• creative_teaching
    family - Technology

    Creative Teaching – Seven Inspiring Educators Using Microsoft Technology

    May 6, 2016 - By 

    Educators who model Creative teaching with technology in the classroom are inspiring to their peers, and their students. They set an example of what is possible and they nurture an engaged and inclusive classroom. When teachers take an approach to learning that’s outside of the box, it sparks a great love of discovery and learning in our children, especially those with unique or special needs. Instead of staring at a page in a text book, children can explore in new, interactive ways. Creative teaching can help nurture all children’s strengths, and Microsoft is front and centre building inclusive programs and classrooms. Last week…

  • siblings
    family - Health - parenting - Parenting

    Seven Ways to Carve Out Time With Siblings of Special Needs Children

    May 3, 2016 - By 

    Having a child with special needs impacts family life in many ways. There can be extra financial and emotional stress. A Canadian study called PALS notes clearly that the mother in a family with a child who has a disability most often is required to adjust her work schedule to care for the special needs child. Finances and health are impacted, and so is marriage. But what about the siblings in families with special needs on deck? There are many rewards to parenting children with special needs, but there are also undeniable challenges, emotionally, financially and physically. Where there are other children in…

  • inclusive_classroom
    Back To School - family - parenting - special needs - Technology

    Building an Inclusive Classroom With Microsoft

    April 28, 2016 - By 

    Technology has the power to make lives better. The right technology can help us break down barriers, stay in our homes longer, or tackle health challenges head on. In schools, technology has incredible potential to help build ability, to help every child transcend barriers to education and achieve a bright future. Microsoft Canada is working to help every teacher embrace technology and build an inclusive classroom. My daughters are amazing girls with many strengths and a few challenges. They both fall squarely within the 3.2% of Canadian children aged 5 to 14 affected by a limitation related to learning. That statistic comes from the…

  • special_needs_parenting
    family - Health - Parenting - parenting - special needs

    When Hard Doesn’t Break – Special Needs Parents

    April 26, 2016 - By 

    Maybe your child has curly hair, or is slightly unique in some other tiny way. Small genetic blessings that somehow will turn to a source of pride. Over time. Maybe you think that parenting is hard, but your hard is a moment. Your hard is a glass of wine, some retail therapy, girl’s night out, and then you move on. Your hard breaks. There’s nothing heartbreakingly extraordinary that impacts the way your child moves throughout their Mondays, or Fridays – the way they approach their school day, year to year. Just a kid, potentially a great kid, maybe even an A student, going…

  • special_needs_travel
    active family travel - parenting - special needs - Travel

    Tips to Make Special Needs Travel Simpler

    April 5, 2016 - By 

    Just like life with our unique kids, special needs travel requires extra planning and some extra thought. Every family should have the chance to travel. In fact, parents of kids with special needs should get a regular break to restore. But family travel with neuro-typical kids can be challenging enough, and there’s so much more to plan for and think about when you travel with special needs on deck. So how on earth are you to figure out a way to make special needs travel work? Well, if you do your homework, the experience can be very rewarding. Make Special Needs Travel Manageable Traveling,…

  • family travel
    active family travel - family - Health - Parenting - parenting - special needs - Travel

    2015 Family Travel Reflections: Or That Time I Found Myself Crying as We Set Sail #travel

    January 4, 2016 - By 

    I am standing on the deck of a massive cruise ship tearing up when I realize 2015 might have been more challenging than I ever admitted. Sometimes this family has to stop, drop everything and hop on a cruise ship, or visit an island resort. Family travel is as crucial to us as getting the flu shot, or getting vaccinations, or filling the fridge with food. I know every parent has moments and most parents also deserve a big fat vacation occasionally. Parenting is hard work and when you have a job outside of that, it is also exhausting. Now add demands of…

  • martial arts
    Health - parenting - Uncategorized

    Frustration and No Answers Yet on This Ankle #health

    September 16, 2015 - By 

    I am frustrated! With a capital F. One of my daughters is still in pain and we have no clarity as to what exactly is going on. Her ankle pain waxes and wanes a bit. Remember when I mentioned that months ago we thought she could have juvenile arthritis? There are brutal days where she limps a lot and days where it seems less obvious. She had two great weeks at end of August where camps were over and her ankle didn’t hurt much. But this week it was a mess again. In July, it swelled up like a football after…

  • family - Health - parenting - Parenting - special needs

    These Five Things I Hope For You The Night Before School Starts #SpecialNeeds

    September 8, 2015 - By 

    It is not the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the night before school starts and frankly that means many of you, my friends, the people I know who parent kids with unique needs, will not be sleeping well. I know you. I see you tweeting and posting and worrying quietly behind closed doors whether this will be the year your child will be understood. Has the IEP been read? Will your child even be able to get into the school physically? Will he cling, or cry, or wave happily. I know you are worrying yourself sick the night before…

  • martial arts
    family - Health - parenting

    Martial Arts and Kids #fitness #WordlessWednesday

    July 21, 2015 - By 

      My girls kick butt. Well, I think they kick butt. Our girls have been taking martial arts for many years now. The daughter on the right hand side started when she was four years old. If you visit this blog often then you know that she has special needs. As a little person, she also had a hip that did not function well. An orthopaedic surgeon at one point indicated to me that she needed extra help with gross motor movements. After she was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a brain injury sustained from prenatal…

  • high school freshman
    Back To School - family - Health - Parenting - parenting - special needs

    7 Steps – Preparing Your Child to be a High School Freshman

    June 18, 2015 - By 

    So it;s time to prepare your child to become a high school freshman!! Wait, what. How did that happen? Oh believe me I know all too well how slippery time is. Wasn’t she just literally hopping on the bus for that first day of kindergarten. Is it possible that kids can grow this fast? How on earth can my older daughter be ready for high school? Well, she isn’t quite yet. But she’s going to be with these 7 Steps to Preparing Your Child to be a High School Freshman.  Okay so just yesterday you walked your son or daughter…