Sunday Digest 25

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Next week we have our big pie and praise festival at our church. It almost snuck up on me this year. Usually I plan carefully which pie I'll be bringing. I always bring an alternative to pumpkin because I don't like pumpkin pie, and I know someone else will bring the pumpkin for everyone else who does like it. I know...it's almost un-American to not like pumpkin pie. What can I say? Anyway, I'm finding myself with a lot to be thankful for. So much that I'm a beat or so behind where I need to be. Not so busy that I haven't had time to find you some good reads/listens on the internet. Read on in this SILVER (25th!) edition of the best of the rest...

1) We love fidgets, and this link (found via OUR Journey Thru Autism) has some good ideas for a fidget bag that is suitable for keeping in a school binder, and the fidgets to put into it. Children with sensory integration and self-regulation issues often have a hard time quieting their body for events like circle time, assemblies, waiting in line, and working quietly at their desk. Fidgets are usually small, interesting but not too stimulating (fine line here) objects that a student can keep in their hand to help them keep the rest of their body quiet. I kind of self-discovered this way back when I was in college and I was finding it hard to pay attention in some of my faster-paced, content-intensive classes. I made a bean bag, which I called my blob and I would hold it in one hand while I wrote with the other. My daughter responds well to fidgets and we used to carry a fidget bag just about everywhere we went. She still has one or two available at school when she needs them.

2) One of the reasons I re-started The Simple Life was to explore ideas of teaching matters of faith to children with special needs. I recently saw this excerpt of a speech by a Jewish Rabbi. I think many of the ideas expressed here could be applied in other faiths, and I believe this is one of the upcoming challenges to churches, synagogues and other places of worship. We need to be prepared. Many parents that I've met don't feel like their special needs children are welcome in their house of worship...and that is beyond sad in my opinion.

3) This story from Eren over at Steady Mom will help you feel good about how our children, of all abilities, can inspire and teach us if we let them. Technically no special needs involved here, but talk about underdogs.

4) My 5th grade French teacher posted a link to this interview on Facebook. I love how Facebook reconnects us with so many different influences...The interview on NPR is with a woman, Heather Sellers, who is affected by "face blindness" - basically she has no memory of what people's faces look like, even people she knows well like her husband and colleagues at work. You can listen to the interview, and read an excerpt from her book "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know". This is one more reminder to me of how fragile our brains really are...and I can't help but wonder if this disorder is somehow related to the misfirings of autism that lead to similar difficulties with reading social cues like facial expressions.

5) Tammy and Parker are hosting a Boardmaker Studio giveaway over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.com. I've not used Boardmaker personally, but I know it is widely used for PECS (picture exchange communication systems), visual schedules, social stories, and other visual aids. My kid seems to need pictures of her real life situation most of the time, so we're wearing out our digital camera, but Boardmaker can be a really useful tool. And they're GIVING it away...the giveaway is open until November 15, so you have ONE DAY LEFT to head over there and sign up...

So I am Thankful for fidgets, faith, children, faces, and giving. I am thankful for you, my faithful readers, and I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving season!

Sunday Digest 21

I'm in a last minute dash to join the blog hop! I did this last year, and it was so much fun....it's a great way to visit some new blogs and have some new eyes see your blog, too. I didn't see that it was happening until today, so I'm down toward the bottom of the list (240), but still hoping to have some fun with it. The Simple Life is all about parenting a special needs child with a foundation of faith. To learn more about me and my blog, read here. To stay on schedule I will post my usual Sunday Digest, which will also give you an idea of what has been grabbing my attention the last few weeks. Enjoy!


1. I was touched by this tribute from Steady Mom. We are big advocates for adoption. I have several extended family members who were adopted, and my husband was adopted. It can be a wonderful gift for both parent and child. I have high respect for parents who adopt children with special needs. Having "experts" tell you their estimation of a child's challenges and recommending maybe backing out, but instead choosing to forge ahead requires a special kind of courage, in my opinion.

2. There is a back to school give away over at OUR Journey Thru Autism. I just stumbled on this site the other day. They are giving away $250 worth of back to school supplies and they are SENSORY friendly (for sensitive kids). Sign me up!

3. There is evidently finally some hard evidence that raising children with special needs (especially autism) is particularly stressful for marriages. Interestingly there's not really a difference until the child reaches age 8. I wonder if it has anything to do with the child not being able to pass off as simply immature anymore. Perhaps there is a reality check for one or both parents at that stage. We're not there yet (a little more than a year off) but given what we've survived so far I think we're in pretty good shape. Thanks to LauraS for posting about this study at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

4. We borrowed an Elmo Halloween video from our local library a couple of weeks ago (yes, I do know it's Summer, but you try explaining to my daughter why she can't have a Halloween video just because it's July)...anyway this monster video was included in that video, then Tammy posted it over at Praying for Parker, too. Such a cool message. Even though we're different, we're all still monsters. Why is that so hard for humans to understand sometimes?

5. Ever have one of those days where things start to "go wrong" and you feel like God is shutting doors and then the next thing you know there's a left turn and a zig zag or two and suddenly everything makes sense and you understand that He had a different plan all along? SpecialGathering shares a tale like that here. I loved it.

Sunday Digest 5

1. I spent this afternoon making a weighted blanket for my daughter following directions I found here. For those who are not familiar with these, they are used by individuals who have sensory processing disorders to help provide calming input to aid the person in sitting calmly and quietly for a longer period of time. I am not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I had to dig out the book for the sewing machine to remind myself how to wind and load the bobbin, and how to thread the machine. However, using the instructions above I made a decent looking 4 lb. blanket. It was also not too expensive. I used an old flannel pillowcase that we weren't using for one side of the blanket, and bought a textured baby receiving blanket for the other (I figured some tactile input built in might be a good thing). I also bought some poly-pellets (for the weight), and some iron-on decorations. I'm not sure if this method would work for heavier blankets. My arms are quite tired from holding the blanket on the machine, but for a little lap blanket it was so easy and did not take too much time (maybe 7 hours total). My daughter was so excited that she actually helped make the blanket by running the foot pedal and helping put some of the beads in. Overall a very satisfying experience.

2. I have a birthday coming up this week and I'm feeling quite old. This Summer has really worn me out physically and emotionally. Yesterday I saw this give-away at Hopeful Parents, and wanted to let other special needs moms know about it. I know I tend to put my kids' needs first so much that taking care of myself, much less pampering myself with a new handbag drops way down on the to-do list. Enter for your chance to win this custom reversible bag by 1154 Lill Studio. Very chic, and roomy enough to handle all of your "extra" kid gear.

3. I've been following Specialgathering's blog for several weeks now. Earlier this week there was a post/comment discussion about appropriate worship for special needs members that I thought was really significant. The church spends a lot of time talking about making worship appealing to our culture and whether or not that is a good idea. This community of special needs adults is considering how to best meet their special needs culture in worship, and it seems an important step in the right direction to me.

4. School is starting soon. A friend of mine is planning to home school her two oldest children this year for the first time. We at one time were interested in home schooling, but given our daughter's special needs didn't think it possible. According to this article there is a subset of home schooling parents whose children are autistic. I'm still not sure it would work well for our family, but if you are interested there are some resources listed there.

5. And beyond school, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" perhaps a conversation starter for you and your special needs child. I think at last report our daughter wanted ME to grow up to be a firefighter...I'll have to see what she says now...


You can see a list of Sunday Digests (and other posts) here.