Kids Who Need Speech Therapy In An (Almost) Post Pandemic World In this first of a three part series of blog posts, we reached out to several of the speech therapists we have been privileged to work with, and asked them for some feedback to share with our families and supporters. The first question we asked is, What effects have you seen on students since the impact of …
COVID-19
6 Ways to Support Kids’ Mental Health Right Now
This article originally appeared on our blog on August 13, 2020. We're repeating it because well, the pandemic hasn't ended yet and also because mental health is always a timely issue. I am a big fan of Common Sense Media. I have always found it to be an incredibly useful tool when deciding which family movie to choose. Truth be told, I also use it to read the synopsis of a film I’m …
Finding the Balance (Parents During a Pandemic)
Back in the day, in a previous life almost, I was a counselor for domestic violence offenders. They came to a group session two times a week, essentially as an alternative to going to jail. I could write dozens of blog posts about it that would be interesting but not necessarily helpful for you. What I have been thinking about that is definitely helpful is something we taught in those classes …
The Orange Effect Foundation Assists Families as a Funder of Last Resort
$30,000 in Grants Awarded to Fund Speech Therapy and Speech Devices for Needy Children Across the United States By: The Orange Effect Foundation CLEVELAND - Sept. 27, 2021 - PRLog -- The Orange Effect Foundation strives to empower children and young adults with the tools they need to communicate effectively. Continuing a generous quarterly grant award program that began in 2015, recently …
Teaching and Learning With Masks On
I had an amazing lunch with Dr. Lauren Calandruccio, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, who specializes in all things audiology. I learned fascinating things. For example, when she has one of her typical students try out a cochlear implant simulator in class, and she is teaching with a mask on, some students comprehend as little as FIVE PERCENT of what she is saying. I was shocked. We …
Back To School Tips For Special Needs Kids 2021
What will school look like this year? After last year, many parents are wondering what school will look like for our kids this year. I think there will be few virtual options, as many schools have shut their virtual options down. It looks like we will be returning to school in person. It also looks like we are returning to in-person school without masks. Vaccine Info There are some …
Overcoming Obstacles While Traveling With People Who Have ASD
For many people, an out-of-town trip can be refreshing and invigorating. Experiencing a new place together as a family offers the chance to make lasting memories outside your normal routine. But for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), traveling brings a host of unique challenges. New sights and sounds paired with the disruption of their usual daily routine can make it difficult to …
iso·la·tion. It’s a sad, sad word.
How to know if it is affecting your child. According to Merriam Webster, the definition of isolate (verb) is “to set apart from others; also : quarantine.” or as a noun, “an individual socially withdrawn or removed from society,” or as an adjective, “being alone.” I remember about 15 years ago. I was a stay at home mom with two boys, one of whom was special needs, and my husband traveled a …
No Two People Handle a Pandemic the Same: A Covid-19 Story
Last March, when the pandemic really started to take shape here in Ohio (we went on a shelter in place order), this article came across my Facebook feed that made me laugh out loud. I immediately forwarded it to my son, who is the true summation of the people described in this article. I felt reassured because the article says: To prepare for the onslaught of the deadly disease, …
Navigating Our New Normal
I had (socially distanced) coffee with a mom last month who reached out because she couldn’t decide if in person or remote learning would be best for her autistic daughter. As we got to talking she mentioned that they had to stop speech therapy because of the pandemic. I was surprised her SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) hadn’t offered online sessions. The mom admitted that she didn’t really …
Opening Doors
I was shopping for doors the other day with my husband (I want a back door that lets more sun come into my kitchen!!) and I started thinking about how “open doors” do let us connect to the outside and to so many other things… In a time of such unrest both with COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter protests, it has made me, and I am sure many of us, reflect on what we can do to make a …
The Kids Are Not All Right
Richard Engel writes, "Kids with special needs are not OK right now. Neither are parents. Let's drop the act that this pandemic affects us all equally." I second that. Checking in my my friends who have special needs kids, it's clear that they're operating in a different stratosphere. It's one thing to keep your preschooler occupied 24-7, but it's another thing entirely to keep your special …