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

Helping Parents to Help Their Picky Eaters

Many developmental psychologists say to offer children a variety of things but also to involve the children in the process.

In a study, researchers found that children were more likely to eat food they were involved in making like salads and desserts.

They suggest making things kids can assemble like salads and tacos.  They can choose what they want to put on. (protein and other toppings.)

Their biggest tip is to start small.  Let your child put a little dressing on lettuce so they feel a part of and take ownership of what they made to eat. It will motivate them to eat it if they made it.

Give yourself and your child time to adjust to this.  They suggest not starting on a busy weekend where there is so much going on that you just want to get food on the table.

Information gathered from the article "Help for Picky Eaters (And Their Parents, Too!)" from General Health & Wellness, Nutrition  May 28, 2019

Research from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666318308419

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Some more ideas...

As we are getting closer to summer months and gardens, if you plant a garden, you can let your child/children help pick the food and prepare it for their meal (wash, peel, etc.). 

You can also let your child/children help get food items at the grocery store.  Help them make a small list for themselves of items they can find in the store when you are out and about. This will help them be more a part of the process of getting and preparing meals for them.

Some more ideas are to check out books at the library about food and read them to your child/children, sing songs that talk about food, and do art with food (potato stamps, fruit necklaces, panting with a dip and objects like carrot sticks, bananas, apple slices, celery, etc.

Another fun idea is to let your child/children create a character on their plate with their food. Peas for the eyes, spaghetti for their hair, apple slice for their mouth, etc. There are also ways you can by or make a plate with a basic face and they can add food to it to create a character. Here are a few ideas:
-Create your own face plate with paint and a plate. (Many ideas on Pinterest, type in "Food Face Plates"
- "Fred" by FOOD FACE (plates with a face where children can add food to create the rest of the face like adding peas in the shape of a hat, etc). See pictures below

Developmental Milestones Apps

Learn the Signs. Act Early. Resources

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have a number of free resources for tracking and supporting motor development. Available in English and Spanish, the resources also address other areas, such as social/emotional, language/communication, and cognitive development.

Milestone Tracker App – Free and downloadable, this easy-to-use app can track a child’s milestones from two months to 5 years with illustrated checklists. The app also offers tips from CDC for encouraging a child’s development and a summary that can be shared with doctors and others.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones-app.html

 

Milestones in Action: Photo and Videos – Free photos and videos illustrate important developmental milestones from two months through five years in gross motor and other areas.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-in-action.html

We Did It!

The Social Services Appropriations Committee prioritized funding for Baby Watch Early Intervention Programs with internal funds, which means the funding recommendation has been approved!  This will help us to continue to provide services to the growing population that is eligible for early intervention.

Please take a minute and thank the members of the Social Services Appropriations Committee for their recommendation!  Here are links to the members of the committee representing Davis County.

Rep. Paul Ray (R), House Chair  
Rep. Raymond P. Ward (R), House Vice Chair
Sen. J. Stuart Adams (R)
 Sen. Todd Weiler (R) 

Also, THANK YOU to the parents who sent emails encouraging the committee to prioritize this money for services for young children.  We couldn't do this without your help and support.