What is a Parenting Plan?
A parenting plan details how a child will be raised by separated parents. Key elements are a visitation schedule and decision making rules.
Positive Parenting Story: “A Rabbit on the Swim Team”
Here is an entertaining short story that has a lesson for everyone, including kids, adults, parents and educators. After reading this positive parenting story, you may feel a little more relaxed about the role and more willing to embrace each child’s uniqueness. It goes like this. A Rabbit on the Swim Team Once upon a…
Fun Speech Therapy Exercises for Kids
Speech therapy exercises for kids can be fun and easily done at home with the help of parents. For any young child, you might want to try these fun games and exercises to improve their speech and language development. Oral Exercises for Improved Speech Articulation Oral/motor exercises, using the tongue, lips and palette can help…
Taming Tantrums by a 2 or 3 Year-Old Toddler
Is your toddler throwing tantrums and are they getting worse? You probably don’t need to worry too much. Tantrums from a toddler of 18 months, 2 years old or 3 years old are common. And, importantly, some fairly simple techniques can be used to help tame toddler tantrums. Dictionaries define a “tantrum” simply as a…
Parent-Professional Partnerships for Children with Disability
Over the past several years, I have attended many meetings with parents and professionals – both for my own child with a disability and as an advocate for others. At these meetings, I have seen the best, where parent /professional relationships are fantastic, and the worst, when collaboration efforts are a nightmare! Sometimes the parent…
Mental Retardation Is Not Synonymous With Stupid
This topic is one close to my heart. My daughter, Pearl, has Down Syndrome, one of the leading causes of clinical mental retardation. Every individual who is considered to have mental retardation has their own learning potential, which we should strive to help them reach. They all, including Pearl, should not be dismissed as stupid….
Parents Can Help Sensory Integration in an Autistic Child
Sensory integration therapy helps children learn to apply all their senses together – touch, taste, small, sight and hearing. The kind of therapy may ease difficulties linked to autism, such as challenging or repetitive behavior. Parents can also support sensory integration to aid the development of their autistic or non-autistic children. How Parents Can Get…
Fathers of Special Needs Kids Matter Too
After several years of parenting a child with special needs, I am well aware of how easy it is for fathers to feel left out of the process. The family is much more than “mother and child” and needs to be considered as such. Don’t Allow Yourself to be Sidelined by Others Early childhood specialists…
Mental Retardation: A Father’s View
Mental Retardation-what a scary thing to hear about your child. All the hopes and plans you dreamed have gone up in smoke in the time it takes to say those two words. This is just as true for me, an adoptive parent, who knew that my son had some delays. Initial Dreams Dashed I believed…
