17 years ago, a group of people in Florida began the tradition of an annual conference. The first and second were day long events held each in a different part of the state. The idea was to bring people with disabilities and their families together for an informational and uplifting experience, meeting venders, having an opportunity to speak to service providers and just being able to pick the brains of educators, legislators and professionals who had much to share.
As the years past, The Florida Family Cafe grew into this enormous 3 day event, always held in Orlando which has many conereence center hotels and is in pretty much the easiest part of the state to get to. The event itself is always free to the attendees with hotel accommodations provided at a group discounted rate, making it affordable to most of the community. It has grown now with 9-15 thousand people going through the event in the 3 days.
The conference is always on the first weekend in June. We just returned from this year's event. Most years we have a governor's summit to start off, but this year Florida was in emergency session and our legislatures were unable to attend. We did, however, see videotaped addresses and were able to have questions and answers by a panel of highly ranked administrators. We had many issues covered, from IEP's to Transitioning into the workforce. Adaptive sports (including archery), equipment, therapies, and ADA representative, Disability attorneys, lawyers and financial advisers and so much more were present. You can see this year's program for more details on what is in included.
There is time for fun as well. The children can be left in a special daycare setting while the parents attend important workshops. On Saturday there is a dance with a DJ, food and time to kick back and meet and greet new and old friends. The pool was awesome and there was time to go for a swim. The hotels are always chosen to give everyone the best possible adventure while gaining incredibly worthwhile info. It is worth attending if you are a resident of Florida and in the area and. If you are not local, it would be great to encourage some organizations or the government to begin something like this in your area. If you would like to find out more about it contact:
Florida Family Cafe
519 N. Gadsden St.
Tallahassee, FL 32301
Friday, June 26, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
5 Fun Uses for A Giant Cardboard Box
Via Berry Sweet Baby
I've always loved the book, "This is Not a Box," by Antoinette Portis because of how it encourages children to use their imagination to play. I remember vividly the joy of playing with a giant refrigerator box as a child with friends. We hid in it. We made it into a fort. We rolled down hills in it--which may have been ill advised, but it was a ton of fun! Looking back, I'm sure our parents probably shook their heads watching us play, thinking about all of the money that they had spent on pricey toys that we would quickly abandon, but how this huge cardboard box could keep us happy all day long.
The giant cardboard box never goes out of style, you may even see adults getting in on the fun. If you're not expecting any large deliveries, think about ordering one from stores like Office Depot, Lowe's, or Uline. For under $10, you may be able to help your family create some wonderful memories. Here are five suggestions to help your family have a ton of fun with a giant cardboard box.
Travel Through Space
Encourage your kids to use their imagination and maybe even sneak in a science lesson with this super cool, kid-sized rocket! Here is a tutorial to help you make a rocket like this using supplies that are almost entirely recycled from your home including baskets, yogurt cups, foil,and soda caps.
Via Fun at Home With Kids
Make Game Time a BIG Deal (while improving math skills)
I don’t know that I would call these boxes "giant," but they certainly look like a fun way to upgrade game time. These giant dice are easy to build with contact paper, black construction paper, tape and glue. Parents.com features a quick tutorial to help you build them and also provides examples of games that you can play with your kids to help them improve their addition, subtraction, and multiplication skills. No one needs to know that this is an educational activity, but you!
Via Parents.com[/caption]
Create a Reading Nook
Fashion a space that is comfortable with good lighting where your kids can curl up and enjoy a book. A cool, "kids only" space will help remove any stigma that your child may associate with reading like homework or chores. Make their space so special that going in to read feels like a treat. Via Pinterest
Make the Backdrop for Your Own Movies
Okay, so you don’t have to go totally low-tech to enjoy cardboard boxes. In my experience, kids love seeing themselves on video. Encourage your kids to re-enact their favorite movies or to write their own scripts. They don’t have to be long, even two minute skits will help increase their confidence, creativity, and verbal skills. Once the script is written, work with your kids to build the perfect movie set using cardboard boxes. Depending on your child’s age and your tech-savvy, you can also use toys like action-figures and cars to make fun and easy stop motion animation videos.
Via CamilliaEngman.com
Go Into Business!
Remember how fun it was to play work? Before we knew about bills and rush hour traffic, right? Allowing your children to set up a shop though will teach them valuable teamwork skills and instill a sense of responsibility. Younger children may like to pretend they are running a bakery or a grocery store, while older children may actually be able to use this setup to start a lemonade stand, helping them learn math skills and the value of a dollar.Via iKatbag[/caption]
For more ideas and inspiration, head to Modernize.com.
This post was written by guest blogger, Danielle Hegedus.
Danielle Hegedus is a freelance writer based in Atlanta, GA where she currently writes Modernize and nurtures her obsession with HGTV and all things home design.
I've always loved the book, "This is Not a Box," by Antoinette Portis because of how it encourages children to use their imagination to play. I remember vividly the joy of playing with a giant refrigerator box as a child with friends. We hid in it. We made it into a fort. We rolled down hills in it--which may have been ill advised, but it was a ton of fun! Looking back, I'm sure our parents probably shook their heads watching us play, thinking about all of the money that they had spent on pricey toys that we would quickly abandon, but how this huge cardboard box could keep us happy all day long.
The giant cardboard box never goes out of style, you may even see adults getting in on the fun. If you're not expecting any large deliveries, think about ordering one from stores like Office Depot, Lowe's, or Uline. For under $10, you may be able to help your family create some wonderful memories. Here are five suggestions to help your family have a ton of fun with a giant cardboard box.
Travel Through Space
Encourage your kids to use their imagination and maybe even sneak in a science lesson with this super cool, kid-sized rocket! Here is a tutorial to help you make a rocket like this using supplies that are almost entirely recycled from your home including baskets, yogurt cups, foil,and soda caps.
Via Fun at Home With Kids
Make Game Time a BIG Deal (while improving math skills)
I don’t know that I would call these boxes "giant," but they certainly look like a fun way to upgrade game time. These giant dice are easy to build with contact paper, black construction paper, tape and glue. Parents.com features a quick tutorial to help you build them and also provides examples of games that you can play with your kids to help them improve their addition, subtraction, and multiplication skills. No one needs to know that this is an educational activity, but you!
Via Parents.com[/caption]
Create a Reading Nook
Fashion a space that is comfortable with good lighting where your kids can curl up and enjoy a book. A cool, "kids only" space will help remove any stigma that your child may associate with reading like homework or chores. Make their space so special that going in to read feels like a treat. Via Pinterest
Make the Backdrop for Your Own Movies
Okay, so you don’t have to go totally low-tech to enjoy cardboard boxes. In my experience, kids love seeing themselves on video. Encourage your kids to re-enact their favorite movies or to write their own scripts. They don’t have to be long, even two minute skits will help increase their confidence, creativity, and verbal skills. Once the script is written, work with your kids to build the perfect movie set using cardboard boxes. Depending on your child’s age and your tech-savvy, you can also use toys like action-figures and cars to make fun and easy stop motion animation videos.
Via CamilliaEngman.com
Go Into Business!
Remember how fun it was to play work? Before we knew about bills and rush hour traffic, right? Allowing your children to set up a shop though will teach them valuable teamwork skills and instill a sense of responsibility. Younger children may like to pretend they are running a bakery or a grocery store, while older children may actually be able to use this setup to start a lemonade stand, helping them learn math skills and the value of a dollar.Via iKatbag[/caption]
For more ideas and inspiration, head to Modernize.com.
This post was written by guest blogger, Danielle Hegedus.
Danielle Hegedus is a freelance writer based in Atlanta, GA where she currently writes Modernize and nurtures her obsession with HGTV and all things home design.
Friday, June 12, 2015
What do You do When You Find Your Child Has Eloped
You implement all the proper talks and teachings, the dangers that come with impulsive behavior. You think that it won’t be your child. You think that they will always come to you, trust you, and remain within the boundaries that have been set for them by you as their parents, guardians. So, what happens when even after all of that you find them in the middle of the night doing everything within their power to elope? Worse yet, what happens if you find out they have been successful? You are crushed right? What if it wasn’t your teenager we were talking about? What if it wasn’t a boy they were running off to see? What if marriage had nothing to do with it?
If you are like me perhaps the only usage of the word “elope” you knew of involved young adults and teens running off to get married without their parent’s knowledge. It was an act that was hurtful, disrespectful, and sometimes depending on the situation even dangerous. Even if you were to “google” the word elope you would come up with hits such as “elopement packages,” “5 elopement packages for low key couples,” “elopement (marriage),” but other than young adults/teens looking to get married in a hurry or couples looking to get married privately there is another much more dangerous version of elopement many have heard about, but very rarely would associate with the term.
So What is Eloping?
Even if you were to look the term up in a dictionary, it has it listed in several different ways, but all of the definitions I have incurred add up to one thing “a secret departure, with no known whereabouts, especially to become secretly married or cohabit with a loved one.” These definitions only carry a half truth, and this is something that needs to change, especially to those of us in the special needs community who have loved ones who engage in eloping, no pun intended.
Eloping is very common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and it has nothing to do with marriage. According to Abby Twyman “Elopement is when a person leaves an area without permission or notification which usually leads to placing that individual in a potentially dangerous situation,” (Twyman, Abby M. ED, 2012). Elopement happens very frequently within the Autism community almost as often as seen in the Alzheimer’s community. Usually the likelihood of elopement (wandering, fleeing) increases with the severity of Autism, but can also be seen in children with high functioning autism, especially if they struggle with impulse control. Recent surveys conducted have shown that half of all children on the spectrum have struggled with some type of eloping behavior.
Eloping is Not Just a Problem for the Nonverbal
One of the most common misconceptions, even amongst the special needs and medical community, with a child on the spectrum who wanders, is that they will only engage in such activities if they are low functioning or non verbal. This is a frustrating and dangerous misconception. I can tell you this from experience. Our daughter is seven years old, and very verbal, more verbal at times than her siblings who are not on the spectrum and yet there is a difference between speaking and appropriately communicating. There is also a difference between appropriately communicating and being able to control your impulses, have safety awareness, social awareness, and be able to link cause with effect appropriately. We even thought ourselves the older our daughter got the less likely she would be to elope, but that has sadly not been the case. It is a dangerous and frightening set of events in our life that unfold daily. Trying to get her to fully register how dangerous her behavior is, is quite like trying to catch water in a butterfly net. It just keeps slipping right on through.
I heard a statistic a few weeks ago that nearly 90% of all deaths that resulted from elopement were drowning accidents. That same week we found our autistic daughter happily swimming in the kiddie pool out back while we were all soundly sleeping in our beds. That was our breaking point. The sheer terror of knowing all the possibilities was more than a wakeup call it was pure torture. I emotionally broke down.
Please know if you are reading this and are feeling ashamed not knowing what to do about your own child’s eloping behaviors that you are not alone, and you are not an irresponsible parent. My husband and I are well equipped with training and degrees that should make us more than qualified to be able to manage the difficulties that come with raising a child on the spectrum, but despite its ups, there are so many downs. It is not by any means an easy sailing sea.
Our daughter has put more than grey hair on my head these past few months; escaping, making her way into neighbors’ homes, walking out the front door, making her way out or over a 6 foot privacy fence, and even finding a way to pry open her second floor window. We are constantly having to find solutions for all of these matters, and sometimes I do cry myself to sleep wondering if we'll ever be one step ahead of her. At the pint size of only fourty-four inches and pounds I often wonder how she is even able to manage the physicality of some of these things, but she is, so we have to be prepared, literally at all times.
What Can be Done About Eloping
We have had to take several measures here over the past several months to keep our daughter safe. The first step for us personally, and everyone is going to have different causes and escape routes for their child, was to remove any large furniture from her room that she could climb. This would keep her safe from trying to open and get out her window. Thankfully her windows are well above her head, and unless she builds a staircase of books, which she may one day decide to do, she should be safe for now.
The second thing, because she is verbal and able to tell us at least some of her needs, was to figure out what would help her sleep better at night, when she was usually trying to elope. For her it was to not sleep in a bed and sleep in a smaller space. So, we turned her closet, open door with a mattress, into a small sleeping cove, and she has been much happier sleeping there. She had already blown through nearly every sleep medication out there and despite that was still having night time safety issues, so at that point we were truly willing to try anything as long as she was happy, safe, and sleeping.
The third thing was to install door alarms on her bedroom door and all of our outside doors. We placed them high up where she cannot reach them, since they do have on off switches. They have so far been a deterrent, and when they haven't been, we have quickly been able to catch her walking out the door. The good news is that they are relatively cheap. The only bad news is if your child is extremely sensory defensive you may have trouble getting them to walk out the door when you want them to.
The fourth thing we did was buy a Road ID bracelet. This was an easy way for us to put her information down on a bracelet that was comfortable enough for her to wear, but not easy for her to take off. That way, if she did wander and someone found her they could call us as well as be aware of the fact that she has not only autism, but some medical problems that may need to be addressed if she has been gone for any length of time.
The fifth thing we did was sign her up for a service called Project Life Saver. I know not every area in the country has one yet, but if your area does or a similar service I would highly suggest it, even if your child has not eloped more than once. If they have even begun toying with the idea of wandering it is time. Project Life Saver is a bracelet with a GPS tracker in it that is run by your local police precinct. That way when you call 911, in the case that you have to, you tell them your child is missing and is a Project Life Saver member. They immediately can start tracking them. It cuts their search time down to three hours down from 36 hours. The difference between three hours and thirty-six hours is the difference between life and death for a child.
Eloping is Something We all Need to be Aware Of
Whether you are a special needs parent or not, eloping is something we all need to be aware of. It could literally mean the difference of a child being returned home to their parents or not. There is no type of parent who has an autistic child who wanders. Autism and other types of special needs come with all types of struggles and eloping is just one of them. It is very hurtful to see comments on news media posts when a special needs child wanders, from community members like; “where were the parents,” “those parents should be in jail.” “I bet the parents are scum,” “that child should be removed from the parents when he/she is found,” etc, every single time a child with autism or special needs elopes and it gets broadcast. I will say it again, there is NO type of parent whose autistic child wanders. It can happen to anyone and it literally only takes a second. Even with all of our safety guards in place the scary and sad truth is our daughter could get out tomorrow while one of us is in the bathroom, because she saw a butterfly out the window she wanted to follow, or thought she heard the Ice Cream truck.
The quicker we see eloping as something we all need to help each other with, the quicker all of our children will be safer. Let’s stand together, hold hands, form a line, and help each other out. We can’t point fingers if we are grasping each other’s hands.
If you are like me perhaps the only usage of the word “elope” you knew of involved young adults and teens running off to get married without their parent’s knowledge. It was an act that was hurtful, disrespectful, and sometimes depending on the situation even dangerous. Even if you were to “google” the word elope you would come up with hits such as “elopement packages,” “5 elopement packages for low key couples,” “elopement (marriage),” but other than young adults/teens looking to get married in a hurry or couples looking to get married privately there is another much more dangerous version of elopement many have heard about, but very rarely would associate with the term.
So What is Eloping?
Even if you were to look the term up in a dictionary, it has it listed in several different ways, but all of the definitions I have incurred add up to one thing “a secret departure, with no known whereabouts, especially to become secretly married or cohabit with a loved one.” These definitions only carry a half truth, and this is something that needs to change, especially to those of us in the special needs community who have loved ones who engage in eloping, no pun intended.
Eloping is very common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and it has nothing to do with marriage. According to Abby Twyman “Elopement is when a person leaves an area without permission or notification which usually leads to placing that individual in a potentially dangerous situation,” (Twyman, Abby M. ED, 2012). Elopement happens very frequently within the Autism community almost as often as seen in the Alzheimer’s community. Usually the likelihood of elopement (wandering, fleeing) increases with the severity of Autism, but can also be seen in children with high functioning autism, especially if they struggle with impulse control. Recent surveys conducted have shown that half of all children on the spectrum have struggled with some type of eloping behavior.
Eloping is Not Just a Problem for the Nonverbal
One of the most common misconceptions, even amongst the special needs and medical community, with a child on the spectrum who wanders, is that they will only engage in such activities if they are low functioning or non verbal. This is a frustrating and dangerous misconception. I can tell you this from experience. Our daughter is seven years old, and very verbal, more verbal at times than her siblings who are not on the spectrum and yet there is a difference between speaking and appropriately communicating. There is also a difference between appropriately communicating and being able to control your impulses, have safety awareness, social awareness, and be able to link cause with effect appropriately. We even thought ourselves the older our daughter got the less likely she would be to elope, but that has sadly not been the case. It is a dangerous and frightening set of events in our life that unfold daily. Trying to get her to fully register how dangerous her behavior is, is quite like trying to catch water in a butterfly net. It just keeps slipping right on through.
I heard a statistic a few weeks ago that nearly 90% of all deaths that resulted from elopement were drowning accidents. That same week we found our autistic daughter happily swimming in the kiddie pool out back while we were all soundly sleeping in our beds. That was our breaking point. The sheer terror of knowing all the possibilities was more than a wakeup call it was pure torture. I emotionally broke down.
Please know if you are reading this and are feeling ashamed not knowing what to do about your own child’s eloping behaviors that you are not alone, and you are not an irresponsible parent. My husband and I are well equipped with training and degrees that should make us more than qualified to be able to manage the difficulties that come with raising a child on the spectrum, but despite its ups, there are so many downs. It is not by any means an easy sailing sea.
Our daughter has put more than grey hair on my head these past few months; escaping, making her way into neighbors’ homes, walking out the front door, making her way out or over a 6 foot privacy fence, and even finding a way to pry open her second floor window. We are constantly having to find solutions for all of these matters, and sometimes I do cry myself to sleep wondering if we'll ever be one step ahead of her. At the pint size of only fourty-four inches and pounds I often wonder how she is even able to manage the physicality of some of these things, but she is, so we have to be prepared, literally at all times.
What Can be Done About Eloping
We have had to take several measures here over the past several months to keep our daughter safe. The first step for us personally, and everyone is going to have different causes and escape routes for their child, was to remove any large furniture from her room that she could climb. This would keep her safe from trying to open and get out her window. Thankfully her windows are well above her head, and unless she builds a staircase of books, which she may one day decide to do, she should be safe for now.
The second thing, because she is verbal and able to tell us at least some of her needs, was to figure out what would help her sleep better at night, when she was usually trying to elope. For her it was to not sleep in a bed and sleep in a smaller space. So, we turned her closet, open door with a mattress, into a small sleeping cove, and she has been much happier sleeping there. She had already blown through nearly every sleep medication out there and despite that was still having night time safety issues, so at that point we were truly willing to try anything as long as she was happy, safe, and sleeping.
The third thing was to install door alarms on her bedroom door and all of our outside doors. We placed them high up where she cannot reach them, since they do have on off switches. They have so far been a deterrent, and when they haven't been, we have quickly been able to catch her walking out the door. The good news is that they are relatively cheap. The only bad news is if your child is extremely sensory defensive you may have trouble getting them to walk out the door when you want them to.
The fourth thing we did was buy a Road ID bracelet. This was an easy way for us to put her information down on a bracelet that was comfortable enough for her to wear, but not easy for her to take off. That way, if she did wander and someone found her they could call us as well as be aware of the fact that she has not only autism, but some medical problems that may need to be addressed if she has been gone for any length of time.
The fifth thing we did was sign her up for a service called Project Life Saver. I know not every area in the country has one yet, but if your area does or a similar service I would highly suggest it, even if your child has not eloped more than once. If they have even begun toying with the idea of wandering it is time. Project Life Saver is a bracelet with a GPS tracker in it that is run by your local police precinct. That way when you call 911, in the case that you have to, you tell them your child is missing and is a Project Life Saver member. They immediately can start tracking them. It cuts their search time down to three hours down from 36 hours. The difference between three hours and thirty-six hours is the difference between life and death for a child.
Eloping is Something We all Need to be Aware Of
Whether you are a special needs parent or not, eloping is something we all need to be aware of. It could literally mean the difference of a child being returned home to their parents or not. There is no type of parent who has an autistic child who wanders. Autism and other types of special needs come with all types of struggles and eloping is just one of them. It is very hurtful to see comments on news media posts when a special needs child wanders, from community members like; “where were the parents,” “those parents should be in jail.” “I bet the parents are scum,” “that child should be removed from the parents when he/she is found,” etc, every single time a child with autism or special needs elopes and it gets broadcast. I will say it again, there is NO type of parent whose autistic child wanders. It can happen to anyone and it literally only takes a second. Even with all of our safety guards in place the scary and sad truth is our daughter could get out tomorrow while one of us is in the bathroom, because she saw a butterfly out the window she wanted to follow, or thought she heard the Ice Cream truck.
The quicker we see eloping as something we all need to help each other with, the quicker all of our children will be safer. Let’s stand together, hold hands, form a line, and help each other out. We can’t point fingers if we are grasping each other’s hands.
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