The Year That I Made Santa Claus Cry

The Year That I Made Santa Claus Cry

ByKori
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Holidays with a non-verbal autistic child have never been easy. In fact, some holidays have fallen by the wayside completely- I’m looking at you Easter and Halloween. That’s not for a lack of trying because we did try. And maybe some holidays were salvaged or at least scaled down. Easter just couldn’t work for us and Halloween required a little bit of savvy on my part. Thanksgiving… well, we’re mostly okay. It’s a food related holiday, after all, and as long as we had food that was okay for Sweet B; we were fine. I just never expected for her to eat what everyone else was eating. Knowing what I know, it just wasn’t realistic. So that brings me to Christmas. My favorite holiday and…

Where to Find Almost Everything For Family Caregiving

Where to Find Almost Everything For Family Caregiving

ByKori
1 Comment

As the parent and primary caregiver of a non-verbal autistic child, there are many hats that I wear. First and foremost, of course, I am her mom. But I am also her advocate, her voice when necessary, and her caregiver. I will wear these hats for the rest of her adult life. And I embrace the challenges and roles that come along with it. As her primary caregiver, it also means making the most of her SSI money each month. We are a one-income family still and even when I am able to contribute more to the household; we still need to be mindful about our monthly expenses. Things can definitely add up quickly, so that means looking for every opportunity possible to make the…

Back to basics with a new laptop from HP. #BTSwithHP ad

Back to Learning Basics and Helping My Autistic Daughter Find Her Voice

ByKori
16 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BTSwithHP #CollectiveBias While we aren’t back to school until after Labor Day in NY, I’m still trying to do whatever I can to help Sweet B get ready. That means adding to and preparing for her afterschool at home program. And it also means going by her IEP plan to determine what we’ll do- both for the rest of the summer and for the school year. One of the things I’d love to work on with her are basics like literacy skills, counting, and using a computer. The last one is especially important because once she learns how to use a computer, I hope to help her find…

How to Establish a Bedtime Routine for Your Autistic Child

How to Establish a Bedtime Routine for Your Autistic Child

ByKori
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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TenaTips #CollectiveBias Sweet B is still not fully potty trained. She has occasional night accidents and we’re working on this with her. It is, of course, a work in progress and just comes with the territory of raising a child with special needs. I’m unsure if this problem will ever be fully under control, so until then we’ll take whatever steps are necessary to help facilitate her independence and make things easier. As an autistic child, she thrives on routines of all kinds. Whether it’s at home or at school, a routine is necessary for her daily tasks. We’ve established several routines with her already to keep things…

How to Develop an ESY Program at Home

How to Develop an ESY Program at Home

ByKori
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Through her IEP, Sweet B is guaranteed to attend some form of extended school year (ESY) during the summer. When she was younger, she would attend a summer school style program at Wildwood but in the past few years; she’s attended Camp Wildwood. Services, such as speech and occupational therapy, are still provided. However, there’s a brief time period between camp ending and the school year beginning that she’s at home. And while our afterschooling program may suffice, I wanted to looking into developing an ESY program at home. With thanks to Fun and Function for providing our items and sponsoring this conversation for our program; I’m outlining a suggested plan for a two to three week time period. First, you’ll want to determine what…

When your child is born 3 months premature, you expect for certain things to happen. Ultimately, it was the unexpected learning disbility that would prove to be the one to tackle.

How to Deal with the Unexpected Learning Disability in Your Special Needs Child

ByKori
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My oldest child was born 3 months premature. It was expected that he could have some sort of developmental delay. It was expected that he could develop some sort of developmental disability. It was expected that he could always be behind his peers developmentally and academically. And maybe it should have been expected that he would have additional complications. It was the unexpected learning disability though that would ultimately define his IEP goals. Maybe if we had looked for the early signs of a learning disability supports could have been put in place earlier. V was born 3 months premature at 24 weeks gestation and was given a 50/50 chance of surviving the night. He was in the NICU for almost 4 months. He had…