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Monday, October 16, 2017
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Halloween Checklist
Though Halloween is still several weeks away, chances are
your children are eagerly anticipating the holiday, planning their costumes,
and thinking about parties and trick-or-treating. If your child has special
needs, Halloween can present some extra challenges. But none of these
challenges are insurmountable. Check out these tips for a Happy Halloween!
Find the perfect costume
What
child doesn’t love playing dress-up? Costumes provide children with the
opportunity to pretend, fantasize and express their interests and creativity.
If your child uses a wheelchair, incorporating the chair into her costume is a
great way to go. Does he love NASCAR? Create a race-car from the wheelchair. Does
she dream of being a princess? Turn her wheelchair into a coach. Check out
Enabling Devices’ Halloween
post from last year for more terrific ideas.
If
your child has sensory issues, take care to choose a costume that fits
comfortably and isn’t made of scratchy fabric that could spoil your child’s
fun. That may mean avoiding store-bought costumes, masks, hats, face paint or
other accessories that can irritate sensitive skin.
Prepare for the big day or night
Halloween
is tons of fun, but it can also be kind of scary. If your child tends to become
fearful or anxious, consider trick-or-treating during the day instead of at
night, read books, sing songs and have discussions about what to expect during
Halloween.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
A Salute to People with Down Syndrome
October
is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. So, this week’s blogpost pays tribute to
people with Down Syndrome who are accomplishing amazing things, as well as their
families, teachers and therapists.
Here
are some facts:
According to the National Down Syndrome Society, “Trisomy 21 (nondisjunction) Down
syndrome is usually caused by an error in cell division called
"nondisjunction." Nondisjunction results in an embryo with three copies
of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two. Prior to or at conception, a pair of
21st chromosomes in either the sperm or the egg fails to separate.”People with Down syndrome share certain physical characteristics including eyes that slant upwards, low muscle tone, a deep crease across their palms, and short stature. Though all people with Down syndrome experience some degree of cognitive delays, it is now understood, that they are capable of learning, have diverse interests, talents and strengths just like their typically developing peers.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Wheeling Through Middle School
Like so many
girls her age, Melissa Shang of
Westborough, Massachusetts, loves American Girl dolls and the accompanying books
that tell the dolls’ stories. The company’s BeForever line includes dolls and
stories that teach children ages 8-13 about American history, with characters including
Kaya, a Native American girl living in the mid-late 1700s, Felicity, whose
story takes place at the beginning of the American Revolution, Josefina, a
Mexican-American girl living in the early 1800s and Molly, who resides in
Illinois during World War II. Beginning in the early 2000s, the company
launched its Girl of the Year line, featuring contemporary heroines of
different races, religions and ethnicities dealing with a variety of
challenges.
Melissa enjoyed playing with the dolls and learning about their stories,
but as a girl with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a type of
muscular dystrophy, she longed for an American Girl doll who like her, had a
disability. With the support of her older sister Eva, in 2014 Melissa initiated
an online petition asking the creators of American Girl dolls to add a Girl of
the Year doll with a disability. Though the petition went viral, was signed by more
than 140,000 people and garnered significant media attention, the company has
not committed to produce a doll with a disability.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Five New Apps Changing Life for People with Disabilities
With new apps being developed all the time, it’s hard to
keep up. Here’s a run-down on some new and coming soon apps likely to benefit people
with disabilities.
Beam Smart Presence System
Remote shopping is nothing new, but this app, currently
being tested by American Eagle Outfitters, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based
clothing retailer, promises to make remote shopping a more personal, interactive
experience. “The Beam Smart Presence System” will help people with mobility challenges that
prevent them from traveling to a brick and mortar store to “beam” into an
American Eagle location from a computer or tablet. When users “beam in” they
can communicate with a sales clerk, who speaks to them through a tablet at the
store. Using a second tablet, the shopper can remotely follow the clerk up and
down the store aisles as the clerk shows the shopper store merchandise.
Monday, September 11, 2017
School Days, school days…
The first weeks of a new school year typically bring
excitement, exhaustion and for some children — especially those with special
needs — a fair amount of anxiety. Certain products available through Enabling Devices can help take
the edge off that anxiety, helping students to calm down, focus and attend to their
classwork. In turn, these products can decrease the likelihood of disruptive
behaviors, and increase the likelihood of positive social interactions. Here
are some suggestions for products that encourage success in school. Some are sold
in classroom kits while others can be purchased individually.
According to Occupational
Therapy for Children, “Fidget toys are often used to provide
sensory input in a less distracting way. They can help improve
concentration and attention to tasks by allowing the brain to filter out the
extra sensory information (e.g. listening to a lesson in the classroom,
paying attention to a book during circle time). By having a fidget toy, a child
may be able to better ‘filter out’ excess sensory information in
their surroundings and their own body, which is causing
distraction, and encouraging this sensory information to
be focused on a toy in the hands.”
Enabling Devices’ fidget kit comes with 13 different small
and discrete fidget toys that help students become calm, focus and regulate
their nervous systems. Students can choose from fidget toys including our Desk
Buddy Sensory Bars, finger squash its, gel bead balls, pencil finger fidgets
and many more.
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Seven Organizations Helping Harvey Victims with Disabilities
When a catastrophe such as Hurricane Harvey strikes, the
consequences are disastrous for everyone impacted. For people with physical,
psychological and developmental disabilities, the situation can be even more
dire. Just imagine: trying to maneuver a wheelchair through five feet of water;
being blind and having to climb a ladder to safety; having autism and losing
your home and the prized possessions that make you feel secure. These are just
some of the challenges that people with disabilities are facing in the wake of
Hurricane Harvey.
Amidst the devastation in Texas, nonprofits that advocate
for people with disabilities are doing their best to ensure that they aren’t
left behind. Here are some that are doing good work or collecting money for
people with disabilities. You may wish to support them at this critically
important time.
Portlight
and its partner, The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies has been working on behalf of people with
disabilities “to
promote inclusiveness in disaster preparedness and response plans and to demand
provisions for transportation and shelter accessibility,” since 1997. During
Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the organization worked with disabled hurricane
survivors for 18 months, helping them to replace lost medical equipment,
rebuild ramping, and more. Portlight provided similar support for disabled victims
of flooding in Louisiana in 2016. Portlight also runs a program called Getting It Right which offers workshops and
conferences on issues related to inclusive disaster preparedness and advocates
for accessibility in housing and transportation.
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