Sensory Savvy: A New (Sometimes) Series

In an ideal world, our home would be organized enough and our wallets fat enough to create a fabulous home sensory gym for our three children. For regardless of what each of their neurological profiles may be, I am confident that all three of our children would benefit from having such a dedicated space in our home. I can just envision the hours of fun and physical activity that would take place in it.

Then, there is reality.

In the real world, de-cluttering and organization is a work-in-progress here and financial stewardship demands frugality. So, the idea outfitting a large space in our home as sensory gym remains a pleasant dream while we allow (okay, encourage) the kids to jump on the living room couch as needed and appease their cravings for sensory input in other practical, if unconventional, ways.

In other words, we tuck sensory spaces and solutions in as we can, using what we have, where we are at physically and financially in order to provide our children with decent daily doses of focused sensory input.

Today, both to chronicle our efforts in providing economic alternatives to my expensive sensory gym dream and also and to offer concrete, do-able ideas for others who wish to provide sensory experiences for their children despite tight spaces or slim wallets, I have decided to start spotlighting some of our spaces and solutions. My hope is to do so regularly, if a bit sporadically. (Thus the “sometimes” in this post’s title.) 

So, here’s our quick sensory savvy idea for today:

Jump on the Couch (or a cushion, or trampoline, or… use your imagination!)

When?

Whenever alerting or calming is in order and attitudes are focused enough for safe jumping.

Some folks say that strong “heavy work”, such as jumping, can have latent effects for 1 ½ to 2 hours. So, I say, the more crazy (but safe!)  jumping in one spell, the better. It can bring hours of focused peace.

Why?

In plain-speak: Jumping is a natural joy of childhood. And, well it should be.

For in sensory savvy lingo: It provides proprioceptive input with a strong dose of vestibular input for good measure.

Like all heavy work, it can act as a great equalizer helping your child become alert as the jolt to the joints gets the messages moving, or it can help your child calm down and feel more organized. It is a great gross motor work out, increasing the heart rate, and, thus, offering a strong cardiovascular work out.

Also, the brain is forced to work bilaterally when a jumper is in the air. Both sides of body and brain must work together to maintain coordination and balance. Plus, jumping can strengthens and lengthens muscles, thus improving flexibility.

Caveat: Remember. I am not an OT, PT or anything of the sort, and have no other knowledge or expertise than that gained as a mom on a mission to help her kids. So, please use your own good judgment and consults with professionals.

Thanks:  Back in October when I asked for reader opinions, five folks took the time to comment.  Although I have taken their comments to heart, trying to focus more of my posts on sharing about faith, special needs/sensory stuff, resources and practicality with joy, I have not yet thanked those readers here on the blog.  So, I am doing so now Heidi, Dandelion Wishes, Mama Pickles, K- floortime lite
and The girl who painted trees. I appreciate your comments and will continue to try to post ideas and activities that you can enjoy and learn from.

15% off Autism/Aspbergers Conferences

I am so excited.  I was just going through a pile of mail that amassed while we were away visiting in-law's (and getting through the stomach bug) when I found one announcing the Future Horizons Autism/Asperger's Conference in the Boston area on March 16.

Dr. Temple Grandin, Eustracia Cutler (Temple's mother) and Paula Aquilla (Sensory Integration author), will all be speaking.  I am now going to see if I can get the stars to align to see if I can attend as I know it is going to be great!

If you want to attend this conference, or any of the conferences sponsored by Future Horizons, simply register at Future Horizons using the code HAPPY for 15% off.  


This code can also be used on any Future Horizons purchase, such as for the Building Bridges through Sensory Integration book, A Thorn in My Pocket or any of Temple Grandin's books or videos and will get you 15% off total purchase, plus free shipping within the continental US.


Praying to get to the conference and to see some of you there!

Catholic Kids Bulletin

Ugh! We have had a rough week this past week with far too much throwing and going between the five of us here with a belly bug.  Yet, oo!  I am excited.  Not about the bug, mind you, but about a little gift I just found online.

Last week, in response to my discussion about the challenges of participating in Mass with little ones with special needs, Mama Pickles of The Squishy Pickles shared in a comment that Is There Zucchini in This offers weekly Mass coloring pages.  I checked it out and discovered that Theresa, the creator of some wonderful weekly bulletins that I know my little ones will love, has a new site called Catholic Kids Weekly Mass Bulletins, where she posts bulletins a week before they are needed.

I cannot wait to try out this week's bulletin with my children.  If we are not able to attend Mass due to the belly bug still hitting us, it will provide an engaging way to bring this week;s readings and connected ideas to life for the children.  And, if, God-willing, we finally get this virus behind us, it will offer a way to keep the kid's busy hands focused on faith during Mass.

What a gift Theresa has offered in making this resource available for all of us.  If you know of other helpful resources for sharing faith with little ones, do share!

Have Boxes? Will Imagine!

One recent Saturday I asked my husband to run down to the local grocery store to collect some of my favorite free sorting and organizing tools:  banana boxes.

I set them out on the table, ready to start sorting stuff into them.  However, someone had other plans for for what should go inside the boxes:

Treasuring a timeless rite of childhood - box play - I opted to hold off on my housekeeping project in order to  allow our literal Jack-in-the-box to play.  Then, I closed the boxes up and stacked them against a wall until I had time to get back on-task another day.

Before such time materialized, the rest of the gang just could not resist the lure of boxes.  Conductor Luke had a plan: boxes + stools + an exercise wheel + a Sit-and-Spin =

a post-dinner adventure on The Polar Express!

Whizzing up inclines, around bends and down hills.

Calling others to join the fun.

Who needs high tech toys or screen time?  Inspiration from a book read weeks ago, coupled with memories of a Christmastime train ride and the provocation of a stack of boxes and my children were entertained for a good part of the evening!

Plans for a Simple Saint Brigid Feast Day

Luke asked me what we will be doing tomorrow to celebrate St. Brigid's Feast Day, and, I had to honestly answer: not much.

After a night of having the belly bug run through our entire family, the idea of cooking up special St. Brigid Day foods as we did in the past is enough to send me diving for the toilet bowl again.  (sorry for the graphic.  It was truly a rough night.) Now, this is not to say the feast day foods we made before aren't great ones.  It is just our stomachs just need time to settle more.


Additionally, we won't be home for the feast day, and I forgot to pre-order our  Brigid's Cloak from the library.  So, our traditional read-aloud is out, too. No special tea, read-aloud or liturgical table, then.... Hmmm. What can we include as an observance tomorrow?

The way I see it, we choose one to three simple, yet meaningful ideas to celebrate the day.  These ideas can be chosen, of course, based on how we are all feeling and where the children's hearts and interests lead us.  A quick selection of thoughts on choices might be:

Dramatic Play: Nana just gave Nina a cute little red-headed dollie, so maybe we could do some dramatic play as we did when making our St. Brigid Liturgical Table a couple year's back.

Drawing and Coloring:  We don't have access to a working printer right now, but we could model some drawings off of the wonderful St. Brigid coloring printable someone sent me a direct link to online.  (If anyone knows the blog it originated on, please share so I can give credit where credit is due.) 

Prayer: We could offer the House Blessing that I stumbled upon at The Daily Weaving a couple years ago.

Nature:  We could go on a nature walk to chat with and feed the animals based on the idea that “St. Brigid loved to wander the woods befriending the animals” (as per Saint Brigid Catholic Church’s website.

Charity:  We could think of something to offer others as St, Brigid "was renowned for her generosity, giving much of her father's wealth away to the poor”,

Crafts and Handiwork:  If we feel well enough to be in the car and in a store, I could go get some pipe cleaners and follow Lacy from Catholic Icing's tutorial for making St. Brigid Crosses.

Poetry:  We could read The Giveaway (below) and see what conversation and activities it inspires.

The Giveaway
from The Love Letters of Phyllis McGinley

Saint Brigid was
A problem child.
Although a lass
Demure and mild,
And one who strove
To please her dad,
Saint Brigid drove
The family mad.
For here's the fault in Brigid lay:
She WOULD give everything away.

To any soul
Whose luck was out
She'd give her bowl
Of stirabout;
She'd give her shawl,
Divide her purse
With one or all.
And what was worse,
When she ran out of things to give
She'd borrow from a relative.

Her father's gold,
Her grandsire's dinner,
She'd hand to cold
and hungry sinner;
Give wine, give meat,
No matter whose;
Take from her feet
The very shoes,
And when her shoes had gone to others,
Fetch forth her sister's and her mother's.

She could not quit.
She had to share;
Gave bit by bit
The silverware,
The barnyard geese,
The parlor rug,
Her little
niece's christening mug,
Even her bed to those in want,
And then the mattress of her aunt.

An easy touch
For poor and lowly,
She gave so much
And grew so holy
That when she died
Of years and fame,
The countryside
Put on her name,
And still the Isles of Erin fidget
With generous girls named Bride or Brigid.

Well, one must love her.
Nonetheless,
In thinking of her
Givingness,
There's no denial
She must have been
A sort of trial
Unto her kin.
The moral, too, seems rather quaint.
WHO had the patience of a saint,
From evidence presented here?
Saint Brigid? Or her near and dear?

Whatever we do, we will surely remember this child-friendly saint who not only represents a part of our family heritage (as I am 50% Irish), but also is a strong model of loving habits and compassionate character.  

I'd love to hear what you will be doing to honor the day - and also to have you elave comments with links, book titles, recipes and other resources for future St. Brigid Feast Day fun.  Thank you!

Mass with My Boy: A Reason for Prayer, Trust and Reaching Out

The other day a piece called “Four Tips for Surviving (and enjoying!) Church Services with Your Children” caught my attention.   To be honest, any tips others are willing to share about how to make church a more prayerful and reverent experience even with young children in the pew are of high interest to me.  When such strategies include ideas for helping unique kids make it through Mass with greater ease, they become doubly attention-grabbing.  Thus, I dove into the article and its comments.

I Am Not Alone

 

One comment, in particular, moved me.  It was from a man named Brian who explained that “my wife and I face the unpalatable scenario of worshiping separately alternative weeks. I have pondered quitting church altogether but I love the Lord. I’m lost and hurting and the trouble is that (our son with autism) is more than I can handle most days and I have endured a river of stress and sorrow.”   As I read his comment, my heart both sang and cried.  It sang because I could sense the Holy Spirit working in this man even through his struggles.  It cried because I empathized with his pain and share some of it.

 

I have mentioned here, but have not fully shared before, how difficult Mass can be with my children.  My eldest son has been reasonable at Mass for the past few weeks, but let’s just say many folks that don’t know my husband and my name know our son's name.  Indeed, over the years, our oldest boy has been known to call out, to put his fingers over his ears and to complain loudly at the “alleluia” chorus, to escape our pew, to run up to the altar and even to run a lap around the inside of the church with an usher and parent trying to head him off, as he goes for the door. 

 

Challenging can be an understatement when it comes to our family making it through Mass with peace and prayer.  Yet, we persist in going every week, and, in doing so, I remain confident that we are all receiving grace as I trust that God will draw straight even with the crooked lines our boy runs through the church with at times.

  
It Isn't Always Easy, But It IS Always Blessed

Trust me, even with great faith in God's grace, participating in Mass through the years has been arduous at times and we have tried many strategies to make Mass more meaningful, or at least more tolerable, with our eldest child (and his siblings, who are more reasonable, but sometimes tempted to follow Brother's suit).  Nibbles of food, coloring, small toys and fidgets, books, hugs and squeezes, using a Time Timer, taking children to the back, taking them outdoors, ignoring our eldest, allowing him to see me cry…  Some of these strategies have “worked” for a minute, an hour, a few weeks.  Others have not worked at all.  Nothing to date has completely and consistently quelled our seemingly Mass-adverse boy.

 

Thus, there have times when I have wanted to give up.  There have been those when Mass has been more frustrating and divisive for my husband and I than it has been prayerful.  And, occasionally – very occasionally – there have been weeks when I have gone to Mass alone or taken only my younger children.  But, that never lasts more than a week or so.

 

Why? Because I whole-heartedly believe that my oldest son needs to be at Mass, even if it appears that he does not get anything out of it and that he "takes away" from others around us being able to participate fully.  For, when push comes to shove (sometimes literally), the Lord never fails lets me know my choice is on target.  He gives me just the right fortification I need to keep and to practice faith.  

Through the smile and support of a family member, friend or stranger, through conversations overheard between my son and daughter, through a week of respite when my son actually stays calm… the Lord helps me to remain strong in my commitment to grow in faith with my children. 

 
My Hope in Sharing
 

Part of that commitment, as I see it for myself, is to testify – to share parts our story in order to inform, encourage and, perhaps, inspire others. So, today, I take a leap of faith by explaining this all here, and, as I do, I hope that:

 

• local parishioners and clergy who have helped and encourage my family during our tougher weeks at Mass will understand how much their smiles, comments and even quick-catches-of-my-son are appreciated.

 

• those who are inclined to offer only judgmental looks or well-intentioned, but not helpful advice, will chew on some food for thought:  Sometimes a “poorly disciplined” child at Mass is actually one who is coming to terms with the unique neurological profile that God created him or her with and the child’s parents are trying to do the same.  Be gentle.

 

• clergy and lay people at every church may be convicted to provide extra support and encouragement for families with uniquely-wired kids and “invisible” disabilities.   Welcome such families; encourage them to keep coming back; even offer accommodations as needed when possible.

 

• others parents challenged by less-than-quietly reverent children will know that you are not alone.  You may feel you are, but you are not.  There are others, like us, who understand your challenges.  Plus, there God, who gifted you with your child and also offers you the grace to best parent him or her, is always present.

Be Encouraged

I wish I could close here by offering some concrete tips for parents like Brian and me, but I have yet to hit upon a mix of strategies that consistently works.  Thus, in closing, I would simply like to suggest three things that keep me going:

 

Prayer, trust and reaching out.

 

I encourage everyone to keep doing all three. 

 

God will send His ears, eyes, hands and thoughts through the Spirit working in you and others as you need them (even if not with the speed you might desire them).  Trust your faith and trust the fact that your child is exactly the gift God meant for him or her to be.  He will grant you the grace to best keep opening that gift to the world and to Him.  You are sanctified even as you struggle.

 

Know that I am praying with you and alongside you and that I lift up each of us – parents, siblings, fellow parishioners, clergy and the special children who struggle to worship as we do – in prayer. May a series of Spirit-led moments bring each us greater peace.

 

 If a child in your life seems Mass-averse, how do you handle it? 

Please feel free to share your challenges, successes, frustrations and joys regarding special needs children and Mass participation. 

Jack on Track

While Luke and Nina were doing this one recent evening after dinner:

Jack decided to do this:

As I observed him, I thought, “Oh, he’s clever!”  He’d noticed the train motif on the ABC puzzle his sibling were playing with and had, thus, gone to fetch one of our toy trains from the other room.  He, then, proceeded to drive that train down the puzzle as if the puzzle were tracks.

Our youngest boy has yet to speak words at nearly 19-months old, but his actions speak volumes.  I just love the way he observes, reacts and communicates!