Activities for Special Needs Kids

This has been a good year for getting James more active. Although he has some issues, such as low muscle tone, uneven fine muscle control in his fingers, and vestibular disorders, James is a guy on the go. He likes people and being able to play sports is becoming more of a requirement for him to participate at recess and social occasions with others.

So we love it when we hear about programs for kids with special needs. Any helpful boost we can get for our kids is an investment that pays rich and diverse dividends. Here are some programs we've used over the past year:

Healdsburg Wonder League

A non-profit organization that runs a mini baseball league designed for children, ages 4–19, with special needs. Their first game is this weekend and it's not too late so sign up for this season! Find out more on their website (http://wonderleague.org/) and come on out to cheer on the Players and their Buddies. James and his sister have enjoyed two years with this great program. Our daughter learned to hit a pitch, and James has actually improved his throwing skills. Here are some posts about our experiences.

Saturday Sidekicks

We've had some fun Saturdays down at Sonoma State. The Saturday Sidekicks program has truly made both kids excited about being more active. It's nice to have some focus time too where the kids and their university sidekicks join in a circle to sing and try a group activity. The energy is high and the kids get a chance to do outside of normal play, such as ride a plastic scoot, get rolled down a ramp while inside a tubular mat, or ride on a platform swing. Being pulled on a blanket while sitting in an inflatable raft is novel, as is having a big cardboard box to hide out and giggle inside. We sure hope to participate in Saturday Sidekicks next year!

Town of Windsor Parks and Rec

We've tried two programs, with gratifying success. Half days of summer camp sessions and group swim lessons. For both, I've gone in person to the office to talk about James and his needs. At first, they were willing to give it a try, with the clear condition that the counselors were not 1-on-1 aides and that if there were too many issues for either of us we'd withdraw James. Amazingly, issues never came up.

Instead, with the summer camp, his verbal abilities soared, and he got into crafts and enjoyed play times. He loves wearing the camp t-shirts all year long. At the talent show last summer, he insisted on performing a song learned at camp on stage, solo, with a microphone. I heard he was a fun act to watch. I have strangers waving to me now at the Town Green, asking me to say hi to James. We remember the summer camp programs with great fondness.

The group swim lessons for kids were an important developmental milestone. I finally felt James was comfortable enough in water and group dynamics to get something out of a class and would not be too much of a distraction. It was a very good start and we'll be doing more this year. He even started to float on his back and jumped in at the last class, getting his head wet: victory over sensory issues!!

New to try this year,

Cycling Without Limits

James is eager to try and ride his bike without training wheels, like his big sister. His balance is rather precarious, so we haven't gotten there. Meanwhile, he is so big he is outgrowing his beloved Star Wars bike and bending the training wheels. Here's hoping both kids will be 2-wheeling it by Summer's end. We heard about the Cycling Without Limits program by participating in Saturday Sidekicks, and I am already looking forward to June.

Speaking of being physically active and programs supporting kids on the autism spectrum, James and I are walking this Saturday in the North Bay Area Walk Now for Autism Speaks event. Please join us in person at the Windsor Town Green or consider supporting us as we walk to raise awareness and funds to understand and create resources to deal with Autism.

Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: Fun Finale

Last weekend was the last of the Saturday Sidekicks sessions for the year. We plan to come again next year. It's been such a good experience, getting both kids out of the house and moving early on Saturday mornings. Not only James enjoyed it, his big sister was warmly welcomed and enjoyed using the scoots and time with the university students.

A huge thank you to Elaine McHugh and all the volunteers - Kinesiology, and the Saturday Sidekicks program, rocks!

He ran straight for the jumpy and stayed there. I remember when the generator noise made them intolerable for both he and his sister. There were many birthday parties where I watched my kids try to have fun at an inflatable jumpy-themed party from the outside. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing my kids enjoy them for reals.

Yowza!

Was that the 12th trip down, or the 20th? Who cares!

You want to see some happy kids? Keep scrolling!

For more images from the heart and to share some of yours,
visit Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.






               and ... Wordless Wednesday

When Getting There is Half the Fun

Preparing for an afternoon at the pool can be as much fun as a circus -- who knew?

Awesome flying floaties are flung in circles on a forearm. Fascinating!

The afternoon at the pool was pretty tame by comparison (but they fell asleep pretty quickly tonight)!

I don't mind that it took a little while to get there -- James and his sister enjoyed some quality time together and these non-screen activities made the day pass quickly and delightfully.

Another New Year's Beach

Today we jumped in the car and visited our friends who were staying the weekend up in Stinson Beach. It was such a gorgeous day that we made a short trek from the rental house to the beach. The skies were clear, the air warm, and the wind was practically non-existent. Very unusual for January 1.

Both kids ran about on the beach, splashing in the low waves, digging and throwing sand, and bringing in rocky treasures (James' big sister) or worries about the dogs on the beach (James). We hauled them in just before sunset. Good thing too. I'd forgotten how quickly the sun goes down in winter, and the cold starts back in just before the light goes.

It's been about a year since this group had seen James. His new height and verbal social activities did not go unnoticed. It was good to get caught up and be social myself. I'm getting rusty at that.

James went from asking to play Angry Birds to demanding to go home to refusing to leave. After dinner, you see, Big Sister started a treasure hunt game, and James and the other young child were totally caught up in it.

The winding roads were a bit much for him in the dark, but I took it slowly, admiring the moon, sea, and stars from the corners of my eyes. He was asleep before we got home. I loaded him into bed, only pausing to remove his rain boots and tuck the blankets around him.

Happy New Year, Baby -- I love you, Mom.

NYE Countdown: 8PM

So many things about this year that I've forgotten, like all the things you and your sister started to play together -- like puppet shows in the tent clubhouse:

I totally forgot taking this one. You were "reading" the books,
playing with the dollhouse, and making that car go places!

You got over generator noises enough to enjoy a classmate's part at Pump It Up.
You even went inside one of the jumpies -- huge for you!

Oh my yes - how could I forget how much you liked t-ball and baseball this year?

The swing! And you are having fun by sitting on it, not hanging on your stomach!

I was dreaming of this -- and the day came this year!

You still love your bubbles and balloons.

My big helper! You also try to help sweep up inside.

You like writing your name and some of the messages in the cards you like to make and send.

By Easter, you could handle me in the classroom. You loved your class.

Eggsactly! I can see why you loved them!

You love this sign at a neighbourhood market, and you still love their films.

You still have that mouth fixation thing too!

Thanksgiving Baking: A Timeline

5:00-9:30 Fuel injection (aka making and enjoying a pot of Peet's Holiday Blend). Trying to keep a damper on my darling (loud) boy.

9:30-10:00 Assemble and bake 2 pie crusts. TV is off. Big sister is entertaining herself. James is stimming loudly and playing with his alphabet puzzle. Also butting in to ask for milk while I am up to my wrists in floury dough. Go away. I love you. Later!

10:00-10:15 Chop and prep ingredients for an egg white veggie quiche. Because the custard tart only uses egg yolks. There is no way I am either going to keep 12 egg whites in my fridge or toss them! Keep after James to turn it down as he stims "AAAAAAHHHH" and "EEEEEE." These disciplinary admonitions are met with dinosaur mutterings and scripting from Squidward.

I am keeping the red eye. This little stinker woke me up at 5am!

10:16 Send husband out for eggs. Could have sworn recipe called for 10 eggs. Nope, it's 12. How many do we have? 11. #chefFAIL

10:35 Husband returns ... with mint chip ice cream too. I love him!

10:30-11:00 Cheer Girl Child on as she squeezes tangerines for custard tart. Body count: 13. Glad I bought the whole bag. We've counted 23 seeds in one half - yikes! So glad she thought to strain as she squeezed.

Meanwhile: James helps stir the egg whiles and cream for the quiche, then runs off to the trampoline to yodel and jump some more. Bizet's Carmen is playing on the classical music station -- Yay!! Explaining themes and motifs to my 8 y-o daughter. Husband pulls James into back bedroom. I love him even more!

11:00-11:30 Quiche is in the oven and baking. Totally guessing at quantities, heat, and bake duration. Meh. Finish citrus squeezing and assembling materials for cooking the tangerine custard. Break out to fix lunch for family.

11:30 Start cooking custard and watching daughter do a fashion show for what to wear to dinner tonight. Exciting!

11:36 Quiche is done. guess what I am having for lunch? Mwa-ha-ha!

11:45 Custard is really starting to cook.

With my fabulous All Clad pot set, I scoff at a double boiler!

 11:50 Added final ingredients to custard.

 12:45 Poured custard into pie crust. Clean up time! Garfield and Scarlotti are duking it out in the family room, sound-wise. Assemble materials for Corn Souffle.

1:00 Custard pie in fridge. What is a scallion? Is it more like a green onion or a shallot?

1:01 Google sez: green onion!

1:01-1:14 Assemble ingredients for corn souffle. Love my hand slicer/mincer. Just like Grandma Lee's!

1:15 Corn souffle in oven for an hour. Time to rest my feet. Hoping I got the temps right because .. look what happened to our controls a couple weeks back during a cleaning?

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh My Stinkin' Heck

I've been keeping my head down lately. Things have been hitting me nonstop. I'm not completely organized, so I am constantly checking and double-checking the ever-growing piles and stacks of paperwork, scribbled messages, calendars (office and kitchen), and email account (about 1900 messages in just the "In" box). Heck, even if I was organized, it wouldn't help too much, because things keep getting switched on me, or I find out something else that needs jumping on, STAT.

On the heels of the last round of the flu with James' sister came state testing for her. April was not only Autism Awareness month and our second Autism Speaks walk, it was the start of signups for summer programs. After one summer of leaving things too late, I obsessively plan for the day the Summer Program Schedule come out and sign the kids up online before the offices open the following Monday. Somewhere in there, James started waking up six times a night, one of which was to tell me that he'd pulled out his loose tooth. I am waiting to do the Tooth Fairy thing because shortly after that, he swallowed a nickle and a penny right in front of me, before I could stop him. Heck, maybe the Tooth Fairy will bring him an IOU or coupon for Funky Monkey tickets and save me some worry.

Then that Easter thing, with egg hunts, helping the bunny deliver after midnight, mailing cards, and making food to share at a family gathering. Followed by getting IEP revisions pushed through for James so he could go to summer school. Not that anyone at the school pointed out he needed this, I spent *several weeks* playing phone tag with his services coordinator, asking how summer school worked and how to get James signed up for it. I had to insist. I had to follow that up with several office visits around the system to shepherd the paperwork through the system. I truly do understand that the state is bleeding the schools dry, but bite me, James needs summer school.

If I hadn't been so obsessive about planning summer programs, I'd have been too late to get his IEP amended for an extended school year and thus he'd have missed out on a month of summer school, speech, and O/T. This reminded me that I needed to investigate classes and teachers for the next year. Still working on that one, as well as trying to have James' aide work with him in first grade.

With all this fun going on has been Teacher Appreciation week, PTA volunteering, an Art Docent session, daily Yard Duty shifts, and Other Schtuff (the parts where I get to work in the garden are rather fun). It can take me 3 days to get to a shower, four hours to clean a countertop, and six weeks to return a phone call. The Christmas books finally went out to the in-laws just before Easter. Oh, and my husband wants me to fix the showerhead in our bathroom and prepare for a Yard Sale. Actually, now is a great time to do it, because the we have a brand-new water heater. The old one sprung a leak the night before Easter. Which also means that I had to re-arranged and start cleaning out the garage to accommodate that little surprise project.

I tell you, the fun just never ends. And this is just what I can write about in 30 minutes. There's a lot more going on, and most of it's complicated.

Ready To Go ... Well, Some of Us Are

James emerged out of his room at 3:30 this morning and loudly announced that he was ready to go to school today. Oh, don't I wish!

His sister's been sick while I've been trying to help them both finish up Valentines for their classes, do some web work, and finalize an update presentation for another website that I am supposed to present to a Board tomorrow.

Between the two of them, I was routed out of a sound sleep at 11, 3:30, 4:30, and 5:50. It's like they can smell me heading for a work-related deadline with important meetings ahead.

I know the kids can't plan ahead and deliberately get sick just when I really need them not to, but dang -- I am getting tired of this! Seems like it's been the story of my life since we moved up here, 7 years ago. Even though I had to leave my job, there is still work to be done. And in this economy with our income slashed in half, every bit of contract work I can get done is a very good thing for us indeed.

Noticing and Playing

Recently, James has been watching less TV (yay), using his Leapster less obsessively (right on), and noticing some of the cool toys he's had lying around for a while. He totally gets into these:

The Thomas Train magnetic book started out with 32 magnetic train stickers. We're down to the last 4, and he's finally using it appropriately, creating distinct voices for each train and making them do tings in a coherent story line. Awesome! He lines them all back up in the stationhouse when he's done.

The CD is full of the alphabet songs that he sings in school. his teacher let me borrow the CD to make a copy for him. He gets the most delighted look on his face when he plays "his" songs. I just love watching him jump, smile, and hearing him sing.

James has a small fleet of trucks. I thought he'd at least spin the tires. Nope. He's ignored them all, until the past two weeks. Now he's a driving convert, with sound effects. Usually screeching tires and vrooming engines. I'm not so sure how much I like those last two, but I am totally supportive of all the playing that goes on. He's even using his construction map/rug in his room as a roadway.

It's really nice seeing James play more with toys in an appropriate way. It doesn't help with the Spring cleaning (more scattered things and what should I not toss becaue he's going to discover it next?), but it is a lot of fun to watch: