “follow this conversation” button. Click on it and you will activate the “follow conversations” option. Thereafter, you will receive email alerts of ongoing conversations. You can deactivate this option at any time.
Also, we’ve added more resource categories. The new categories include: Places for Worship, Promotional Offers (sales, discounts, coupons, freebies, contests), Restaurants and Clinical Trials.
This summer may be one of the hottest on record. Daily we look for ways to entertain ourselves that do not involve being outside for long periods of time; unless, we’re swimming. And frankly, I’m a bit water logged.
We’ve discovered Pump-It-Up. It’s an inflatable playnasium. They offer pop-in play hours during the week where your kiddos can jump, bounce and run with full abandon. There are 175 locations nationwide.
We like Pump-It-Up because it’s not crowded. The rooms are big, well air-conditioned and clean. It’s reasonably priced; $7 for 2 hours and adults are free. Moms and Dads are welcome to play on the inflatables too! I warn you however, that if you have petite children you will slide much faster than your kiddo so, when they want to slide with you, encourage them to follow after you or they may get crushed.
Also, you and the kiddos get a good workout. The bouncing, jumping, sliding and so on helps with those gross motor skills, core strength and proprioceptive (sensory) input. My daughter is exhausted when we leave. I really like this part too.
We learned that Pump-It-Upoffers a family night where you play and then pizza is served. So, I’ve already scheduled this outing. I can’t wait; fun, pizza and early bed time! Oh yeah, that’s a winning combo for us.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a favorable decision for parents of kids with special needs related to special education funding. On April 27th, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case called, Forest Grove School District v. T.A. (6/22/09). The Court was asked to decide whether public schools can refuse to pay for a child’s private special education if the child had not first attended a public school special education program. The school district told the Court that the district’s obligation to pay for private education for kids with special needs arose only when the kid received special education or therapeutic services while enrolled in public school. The district argued that kids who never attended public school were not entitled to tuition reimbursement for private special education programs.
The parents hired a private specialist who diagnosed their son with a learning disability. The parents removed their child from public school when the school denied him special education services. Then, they initiated this case with a complaint filed with their state’s Education Administration Office when the school district refused tuition reimbursement for their child’s private special education program. After several appeals, the case made its way to the high court.
The Court found that the school district failed to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including IDEA Amendments of 1997. The Court explained that the private school placement was appropriate regardless of whether the child first received special education services through the public school.
What do you think about the Court’s decision? I wonder whether this decision means that I can petition my school district for reimbursement for Lindamood-Bell? I hope so!
This week is number 4 at Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. I think that the program is worth the financial sacrifice we made. My daughter’s language is changing. Her expressions are more sophisticated and she’s experimenting with new vocabulary words. She pays attention to details about her surroundings. For example, she stops to read informational signs and applies what she’s read rather than wondering lost as she did before. Also, our conversations are more interesting. She can tell me things in a more sequential and vivid manner.
My kiddo has a lot of sensory needs so she can be challenging to work with. She requires a great deal of creativity, imagination, patience, humor and structure. When she’s not thrilled about an activity, her sensory system overloads. Her focus and willingness diminish and so she does not want to cooperate with instruction.
Programming for sensory needs is hard. I understand that staff development and ongoing information is required. Strategies for helping a child work through sensory needs often involve behavior traditionally thought unacceptable during instruction. I get all of these points. Teachers are not accustomed to having a child stand up to write, roll a ball while answering questions, chew gum, and more.
I am glad that the folks at Lindamood-Bell are eager to address my child’s sensory needs. This week my daughter’s sensory diet will change. She will run during sessions and work outside. She will play an organized game during break time. She”ll move her body when her energy gets low. Thank goodness that the folks at Lindamood-Bell are committed to my daughter learning without her getting stressed out about it.
I have only good news to report. We are through Day 4 at Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes (Lulabell as my daughter calls it) and my daughter is working hard and having a good time doing it. She easily gets out of bed and through her morning routine so that she is the first child to arrive. She greets me at the end of 4 hours with a wide, enthusiastic smile, bubbly demeanor and bouncy step.
I can see a few things that they are doing which contribute to her successful day:
1 - Frequent Breaks: The teachers are flexible. When my daughter gets stressed out, she gets a 5 minute break to move around. For example, she may run to the consultant’s office and demonstrate a newly acquired skill. She’s still working, but having fun at the same time.
2 - Frequent and Positive Feedback/Reinforcement: Teachers constantly praise the students for their work. They give stickers, prizes, high fives, play tag and more as often as a child may require. For example, my daughter has a marble chart. She can earn 5 marble stickers each hour. If she earns 15-20 marble stickers at the end of the day, she gets a special treat from me.
My daughter’s opinion about the program so far can be summed up with these few sound bites:
Daughter: “Wow Mom, the people here are so wonderful! Don’t you think so?” (said with true disbelief)
Daughter: “Mom, can I stay here longer with the other kids?” (gave me a pouty mouth for more empathy)
Daughter: “Mom, I want to work with Mr. Peter.” (she typically dislikes males since bullying from boys at former school)
Daughter: “Mom, I’m going to do a fantastic job tomorrow too with my work.” (said from the child who bargains tirelessly to avoid school work)
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