We challenge you to find one person that doesn’t like music. Seriously…..it’s pretty much impossible. Everyone likes at least one genre of music, if not several. As adults, music can serve many different purposes. It can be for pure enjoyment. Music can help with our emotional states….it can calm us down and decrease our stress. Music can pep us up and get our energy booming. Music can help us focus on important tasks. Music can be a social outlet for us. Music can also help us learn. This is the same for children!
Read MorePlaying with your child is one of the BEST things you can do to promote speech and language development; however, play can be difficult for some children and for some adults. Here are 10 things you can do at home, at school or in therapy to help increase your child’s play skills and speech and language development in fun, natural way.
Read MoreAs a parent with a child with special needs you most likely spend the majority of your time in the car driving from one appointment to the next as well as within many different waiting rooms. With all that time spent in “transition” it is sometimes difficult to make sure that your child is emotionally regulated, entertained, having fun, learning, transitioning smoothly, eating properly and more. In addition, you may also have your other kids with you and sometimes it is hard to entertain them while you are waiting for brother or sister to finish.
This week we want to help you create a “Bag of Tricks” that will help your transitions move much smoother. You will need a big bag or plastic box to put everything in. This bag will be your “on the go” bag. You will take it with you everywhere you go: in the car, in the waiting rooms, at soccer practice, etc. We suggest packing this bag every Sunday night (replacing the items every 1-2 weeks so that your kids don’t get bored) and then place it in the car so it’s ready to go for the week!
Read MoreWe all use one. Yours may be on your iPhone, computer, tablet, or you may even use old-fashioned pen and paper…..it’s your schedule, your lists, your to-dos and more. What are you doing today? What things do you have to pick up from the store? What did you not get done yesterday? We all do it differently, but we all somehow have a schedule of our day. It is because of this form of organization that we know what will happen and we know what to expect. Now imagine going through one day or even one hour without this. I personally would be lost. This is how your child may feel. Using a visual schedule everyday all day long allows your child to plan, organize, and predict what will happen next. By allowing them to see what is coming next it will decrease their anxiety and; therefore, decrease transition difficulties.
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