I love the holidays. I love everything about it. I love how my house changes with the decorations, I love trying to find just the perfect gift for friends and loved ones. I love baking as much as I can find plastic containers for and I love seeing everyone at parties and meals. It really is a wonderful time of the year. What’s the catch? Well, let’s be honest. It can be REALLY stressful. There …
Charades: The real life version
We started Orange Effect Foundation not only because of our own personal family experience, but because we worked in marketing, so communication was the core of our universe. Sounds dramatic but it’s true. Where would we be if we couldn’t communicate? Is there any other way businesses can get their message across without written or verbal communication? I can’t think of any. Could you even …
A Focus On Parents of Special Needs Children
I recently had an “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that” moment. Okay, so I actually have many of those, but this one in particular almost concerned me. I got so focused on one aspect of the care of special needs children I completely forgot about the most important people in the scenario. The PARENTS! I owe a thank you to my friend Sydni Craig Hart who brought this to my …
Learning about Aphasia
The bad news: There is no cure for Aphasia The good news: Speech and Language Therapy can help. What is Aphasia? Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. The disorder impairs the expression and understanding of language, as well as reading and writing. Most people who have aphasia are middle-aged or older, but anyone …
Have You Ever Seen A Communication Board?
It’s exciting to see a new innovation that helps someone. Sometimes an invention comes along and I think to myself, “Wow, why didn’t someone think of that sooner?” I remember arriving at our city park one day and seeing a swing for kids in wheelchairs. It was thrilling to see the joy on a child’s face when they got to try it out. I was recently introduced to another one of those …
NASA Sets a Great Example of Accessibility
Yep, you read that headline correctly. You might expect it to say Cleveland Clinic or Autism Speaks. I sure did. Hopefully, by now you've seen the jaw droppingly gorgeous photos of our galaxy taken from the James Webb Space Telescope. They capture portions of our universe in sparkling detail. For example, here is a picture of the Cartwheel Galaxy. NASA, made sure that their photos weren’t …
CWRU Students Run For Autism
Join Us in Cleveland on September 18th! Last year, a student from Case Western Reserve University here in Cleveland reached out to us and asked if the proceeds from a run they were organizing could go to the Orange Effect Foundation. How can you say no to that? Then I looked at the groups that were sponsoring the event. Naturally, the Autism Acceptance group made sense. But Quidditch? …
Doing My Best To Make Fifty Fabulous
I remember in my teens and 20’s how OLD I thought 50 was. I mean, ancient! Now, here I am with the number 5 being the first digit of my age! I’m doing okay with 50 though. I have to admit, 45 was the rough one for me. If you notice how most places list age groups, 45-54 is a pretty common one. So having to move to that checkbox at 45 was killer. Maybe 55 will be my next crisis age! As I was …
Why I Golf For Speech Therapy
We are so fortunate to be hosting our SIXTEENTH annual golf outing. Wow. We would have never guessed we would be doing this for so many years. We have so many people to thank, like our ongoing sponsors, but also the many, many participants and volunteers who join us each year to make the day a memorable one. We asked some of them a few questions about why they return to the event each year. Here …
How Sensory Friendly Movies Practically Saved My Life
I recently got an email from Playhouse Square, our local theatre here in Cleveland, announcing that they are doing a sensory friendly production of the play Frozen. If you aren’t familiar with sensory friendly productions, they are a dream come true for parents of kids with special needs. Sensory friendly movies, plays, areas of amusement parks etc., exist for kids who are easily overstimulated …
100 Holes of Golf for the Third Year in a Row
For those of you who don’t know, the idea of doing 100 holes of golf in ONE DAY stemmed from Covid-19. We were trying to find a way to continue fundraising during the pandemic so we could continue to fund kids who need speech therapy. Mike Balzano came up with this brilliant idea. Personally, I am not passionate enough about anything to do it for 12 consecutive hours. Okay, maybe lay by a …
Autistic Kids Amaze Me
I often get on a rant about the negative effects of the internet, but it’s days like today where for some great reason my news is filled with things that just make me so happy. Take Anthony here, he loves cars. I mean not just loves cars but LOVES cars. I don’t want to spoil the video - but you will be shocked when you realize one of the cars is not a car… well, anyway, Anthony has some …
