We have a saying at Qi Creative: we do what we love and love what we do. I cannot express how blessed I feel to be ceo of a company which prides itself in just that: doing exactly what we love to do while simultaneously serving others. It has always been a dream of mine to create a way of life where I am able to combine my passions in martial arts, music, acting, public speaking, and leadership with my professional career as an occupational therapist, behaviour specialist, and entertainer. Within Qi Creative, I am able to create just that lifestyle and we, as an organization, are excited to serve as many children, families, and schools as possible. The evening edition of Woosh is a reminder that in any given day, many things can be achieved, accomplished, and attained and that the end of the day is a time when these things should be celebrated. I have a belief that at the end of my life, I am not going to remember every detail, every accomplishment, or every minute of my ego-driven self. I will remember the magic moments with people who made my life meaningful to me; the people who challenged me; the people who taught me; the people who made me grow into a better person, and the people who loved me enough to tell me the truth, no matter how hard it was for me to take. This is what I am grateful for and this is what I live for. These moments shape me and help me to be the best that I can for my wife, my family, my team, and the thousands of people that we will touch next year. I am forever grateful for your support in our first year of publication and I hope you have the best year of your life. Woosh!
Jonathan Rivero, BScOT, OT (C) CEO and Founder of Qi Creative
Woosh Vol. 1.4
SAM PATHIRANA BScOT Occupational Therapist and Coach I am Sam, Sam I am. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do like eating with my fam. I do so like it, Sam I am. Meals with family and friends are a way to reconnect, to debrief, to be creative, and share a sensory experience. They are a way to re-energize, to nourish our bodies and our minds, and most importantly, they are a way to be in the moment. I look forward to thanksgiving every year, not just for the turkey and pumpkin pie (although I do love that too), but because it is an explicit reminder of how amazing it is to sit with our loved ones, and share a meal. Let this be your second reminder. Bon apetit!
HELEN CHAU BA, MScOT Occupational Therapist and Coach After a long day, nothing beats coming home, dropping off my multitude of bags (purse, work tote, various sensory toolkits, grocery bags, etc.), and letting down my hair – figuratively and sometimes, literally. The evening marks the time I get to spend with my family, my dog, and lately, my kitchen. Learning to cook (better) has been an ongoing goal, and now that the days are getting shorter and the weather colder, I find I look forward to my warm kitchen, perusing cookbooks and preparing the evening meal. Perhaps in a few months, I can list master chef in my tool-belt of skills. Well, okay, maybe more like Chef With Five Go-To Recipes. Hmm, I wonder what I will make tonight?
PAULA AUDREY RIVERO BBA, MSW Student Certified Trauma Specialist & COO of Qi Creative Good evening to you! How do you do? It is now the time of day that I love most. Spending time with my husband, chatting about the day, taking some time to be grateful and celebrate. Tonight we plan to make a Goulash, a comforting dish filled with so much to enjoy. I share this family recipe here with you, in edition four of Woosh, and hope that you too will eat and enjoy. Good night!
MELISSA MO BEd, BScOT Occupational Therapist & Coach Evenings are all about spending time with my family. My husband and I both love to cook and eat. No matter how busy life gets we always try to have at least one meal together in a day. It’s our special time to catch up and bond as a family. We also spend a lot of time in the evenings just playing with our seventeen-month-old. At home we listen to music, dance, and read. I find music to be a great way to engage
all kids of different ages. My daughter currently loves doing action songs and can’t get enough of it. We do Ring Around the Rosy, Row Row Row Your Boat and If Your Happy and You Know It at least 10 times a day! Story time is also big in my family. We read or sometimes just point out the words or pictures in a book depending on my daughter’s mood. I believe that the early exposure to books has helped her develop a keen interest in wanting to learn to read. She now sits through full stories (on most days) and is in love with the Gruffalo and any story with farm animals and “duck ducks!”
ANDREA FRAGOMENI BA, MSLP, R.SLP Speech Language Pathologist & Coach Having grown up in the kitchen with his mom, nonna (Grandma in Italian), and a host of aunties, my husband feels very much at home in the kitchen and loves to cook dinner for his little family. So, after a long day, while he is cooking up a storm, I am able to chill out with our son (often involving coloring or painting at the kitchen table) and chat with my husband about his day. At this point in our lives, evenings are generally a relaxing time - especially since we got our 3 1/2 year old going to bed on his own - and we are finally able to enjoy a tv show or a movie together (as we did in the old days)! Now, if you ask me in a few weeks, I may have a different view of evenings as I’m rocking and feeding and changing a new baby...and rocking and feeding and changing...
BRONWEN BLACK BA, MScOT Occupational Therapist and Coach My evenings are often a whirlwind of dishes, unanswered emails, creative thoughts that never quite materialize into reality and mindless pacing until I crash into bed, where a million things swirl through my head. I’m still working toward disconnecting from technology and the stress of having to do a million things at once. I am aiming toward balance and growing in my passions of filmmaking, music, art and writing, engaging in refreshing exercise, creating inspiring meals, and most importantly spending quality time with loved ones and friends. Oh yes, and getting plenty of cat cuddles.
MICHAEL SCHWAKE BSc BEd Education Consultant and Coach Dinners here! Time to chow down and brace for my favourite time of day. After dinner comes all the fun. Finish the work of the day, makes it ok to go and play. Watch a movie or my favourite show, play some board games with some friends I know. Finish it off with an evening shower, makes sure I smell fresh like a morning flower. See you in the morning.
BRENNAN BLACK BA, BDES Student Communications Director & Designer Thank you. Good night.
Woosh Vol. 1.4
They say you should never go to bed angry. Well I like to take that a step further, and say you should never go to bed hungry, stressed, or sad. Clearly easier said than done, but good words to live by nonetheless. The last two are decidedly more difficult than the first for most of us, but chances are, if you can’t first deal with your empty stomach, coping with stress and sadness won’t be the priority. Besides, a couple chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk can usually put a smile on anyone’s face, in addition to quieting the storm in your belly. The reality is that there are thousands of articles about how to get a better night’s sleep, and they all have something useful to take away. I’d like to focus on avoiding stress and sadness, simply because focusing on these tends to help me the most...but I’ll throw in a few extra tips anyhow. So how do we avoid going to bed stressed and sad, and instead hit the sack feeling relaxed and connected? (Be forewarned, I might be repeating myself ) Look Back and Be grateful. Notice a recurring theme? There’s always something to be thankful for in your day, whether its something you crossed off your to do list, or simply appreciating your family and loved ones. Look forward and be excited! Good things are just around the corner! If nothing else, remember that we get a fresh start every morning. Ghandi once said “Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” Every day is a new beginning. Stop and think about where you are, who you are, and all the beauty around you. We are all blessed to be alive today. See WOOSH: The afternoon Edition for more ways to focus on the beauty of the moment. Let it all go. Regret is a natural part of the human process, and something we all go through. I can’t tell you how many nights I have spent replaying the day’s events over and over again in my head, becoming more and more horrified each time. Some nights, I even dig up some oldies, and find myself reliving the terrible days of my youth, when I said the wrong thing to the girl I liked, missed the game winning shot, or simply wore something to school that was inexcusable. I must say…there were a lot of those… At the end of the day, recognize that regret exists for a reason. We cannot change the past, but these memories serve a purpose, as painful as they are. Regret exists to let us know that we can do better. That we are capable of more. That in itself is something to be encouraged about when moving forward. We are all capable of amazing things, and our weakest moments remind us that there’s nowhere to go but up!
For the future challenges, and stressors that we all have, I say one thing: write it down. Get it out of your head, and onto a piece of paper. Write a few ideas for how to tackle these problems moving forward. If you start worrying, remind yourself that you have a plan, and re-focus your mind on the first three points. As a final point, remember that your subconscious mind is an incredibly powerful tool. If you can recognize the challenge and all of its aspects, even if you can’t think of any solutions, just write it down and let it go. In the morning, you’ll be surprised at what you come up with while you slept. Look up at the stars. Somewhere in the world, someone else is looking up at that same star and smiling. Know that we are all connected, and you are not alone. Remember all the people in your life that care, and that care about you, and know that the world is a profoundly better place because you are in it. Some bonus points: • Get a good pillow! It makes a world of difference. • Back problems? Try a pillow under your knees if on you sleep on your back, or between your legs if you are on your side. • If you have difficulties with snoring (like my wife tells me I do), try sleeping on your side. Your airways become most obstructed when sleeping on your back. It also helps to have a patient spouse who will roll you onto your side gently enough to not wake you up too often. • Melatonin: works great for adults as well as kids. • Keep your feet warm and your head cool. • Try a weighted blanket – Deep pressure is physiologically down-regulating. Calm the body, and the mind will follow. • If you can’t fall asleep, find something low-tech to do for 15 minutes. Reading is great for this. Try to avoid technology, especially any type of screen, as studies have shown that the artificial light is too stimulating to promote sleep. • Turn the alarm clock away from you: I promise you, realizing that you only have 3 hours to sleep at 3 o’clock in the morning isn’t going to help you fall asleep. Good night and sweet dreams.
- SAM PATHIRANA Woosh Vol. 1.4
It’s five-thirty in the evening and you’ve just arrived home after a tiring commute. You have dinner to prepare for your two teenage children and have just started up the stove when the phone rings. The homecare support worker you hired for your mother is calling to say your mom has had a fall and you need to come over right away. This is a hypothetical situation, yet similar stories occur every day in modern society. Baby-boomers are getting older, women are having children later in life and those children are living at home longer. We now have what is coming to be know as the “Sandwich Generation.” I came across this term a few years ago while studying Occupational Therapy, and it has been in my thoughts lately as I work with different families, and observe my own mother. As I watch my mother come home from work, prepare dinner for my younger sister who still lives at home, and then rush off to care for my grandmother, I think, “Mom, did you have time to care for yourself today?” This question applies to almost everyone, and especially to the caregivers I meet on a daily basis. “Did you have time to care for yourself today”? We often hear about Caregiver Stress, and “Filling up Your Bucket First,” yet in our busy lives, how can we ensure that we take care of ourselves? Research shows that when you care for your health first, the people you are caring for also benefit. Many people feel guilty about taking time for themselves; whether they are in the Sandwich Generation, caring for a child with special needs, work in a school, or simply counselling a friend who is going through a hard time – caregivers often think: “these people need me and I need to help.” I have been through this myself and I know many people relate. So, where to start? The First Step is to acknowledge and be aware of our personal states of being. At Qi Creative, we introduce many families and clients to the Awareness Wheel. The Awareness Wheel is a tool for assessing your personal state of being in seven prominent areas. These important areas, in no particular order, are: Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Career, Family, Financial and Social. In each of these areas, assess and honestly give yourself a grade out of ten: one being poor and ten being excellent. Ideally, we’d like to record high numbers in all of these areas; however, the truth is our numbers are more often than not out of balance. You can simplify this process by trying to look at the Physical, Spiritual, and Mental areas and “check-in” on a daily or weekly basis. On the scale of 1-10, ask yourself, where do I fall today? The act of checking in and just being aware is the first step. Try to make it a regular habit. For myself, I find I am able to reflect on
this best during the evening, but anytime would work! The Second Step is to create a love list of things that “fill up your bucket” – whether they are hugs from your children, cuddles with the dog, road trips, bubble baths, working out, reading a book – whatever it is that helps your muscles relax and lifts weight off your shoulders. The Third Step – and hardest – is to schedule time for such activities and not feel guilty about it! Yes it is hard when our lives are so busy. Perhaps to start, we may need to multi-task. If peace and quiet is what you’re after, perhaps turning off the radio during the commute home might be the first step. Checking in on your health can be a family activity. Ask your family members what number they fall on the scale today for one of the categories. Use visuals if that will help. Eventually, this can become part of everyday natural conversation, and might even be something that everyone can help each other out with. This will be something that I will definitely discuss with my mom, so that one day soon, when I ask her again, “Did you have time for yourself today”, she will be able to say, YES.
- HELEN CHAU
Woosh Vol. 1.4
A Reflection by Sue Robins, Karen Calhoun and Coach Bronwen As a coach, I have the absolute privilege of working with amazing families every day within meaningful daily activities at home, school and the community. Recently, I had the opportunity to collaborate with two families to plan an evening at a Justin Bieber concert – one of the most meaningful and motivating events ever for the kids involved! - Bronwen Bronwen: After you bought your Justin Bieber tickets, what were some of the challenges about attending that ran through your mind? Sue: Aaron has been to Rexall a few times for hockey games, so I wasn’t concerned about the setting or even the crowds. I was thinking about how he was going to manage the noise level - particularly the screaming girls - and also if we could use this opportunity to invite a friend from his new school (we bought the tickets in June) to help broaden his circle of friends. Unfortunately, we haven’t been successful yet at playdates/friendships at the new school, so Aaron and I went with the Calhoun family, which was also fabulous, as we are trying to nurture a friendship between Aaron and Jed. Karen: I was concerned about Jed experiencing sensory overload; his entire sensory system had the potential for total and complete overload, from auditory to visual and the cognitive processing of it all. Crowds, loud music and screaming, confusion over where our seats would be, the concession stands, the washrooms, parking and walking....all these things were inevitable and I wondered how we would get through all of this and have the event remain positive without us having to leave mid-way through the show. This was a huge possibility. I was afraid that the sensory piece would overload his system so much that he might not even be able to enjoy himself. B: What did you do to prepare yourselves and the kids for the concert? S: We did a countdown to October fifteenth, as I believe that half the fun of an experience is the anticipation. We read the social story (developed in collaboration with Bronwen) the night before with Aaron. I bought some ‘headphones’ that construction workers use, so Aaron could practice wearing them around the house. Also, Jed’s mom and I decided not to meet up with the boys for dinner beforehand, as we thought that might be too much activity for one evening. We did carpool on the way there, however, so the boys could hang out together in the car...and they were very excited beforehand, which was fun to witness.
K: The visual that Aaron and Sue presented to us months before, inviting Jeddie to join Aaron at the concert, had the perfect amount of information on it for Jed to process: “Jed and Aaron are going to the Justin Bieber concert on October Fifteenth.”
We talked about the concert for months before the big event and every time we watched the Never Say Never video, we talked about “our” concert and that the girls would be screaming LOUDLY! We kept referring to this sheet and talked a lot about how far away it was (the date). Within a month prior we started listening to JB’s music loudly on our home stereo and Jeddie wore the headphones we had been trialing to block some of the noise. We danced and screamed just like we would at the concert. We played the stereo LOUD! We talked a lot about the concert at every opportunity. The first time we met with Coach B to discuss our strategies her first words were, “I want the concert to be a success for your family,” so we began addressing our concerns. We decided to skip the opening act and planned to arrive at Rexall and find our seats just as JB was coming on. She contacted the Customer Service department to discuss our various concerns and learned that he would be coming on stage at 8:30. We could bring in our own water and snacks which would cut back on time spent waiting in long concession lines. Our original plan was to take a cab or get dropped off to eliminate the possibility of having to walk a long way. B: Which ideas and strategies do you think were most effective in the success? S: Well, Aaron exceeded my expectations. He stuck close by in the crowds, Woosh Vol. 1.4
and was delighted just to sit and watch the spectacle of the crowds. He got up and danced for the first half hour of the Bieber show, but then I think he became overwhelmed and shut down a bit. He wasn’t unhappy, but he did put on his headphones and sat in his chair and quietly watched the rest. It was a bit overwhelming for me! It was hard to know where to even look...there were fireworks and a crane and dancers, and pyro.... But on the way home, Aaron perked up again, and did not stop talking in the car! We listened to Bieber all the way home. It was smart not to meet up beforehand, as the concert was a full and rich experience in itself - we didn’t have to be ‘greedy’ and add a dinner on top of that. K: Todd and Karleen left before we did so that they could enjoy the warm-up act and Sue and Aaron came to our house to pick us up later. The boys sat in the back seat and giggled together while we were driving and Sue and I both agreed that this was part of the whole experience....getting to ride with your buddy before the concert. As it turned out we found private parking very near the stadium and the door that we used to enter Rexall was very near our seats. We only had about 1/2 an hour to wait before JB came on, which was plenty of time to take everything in, go to the bathroom and do whatever we needed to do before the concert started. The headphones were a LIFESAVER because as we predicted, the concert was very loud. Up on a huge screen above the stage, there was a digital countdown of the last 5 minutes before JB came on, which was the perfect tool for Jed (and perhaps Aaron?)...we knew exactly when he would come out! The first three songs Jeddie hesitantly danced with me, standing on his feet, but when he moved down toward Todd he opted to sit. As Sue put it they were “shutting down.” Todd allowed him to sit quietly and didn’t insist he dance or sing and I think this is just what Jed needed to do in order to process all that was going on. If he were sitting next to me I might have “insisted” Jed dance or sing so I am glad Todd let him figure out what he needed and let him do it. As it turned out, on our way home, he recounted parts of the concert with many details...he was really paying attention! Coach B’s social story was awesome and very helpful to get us ready! And I loved that Jeddie helped to create it.
B: What were the highlights for you and for the kids? S: Aaron says his highlight was the song Baby Baby. Also, Jed’s mom kindly stood in line to buy t-shirts, and Aaron proudly wore his t-shirt to school the next day. We also let him sleep in, because he didn’t go to bed until 11 pm and I think that pleased him too. I loved seeing Jed and Aaron hang out together - in fact, they sat right beside each other (and sometimes held hands). Aaron kept checking to see if Jed was ok, and it was great to see that compassion shown by friends. I loved that it was Aaron and Jed’s concert, and that us adults were just chaperones. K: Jed said, “I liked my friend Aaron and taking a picture with Justin Bieber.” Watching the boys walk in arm-and-arm meant a lot to me. They posed together next to a cardboard JB before the concert and Jeddie talked about that a lot! They were going to their first concert together! I really think it meant a lot to Jeddie to have a pal with him and it was a win win for me too because I loved spending the time with Sue! When Jed and Aaron got to their seats they didn’t interact much but I am learning to let Jed determine what he needs and not to try to force him into doing anything. B: What does it mean to you and your family to attend this concert successfully? S: Everybody remembers their first concert experience. (Mine was Billy Joel - I’m dating myself). And I want Aaron to have the same experiences that I did growing up. Having Down syndrome shouldn’t mean he can’t attend concerts. It just means that we have to have a plan for success in place. K: By addressing all of our concerns mindfully first, we decreased the chances for roadblocks and eventually, failure. This well-thought-out process has shown me that almost anything is possible if you invest the time and make adjustments to your expectations. Thank You Coach B, Aaron, Jed, Sue, Karleen and Todd for an awesome experience together! WOOSH!
Woosh Vol. 1.4
- BRONWEN BLACK
In the first edition of Woosh, I wrote about the power of visuals and how a picture is worth a thousand words. This is something I always tell families that we work with. Whether it is to help children who are non-verbal learn to communicate via a low-tech system such as PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) or via a high-tech assistive technology device (say...an iPod Touch or iPad with a communication application), pictures help children, who cannot use words verbally, communicate their needs. Other ways that I encourage families to use pictures include: helping children understand their daily or weekly schedules; explaining house or family rules, teaching to follow directions and learn steps in developing new skills. One family had a child with autism who did not understand the days he went to school versus the days he stayed at home. This caused him a lot of stress on days he went to school, as, for him, it was unexpected – even though his parents told him that tomorrow he would go to school, he had difficulty retaining that verbal information from one day to the next (often from one hour to the next). His family experienced a lot of stress and frustration. They would have to answer his question, “School today? School today?” many, many times per day. They had to work through tantrums when taking him to school on mornings when he wasn’t expecting to go to class and didn’t understand that it was a school day. The solution? Easy as pie! Since this young boy was able to read words, I suggested to his dad that he create a simple calendar for his son that would be a visual reminder of which days he had to go to school and which days he could stay home. For each day of the week, his dad wrote “Yes School” or “No School” on the calendar. He then walked his son through it a few times a day, every day for about a week. Before long, his son was referring to the calendar by himself and the question-asking and stress-related tantrums nearly disappeared! Recently, I started practicing what I preach with my own child – lo’ and behold, it works! Let me tell you how I used a visual schedule in my own home with our 3 ½ year old son. Because my own schedule is often based on the availability of the families I work with, there would be days my son would go to daycare because I had a full day of work and then days he would be able to stay at home with me because I had no families to see that day. Because I didn’t have a regular schedule, my son suffered a lot of stress, and whenever it was time to go to daycare, he would cry, tantrum, do anything he could to avoid going to daycare. There were many times when I had to practically sit on him to get him into his car seat and then pry his little fingers from his car-seat belts when we arrived at daycare. It was terrible! Incredibly stressful for both him and me! I would practically run out of the
daycare in tears every day hearing him cry for me as I was leaving – not exactly the most pleasant way to start the day! Then, recently, our schedule changed again. What would have been a new day-home in our neighbourhood did not work out for the caregiver, so I had to drastically change my schedule. However, my mom was able to take Michael on Tuesdays and Thursdays, allowing me to work consistently on those days of the week. But, even though he could spend time with Grandma – the one other person who he feels completely at ease with – Michael still cried and had difficulty with the days he could not spend with me. Because of this (and our daycare nightmares), I thought it was severe separation anxiety at first. But really, it was just a fear of the unknown. Not having control over his own environment and not knowing where he would have to be and when. The solution? Again, easy as pie! We made a weekly visual schedule with pictures showing: a) Grandma & Mikey; b) Mommy & Mikey; and c) Family Day – Daddy, Mommy, and Mikey together (for the weekends). I printed the schedule (which I found for free at www.arianarmstrong.com), laminated it with my home laminator (yes, I have one!), and stuck little pieces of Velcro on both the schedule and the laminated pictures for his schedule. Each Sunday evening, we place the pictures on the Monday – Sunday schedule appropriately and talk about where Michael would be each day of the week. Before the first week was through, Michael started running to his schedule in the morning and saying, “Today is a Mikey and Mommy day!” or “Today is a Grandma and Mikey day!” And, after the day is through, we remove the pictures of the day to show that the day is done. The crying and stress we experienced before has virtually disappeared – this is because he knows what is going to happen every day of his week. (Psssst…it’s also helping him learn the days of the week!) Long story short, kids thrive on schedules – whether they are verbal or nonverbal, readers or non-readers. Kids need to know what is happening so that they can experience some control in their lives. Visual schedules can be adapted for any child – if they can read (and understand the words they read), the visual schedules can be simply words on a calendar or words written in a daytimer or scheduling app on one’s iPod Touch or iPad. If they cannot yet read, the visual schedules can be picture based. I encourage you to try it with your child if you are having difficulty getting him/her to understand their schedule and what’s expected of him/her. Do it together to make it even more meaningful. You can do it and your child will thank you for it (even if he/she is nonverbal, they’ll find a way to show gratitude for the visual support)!
- ANDREA FRAGOMENI Woosh Vol. 1.4
I finally sit down to eat when I notice a disturbing odor coming from the couch... Supper used to be a very challenging time. We like to sit down and eat together as a family and this was hard to do as Dalence was usually having some sort of behaviour during that time. He would rarely sit and eat with us. He may have a few bites of food and then he’d be off doing any imaginable combination of these behaviours: continually requesting that someone go lay in the bedroom with him; guzzling water and spitting it all over the floor; going to the couch and pooping his pants; getting into the dirty sink; running around the house yelling; going to my bedroom, ripping all of the bedding off and possibly vomiting on the mattress; and/or having an extremely aggressive tantrum. He needed constant supervision. Either myself or my husband would constantly be trying to prevent him from doing something; usually we were cleaning up after him. Often my daughter was left eating by herself and what was meant to be a meaningful family evening turned into a stressful disaster. Three years ago, my Qi Creative team helped me figure out a plan and implement it. The main goals were: Exercise: Dalence will have as much exercise throughout the afternoon as possible (2-3 hours), especially right before supper (30 minutes). This helped Dalence be in a calmer mood when he came in for supper and he was usually hungrier! Last Snack: Dalence’s last snack will be at 3:30 (3.5 hours before supper). Dalence was hungrier and he would sit down and eat supper with us. Self-Regulation: Dalence will be redirected to the mini trampoline. Dalence will learn to do deep breathing to help calm down. Whenever Dalence was running around the house, too hyper or silly, we would consistently redirect him to the minitrampoline. We also worked on deep breathing exercises when he was calm so we could get him to take deep breaths when overstimulated. Independently Choosing an Activity: Dalence will learn to do an appropriate activity. Every time Dalence was away from the table we redirected him to an appropriate activity and we would help him continue to do that activity, if necessary, until supper was over. After some time, I could start telling him “couch, trampoline, or sit and eat” without getting up from the table! Wanting Attention: Dalence will learn to wait until his family is finished eating until spending time together. “I’m still eating.”
Positive Time With Family Afterwards: Dalence’s family will spend positive time with Dalence after supper. “I’m all done eating, now. Let’s go play on my bed!” Dalence finishes eating, takes his plate to the counter, jumps on the trampoline for two minutes and then chooses a book to look at on the couch... We did not accomplish this overnight. It was a lot of hard work! I used my aides to teach him as much as I could so that I could sit and enjoy my supper some of the time. When I didn’t have an aide, I kept to the program. We were very diligent about being consistent! Of course we aren’t perfect and we weren’t able to do it every day, but we did it most days! Life is sometimes still challenging during supper, but we are thankful that more often than not, Dalence will find stuff to do, regulate on the trampoline and wait for us to finish eating our supper. Yay!
- TANYA STOCKWELL
Ring Around the Rosy Ring Around the Rosy, Ring Around the Rosy, Child’s Name chases Family Member, (i.e. Sara chases Daddy) Hush-a Hush-a, We all fall down! *The variations are endless!
Bath Song This is the way we wash our hair, Wash our hair, Wash our hair, This is the way we wash our hair, On a dark winter evening. (Repeat Using Various Body Parts) Tune: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush *you can change the season
- MELISSA MO Woosh Vol. 1.4
Going Potty
Going potty, Going potty, Lots of fun! Lots of fun! First you sit on potty, Then you pee or poo, Hooray for Child’s Name! Hooray for (i.e. Sara!) Tune: Frere Jacques
A great comfort food to warm you up on a cool fall or winter evening....
• Cook beef in frying pan with 1/2 cup of water. • Add onions as beef browns. • While beef is cooking, cook the rice. • Once beef is done scoop out grease (if there even is any). • Add rice, tomato chunks, tomato sauce, beans, salt and pepper. • Mix together and let heat for 15 minutes. • Eat and Enjoy. - PAULA AUDREY RIVERO
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