American Sign Language

Sign language...hmmm...another way of communicating for many people, not only for people who are hearing impaired but for many children/people who are non verbal, some people who have autism use American Sign Language, others who have C.P. have found it helpful and so many others.
Hailey uses her Dynavox V at school to help her communicate and they are also teaching her a bit of sign language as well. Last year my husband and I decided to have someone come to the house once a week to teach us sign language so that we would be could keep up with Hailey. This year for Christmas we got our family an IPAD so that Hailey could use the proloquo2go app. Some people in the special needs world are referring to this app as “a miracle device.” I think it is important for us to have many different ways of communicating with Hailey if not with words.
Because we did not actually use the sign language steadily and regularly, I have already forgotten some of my signs. :( A couple of months ago my local library had the Program Director of the ASL Academy come in and teach some basic signs, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to take a refresher course. I attended this workshop and struck up a conversation with The Director about the Academy. He told me a bit about his program and also offers a course on line. For so many families out there, finding the time to commit to a class seems nearly impossible. Taking the online class may be the answer for your family. I hope you find this helpful.

The American Sign Language Academy offers classes in American Sign Language in Pawtucket, RI, with over 90 students attending regularly. In addition, to accommodate those who would like to take classes but may be too far away or have scheduling conflicts, ASLA will be offering an on-line course starting in April.

The course utilizes 21st century technology with the benefit of teacher feedback. The idea is called the Blended Classroom. The cost for level 1 on-line is $125.00.

After registering for the course, students will be sent their course materials. They will go to the website and use are a password for the first of nine weekly lessons. They will see a video with detailed instruction. At the end of the lesson, students will need to set aside time to practice. After seven weeks, students will meet with the teacher (Manuel Martin) via webcam and do their first presentation. They will receive feedback from the teacher. In the ninth week, they will do their second presentation. After the teacher indicates the two presentations are successful, students will be mailed a certificate of completion and they will be eligible to go on to level 2.

Students will be able to access each lesson for the assigned week. If they miss a week, they will be allowed to go back to that lesson as a make up. Only one lesson may be repeated in this way during the course.

More than one student may use the course. However, each additional student will be charged $25.00 if they want to do their presentations for the teacher, receive feedback and receive a certificate at the end of the course.

In a few weeks, when the program is ready to be launched, information will be posted on the website. Contact us with any questions you may have.

Manuel Martin
ASL Academy
401 722 1022
http://www.aslacademy.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Sign-Language-Academy/219507895413

Core Strength

I just love to spend Sunday afternoons with Hailey, we are not usually rushed for any particular reason. No school, no work...no worries. We can read as many books as Hailey wants to read, she loves to put about 10 books at a time on my living room chair and then come and get me to read them to her. She never tires of reading the same books over and over again. We watched movies together Dora and Tinkerbell. Hailey had to show me how to put the movies in the blue ray player, Grammie doesn’t have a clue how to work it. Thank goodness Hailey did.

Hailey has been accepted and will be attending The Conductive Learning Center In Michigan in May. We are very excited about this!
Because Conductive Education promotes development of the whole person, including physical, social, cognitively and psychological aspects, this intervention is not viewed as a traditional therapy but rather a multi disciplinary approach to improving the quality of life for children and their families. Hopefully Hailey will learn to gain control of her movements, increase her core strength and increase her level of independence. It may also help with potty training. The children and families who attend C.E. are taught problem solving skills that will allow them to develop unconventional ways of accomplishing motor tasks. Today we worked on core strength and neck and head control by sitting independently at this table that we fashioned out of a $7.99 ikea table and a towel holder that was bought at home depot. Hailey seemed to like sitting this way, but when she got excited she would let go of the bar, so of course she could not be left unattended. And of course, she still amazes me everyday!

If you have adapted any furniture in your home to help with core strength...please do share!

Art Exhibit

I am very Lucky to work with a great group of talented artists. On March 24th our 5 man show will go up at Cedar Grove Gardens and will stay up until April 7th. An opening reception will be held Thursday Night march 24th from 6:30-8:30p.m. This is a great collaboration of Artists and friends and we welcome you all to share with us in the fun for a glass of wine and hors devours.
Above are a few samples of our work and below are short statements/bios from each of us. If you enjoy looking at this work, I hope to see you on opening nights. If you know a friend who may enjoy this, please share this link with them as well. We really appreciate it!

Janet Harrold-oil
Growing up in Boston was a constant inspiration for me.
I love to paint the brownstones in the South End especially in the
spring time when the dogwood are in bloom.
Every brush stroke I make on raw canvas is a stroke of love, I paint to raise money and awareness for Cerebral Palsy. To own a painting by me is to own part of my passion. I am doing something that I love to do for someone that I love. Proceeds from my paintings go directly to my granddaughters alternative therapies. To signify the cause, any recent work will have a green Cerebral Palsy awareness ribbon placed discretely in the painting.

June Alexandra- stained glass
As a stained glass artist and floral designer, I am always working with the play of color, light, texture and design. The dearest things in my life have been flowers, trees and the dogs I live with so, naturally, most of my art is concerned with these subjects. I spend part of each day in the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, MA communing with the trees, earth and sky and it is here that I find my inspiration. Nature has so much to teach

Mitchell Karas -oil and pastel
My paintings are based on my love for the natural world. They are my impressions of nature,beaches.marshes,gardens,forests,rivers and flowers. The images are a metaphor for my continuous struggle to find harmony and balance amidst the restless intensity of life. I am fortunate to be an artist because i can spend time exploring my feelings. I can look around and see the beauty in things and create more beauty from what i see.

Cat Thomson- oil
Painting has always been one of my favorite ways of expressing my inner world. It allows me to explore my emotions through the use of color and line, and I find it very freeing. Often, my paintings have been symbolic of events in my life, relationships or raw emotion. Recently, my works have focused on pieces of fiction, notably fairy tales, and their allegorical content.

Kristen Ahern- Photography

Emotion - that is my goal every time I pick up a camera and compose a shot.

It has taken me a long time to determine that photography is my life's love. After studying advertising and graphic design in college, I finally realized about 4 years ago that it was the art of photography that I needed to learn in order to start to speak to the world.
For me, a photograph is much more than a picture of something or someone. It is a visual representation of emotions, thoughts and moods. It is a way to speak without actually talking. Exploring a subject - whether a person or a thing - from all angles; revealing it's personality with light and color - this is always in my mind as I approach each subject.
Whether it's visually organizing a complicated scene to convey a message, or a simple, solitary subject emanating a mood, when I take a photograph that requires no words for explanation - I am in heaven.

Please feel free to leave us a comment
For more information on this exhibit you can contact:
Cedar Grove Gardens,
617-825-8582
911 Adams St.
Dorchester, Ma. 02124
or email me www.harrold.janet@gmail.com

Images for Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

In honor of Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

To choose a profile picture to add to your facebook page and to help raise awareness for Cerebral Palsy.
Click here When I look at my newsfeed it is full of C.P. awareness messages from friends and family who have changed their profile pictures to support the cause.
From the bottom of my heart, Thank you!

Did you know that March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

This is a month specifically dedicated to raise awareness for Cerebral Palsy. This year the actual day falls on March 20th.
Since Hailey was born with C.P. almost 4 years ago now, (my where does the time go)? Any mom of a child with special needs can easily tell you where the time goes... it goes to the countless hours spent in so many therapy sessions, to hours, days and weeks spent in the hospital whether it be for an unexpected emergency, or a routine check up. Endless days and hours researching and grasping bits of information that will help you to understand his/her diagnosis better and help your child to live as independently or comfortable as they possibly can. I have always looked for ways to educate others about Hailey and this month gives me an opportunity to really drive it home. I would love to share with you, just a few little things that I will be doing this month in an effort to help Hailey and others who have C.P.
The first thing I did was write an article in the special needs edition of The Boston Parents Paper.
You can read this article here on page 10 of the electronic version of the magazine. I also made green ribbons and handed them out to friends and family who wanted to wear them in support of Hailey. I changed my profile picture to one that has a positive message about C.P. and encouraged my friends to do the same, you can find your own here. Another thing I did was to help raise money for Hailey’s Conductive Education by placing a few donation jars in convenience stores in my neighborhood. (May will be here before you know it and that is when Hailey will be going to Michigan for 4 weeks to attend Conductive Ed)! I have also suggested that friends join the event that Natalie started called “Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month” and I will be posting facts about c.p. on my facebook status quite frequently this month to help others understand just what C.P. is.
If you can add to this list and help others raise awareness please comment below.

You've come along way baby!

Well, today I went with Natalie and Hailey to a Dr’s appointment at Children’s Hospital. Hailey has to have her hips x-rayed periodically to make sure that they are not being affected by the way she sits (W style) this is a common and comfortable position for kids with C.P. but it can dislocate their hips so the Doctors keep a close eye on her. I am very pleased to report that Hailey’s hips are perfect. I am also very pleased or rather amazed by Hailey’s behavior with the Doctors today. She let them do whatever they needed to do without a battle. She actually smiled for the camera (or should I say the x-ray machine) she watched silently and cooperated while they made a new cast for her legs, (she wears A.F.O.s to help her with ankle/leg support) she let the Doctor feel her spine and check her reflexes. All of this without a single peep out of her. I couldn’t believe it! Just last year I wrote a post about her screaming every time she went to the doctors. She would even scream when we pulled into the parking lot at the hospital. I have to admit, I never thought I would see this day with Hailey, ever! But, i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. “Hailey never stops amazing me”

ipad give away

A great opportunity to win an ipad for your child who has special needs. Head on over to Marissa's Bunny Marissa suffers from infantile spasms and her dad Mike is launching a foundation to support kids with disabilities and his boss is donating the ipads. The give away is based on Merit, so visit his blog for the details. Good luck!

A new look for "KIDZ"

As many of you know, I have been doing a little writing in my spare time (which by the way, is really non existent). I write for a few different special needs sites. You may recall me mentioning in a previous post that I write for Kidz. This site is an amazing site that celebrates the ups and downs of raising children with special needs. The posts on this site are a collaborative effort of 12 bloggers and 1 fearless leader Tara. The Kids Krew contributer’s are all amazing woman who have children with different abilities, who share their knowledge and resources with thousands of readers each day, some who are veterans in the special needs community and other’s who are newbies and looking for as much information as they can possibly find to help them understand their child’s diagnosis. This past year Kidz received “The Top Blog Parenting Award” and has over 20,000 visitors each month! It is both an honor and a pleasure for me to be part of this effort that helps so many children around the world. On this site you can expect to find uplifting stories, poems, songs, activities, ideas, friends and resources. We are excited about the new design of the KIDZ site, so be sure to check it out. If you know anyone who may benefit from this site, please share the link with them www.kidzorg.blogspot.com I know it will help them, just as it continues to help and inspire me.

A small dose of the " Medicine of Music"

After playing with balloons at a physical therapy session with my mom recently, I thought...what a great way to get Hailey to move her arms more, so this weekend I had a long overdue sleepover with Hailey. We had so much fun, we always do. I bought a couple of latex balloons at the iparty store and we started hitting them across the table. What a cheap, fun exercise, just listen to Hailey’s laughter in the second video, this does not seem like therapy at all and it is a great way to keep her moving.
If you listen carefully to the first video, you can hear a song playing in the back ground. It is a song I sent away for some time ago and was personalized for Hailey. It is from the songs of love foundation. This incredible foundation writes songs for children who face severe medical challenges. If you have a child who qualifies for this program, she will receive a cd in the mail within 4 weeks. Hailey absolutely loves this song, she loves that she hears her name in it over and over again. She cannot ask for it verbally, but in her ever so special way she asks for it every time she comes over. She smiles and gracefully extends her arm in the direction of my outdated cd player that sits on the kitchen counter. If for some reason we miss what she is pointing to, she will begin to sway and dance in her chair until I say “Oh, I know what you want” (insert Hailey’s smile here) you want to hear your song.
The mission of the Songs of Love Foundation is to bring healing music to chronically and terminally ill children across the country. The foundation is a national non profit organization. To date, Songs of Love has written more then 19,000 songs for children in more than 500 hospitals across the country and throughout the world. The pool of artists has grown to more then 350 songwriters, lyricists, instrumentalists and vocalists who have experienced the excitement of being able to give back with the talents they were given.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
-Victor Hugo

A Valentines poem for my Sweet Tart "Just because"

You have my heart there is no doubt,
my fragile flower, I can’t live without.
my heart is yours, as well my soul
I love you more than you’ll ever know.

A little girl, with long brown hair
her smile it spreads from ear to ear.
her words unspoken, I don’t care
I know she loves me, i’m well aware.

Her future holds no certainty,
but then again who’s does
i’ll just take it day by day
and love her just because.

xoxo Copyright by Janet Harrold

Exceptional Family

A lot of you may recognize this beautiful family as Zak, Nathan and Renee Charlan from Exceptional Family T.V. “EFTV” Is my favorite online destination to visit for news and current resources and advice for children with special needs. Advice given from other parents of children who are living the “Exceptional” life. I credit this family for their humble approach and ability to expose their private lives to benefit others. I personally would like to say thank you for giving us a voice and a connection with each other, and for all that you have done to facilitate this “Exceptional” community.
If you would like a 16 X 20 oil painting of your child email me www.harrold.janet@gmail.com 100% of the proceeds go to Hailey's Conductive Education

Painting of Sofia and Carter

It's been a little while since I have painted, and it sure feels good to be back at it. This beautiful little girl Sofia also has C.P. She has been going to The Conductive Education Centre in Halifax, N.S. Canada She had been taking classes with Ben and his mom Cary from about the small stuff Cary mentioned to her about my raising money for Hailey to go to The Conductive Learning Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she contacted me to paint this lovely shot of Sofia and her cousin Carter making music together at the piano. I sure hope she likes it! Our goal of getting Hailey to Conductive Education is getting closer and closer. We have started the application process and if accepted she may be attending the May-June session this year! If any of you are thinking that you would like a 16 x20 of your child painted in oil for $100.00, now is the time to contact me. This offer may change in the near future. contact me at harrold.janet@gmail.com

A Conductors Point of View on Conductive Upbringing

My next guest blogger is Viktoria, she is a Conductor and now a step mom to beautiful India who has C.P. India is very fortunate to have someone with such expertise love and care for her, but if you ask Viktoria I am sure that she will tell you that she is the lucky one.

Thanks to Janet for this great opportunity to share. My name is Viktoria and I trained as a conductor-teacher 12 years ago. Since then, I traveled to and worked in several countries and worked with hundreds of disabled children and their families. I feel that each time at each place I’ve leant more than I’ve ever dreamed to be able to teach—not just about my profession, or disability, but about people. After ten years of traveling I settled in the USA with my fiancée, who—as life has it—has a daughter who has cerebral palsy. So it happened that I got to practice what I preach!
My fiancée’s daughter is 12, and she’s beautiful. Her name is India. She started going to conductive education camps when she was little, having to travel states and countries; now she goes to a regular school and is raised at home the conductive way. This is called conductive upbringing—something that I can’t describe without first explaining what it is NOT.

I apologize that I do have to complain here. It’s almost impossible to find useful information about conductive education on the internet (“conductive upbringing” is the correct translation of the original Hungarian term; “conductive pedagogy” is the pedagogy behind what is a way of parenting and a way of life). Almost everything that one finds after a Google search of “conductive education” is laden with capital errors and very confusing misinformation. Please don’t believe for a second, regardless of how many websites, parent or professional blogs, discussion forums etc. are trying to explain you that conductive education is a “therapy”, “alternative therapy”, “holistic method” or anything anywhere near these: conductive education has NOTHING to do with medicine, (neither “conventional” nor “alternative”), it has no place in medical journals, and no self-respecting medical professional should ever try to analyze pedagogy as if it was some kind of cure for an illness!

Doctors are incredibly useful. They might have saved your child’s life. Their opinion is relevant when it comes to their area of expertise: diagnosing and treating medical conditions. A lot of children with brain injuries have one or more of those underlying medical issues that do need medical attention and various interventions. However, their opinion about your parenting skills and pedagogy in general is not more relevant than anybody else’s as these are usually not their area of expertise. Pedagogy is a social science.

The confusion about conductive education has several reasons and it has been around since the beginning (conductive pedagogy has been around for several decades, but was hiding in Hungary behind the iron curtain until the 1980s). One of the reasons may be that the brain or spinal cord injury that causes the disability is usually acquired in circumstances that include accidents, hospitals, doctors; so one is likely to search for the solution there, and assume that if the injury is in the central nervous system, then the central nervous system has to be “doctored” in some way to eliminate the disability. The problem with this is that it is unfortunately not possible to do this. The injury to the brain or spinal cord is final and irreversible—any doctor knows this, even first-year medical students, and they are likely to tell you about this—hence the impression that “there’s nothing that can be done”. The doctor may even warn you of “certain elements” that may play on your despair, use your misfortune to sell you products and interventions that promise to reverse these injuries and that your longing for hope may dupe you into going for these (these are called “quack therapies”, and include stem cell therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, magnetic therapy and many more). The doctor is right; regardless of what any of these charlatans claim, irreversible injuries remain irreversible.



The good news is that this doesn’t mean that nothing can be done. The way the disabled child is brought up will make all the difference between an inactive, helpless, dependent child and the active, motivated, independent one: that’s your power as a parent. The upbringing you provide, the opportunities you give your child to learn, to participate, to help themselves are all going to make the exact same impact as they would if your child didn’t have a disability. You wouldn’t question your impact in case of your typical child, why would you do that in case of your disabled child?

Conductive education schools, camps, or conductors who work directly with your family all serve the purpose of teaching you, the parent how to teach your child just about anything: how to motivate, encourage and help them to move, reach for toys, learn ways to change their place, to play, to communicate, to eat, to wash, etc.; how to organize your day so that you can fit everything in that you need to fit in; how to deal with funky behaviors and so on. It is a complete lifestyle “package” that is based entirely on common sense (which makes it incredibly difficult to describe!) Parents who are lead to believe by someone for some reason that conductive education is some sort of alternative movement therapy based on repetitive exercises superior/inferior to physical therapy loose out because even if they participate, they will not be able to raise their child in a conductive way therefore benefits, if any, will be marginal.

Pedagogy is a science but you don’t get the same quantitative proofs you get with Math. While studying to be a conductor, one learns a lot about the history of pedagogy, theories that came and went over the centuries and decades, theories that might have affected the birth of this very complex education system. However, conductive education is not based on any set scientific theories, it is just based on the aforementioned common sense and easily observable everyday facts: teaching might cause learning; more/better teaching might cause more/better learning; what you don’t even try, you may never learn; if you really want to learn something and you try, you may eventually learn it even if it seems against the odds at first; solving an impossible-to-solve complex task may become possible if it’s broken down to simple tasks and solved one after each; I could go on and on. There is almost nothing in conductive education that wouldn’t be observable in the way an average good family raises their kids or an average good teacher manages their classroom, but what is unusual about conductive education for the newcomer is that these everyday routines, parenting and teaching methods and techniques are applied to a broader population: disabled kids involved. This extreme simplicity of conductive education is what makes it so very difficult to understand for most. The results seem unbelievable because the disabled children do eventually end up learning and doing things they couldn’t do before, so everyone thinks there are some great and advanced scientific discoveries or “brain tissue recovery” and “brain rewiring” involved, while there is nothing like that. It’s the nature of people that they’re looking for explanations and it’s hard to accept that a major achievement of a disabled child is just a result of simple teaching and learning and not “healing”. That’s why we see a lot of descriptions of conductive education that try to make sense of it by providing these medical-style explanations of healing brains, but I can assure everyone that none of those are correct and every time you see one of those just click and go to the next page, because you’re wasting your precious time.

You should also quickly dismiss your source of information if you hear that you have to go to Hungary to get “real” conductive education, or that your child has to be in a group, or that you have to purchase the “original” wooden furniture that has been in use in conductive classrooms in Hungary. The truth is that you can learn to become a conductive parent in a very wide range of circumstances: if there’s a conductive education school near you where your child can attend full time that is really a lucky situation, but if there isn’t you can still try to attend one of the summer camps or you can try and get a conductor to come to your house a few times a year to teach your family. When this conductor got to know your family and your situation, you can even cut back on the costs of travel and whatnot and ask for their help using Skype and a webcam, at least some of the time.

If you become a conductive parent you can raise your child the conductive way and provide conductive upbringing at home. That’s the whole point. Being a conductive parent means that you are a conductive parent at all times, morning, noon and night, in the sitting room, kitchen, bathroom, car, park and at the grocery store, not only at specially allocated times and places. It means that you’re aware that your child’s disability is not an illness that’s awaiting the cure so that he can become a whole person, but that he’s already a whole person, and he’s a lifetime learner like everyone else. You as a conductive parent are also a lifetime learner like everyone else and you’re constantly learning and discovering ways to help your child’s learning.

There’s a lot more to say, but I’ll leave it here for now. I would like everyone to know that it’s worth to be a conductive parent. It initially seems more work and may be emotionally hard—there are times when you don’t help your child, you let them struggle and that may make you feel bad at first—but you can expect a payoff soon. Children can be very well aware of their achievements and that can make them feel really happy. That’s how India’s father hooked on: after he got a glimpse of what his supposedly helpless little girl could do and the huge smiles that even struggles and tears eventually ended up in, he never looked back. Not many people do.

Thank you to Viktoria for sharing with us a Conductors Perspective on C.E. you can read more about her and India at Conductive Upbringing

Guest Post from Cary on Conductive Education

As previously posted I have asked a few of my blogger friends to share their experiences with me on Conductive Education. Cary is my first guest blogger. Many of you may not know Cary, but you have seen her son on my blog before. After all, I have painted not one but three paintings of her beautiful twin boys Ben and Danial. Ben has C.P. and has recently returned back from the Conductive Education Center in Canada and Cary was kind enough to share her experience as well as give us lots of good information. Please show her some love by visiting her blog where she blogs about her families life with twins, one who happens to have Cerebral Palsy at
http://aboutthesmallstuff.blogspot.com/

If anyone else has an experience that they would like to share, please email me
www.harrold.janet@gmail.com

Background Information:

Hi. My name is Cary and I’m a mom to 3 year-old twins, Benjamin and Daniel. Ben has
Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy. For him, this means that his gross motor skills are very
delayed, but his fine motor, speech and cognitive abilities are on target with a typically-
developing 3-year-old. Ben crawls, pulls to stand and cruises along furniture. He also
walks very well with a posterior walker and has even figured out how to run and jump
with it.


Conductive Education Centre Information:

Ben has done 3 one-week intensive Conductive Education sessions at the CE Centre
in Halifax, NS, Canada. The Centre is part of the Conductive Education Canada
program through The March of Dimes Canada. This is a very small centre with only one
Conductor…but that one Conductor is amazing!

The first one-week session that Ben did was done one-on-one with no other “students”.
The last 2 sessions were done with one other “student”, a 4-year-old girl who is very
similar to Ben.

Because this centre is so small, it is possible to choose the type of session you want to do.
Some students do intensive one-or-two-week sessions whereas others do sessions once or
twice each week. Since we live over 2 hours away, we choose to do intensive week-long
sessions, with a 2-hour session each day.

The cost of a session with Conductive Education Canada is subsidized by The March of
Dimes Canada. This results in a HUGE savings. Without the subsidy, the hourly rate is
over $150, but with the subsidy, we only pay $39 per hour. WOW!

Halifax-Area Information

Halifax, NS is very easy to access from anywhere in Canada as well as the eastern
seaboard of the United States. It has a good-sized international airport with flights from
Toronto, Montreal, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and more.

The following hotels in Halifax offer suites:

Marriott Residence Inn
Cambridge Suites Hotel Halifax
Hampton Inn & Suites - Dartmouth

We have stayed at both the Marriott Residence Inn as well as the Cambridge Suites.
However, most recently we stayed with Ben’s classmate and her Mom at their vacation
home in Wolfville, NS. Wolfville is a beautiful college town an hour from the Centre.
For information on their vacation rental, check out their VRBO listing.

My Take on Conductive Education

Ben thrives while we are doing an intensive session of Conductive Education. He
loves his Conductor and classmate and really enjoys all the “play” that the Conductor
organizes for them to do. While Ben is there, I notice immediate results. He sits up
straighter, moves better and works extremely hard. Having a classmate is EXTREMELY
motivating for Ben. I personally find an hour PT session exhausting both physically and
emotionally. However, a 2-hour CE session doesn’t feel that way at all. At times it can
be exhausting, but I find it exhilarating at the same time.

At his last session, Ben worked on the following:




Putting on and taking off his own shoes and braces
Transitions from walking to sitting, sitting to laying down and the other way
around
Sitting nice and tall without slouching
How to fall forward safely instead of falling backwards
Independent standing
Walking with pediatric canes
And much, much more







All of this is done in a fun way that Ben LOVES!

After we get home from a CE session, my husband is constantly pointing out new things
that Ben is doing. And my response is always something like “Oh…we worked on
something similar to that at CE.”

"Hailey I Believe In You"

I believe in you.
Your impetuous determination tells me
that you will never give up.
You have so much to give,
and have given so much already.
I believe that you will stand tall.
We are beside you, and will always be.
There is no rush, so take it slow, one step at a time.
We are ready when you are.

Anyone who follows my blog knows that we do have a goal of bringing Hailey to Conductive Education. I am not even going to attempt to explain what that means exactly in this post. It is a bit confusing and complex to explain and that I will leave up to the experts. The next few blog posts will be dedicated to Conductive Education so that you can get a better understanding from families who have brought their children to CE as well as Conductors who have dedicated their lives to Conductive Upbringing. I hope you learn and comment as well as ask questions if you have them.
I have been corresponding and getting lots of great tips for Hailey from a Conductor who lives in Germany. Susie Mallett has given us lots of great ideas to help Hailey with her core strength and strengthening her neck, sitting independently and making suggestions so that we can begin to develop a conductive lifestyle. She is an inspiration and going to be doing a guest post here real soon. She has also recently written a book, I have taken these words off of the back cover.
I am a British conductor living and working in Germany, and I write the Conductor blog.
I write about conductive upbringing rather than “”Conductive Education”.
I write for myself, for young conductors, and for families with children who are together on the long, long road of following a conductive life style, or who are just embarking on one. I write too for disabled adults and their families. Maybe some of my postings will be useful to you.
You can find out more about this on Susie's blog http://www.susie-mallett.com/
Check back often for posts on Conductive Educating/Upbringing and if you are a parent who would like to share your personal experience in this series, please email me at harrold.janet@gmail.com

"say it with symbols"

“say it with symbols”
(my new favorite special needs resource)

Imagine not being able to say “help” or “i’m hungry” being able to speak is something that most of us take for granted everyday. If you have a child who is non verbal or has difficulty with speech then you know how challenging communication can be. It can also be scary as well as frustrating.
With today's technology, some of us are fortunate enough to have the ipad. The Proloquo2Go app provides a full-featured communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It brings natural sounding text-to-speech voices, up-to-date symbols. No doubt about it ,it is getting rave reviews, we are lucky to have one for Hailey. My only disappointment so far is that the symbols it has for communication are not the Mayer Johnson symbols that Hailey has been using since she started speech therapy with early intervention a few years ago. I hope it doesn’t get too confusing for her. She does however have the Dynavox, this computer does use the Mayer Johnson symbols. She uses it mostly at school. For those of you who use the Dynavox, you know that it is a great communication device. A little heavy and not so easy to lug around everywhere you need to go. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have one of these either.
A Great Solution:
I’d like to tell you about a site I have come to love www.sayitwithsymbols.com This site has so many useful things to offer and the prices are much more affordable.. I especially like the pre made communication books.
These books are light weight, colorful, and portable. They are a great solution for making choices. Because our kids need to communicate anywhere and everywhere, this book is a great solution for communicating on the go. It is a great back-up for high tech devices.Very useful at restaurants, at the park or at grandmas house.
Another item that I really love is the Board books photo album. All kids love to see pictures of themselves or favorite people and places.
The album has sturdy cardboard pages and notches have been added to the page edges to make it easy for those with motor skill problems to turn the page. There is even plenty of room to write your own story.
Become a fan on facebook http://www.facebook.com/SayitwithSymbols i’ve seen them give great discounts and even give away FREE communication boards!



www.SayitwithSymbols.com
Giving Greetings Publishing
1-866-544-9540


rsargent@givinggreetings.com

"I never knew"

I never expected to feel this way. I mean, of course I knew that I would love my grandchildren when the day came. After all, I am a very loving, nurturing person. I knew when the day came for me to have a grandchild that I would be blessed and that I would feel elated. But I never expected to feel a love as deep and as strong as I do for Hailey.
That being said, the day that Hailey was born, and with the level of complications that she had, emotions were overflowing, questions surpassed the highest mountains and uncertainty scared the hell out of me.
After awhile, and one heck of a roller coaster ride, reality and acceptance sets in and love and admiration grows even deeper than you ever thought possible. Hailey is an amazing little girl who has taught our whole family how to live a brand new life, a life that we never new existed. She brings us to new places and gives us a new perspective on what is most important, she has shown us how to be better people and more accepting and aware of others. Things that we never thought we had the time to do. Well, suddenly I have time, because for me the world seems to have come to a standstill and all of the things that we thought were so important are now insignificant. I have learned that we take things for granted everyday. I never realized that we are the fortunate ones just by being able to do everyday simple tasks like being able to walk, or talk, or by being able to feed ourselves. Well Hailey has opened my eyes to the fact that those things that we take for granted everyday are not simple tasks, they are not simple at all for many people. Who knew? I’ve heard about people having disabilities, but really I closed my eyes to it all. I had no idea how large of a community it really is. Now, that is not to say that people who cannot do these tasks cannot grow up to be great people, who can teach us so much about life, real life. On the contrary, people with disabilities are by far the strongest and most determined people that I know. Kind of funny yet contradictory that we perceive them as people who are weak. They will endure more in their lifetime than many of us will even begin to endure. (And we think we have it tough. See, it’s that perspective thing kicking in again) I challenge everyone reading this, to start the New Year off with a new perspective, a new outlook on life and new found respect for people who have a disability. I never knew that such a world existed, and I never knew that I could love someone so deeply as I love my granddaughter Hailey, but it is true, I do...who knew?


God doesn't give children with disabilities to strong people: He gives them to ordinary, everyday people, then He helps the parents to grow stronger through the journey. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family. Author Unknown

"Good Intentions"

At this time of year reflection on the past and resolutions for the future tend to occupy our minds. Resolutions are hard to keep for everyone. In families with special needs children it is even more difficult. It was my intention to do a post on New Years Resolutions then I decided that I hate making resolutions, to me they feel like added pressure and commitments and who needs more of those? So Instead I decided to post a list of “Good Intentions” I have derived a list of 10 good intentions or things that I will keep in mind in the upcoming year. Then I will post it on my refrigerator as a subtle reminder. Please add your suggestions to the comment section below.

1) Be patient with others who don’t understand and sometimes say thoughtless or hurtful words. Instead of being bitter, channel your energy into educating them.
2) Promote independence by involving your child in everyday activities. Even if it gets done faster by doing it yourself.
3) Ask yourself what small thing you can do in your community to help raise awareness for people who have disabilities.Then make those things happen.
4) Hug your child even more than you do all ready if that is possible.
5) Laugh...If you lost it somewhere along the road, try and find your laughter. It is in fact the best medicine (and you don’t even have to fight your insurance company for it).
6) Get involved in your child’s school. Volunteer to read books, or serve snacks etc. Meeting the parents of your child’s classmates can be a lesson learned.
7) Enjoy the moment. Don’t let the everyday hustle and bustle of life overshadow your precious moments. Savor the moments and enjoy them while they are happening. After all, there is no rewind button on life.
8) Celebrate the smallest of accomplishments. Praise and encouragement are two very important things to do for your child’s development.
9) Share what you have learned in your journey with other parents who have similar struggles, you will teach them and you will also learn from them.
10) Get off the Internet! Make sure that you are prioritizing your time with constructive play and quality time with your child. This is therapy for both of you without feeling like a traditional therapy and so rewarding too. Save the internet for when your child is asleep.

LOVE IS...

LOVE IS...
When you care about someone and want the best for them even if it means putting your own needs last. Love is selfless. Love is when you see the best in a person even if others don’t care enough to take a good look. It is understanding their every word, even though they haven’t verbally said a thing. It is believing in them, when others think things are out of reach. It is appreciating them for who they are and not wanting them to be someone they are not.
These are just a few of the things that define love to me, what is the meaning of love to you?

"Giving the gift of Time, Quality time"

Why not give the gift of time this holiday season? At the risk of this title sounding a bit commercialized, note that I am not selling watches, or clocks. For most of my life I have always worked in retail, this time of year is always an extremely busy time for everyone. Even if you do not work in retail you are still extra busy either working long hours, or shopping for long hours, there is just too much to do and never enough time to spend with your family. Having a special needs child there are the endless therapies, school activities, Drs. appointments, more therapies, more Dr’s appointments and I just want to remind you to breathe, take a moment and realize what is most important in your life. Quality time spent with your child and with your family is priceless. This year I have decided that I would not work overtime, and that I would not spend countless hours in the mall, buying things that my family doesn’t like or doesn’t need. But instead I have compiled a wish list of things to do with my granddaughter and with my family, things that I always wish that I could do, but never make the time. Well, you know what, life is too short, this year I am just going to do it! The first thing that I would like to do is decorate a gingerbread house with Hailey. Now, I am definitely not your typical grandmother, one who stays at home and bakes delicious baked goods (I don’t have the domestic gene at all, I could however paint you an awesome painting) So, I guess I will have to buy one of those pre-fab gingerbread houses that you buy already made and decorate it ourselves. I will buy lots of candy, gumdrops for the walkway, m & m’s for the rooftop and candy canes for the doorway. Maybe we will invite a few of Hailey’s cousin’s and have a gingerbread house party! Another thing that would really put us in the Christmas spirit would be to watch a live Christmas musical at our local high school. There must be a local school or play house putting on their own rendition of The Nutcracker. I don’t think it is necessary for us to go to a big playhouse downtown and pay for a high ticketed performance, just in case Hailey experiences a bit of sensory overload. She enjoys music and she might enjoy seeing little ballerina’s twirling around dizzily on the stage. We definitely should go around the neighborhood and see the pretty lights. I know she will enjoy that this year. Maybe we could take a train to New York City for the day, I hear there is Disney’s “A Christmas Caroll” train ride in Central Station. This may be too ambitious of a wish list, but, if nothing else, I vow to spend quality time reading books to Hailey, and cherishing whatever time we can manage together, because she makes me smile, and I think that I make her smile too.