As many of you know, I'm a mom of a special needs son. Thomas will be 5 next month. I am petrified for so many reasons for the way our lives have become. I was worried enough about him starting Kindergarten next school year, I am terrified now. I am seeing a regression happen already! Between his speech and social skills, I'm not sure which one is suffering more. However, I am thankful that therapies will be picked back up soon thanks to the state approving teletherapies. And thanks to our insurance company for now covering teletherapy. Have your reached out to your CST (child study team) to see if they offer teletherapy services now? Have you reached out to your insurance company to see if they have virtual coverage? It is a start but definitely not a 100% replacement of what he normally gets at school or out patient services. Like most special needs parents, I'm scared too. So I wanted to get raw and real in this article to stress and say you are not alone. Our kids are not alone. They WILL be okay.
Time to be honest. I was suffering the first couple of weeks of school being closed and social distancing started. I was trying to be mommy, teacher, physical therapist, occupational therapist, ABA therapist, working, cooking, cleaning, all under the stress of what was going on in the outside world. I was trying to be superwoman. I will be the first to admit, superwoman I am not. I am not a therapist in any form and I am for sure not a teacher. What I know I am, I am a good mom. I am trying my best with what I am given. I was honestly losing my mind. Up until I read the following from A Day In Our Shoes. "Don't worry about them regressing in school. Every single kid is in this boat and they all will be okay. When we are back in the classroom, we will all course correct and meet them where they are. Teachers are experts a this! Don't pick fights with your kids because they don't want to do math. Don't scream at your kids to not following the schedule. Don't mandate 2 hours of learning time if they are resisting. If I can leave you with one thing, it's this: at the end of all of this, your kids' mental health will be more important than their academic skills. And how they felt during this time will stay with them long after the memory of what they id during those 4 or more weeks is long gone. So keep that in mind, every single day." And I do! Once I read that last part in the paragraph, it really spoke to me. The way I now look at it is, I am not good to my son if I am stressed, upset or scared. He will see that, pick up on it and feel my feelings. Instead of forcing him to do his worksheets, we learn by doing other things. We go on a walk and talk about the grass, the seasons. We plant flowers and talk about agriculture. We do chores around the house, cook and we talk about home economics. We do obstacle courses and we blow up the bounce house. Hello physical therapy! Crafts with cutting with scissors, he changes himself with my guidance, hello occupational therapy! Once I came to this realization, life became so much bearable. I became that better mom and person now. We are having so much more fun now. And at the end of he day, that is what our kids really need.
Since March, I have been scouring the internet for any form of resource I can find. I have found a bit that I found to be very useful. Thomas gets ST, OT, PT and ABA therapies. I would like to share everything I could find. If you would like to share any resources that you have come across, please email me at AngelaEarley@macaroikid.com. We are all in this together and together we can conquer anything!
Speech Therapy
Occupational Therapy
Top 7 Places to Find OT Resources
American Occupational Therapy Association
Physical Therapy
Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy
Sponsored by Limitless Behavior Services & Consulting
If you would like some tips and tricks on how to home school your child, another publisher and I wrote this article of 10 Tips To Help Your Child With Developmental Delays and Home Schooling.
Please check back periodically because I will be adding more resources as I find them.
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