WHY THIS BLOG?
This blog is designed as a discussion forum and it’s intended purpose, and only purpose is for people like you and us to be part of a community, and to come together in a very special place. You see, we all understand each other. So, we here at our Special Needs Blog will not only share our experiences, successes and failures with you, we invite you to share your experiences, successes and failures with us and the blogs’ community.
So, what does all this mean?
As parents and caregivers to a special needs person, we understand the need for a place for others, such as ourselves to come together to find support and to share support. To be a support group and to share ideas and to share experiences.
Example of Discussions
Below are just some examples of what we mean. And believe me when I say just some examples. I’m sure if we all sat in a room; we can spend hours together just listing an endless amount of examples. And, that is exactly why this blog exists.
- Early signs. Our baby isn’t hitting the developmental milestones that our pediatrician had given us?
- What we do about preschool or daycare?
- We’re exhausted, where do we go for respite?
- How do we prepare for the annual IEP Individual Educational Plan?
- Does our child need medication for behavioral or otherwise?
- How can we go out socially with our child and overcome perceived negativity and how to deal with it?
- How can we get home support?
- Resources if struggling financially?
- Our child is becoming an adult, should we initiate guardianship?
- What is an ABLE account?
- What is a Special Needs Trust or a Supplemental Needs Trust?
- Does my child qualify for Medicaid?
- What is the Children’s Home Based Waiver?
- What is SSI and what is A Representative Payee?
- Does my child perform very bad habits i.e. picking skin, using household items to remove poop from the butt, throwing paper behind or inside things, etc.?
- Do you want to know what legal things to do and what benefits are available when your child turns 18?
- Do you deal with one partner not helping out with the day to day trials?
Tricks used:
As caregivers, we find creative ways to deal with issues that can be beneficial not only to our special needs person but to us as well. We as caregivers are very much part of the equation in our mission to give the best care. Our sanity depends on it and our special needs person depends on our sanity. Of course my wife and I can elaborate much more on what we do for our daughter, after all, since 1988 we have become experts. Here’s just a few things we’ve come up with.
- Food/snacks: Tend to reduce or stop anxiety while waiting in lines for just about anything. Our daughter would shove the entire snack down at once. We give her once piece at a time to slow her down.
- Wheelchair: Our daughter is very mobile. However, after five minutes in a museum she’s screaming to leave. When we put her in a wheelchair we are able to stay all day and enjoy ourselves and we get some much needed exercise. Win/Win.
- Avoiding crowded times: This is important, because it reduces anxiety.
- Avoiding very loud places: This helps not only to eliminate frustration, it helps my wife and I too.
- Avoiding very high stimulated overwhelming input places: This type of environment can put our daughter into a sensory overload mode; not good.
So, this list is just an example of what we can discuss in this blog.
