The first thing I noticed about Kayla is her big blueberry eyes. She has the biggest, bluest eyes I have ever seen. When she smiles, they just seem to light up. The fact that she has Down Syndrome just seems so secondary to who she is. Get to know Kayla more in her mom’s own…
Thrive with Autism – Tips for Those Looking to Understand
Andrea Richardson and Andrea Warner are two teachers who want to help parents Thrive With Autism. We love these tips from www.ThrivingWithAutism.com that they are sharing; both for parents, and for the community who is trying to understand Autism. Have you ever been in a store, movie theatre, or, yes… even an elevator, and your…
Soothing An Anxious Child
Some kids just pop out of the womb self-assured and confident. Mine, not so much. Raising 2 former foster kids, assurance is like a foreign language in their minds! It’s been a huge learning process for us to figure out what works and what doesn’t in helping them find confidence in stress. And I know…
Dyslexia Awareness Month
October is Dyslexia awareness month. Did you know that Dyslexia can manifest in different ways? My oldest daughter, who is 17, has Dysgraphia…you only see the signs of dyslexia in her writing. When she was younger; letters were backwards, her handwriting was very difficult to read, and her spelling was VERY unconventional. My youngest daughter,…
To the Author of The Anonymous Note Left On My Car Window-
I think I recognize you! I do.. I used to live in your world of Black & White, everything in order- in it’s place- I got a plan- got a schedule- a list of finished projects- checked -off checklist and all. How wonderful for you that your life is so structured, so dependable and predictable…
Post-IEP Discussion..
Wednesday was Jack’s IEP. Let me give you a little back story here. Jack’s “teacher” is a special education professional, who routinely wears fake hair and loud (loud isn’t the best adjective, but that’s all I can come up with) jumpers/sweaters. We refer to her as The General, because, quite frankly, that’s how she acts. Things…
What to Do With Stolen Moments in a Continuing Crisis
Our family floats upon a cloud that delivers us from one crisis to another, sometimes playing bumper cars with the these crisis’ making them all blend into an amazing storm. I’m currently taking Certified Nursing Assistant classes for 5 hours per night (5 pm to 10pm) four nights a week for four weeks…not to mention…
Anxiety
We attended a special evening story time at our library last week that helped define one of the child’s anxiety triggers. Since her expressive language is still somewhat limited, it is hard to talk about emotional responses like these…especially since she tries to downplay it after the fact. We’ve moved beyond some triggers – like loud…
Special Exposure Wednesday – Rachel Cooperstein
To start off Down Syndrome Awareness Month, enjoy this video of a very special girl. Share what you managed to capture this week. Please spread the comment love around. Thank you, 🙂 *originally posted here
Picture Exchange Communication System Hi-tech vs. Low-tech
I originally posted this on my own blog six months ago. I’ve gotten such a great response online and have had people asking me about our low-tech PECS so often that I thought I would post here as well. Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is something we’ve been working on with Chewy. Since he’s non-verbal…