Friendship Circle's Great Bike Giveaway Is On!

The Friendship Circle invites you to enter their Great Bike Giveaway!



The contest is already underway and will end at 11:59 AM on March 25, 2014.  The drawing will be held and the winner announced on March 26th!

Each bike page has a space where users can enter the contest. Submit a picture of your child with special needs along with a short explanation of why your child needs an adaptive bike.

There are two ways to win:

1) Most Nominations - One bike in each contest will be given away to the entry with the most nominations. Nominations are received from friends and family clicking the “nominate button” on your post.  You must have a minimum of 50 nominations to qualify.

2) Random Drawing - All the remaining bikes will be placed in a drawing. To be eligible for the drawing each submission must be nominated by at least 50 friends and family members.

Spread the Word!  By asking people for nominations, participants will draw more visitors to the Great Bike Giveaway Contest and increase the amount of donations. This in-turn will add more bikes to the raffles and give more children with special needs a chance to win a special bike.

Click here to enter!

Click here for full contest rules!

Crowdfunding Fuels Warner's Corner Toys' Innovation!

A rapidly growing number of intelligent moms are creating products and services to improve the world in which we live.  Fueled by my passion for the education and safety of children with special needs, I created Warner’s Corner Toys. My vision is that it will become the premiere store for the whole special needs and learning challenged community.  My mission is to assemble such a diverse toy and resource collection that I can match each child with the perfect toy to meet their needs.  In addition, I wish to make it affordable for every family.

My web store is up and running and I am happy with myr current progress.  However, I need to expand.  In order to do so, this week I will launch a Ms. Genuity crowdfunding campaign.  Ms.Genuity is a new crowdfunding company that focuses on mom-invented products.  Mary Ann O’Neil, CEO for Ms. Genuity, notes that, “speaking with Laura about her passion for Warner’s Corner Toys is contagious!  She has put every bit of her heart and soul into helping children with special needs “become.”

Since opening Warner’s Corner Toys, the prevalence of autism, for example, has increased from 1 in 110, to 1 in 88 with 1 in 54 being boys.  According to the CDC’s 2013 study, the incidence rate of Down syndrome has increased from 1 in 733 births to 1 in 691.  The numbers of children being diagnosed with learning disabilities also continues to climb.  Resources, however, are not keeping pace with this exponentially growing need.  Families, educators and therapists the world over are on a mission to find affordable, safe, and effective tools.  It is my hope that Warner’s Corner Toys will be their answer.

I believe strongly that a child engaged in play is a child engaged in learning.  That belief inspired the creation of Warner’s Corner Toys.    The toys selected for the web store have been carefully chosen to appeal to children with special needs worldwide.  They fuel kids’ creativity and help them develop gross and fine motor skills.  The toys teach everyday living skills through role play.  They promote the social and communication skills necessary to build rewarding relationships.  Perhaps most importantly, the toys encourage successful problem solving which gives children the confidence to be independent.

In my journey to create Warner's Corner Toys, I have partnered with the Autism Association of Michigan's trainer, the police officers that created Find 'em Scent Kits, the non-profit Project Life Saver and other safety organizations to present an autism awareness training in the Detroit area.  With advice from both police officers and firefighters, I am designing special needs awareness alerts to help First Responders know when they are entering a home where an individual on the autism spectrum, for example, lives or if they are in a vehicle that has been stopped.  They will then be able to act accordingly and everyone will be safer. These alerts will include reflective window clings, magnets, stickers, and velcro/hanging signs that indicate "Autism Alert", "Special Needs Alert", etc. and "Individual May Not Respond to Verbal Commands."

Visit my project page about Warner’s Corner Toys on www.MsGenuity.com and consider contributing to my efforts to help children with special needs.

Down Syndrome Guild of Southeast Michigan and Belightful Yoga Present...

Vision & Literacy Resources for Down Syndrome

Warner would like to welcome Joan Brennan to our club house.  Joan is a mom, educator, entrepreneur, inventor, and special needs advocate.  Brennan Innovators, LLC, her company, focuses on reading and learning tools for special needs individuals.  She created Reading Focus Cards (US Patent 7,565,759) to help struggling readers, especially those children and adults challenged with AD/HD, dyslexia, autism, low vision, stroke recovery, traumatic brain injuries, and other reading issues.

Today, Joan shares advice and resources for our friends in the Down syndrome community.  read more...

Let's Go Shopping!

Celebrating Black History Month with Special Needs Kids

What better time to teach special needs kids about diversity, tolerance, and overcoming stereotypes than Black History Month?  Black History Month is a time to honor African American authors, inventors, playwrights,  civil rights activists and all those who sacrificed much for the successes that were eventually achieved and the impact that they have had on the world.  Inspiring?  I think so!!  Read more...

Six Reasons Special Needs Kids Gotta Have Art

A picture is worth a thousand words.  To a non-verbal, special needs child, the benefits of pictures and art go far beyond words:  
Art provides special needs kids the chance to creatively communicate thoughts and feelings when they don't have the words to express them.  For example, Valentine's Day is a great time for special needs children and their families to use art for loving self expression.  Read More...

Helping Young Children Cope with Violent Tragedies

I’d like to welcome Wendy Young, LMSW, BCD  and founder of Kidlutions: Solutions for Kids to Warner’s Corner.  Wendy specializes in helping children and families cope with the little and not so little issues in their lives – anger, divorce, grief and loss, moving, etc.  Today, she shares her recommendations for parents to best help young children understand the recent violence in Newtown, Connecticut.  Thank you, Wendy!

Tragedy Unfolds
Newtown, Connecticut.  A sleepy little town less than one hour away from where I was born.  I watched in horror, with the rest of the world, as the tragedy in this small town unfolded.  The trauma surrounding these events is a heavy burden to bear for the town of Newtown, and it will undoubtedly leave an indelible mark.  Traumatologists, counselors, clergy and other supports will converge upon Newtown, to assist in helping its people begin to cope and pick up the pieces.  It will be a long road to healing. On behalf of Kidlutions, I offer our condolences, thoughts and prayers.   Read more.

Flip2BFit®: Building Relationships while Building Muscle

Flip2BFit^® is the newest fitness craze for differently-abled kids!  The game combines nutrition trivia, yoga, stretching, and aerobic exercises in a fast and fun workout appropriate for the whole family.  Players compete individually or in teams in a race through the park to meet “Springer” the dinosaur in the playground.  Crab crawl, lunge, toe touch, and do the downward dog to move your piece around the park.  Make a poor nutrition choice and you’re going to have to move back a few spaces!

Early and ongoing exercise helps differently-abled children make significant strides toward purposeful movement and increased cognitive and social development.

Gross motor skill development refers to a child’s ability to effectively use the large muscle groups that control arm, leg, and core body movement.  These muscles support their body’s ability to walk, reach, lift, throw, sit upright, and maintain balance and coordination.  Many differently-abled children experience developmental delays in their ability to use their bodies’ large muscle groups.

Motor planning also presents differently-abled children with enhanced challenges.  To understand motor planning, think about trying to cross a stream by stepping on rocks.  You need to evaluate which rocks will best help you cross the stream without falling in, right?  Then, you step, hop and jump from one to the next using your arms to create momentum and maintain balance.  You may also have to adjust course during the trip.  Differently-abled children need extra practice to develop these mental and physical skills.

Further, being overweight creates an additional layer of difficulty for differently-abled children who already work harder than their typically developing peers to accomplish activities of daily living:

·         Bathing and toileting become more difficult for the child as well as their caregiver.

·         Movement becomes more difficult thus curtailing a child’s ability to participate in playground activities, for example. 

·         It increases the potential for bullying for children who may be already be experiencing it because of their different-ability. 

·         In the long term, being overweight makes children, adolescents, and adults more susceptible to diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, orthopedic problems, sleep apnea, cancer, and osteoarthritis.

Flip2BFit^® innovatively promotes the development of gross motor skills and motor planning.  “Spiderman Crawls”, for example, get the heart pumping and the big muscle groups working!  The “Praying Mantis” builds strength and balance.  “Windmills” stretch the arms’ large muscle groups.  Simple instruction and picture cards facilitate players’ success.  Success builds self confidence. 

Flip2BFit^® builds bridges between differently-abled children and their typically developing siblings and peers as they together develop coordination, strength and personal relationships.  More broadly, the family that plays together bonds together!

Heather Parisi is the CEO/Founder of Flip2BFit® and Fitness for Africa.  Her passion for children; recognition of the rapidly rising childhood obesity rates in this country; and, acknowledgement of the large numbers of starving children around the world inspired her to create Flip2BFit^® and Bakari^® .  Her goal is to promote healthy lifestyles for children and families by putting the FUN in fitness and nutrition!

                                   

Lollacups

Lollacups are in!  Please visit our store to order!

A Case for the Child Harness

Many years ago now, I spent my summers working at the Detroit Zoo.  Those that have visited it can tell you that it covers a lot of ground with elaborate gardens adorning the paths to the animal enclosures.   They can also tell you that it is easy to get turned around even with the map that they receive upon entering.  And, the larger the number of park visitors the more difficult the logistics are to manage.
On busy days, it was common for several lost, terrified and crying children to approach just our stand to ask for help.  The number of lost children park-wide was much larger.  From experience, I recommend the following precautions and procedures for your consideration when you are visiting the zoo or any large public place:

1. Quiz your child about your name (first and last) and what you are wearing (color and any unique identifier) just before you enter the park.  If they are old enough to know your cell phone number, quiz them on that, too.  A name, number, and a description of mom or dad was the first thing for which we asked and the information that is disseminated throughout the park during our search.  If they recite the information aloud they are more likely to remember it when they are under stress.
2. Review with them the procedure they are to follow if they become separated from you.  Good strategies include approaching a security guard or going to the nearest concession/souvenir stand employee and asking for help.  Point out a security guard and an employee to your child so that they become familiar with their uniforms.  For older children, designate a family meeting place where they are to go and wait for you.  A moving target is more difficult to find.
3. If your child is pre-verbal or non-verbal, PLEASE put your contact information on their person.  This can be a 3x5 card on a yarn necklace, a medical alert bracelet/necklace, or tucked into a clear plastic pouch on a backpack.  I also have seen small children in t-shirts that say, "I am non-verbal and autistic.  If I am lost, please call .... "
4. Although their use is somewhat controversial, use a child harness.  They are much cuter than they used to be and relatively inexpensive. 
   
   
   
   It has been 20 years and I still vividly remember one 2 year old boy that had become separated from his mother at the farmyard.    He had followed a "mom" that he thought was his to another exhibit.  Once he realized his mistake, he did not have the cognitive or verbal ability to ask for help.  He just ran, crying, and searching for his mom.  In the meantime, Mom had been searching frantically for him.  I have often wondered what kind of psychological after-shocks that little boy experienced.  Upon reflection now that I have my own child, I would rather sort out the emotional ramifications from wearing a harness than from the terror of not being able to communicate and being lost.
5. Try to remember that most children do not choose to become "lost".  They usually have just been caught up in the moment and lost track of you.  If they are afraid of being scolded for getting lost they will take longer to get help.  Upon reunification, take a breath and smile.  Your child will be looking for facial cues indicating how much trouble they are in.  Hug them.  Tell them that you are so glad that they have returned to you!  Then, make a better plan for sticking together.

No one wants their family outings marred by the stress of being separated from their child.  But, it happens.  A little preparation will go a long way in minimizing the time apart and the emotional consequences for everyone.