One of the challenges of having a child with a disability is the extra expenses. In addition to increased child care needs (perhaps leading to a loss of income), we tend to have extra costs like therapies and diaper purchases longer than expected for a typical child. We also need to consider the future: will our children need help longer […]
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Any family is healthier when you have a bit of support. And having some help can give your child some additional hours every week when the focus is on them and their growth. Finding People So, you’ve finally made it through the waitlist to be picked up by a Family Services Worker and are trying to set up self-managed respite, or […]
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From time to time, I read comments from parents who talk about combining therapies – they hope to be working with ABA and RDI clinicians, for example. Or they are doing ABA but are using developmental strategies to round things out. It’s a goal that seems reasonable, on the surface. Why not pull the best from each approach? There […]
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Credit for these ideas goes to Marlaine Willborn, a speech therapist in Winnipeg. This post is based on ideas she had compiled and shared with me when I was trying to get better at engaging my children in play. Her resource came primarily from ‘Giggle Time: Establishing a social connection’ by Susan Aud Somers. One of the most daunting […]
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We love stories – here’s one about a mother and her child, learning to communicate and problem-solve through play. My son has begun his Autism Outreach therapy. For those of you unfamiliar with it – it’s a developmental therapy offered for children with autism. And it’s basically using play to help kids hit those developmental milestones. Our therapist is amazing. […]
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Service dogs are fast becoming an accepted and recognized support for children and adults with autism. In addition to helping with safety concerns such as wandering, service dogs also provide social-emotional and sensory support that can help children cope with a sometimes chaotic world, give them opportunities to interact and play, and even help them sleep well. Here is one family’s story. […]
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When our daughter was four and in ABA, like any other preschooler, she would get upset sometimes about having tasks to complete. So her behavioural consultant came up with a plan: when she was distracted or uncooperative (which really, I think, meant she was trying to avoid having to do things that weren’t important to her for fairly long periods of […]
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Originally published on RDI Connect. Those of us raising children in Canada are keenly aware of and attuned to the seasons and their impact on the flow of our daily lives. There is nothing like living through a harsh, bitterly cold winter, then being able to throw off our winter boots and mitts on the first warm, sweet spring day. When the temperatures […]
Read moreHappy Autism Acceptance Day! This is a day to reflect on what autism means to us, and what we would like the world to know about people who have autism. I see autism as just another facet of human nature. We are still parenting children who have many things to learn. Some things are more difficult, but some are more […]
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This morning, I came across a mother wishing she could have an IEP for herself. Her reason? There is so much to manage and to learn for parents, especially when your children need support to meet their potential. She says: How does one set goals for, say, the next six months, and then, gulp, work towards them? In a family […]
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