When searching for a guided pathway of how to motivate your child, many parents jump on the bandwagon of positive reinforcement. The journey tends to get twirled up in a haze of confusion and judgment from other parents, leaving you trying to balance the “should I” or “shouldn’t I” mind scales of whether to praise…
Special Needs
How to Keep Your Marriage Alive While Raising Special Needs Children
Special needs parenting is HARD. Trying to keep your marriage alive while parenting special needs kids can be even harder. It’s a well-known fact in the special needs community that divorce is higher among special needs families. I don’t think this happens on purpose, but more because of how stressful it is to parents a special…
5 Tips for Potty Training a Special Needs Child
I have a confession to make… I was absolutely terrified to start potty training my first child. Even though I started babysitting when I was thirteen, helped in Sunday School and in the nursery at my church, and was a nanny for over ten years, I still struggled with how to even start potty training my son…
How to Keep Your Child’s Feeding Tube Formula Cold Overnight
One of life’s most important questions for a mom with a child on a feeding tube is how to keep the formula cold all night long while the child is sleeping. Some moms have to refill the bag several times a night. Some use an ice pack that may or may not work, but can…
What to Do When Your Child Has Chronic Constipation
You might be wondering why I’ve decided to talk about the subject of poop here on the blog. Many parents and especially many special needs parents have kids who struggle with episodes of chronic constipation. Both my kids have had significant issues with constipation and we’ve had to go through a lot of struggles and…
Autism-Friendly Hair Salons in Colorado Springs
When my family first moved to Colorado, one of the things I started looking for was local autism-friendly hair salons. My son, Adam had always struggled with haircuts and I knew finding the right person to cut his hair was going to be difficult. Then, I found the perfect woman. Military spouse, home salon, and…
Pediatric Home Health: What Does an In-Home Nurse Actually DO?
Due to my daughter Elizabeth’s complex medical needs, she has a pediatric home health nurse. People are very curious about this. What does the nurse do? What is it like having someone in your house all the time? Usually, people are surprised by my answers, but the reality is that our nurses become like family….
A Service Dog for Elizabeth
As some of you may remember, several months ago my daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with several rare genetic disorders including Ehlers-Danlos Type 3, Dysautonomia – POTS, and a Mast Cell Disorder. After three years of searching for an overall diagnosis for Elizabeth and finding it, we realized that a service dog would be life-changing and potentially…
The Best Yoga Poses for Special Needs Kids
Many people may not know this, but I love yoga! I was always hesitant to try it, but when my husband deployed for the first time in 2011, I knew I needed something to do for myself. Yoga has helped me slow down, breathe, and it has helped me with so many of my back problems….
70+ Special Needs Acronyms You Need to Know
When you first become a special needs parent, you get A LOT of special needs acronyms thrown at you. Not only are you overwhelmed with your child’s diagnosis, but now you have to figure out what all these letters jumbled together even mean. I wanted to create a list of some of the more common…
