The Importance of Seating and Positioning for Eating and Drinking

-->

Drinking - Good hydration is an essential part of maintaining a healthy body and general feeling of well-being. It is especially important to address the issue of providing enough fluids for those who are dependent upon another person for providing of all of their liquids. Because they are unable to take a drink when their body feels the need for liquid, they tend to drink less than they would if they could take a drink whenever they wanted. Read the entire article....

... For those who are able to drink through a straw or drinking tube, one of the hands free drinking systems from Mealtime Partners may help them drink independently.

More detailed information about seating and positioning for eating and drinking can be found in several of the earlier Mealtime Partners Newsletters as follows: the June 2009 Newsletter topic: Promoting a Chin Tuck for Safer Eating; the July 2009 Newsletter topic: Positioning for Eating; and the August 2010 Newsletter topic: How We Eat.

Special Needs: Transition Planning

Transition:  Planning For the Future

by Linda Jorgensen

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Most children begin seriously thinking about what they would like to be when they grow up while still in their early teens.  It is no different for a child with disabilities.  However, children needing extra help and services find that once they graduate from the education system the programs and supports they need change or often disappear altogether.  Given the changes currently occurring nationwide, it is imperative for parents to actively begin thinking about the transition process and what programs and services their child may need well before he/she graduates from the education system.   

DD Special Needs: Role of Primitive Reflexes and Learning Disabilities

Complete Guide to Special Needs Toilet Training

Toilet training children with disabilities is challenging, let's face it toilet training children without disabilities is challenging.  In many cases, toilet training children with disabilities is similar to training other children. It simply requires more patience and some extra support.   In our school we begin toilet training on a schedule sometimes putting a child on the potty once per hour until they start getting the idea.  

Some kids need the extra feedback of potty alarms.  I grew up with a child with Down syndrome in the 70's, her name is Krissy.  When Krissy was potty trained, around the age of 5, she had a potty alarm.  I would think that for kids with Down syndrome potty alarms would be beneficial because Down syndrome kids have low muscle tone.  Typically kids with low muscle tone have reduced tactile sensations and would not be as sensitive to having a wet diaper or pull up.

I feel toilet training a disabled child is of the utmost importance, not only for convenience but also to protect the child.  Over 50% of people with disabilities are sexually abused, potty training your child will take away opportunities of sexual abuse.

I found this guide to toilet training children with disabilities.  Here you'll find plenty of articles, strategies and tips for toilet training children with a variety of special needs. Plus you'll find resources for trouble shooting many types of potty problems like smearing poop, fear of the toilet and potty training regression. It's the most comprehensive guide of toileting resources for special needs parents and teachers with students who are not potty trained.

Guide to Potty Training Kids with Disabilities.

Positioning for Babies and Children with GERD or Respiratory Issues

Many special needs children and babies require special positioning after eating or when they sleep to prevent reflux or to enhance respiration.  I've just come across this Tucker Sling, which looks like a simple positioning solution.  Has anyone used it?  What are your thoughts?

http://tuckersling.com/default.htm

Special Needs Kids: Medicaid Federal Level

  inShare5  

 Email     Print

Talk Of Medicaid Cuts Worries Disability Advocates

By Michelle Diament

Advocates representing more than 90 disability organizations are expected to amass on Capitol Hill Wednesday to show support for Medicaid.
The noon rally on the west side of the Capitol, is expected to draw more than 1,000 people with disabilities and their allies from across the nation.

Read more....

Special Needs Kids: Trunk Support Options for Children with Low Trunk Tone

Children with a wide variety of conditions present with low muscle tone (hypotonia) in their trunks, making it difficult for them to sit up properly, stand, and walk.  Some children have virtually no tone at all, and are completely unable to hold their heads up or sit up, while others are more mildly affected, with only minor deficits in sitting or walking.

Click here to read more...
http://articles.complexchild.com/jan2011/00263.html

Special Needs Children: Developmentally Disabled: Small victories

I work with severely multiply impaired children ages 3-6.   Like many of us in this field I came into special education with a lot of big ideas. I was going to change their world. Very quickly I realized that it would not happen over night. And I would need to embrace the small victories to keep from feeling like a failure. Soon after I realized that would be enough for me.

Growing Up with a Sibling with Cerebral Palsy: Learning to adapt

My sister was born with cerebral palsy affecting the left side of her body. Her left arm is shortened and under developed. Her left leg is twisted inward making it very difficult for her to walk. She is not affected cognitively other than the fact that many of her classmates made fun of her. But through the years she’s learned not to allow any of that to affect her spirit. I think she has become the strongest person I know. 

Cerebral Palsy: Misunderstood,

Living With One Hand:

A recent conversation at the local gym left me surprised and made me wonder what others thought about the following situation:

I have Athetoid Cerebral Palsy which means I can control my arm about 60%.  I can wave hello to a passerby and turn on a light switch with my left hand – but that is about it.  My life with Cerebral Palsy has not stopped me yet… I invited my therapists to come watch me play soccer and basketball as I grew up.  I played the piano with my elbow, and I graduated college with my Masters in Occupational Therapy. 

The challenge I faced at the gym started as a simple conversation – she asked if I was married, to which I replied “yes, almost two years now.”  Then she asked a question that was more like a statement – “So would you abort if you got pregnant?” 

Where did Cerebral Palsy Come From?

Where did Cerebral Palsy Come From?

In the 1860s, an English surgeon named William Little wrote the first medical descriptions of a puzzling disorder that struck children in the first years of life, causing stiff, spastic muscles in their legs and, to a lesser degree, in their arms. These children had difficulty grasping objects, crawling, and walking. Unlike most other diseases that affect the brain, this condition didn’t get worse as the children grew older.  Instead, their disabilities stayed relatively the same. 

The disorder, which was called Little's disease for many years, is now known as spastic diplegia. It is one of a group of disorders that affect the control of movement and are gathered under the umbrella term of “cerebral palsy.”      

Definition of Cerebral Palsy vs Chromosomal Syndrome for Children with Special Needs

Recently I was sitting in a meeting regarding a special needs child, when one of the professionals in the meeting asked for the child's diagnosis.  A couple of people responded 'cerebral palsy' a couple of people didn't think that was the case.  

I didn't think that was the case because the boy was 11 years old and the size of a 5 year old.  When we checked the file we realized he was diagnosed 'Mosaic Down's Syndrome.'  
 

Disability Doll

Down Syndrome Dolls White Girl

Take a look at the doll in the picture. What do you see? You'll probably notice almost immediately that its face is not as “regular” as the rosebud-mouthed, snub-nosed dolls that come as standard in toy shops. But if you picked it up and examined it more closely, you'd see that they are not the only features that you don't find on a “normal” doll: a horizontal crease in the palm of the hand, the ears set low on the head, a flattened bridge across the nose, a slightly protruding tongue.

How to tie your shoes one handed

Living With One hand: Life with Cerebral Palsy

10 of the hardest things for me to do one handed:

1) Peel potatoes

2) Cut tomatoes

3) Cut raw meat

4) Shave my right armpit

5) Cut out any picture with sharp or rounded edges

6) Put my hair in a tight pony tail

7) Cut my fingernails

8) Sew on a button

9) Opening canned foods

10) Pulling heavy pot out of oven/Bringing large boiling pot to sink to drain

As you may see, most tasks that are challenging for me are in the kitchen, but I found a few simple tools that have transformed my life in small yet powerful ways.

Click "read more" to see the tools that have changed my life

Independent Living For People With Disabilities Gets $7.5 Million Boost

By Michelle Diament January 7, 2011 Text Size  A  A

Nearly 1,000 Americans with disabilities will be able to leave institutions and move into the community, federal officials said Thursday, thanks to a first-of-its-kind initiative providing both housing assistance and support services.

The program is the result of a unique partnership between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Health and Human Services. Together the agencies will provide $7.5 million worth of rental assistance vouchers in addition to health care and support services to ensure that community living is truly possible.

What is CP?

Diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy (CP) simply means that there has been some injury to the brain during development which has resulted in difficulty transmitting the necessary impulses from the brain to the muscles for coordinated movement.

Many children born prematurely will develop some movement difficulties related to early neurological injury.  These impairments emerge slowly over time and are typically not evident during the newborn period.  Most mild motor abnormalities noticeable during the first few months of life will improve and may completely resolve with time.  When motor impairment persists, a diagnosis of cerebral palsy may be considered. 

 About 10% of children born at birth weights of less than 1000 grams will eventually receive a diagnosis of cerebral palsy (McCarton, et. al, 1996; O'Shea, et. al., 1998), a permanent condition.  

Diagnosing cerebral palsy in children born prematurely is often a difficult process which requires observing the child's development over time.