by jphilo | Jun 8, 2017 | Different Dream, How-Tos, Special Needs Parenting
Top Ten Special Needs Summer Fun Posts
Special needs summer fun. Does that sound like an oxymoron? These ten Different Dream posts explain how to make summer fun for your kids with special needs and the entire family. Check them out and then, let the special needs summer fun begin!
A sensory garden adds spice to summer for kids with special needs and their families. In How to Create a Sensory Garden for Kids with Special Needs, guest blogger Trish Shaeffer gives step-by-step instructions about how to create a garden with your kids.
A little planning for summer goes a long way. Guest blogger Sheri Dacon knows this from experience and shares her best tips in Summer Planning Tips for Parents of Kids with Special Needs.
The transition from school to summer can be rough for kids with special needs and their families. Guest blogger and child psychologist Liz Matthies offers some simple tips to ease the transition in Summer Transition Tips for Kids with Special Needs.
Routines are very comforting for many children with special needs. Guest blogger Kimberly Drew runs through the summer routines she’s put in place to make her daughter feel safe and secure all summer long in 4 Special Needs Summer Routines.
Any parent who’s been in the hospital with a child over the Fourth of July, knows it won’t make their summer fun hit parade. 4th of July Hospital Red, White, and Blues offers ideas friends can employ to bring some fun to an Independence Day hospital stay.
The sounds, smells, and sights of Fourth of July are often too much for children with sensory sensitivities. Over the years, guest blogger Kimberly Drew instituted precautionary measures to make the Fourth fun for her daughters. You can read about them in Happy Special Needs Fourth of July!
Summer = Travel for many families. But the two can be a difficult combination when special needs enter the mix. Guest blogger Kathy Kuhl’s series addresses many of the challenges related to the subject. In Part 1 of Travel and Kids with Special Needs, she outlines 3 strategies to simplify the process.
Travel and Kids with Special Needs, Part 2 by guest blogger Kathy Kuhl completes her series with 3 more tips about how to simplify travel with kids who have special needs so that a good time can be had by all.
Do you want to keep your kids reading this summer? These 10 Summer Reading Tips for Kids with Special Needs can help maintain reading skills and make doing so fun. Now that’s a win-win, isn’t it?
These 12 Fun Summer Activities for Kids with Special Needs were compiled by guest blogger Sylvia Phillips. This post offers oodles of fun for every member of the family. And isn’t that what summer is supposed to be for all kids?
Did your favorites special needs summer fun posts and tips make the list? If not, leave them in the comment box. And by the way, have a great summer!
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Jolene Philo is a published author, speaker, wife, and mother of a son with special needs.
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by jphilo | Jul 3, 2014 | Different Dream, Holidays, Special Needs Parenting
Happy Special Needs Fourth of July!
Photo Credit: nuttakit at www.freedigitalphotos.net
Guest blogger Kimberly Drew has learned a few things over the years about how to create a happy special needs Fourth of July for her daughter, Abbey, who lives with multiple special needs. Today, she offers three tips about how to craft good special needs fourth of July memories for the entire family.
Happy Special Needs Fourth of July!
I grew up in a small town and state where it is legal to buy and set off fireworks. Every year we had a cookout and then went to a neighboring town for a Fourth of July fireworks show. We followed up that show with sparklers and small fireworks to do as a family at home. I loved it! After a long night of celebration, we would collapse into bed and sleep in the next day. When I became a mom, this was a holiday I couldn’t wait to celebrate with my own children. It’s funny how something that seems so simple can turn into such a hurdle when you have a child with multiple disabilities.
Special Needs Fourth of July Tip #1
For starters, cookouts can be a nightmare for a child with chewing and swallowing problems. Abbey once had to have emergency surgery because she helped herself to a slice of watermelon at a friend’s house. Don’t even get me started on hot dogs and chips! Now we bring “Abbey safe” food with us wherever we go. Parents with children with food allergies understand this as well. The last way you want to spend your holiday is in an emergency room with worry and question weighing on your heart.
Special Needs Fourth of July Tip #2
If we can get past the cookout, we have to get through the fireworks show. A lot of children are extremely sensitive to the loud noises associated with a fireworks production. That doesn’t mean you have to skip the show, but it does mean you have to do some research about where you can park your car, or sit as a family that is far enough away to see the show without the big booms. The first few times we tried fireworks with Abbey she was terrified. We watched one year from the car, and now that she is older she loves them. This is true for a lot of kids. It’s nice to know some things they will outgrow!
Special Needs Fourth of July Tip #3
Last, we had to let go of fireworks at home. The last thing I need is a burn from a sparkler or an accidental fly away that she doesn’t have the reflexes to avoid! This was a happy memory for me, so I felt a little sad that we wouldn’t get to continue this tradition, but over time you learn to let go of the less important traditions in order to preserve the big ones. It helps that we eventually moved to a state where fireworks are illegal anyway. But if you are in a neighborhood like the one I grew up in, maybe you can just drive a little further away for the fireworks show so that your kiddos are too tired to think about it when they get home?
The good news is this: Holidays are going to look a little different in your house, but they can still be celebrated! Don’t stay home this Fourth of July!
Your Special Needs Fourth of July Tips
How does your family make a happy special needs Fourth of July for your family? Leave your ideas in the comment box.
Do you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the quarterly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up for the first in the pop up box and the second at the bottom of this page.
Kimberly grew up and went to college in the small town of Upland, IN. She graduated from Taylor University with a degree in Elementary Education in 2002. While at TU, she married her college sweetheart and so began their adventure! Ryan and Kimberly have four amazing kids on earth (Abigail, Jayden, Ellie, and Cooper), and a baby boy waiting for them in heaven. Their daughter Abigail (Abbey) has multiple disabilities including cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder, hearing loss, microcephaly, and oral dysphagia. She is the inspiration behind Kimberly’s desire to write. In addition to being a stay at home mom, Kimberly has been serving alongside her husband in full time youth ministry for almost fourteen years. She enjoys working with the senior high girls, scrapbooking, reading, and music. You can visit Kimberly at her website, Promises and Perspective.
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by jphilo | Jul 1, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
Only a few days remain until we celebrate Independence Day with a back yard cook out, Fourth of July fireworks, and a whisper of thanks to our country’s founding fathers. Here are some of the reasons to be grateful for their efforts over two centuries ago:
10. They declared their independence in Philadelphia, which meant this former elementary teacher could ask her students to call it Philodelphia.
9. Our founding fathers provided courageous examples for future generations to emulate.
8. They are also an example of perseverance. When the Articles of Confederation went bust, they didn’t give up. Instead, they tried again and wrote our present Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
7. Four signers of the Declaration of Independence and members the Constitutional Congress later became president: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison.
6. Thanks to our founding fathers actions that led to the preservation of American Revolution uniforms, tricorner hats remain more than a passing fad.
5. The examples of these men remind us that we should not always be satisfied with the status quo.
4. Paintings of some founding fathers are further proof that very few people look good in skinny jeans.
3. Our founding fathers penned the stirring and familiar words in the Declaration of Independence. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. How can a heart not be stirred by those words?
2. These brave men had a vision for our country and the ability to preserve it in words.
1. Our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence smack dab in July…the perfect time to celebrate two of God’s great gifts: long, summer nights and a country that values individual freedom and common good.
Why are you thankful this Independence Day? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Jul 4, 2012 | Recipes
We were on the road so much last week I hardly had time to cook, let alone try a new recipe. So today, for readers still unsure of what to fix for a Fourth of July meal, here’s a rerun of our current favorite summer grilling recipe. It meets all my criteria since it’s easy, tasty, healthy, and makes decent left overs.
We had it for supper Monday night, for the first time with fresh oregano from my new herb garden. Oh my, oh my, oh my, was that delicious. So give it a try and leave a comment about how it goes over at your house.
Greek Salad with Grilled Shrimp
1 head romaine lettuce chopped (or an equal amount of other greens)
2 sweet peppers, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
(The original recipe called for two chopped tomatoes and a chopped cuke)
Toss all together in bowl and put in refrigerator. Then prepare the shrimp as follows.
1 pound raw shrimp, shelled and with tails off
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cajun or creole seasoning
Toss shrimp with oil and seasoning. Thread on skewers and grill for 1 – 2 minutes per side, until shrimp is done. Put on a platter.
Mix together the juice from 1/2 lemon, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Drizzle over lettuce mixture and toss well. Divide equally among 6 plates. Arrange shrimp on top and serve.
by jphilo | Aug 13, 2010 | Different Dream, Holidays, Special Needs Parenting
The fireworks and flags are long gone, but the holiday’s been on my mind ever since.
Meet Chloe Downey
The pre-occupation began with a post at Chloe Downy’s CaringBridge page. She’s a teenager who recently completed successful treatment for High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Though she’s pretty much done with doctors and hospitals, her mom often posts thoughtful items about other families they know.
Hospitals and Minor Holidays Like the 4th of July
Her entry about a family in the hospital over the 4th of July weekend. After describing how the girl was fighting cancer, she went on to say this:
“His side comment has haunted me: ‘July 4th’s were very tough. We watched a lot of fireworks from a hospital room.‘
Hospital staff does very well with the traditional holidays for children, but they have yet to approve indoor fireworks to ohh and awe over.
There is nothing like the world outside having a party, being invited, but having to be someplace where you don’t want to be at all that is very difficult on a family’s soul.”
How Can We Help?
Ouch. Those words hurt. They left me wondering how to raise awareness among friends of families of sick kids. How can they help until hospitals pick up the slack and have indoor fireworks for families watching the celebration from their hospital rooms. Here’s what I came up with:
- Take a 4th of July picnic to the hospital and eat with the family.
- Have a parade in the hallway.
- Have an indoor beach party, complete with kiddie pools full of sand.
Not very impressive, is it? And with another minor holiday, Labor Day, on the horizon a few more ideas would be nice. If you have ideas or stories about how you celebrated minor holidays in the hospital, would you please leave a comment? Maybe we can come up with a bigger list to FB and tweet about the week before Labor Day.
Get to Know Chloe
If you’d like to know more about Chloe, click on this link to visit her CaringBridge site. To learn more about the family who watched fireworks from the hospital, you’ll find a link to their page at Chloe’s July 3 journal entry.
I look forward to reading about your great holiday celebration ideas!
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