The thought that summer time is coming may not have even crossed your mind but when you have a child with special needs, you have to plan for so much for things and it is always best to plan ahead

From the therapies to the sitters. From the activities like camps to their quiet time activities.

The who, what, where, when and why of summer for your child need to be looked at sooner than later

Who

Who are the people you need to contact? Therapists, companions, camp directors, family. Anyone who you think you may need their help or will be working with your child should be contacted early. At least to set up a time to talk further and really get organized on plans. This way you get on their radar early before schedules fill up.

What

What things do you want to plan for your child? Is it Occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech or other ones. Maybe if you have a young adult, it could be working with a life coach. Thinking this through is an important step so that what you plan for meets the needs of your child at this time

Where

Will you be looking for camps or day camps. Will you have to drive far to therapy or is it done in your home? Will your other children have plans that you need to work around? All things need to be considered.

When

How often do you want to plan for therapies? Morning or afternoon? Do your other children have set times for their practices or activities that need to be figured into the mix?

Why

This goes directly to the IEP if your child has one. Figuring out what they need from their summer work, what skills they need to work on. Summer is such a great time to work on skills.

While others are signing their children up for summer reading programs, we are arranging tutoring, so skills will not be lost.
While time with “nothing to do” sounds fantastic to many, for a child with Dyspraxia or Sensory Processing Disorder, this may actually increase their anxiety because open ended time to fill can be challenging for them.


So for us, summer takes on a new form, sort of a combination of therapies, schedules and summer activities.
And this is where my thoughts went to after I watched the commercial.
I think I see summer activities as chances to teach something to our kids.
Try to have the approach that everything is a teachable moment.

So:
• Some may see water balloons, I see a chance to encourage fine motor skills as she tries to fill them up. ( unless you are getting those really cool ones that seal themselves 🙂 )


• Some may see plain side walk chalk, I see an opportunity to play a word game or have fun tracing each other, to encourage concentration and patience.


• Some may see a fun trip to the pool, I see an chance for her to practice ordering and paying for her own snacks. Learning to pack the right things in a bag for the pool


The list goes on, but you get the point.!”
For as hard as we work for our children from September to June, I know that we all want those skills and things learned to grow in June through August.
We want the summer to be fun for our children.

We want the summer to be productive, because it needs to be.

Just some early thoughts!

I wish everyone a peaceful week.

Michele Gianetti author of Elizabeth Believes in Herself

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