The Magic of Play Webinar 

Let one of your providers know if you'd like to watch and then we will send you the Zoom link!

 Learning through Play

From Sesame Street in Communities: "Children love to play, and believe it or not, they’re learning as they play. They practice social skills like sharing and empathy. They learn to think critically when they listen to instructions or remember steps. And they learn positive ways to express their emotions. There are so many ways to play. Imaginative or dramatic play can be especially exciting to work into your daily routines." 

Resources

For Printable Play Cards with ideas for play by age group

Visit this website: https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Learning_PRINT_PlayCards.pdf

For ideas to add language into play 

Visit Word Play on this website on Sesame Street in Communities (x out of the first screen and it should be in the screen behind):  https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/learning-through-play/?activity=word-play 

For the benefits of giggling together with your children

Visit Silly Power on this website on Sesame Street in Communities  (x out of the first screen and it should be in the screen behind): https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/family-bonding/?activity=silly-power

For even more resources and information, visit semsamestreetincommunities.org

 You Are Not Your Child's Therapist with Lisa Rawley, Developmental Specialist in Davis Early Intervention

Lisa Rawley, a developmental specialist in Davis Early Intervention with over 20 years of experience working with children with specials needs, speaks on the podcast "The Rare Life" providing advice and ideas and the feeling that parents do not have to feel like they need to be their child's therapist. They are mom, dad, grandma, grandpa (whom ever is the child's caregiver).  She says all the things a parent/caregiver needs to work on in order to help their child to reach their potential can mostly happen during their daily routines. This takes the pressure off of the the feeling that they have to be their child's therapist with the need to schedule specific times a day to provide their child therapy. 

For more advice and ideas, listen to the full podcast. Copy and past the link below into the URL and then scroll down through episodes until you find:

#4: You Are Not Your Child’s Therapist with Developmental Specialist Lisa Rawley

6/25/2020

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Kids--Family-Podcasts/The-Rare-Life-p1321177/

Info on the podcast:

The podcast "The Rare Life" is conducted by a special needs mom, Madeline, as she shares her own experiences and take-aways from her life raising a son who was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder and from other parents who share their own stories and advice of loving and raising a child with special needs. There are also professionals who share advice, ideas, and solutions to help parents navigate the challenges, difficulties, and triumphs that come when raising children with special needs. 

Special Needs Moms Support Group

You are invited to a special needs moms support group. These meetings happen monthly and virtual through Zoom until further notice. The meetings are for all moms and children of all ages and special needs.

The goal of these meetings is to uplift and create friendships. 

This group was created and is directed by the non-profit, We Are Brave Together. It is a non-profit based out of California. This is their first pilot group in Utah and is facilitated by a special needs mom from Utah, Madeline Cheney. 

Sign up to be given the Zoom codes and reminders at the link below.

 https://www.wearebravetogether.com/store/p80/July_Zoom_Support_Group_7%2F15%2F20_UTAH.html

Parenting a Special Needs Child in a Pandemic

                                                         

                                                                      (picture from the article below)

In an article in Human Parts called "Special Needs Parenting in the Age of Pandemic" by Sean Patrick Hughes, a US Naval serviceman, who endured many hardships through deployments for our country, and a father of a special needs son speaks candidly about his experiences in the Navy and of raising a son with autism through this pandemic. He provides some great insights on how to make it day to day through what might seem like the hardest time in life.  

He says:

"While the journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step, the journey of a long, hardcore, truly tough experience starts with a step of a different sort. That of acknowledging your reality. Owning it. Making it a part of you. Wearing it, as Tyrion Lannister says, like a cloak that protects you against the fragile and meaningless luxuries of another time.

Once you get there, you’re free to move on to three valuable thoughts that can get you through just about anything.

1. Every moment is just a moment. Every day is just a day. You can only live them one at a time. If you look at all the troubles you are about to encounter in any long and difficult endeavor and stack them up on top of you at once, you will collapse. The burden is too heavy.

See every moment for what it is. One moment. It begins. It ends. Don’t overvalue its joy or its hardship. Don’t project any reality as representative of some permanent future. As soon as you do, you’ve let water seep into the crack. When the real hard winter comes, it will freeze and split your world wide open. That’s when you quit. Except you can’t quit what you can’t quit. And all there is from there is suffering.

2. Be grateful. It doesn’t matter what you are going through. Gratitude applies. If you can’t think of anything, then spend some time with the miracle that is existence.

Grab the dirt beneath your feet. Breathe the air around you. Catch the light that shines off of everything you see. Realize the infinite space and time it all had to travel to be here for you to experience. Realize the millions of ways the matter that is you could have been organized for you not to exist.

Entropy is the natural order of the universe. Celebrate the forces that stave it off to create the cosmically unlikely event that is existence. If you spend some time with that thought, you’re ready to celebrate the unlikely miracle that is your existence. And you can’t help but feel gratitude.

3. See yourself in the service of caring for your child. It’s not a long list of tedious things you shouldn’t have to deal with. It’s an opportunity to serve your child.

We weren’t sitting in the bush in Africa getting our" (butts) "handed to us by physics and nature. We were serving the American people. And if you don’t think that serving your special needs child is as honorable as military service, you’ve read one too many Navy SEAL books. Those guys would tell you the same. Trust me, I know them all.

I’ve cleaned more crappers and written more admin reports than I’ve gone on combat patrols by a factor of 100. That was service, too. Through the lens of service, the tedious becomes honorable. Let that all sink in for a second. Then let’s bring it back to now.

We’re early on in this crisis. None of us know how long we’ll be here. Special needs parents are looking up at a mountain that’s higher than everyone else. For those of you with just good old fashioned standard-issue kids, all of this applies too, because lord knows eight weeks of lockdown with them isn’t easy either.

Keep these thoughts in the front of your mind. Pray them if that’s your thing. I do — it works. When your world gets small and tough and you’ve come to the conclusion there’s no way out of what’s coming, remind yourself:

1. Take it one day at a time.
2. Be grateful.
3. Serve others.

That’s it. That’s all there is. Anything else is a sales pitch. Now go forward and do hard things."

To read more from his article, check out the link below.

https://humanparts.medium.com/special-needs-parenting-in-the-age-of-pandemic-e0c9320c5a58

Heroes in Your Neighborhood - A Sesame Street Video

In this time of uncertainty, there are things that remain certain. Things we can be grateful for!

The link below is a Sesame Street video for children about the Heroes in their Neighborhood.  These will help children realize those who remain certain in their world, those that are here to help us. These are EMTs, grocers, doctors and nurses, pharmacists, and many others.

You can help your children learn how important these people are and to give thanks to them for their service to us, for their certainty and reliability in these uncertain times.

Watch this video with your children and help them think of ways they could say thanks.

https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/activities/heroes-in-your-neighborhood/

The Magic of Play