special needs Archives - Page 7 of 16

Funkins…FTW!

Apr 22 2015

My daughter is beautiful, inside and outside. Though I have to say, sometimes her outside is a mess. At every meal she ends up with a ridiculous amount of food on her face. We have no idea how she doesn’t feel it. And if she is aware of the loaf of bread hanging from her lower lip, how does it not drive her nuts?! But alas, this is one of the many mysteries that make our Avery unique. Left to her own devices, she would go through a dozen paper napkins in one sitting—that’s a whole pile of unnecessary waste. We tried sending Avery to school with a pair of terrycloth wristbands to wear during lunch. Her occupational therapist gave us the idea, suggesting she use them to wipe her mouth. Good idea in theory, but she didn’t like the way they felt on her wrists and the experiment failed. Without the teacher or her EA facilitating, lunchtime is when Avery has an opportunity to interact with her peers independently. And though the kids at her table group graciously try to ignore the food on her chin, we are trying to teach her to get it together. 🙂 We recently[…]

Apr 19 2015

It’s not that I’m a “neat freak” exactly— I just prefer my environment (home, office, car, the world) to be orderly. Does this make me neurotic? Maybe, but my brain just functions better when the space around me is organized. Even as a kid, I made my bed every morning without being asked. I’m not talking hospital corners, but at the very least, the comforter was pulled smooth. Apart from some Barbies lying around or a few sweaters draped over my desk chair, my room was always well appointed. My brother was pretty tidy too.* And today, all grown up, his workshop is super organized—there is a place for everything. Labeled even. And don’t even get me started about his highly efficient laundry system. It’s a thing of beauty. We’re both giant weirdos, aren’t we? No response needed, thank you. I really have no idea what our mom did to make us this way. She never nagged (not about tidying anyway… Hi mom!). We just knew that keeping our rooms neat was our responsibility, so we did it willingly and peacefully. So now that I have two children, I expect the same from them. Unreasonable? There are many who say,[…]

Mar 15 2015

The latest stressor in my life is not a big deal. I should be able to shake it off. Except, I can’t. It’s as they say, “the principle of the thing.” And the thing is the school parking lot. If you have school aged children you’ve probably witnessed a few parking lot scuffles. And if your school is overcrowded like ours, scuffles occur daily. Three hundred students over capacity (we have portables aplenty) means there are too many cars at drop off and pick up. People, especially those in a rush, get frustrated, tempers flare and some people seek short cuts. The staff at our school arranged for me and a few other parents whose children have E.A. support, to drop off and pick up in the staff parking lot. It’s quiet and there’s lots of room to safely pull up and park. We have to walk our children to the door and hand them off to the E.A. directly. Our children can’t walk to school. Avery can’t yet anyway. It’s too far and she’d be worn out by the time we got there. And our kids can’t get dropped off and left on their own to find their way[…]

Feb 19 2015

Early this morning a 3-year-old boy went missing from his home in Toronto. Elijah was captured on his apartment building’s security cameras stepping out into the bitter cold at 4:20 a.m. He appeared to be on his own, wearing only a t-shirt, diaper and boots. His family discovered he was missing when they woke three hours later. He was found shortly after 10 a.m. only a few hundreds metres from his apartment and was taken to hospital in life threatening condition. Poor, poor baby. Why did he wake and decide to wander? Was he sleepwalking? Some children do. I did. My son had terrible night terrors as a toddler. Whatever the reason, it’s a horrible tragedy. This story has struck a chord with parents everywhere—our collective parental hearts go out to this family. Life will never be the same for them again. It also resonates with our family personally—as parents of a child with special needs who has a significant history of wandering off, silently, Elijah represents a legitimate fear for many special needs parents. When our daughter gained the ability to open doors, we immediately installed door alarms that chime when any door in our house is opened. We[…]

Feb 15 2015

I wrote a story recently about how one of Avery’s school friends shoed her away on the playground and hurt her little heart in the process. The very next day when we arrived at school, my friend Pat was there waiting at school drop off with this sweet calendar in hand for Avery to cheer her up. (Avery hung it beside her bed and adds a sticker every night before she goes to sleep to mark the days. Sweet AND educational. Gotta love that.) Then I shared a story with tips for including children with special needs in play dates. The next day this Facebook message appeared. A few private messages back and forth and bam! We have a very special play date on Avery’s new calendar. I’m not saying you have to be a mom to care about other people’s kids. My friend Ali loves my kids and takes a genuine interest. She has the cutest banter going with Sebastian. She is constantly threatening to “take him down” on the Wii playing field. He laughs and rolls his eyes and loves it. He loves her too. And so does Avery. When I told her Ali had invited[…]

Tag - special needs

Funkins…FTW!

I Made This Mess—Now It’s Time To Clean It Up

The School Parking Lot Makes Me Angry

Security Measures For Families With Young and/or Special Needs Children

Friends Supporting My Kids—It Takes Village