Guest Post: Preparing Your Home for Parenthood When You Live with a Disability

Nesting is the act of preparing one’s home for the arrival of a new baby or child. Typically, nesting involves things such as painting a nursery, buying a crib, baby-proofing the house, and making sure everything is as clean as possible as the due date approaches. However, when you are a parent living with a disability, your nesting process is generally more intense.

TO FIDGET OR NOT TO FIDGET, THAT IS THE QUESTION

What’s the deal with these fidget spinners?! Fidget spinners seem to be a trend that swept the country for those that are both young and old. They are selling out of stores across the country. Fidget spinners can be found in a large variety of designs, colors and materials. People have even come out with DIY tutorials on Pinterest of how to make your very own fidget spinner. Over 4 million videos can be found online both teaching the users how to do different tricks with their fidgets and showing off their fidget spinner skills. Many of the video creators are young children in elementary school.

Self Soothe Box: Calming Technique Using All 5 Senses

Wouldn't it be great if kids could calm themselves down when they get overwhelmed? Utilizing the five senses is a great way for kids to focus on something other than what is making them upset. Children who are more sensitive, whether they have a sensory processing disorder or not, can benefit from this technique.

A self soothe box is a small tote or box of items that help a child calm down, or stay calm, when they are in a stressful situation. The goal is to have something in the box for each of the 5 senses: touch, sound, smell, taste, and sight.

5 Tips for Reading to Children with Special Needs

Have you ever had that experience where you think you're telling this really riveting story and then you look around and...... nobody is paying attention. Party of one! Unfortunately, this happens to me more than I'd like to admit. Parent's out there can relate, sometimes keeping children focused on story time can be intimidating, and children with special needs face challenges of their own when being read to. The good news is that reading can be fun and rewarding when the child is engaged in the experience.

Photo Credit

Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, the senior librarian at Salt Lake County Kearns Library, runs a sensory story time for young children with special needs. These are some of her suggestions for parents reading at home with their kids:


Keep it Visual

Children with special needs like autism can be very visual learners. If you get too verbal it can become frustrating for them, try mixing it up! Use visual aid whenever possible, like a flannel board, pictures, or objects to help them connect to the story!


Keep it Moving 

To help kiddo's with short attention spans, move distractions out of the room (That means cell phones too!) and keep them engaged in the reading process! Make reading interesting and fast-pasted! Check out this mom's strategies for making story time exciting by enacting a storybook.


Keep is Short and Simple 

Choose books with fewer words, or try paraphrasing longer pages. Avoid reading verbatim and give flavor to the story by adding your own inflection or pointing out different illustrations! Allow yourself to be spontaneous and sing a song! You'll be surprised how much fun it is for both of you! Click here to see some of Whitehead's favorite books to read with children with special needs.


Keep Cool

Kids are pretty in tune with how mom and dad are feeling, so stay calm in tough situations. Don't get caught up in finishing a set number of pages or adhering perfectly to a set schedule, if your child needs to rest or take a break, allow them to step away and get a drink or go for a walk. You can come back to the book later.


Keep it Fun

Above all, keep it fun! Reading should be a fun and engaging experience for parent and child. Add a simple craft to spice it up, something that uses senses like touch, smell, or sight. This mom's idea for color storytime comes with a fun simple craft you can do at home!

To check out a list of suggested readings for children with special needs and local library sensory story times, view the original article here!

Friday's Kids is Expanding!

When I first started at Help Me Grow Utah, I had NO idea what respite care was. I knew what the word "respite" meant (to take a break from something) but what did that have to do with child care? From the calls I started to take, I soon learned that this is a very frequently requested resource. If you're a parent with a child with special needs, you know how important good respite resources are. One such resource is Friday's Kids.

From their website: Friday's Kids Respite was co-founded in 2001 by Diane McNeill and Kimber Dower. Diane McNeill's second child was born in 1990 with Down syndrome. Diane’s son had multiple surgeries during his early years, so Diane was aware of the stress many families of children with special needs experience.  After her son gained his strength, Diane searched in the community for recreational programs that her son could participate in, but found none because he needed one-on-one supervision.  While researching programs, Diane met Kimber over the phone.

In 2001, Kimber Dower was employed as an occupational therapist at The Utah Valley Pediatric Rehabilitation Center in Orem, and witnessed first-hand the extensive stress families of children with special needs were experiencing. Kimber, in the past, had interned at a respite service in Texas and suggested the two collaborate to offer a similar relief service in Utah County. Friday's Kids was born in 2001 with the goal to provide relief to families and, at the same time, provide a safe, fun recreational environment for the children.

Since 2001, they have expanded to Orem, Lehi, Salem and St. George Utah.  Their new site in St. George is opening in February!! if you know any families in that area who need to know about this service, let them know! Visit their website to find out more about their location!