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My #WordlessWednesday and a Linky #specialneeds
I am posting this because it is Wordless Wednesday and it’s past the time in Ontario where we should be doing this right. Supporting children with a disability is not a suggestion or an extra-curricular, or an add on for systems. It is the job. Period. Full stop. If you have cancer and you go to doctor, do they say to you sorry my friend we don’t do that. And yet consistently in Ontario where we receive this diagnosis we have no follow up, no support or help. Very often we do not even have schools that support our children’s needs. So, families parenting children with a disability of this…
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Linked Moms Chat is back – Home Schooling Tips
We’re Baaa-a-ack! Hey all you savvy moms and dads, we are back to our regular chats on the #linkedmoms channel. So, join us please at 8 pm EST tonight. (Wednesday) This week’s topic is in honor of Back to School. Yes, I said it. Back to School. Grr… not long enough for my summer, but hey I am not pouting. Never. Here at Linked Moms chat we like to bring i8n a guest every so often to take the mystery out of a topic. So, this week I am so thrilled to be chatting with Ann Marie Brown, my good friend, adoptive parent of one, parent to many biological…
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Walmart Canada and Mother of the Year Contest #MOTY
This is a photo taken at our Easter egg hunt this April. These are a few members of our adoptive parent’s support group. All of these wonderful ladies (LeeAnn, Annie and Dana) could be my Mom of the Year candidates, but I want to send a really special shout out to the one in the middle. My girl Annie. @anniecannie of http://www.itsjustmylife.ca/ You know that kind of kindred spirit thing that happens when you meet someone living a life that has so many parallels to yours? Well that’s me and Annie. My honorary sister. How do you choose just one Mom? Out of the legions of amazing people I…
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Special Needs and Finding a Babysitter_Part 2
Remember back in November when I was giddy, or optimistic,with the possibility that I found a new sitter? Well, a respite worker really, because that is what it takes to handle children with special needs.Optimistic turned to giddy and then naturally because I had something in place and the world looked to be manageable again, well the universe laughed and my excellent masters student in neurology, well she got Mono and I think she also headed home to Calgary. Dammit! Now, don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for her and hope she gets better because she was all sorts of wonderful. But really truly when my own Mother, ill…
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Dog Tales
This is my Ainsley. She struggles with a lot of stuff, reading especially. And noises and information and sensory overload. But reading has been a particular source of frustration lately. She is well behind her peers in this skill. And it’s not for lack of trying. She has been sitting and holding books and we have been reading them with her from the time she was an infant. From Books for Babies to phonics to Oxford Learning Centre, we have tried it all. But still decoding language on the page has been difficult for her. She has special needs, a diagnosis of sensory processing disorder and FASD, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and…
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The Fine Art Of Finding A Babysitter When Your Child Has Special Needs
I found a new babysitter/ respite worker. Happy clapping. See for your average family finding a sitter might be hard enough, but we are far from average. My little one has special needs. So it was never even remotely possible that we could hire the teenager next door. Or the granny across the road. My little one would chew her up and spit her out while laughing maniacally or raging and trying to tap dance on the stove. We had a wonderful student from university for a few years. She was fabulous and grew to love our daughter as if she were a little sister, or something like that. Then…
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Dr. Bloom’s Chewable Teething Jewelry and Sensory Tools
Most Moms like choices. I am no different that way: I am all about choices and options and being able to make the best and smartest products and brands available to my family and to me extended family of friends here on Twitter, Blogger and Facebook. When I find a product I like I have to share. Dr. Bloom’s chewable jewels are worth sharing. Most who know me also know that I have a daughter with sensory issues and some special needs. This is my daughter Ainsley (seen above). She has sensory processing disorder and a number of other assets and challenges. She is also a chewer. Before we figured…
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A Note to the Month of June: Signed Just the Mom of a Child With Special Needs
Oh lovely July when we throw our school cares out the window, in more ways than one. Dear Month of June: I hate you madly. You suck the life out of me every year. My family needs a bloody vacation as my child is off the wall and the school is spazzing me out. Right now I am trying to come up with the smartest way to tell the school to quit losing my daughter. See she reacts to June by running away and leaving school and such. It’s called fight or flight. It’s pretty common with sensory processing disorder and FASD and so many other special needs.…
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A Girl and Her Dog: Autism Services Dogs and Sophie
No Frill’s owner Brian Macdonald with Sophie Davies-Hales, mom Dana and their newly certified Autism Services Dog Crosby Tweet Meet Sophie. She has a riot of dark brown curls, cheeks as round as apples, a little brother who likes to play dressup and a big sister. Sophie also has a whole host of largely invisible special needs, and now an autism service dog that shadows her every move. Sophie was adopted as a baby by Mom Dana Davies-Hales and Tony Hales. She was three when she was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Neurological Developmental disorder ( a condition that falls under the umbrella term of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, and PDD-NOS (…
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FASDOne Symposium
Fasd camp 2009 outside London, Ontario Many London parents, professionals and educators will head to Toronto tomorrow for the first ever province-wide symposium tackling a challenging disability gaining national attention. The FASDOne symposium began with a limit of 300 parents and professionals, but demand for the training and information being offered has been so great that organizers have had to cap attendance at 425 and turn people away. A large number of participants are from the London area, many are part of a local group of experts and professionals here called the FASD ELMO (Elgin London Middlesex Oxford) network. Health Minister and London MPP Deb Matthews is opening the day. It is…
