Parenting Your Child with Special Needs

Do you know a picky eater? Feeding teleconference tomorrow!!

Join us on the phone--call in to our
Preemies Today
Parents Teleconference

"Food Chaining: The Proven 6 Step Solution to Stop Picky Eating,
Solve Feeding Problems and Expand Your Child's Diet."

Do you know children with a history of any of the following?

    * history of prematurity
    * dysphagia
    * feeding aversion
    * oral motor problems
    * poor weight gain
    * failure to thrive
    * food allergy
    * eosinophilic esophagitis
    * digestive tract disorders or
    * sensory/behavioral/motor-based feeding disorders

Join Cathy Rodrigues and guest Cheri Fraker, CCC/SLP pediatric speech pathologist and oral feeding specialist to discuss her successful technique to help picky eaters!

After a brief presentation, you will have a chance to ask Cheri questions.

Saturday, February 21, 2009
1:00 ET/12:00 CT/10:00 PT

RSVP: Email Cathy@CathyRodrigues.com for call-in information

Sponsored by Preemies Today--no charge for the teleconference-long distance charges apply

Cheri Fraker, CCC/SLP, a pediatric speech pathologist and oral feeding specialist. She is employed at Koke Mill Medical Center in Springfield, Illinois, where she sees infants and children at The Center for Selective Eating and Pediatric Feeding Disorders. Fraker is the author of Evaluation and Treatment of Pediatric Feeding Disorders from NICU to Childhood (Speech Dynamics Inc) and Food Chaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems and Expand Your Child’s Diet (Da Capo Press). Fraker has published and presented on feeding disorders internationally.

This is a great article written by Mary Alward and posted on the One Place for Special Needs resource website. The article was posted in the Local School Directory website which has a wealth of articles and information. Some good ideas are presented and certainly a good place to start for parents who want to know how to help. With this information you can better ask questions and get help where you think you need help. Let me know what you think!
Cathy

Written By: Mary M. Alward

Children with learning disabilities often have trouble making and retaining friendships. Some kids know the social graces of initiating friendships, but have no idea how to sustain the relationship. Kids with learning disabilities often allow friendships to end because they don’t understand how to work out conflicts that occur on the schoolyard or in the community.

Are You Living Your Life with Intention?

by Cathy Rodrigues
"If what you are doing is not your goal, it might as well be your goal."

I heard this statement and it struck me...What I am working on today--is it going to get me where I want to be in the future? The impact of this simple statement caused me to stop and think. This powerful notion made me think about the idea of "intention." What does this mean?  What is my purpose? How do I want to live my life? To that end I began a process of creating a personal mission statement.

Answering the following questions allowed me to begin the process of crafting my personal statement. The questions are adapted from the book, Find Your Purpose, Change Your Life: Getting to the Heart of Your Life’s Mission by Carol Adrienne:

I love to...
I am...
I would like to have more...
When I was a child, I wanted to be...
The qualities I like best about myself are...
What interested me today, this week was...
I keep being drawn to...
My working mission statement is...

Through this process I got feedback from my friends, family and co-workers which helped me validate my sense of who I am in addition to how I present myself to others. The whole process took some time but it was helpful, especially during the challenging times.

I found that I was able to create two statements:

"To be of service to others, bringing a sense of peace, joy and beauty into my life and those around me."

"Through my hands, I want to promote a sense of spiritual connection by creating gifts of beauty and joy for myself and those around me."

Let me know what you think and if yo want help to craft your own personal mission statement. Send me an email!
Cathy

Preemies Today Teleconference rescheduled for Friday, January 30th

Parenting and Discipline: The Impact of Prematurity on Sensory Development
The teleconference featuring JoAnn Kennedy OTR has been changed to Friday, January 30th at
2:00 ET/1:00 CT/ 12:00 PT.

If you tried to call in yesterday and got the wrong number, I must apologize for transposing the numbers in the prefix. I understand folks who called in got a very angry person on the line. Please do not let this deter you from participating. If you are interested, please send me an email and I can send you the correct conference number.

Stay warm,
Cathy

Preemies Today-Creating Holiday Traditions Podcast!!!

Last Monday, I co-led a tele-conference with Preemies Today founder Mary Beth Hazelgrove called Creating Family Traditions or How to Stay Healthy and have Fun Together.  With permission of the callers, the one hour meeting was recorded and theDownload Preemies today 121508 is available for listening at your convenience. As a follow-up, I compiled a brief handout which can be shared with family and friends explaining the issues with illness and how it can affect a premature baby.

Our next tele-conferences are scheduled for Friday, January 16th and 23rd, 2009 at 1:00 ET/12:00 CT/ 10:00 PT and we will be discussing discipline and the impact of prematurity on sensory development. Plan on joining us live and participating in the conversation. If you would like to register, send me an email!!!!

National survey shows impact of caring for a child with chronic disorder

AP: December 1, 2008: CHICAGO - More than half a million U.S. children have autism with costly health care needs that often put an unprecedented financial strain on their families, national data show.

Compared with parents whose youngsters have chronic health care needs but not autism, those with autistic children are three times more likely to have to quit their jobs or reduce work hours to care for their kids.

10 Tips to Make Your Thanksgiving Better--Thanksgiving Wishes

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a time to give thanks and share time with family and friends or the community. Here are some ways to help enrich your day that are easy and don't take a lot of effort or time.

1. Take the time to tell others that they matter
2. Savor the activities that you experience
3. Do one thing nice for someone that you love that is unexpected
4. Do something for others who have less than you
5. Share your favorite holiday stories with others
6. Create one tradition
7. Accept compliments that you get
8. Look others in the eye and smile
9. Take time to do one thing that you love that is just for YOU
10. Get outside for a walk and express your gratitude

Enjoy your day today and the days ahead. The great thing about these ways to make your Thanksgiving better is that they are things that you can do any day! Make your day the best it can be!!!!
Cathy

Infant Formula Notification

Every week I get news stories that are gathered from Google searches on prematurity. This morning I was looking though the stories and found a series of alarming stories on the use of Enfamil powdered breast milk fortifier

Formula For Tragedy: Milk-Based Powdered Formula

Powdered Baby Formula Could Be Dangerous For Some Infants

CHICAGO (CBS News) ― Connor McGray and his twin brother, Logan, were born prematurely on Nov. 16, 2007 at an Illinois hospital.

Connor appeared to be the healthier of the two. It wasn't until their parents, Amanda Carlin and Tim McGray of Somonauk, Ill., received a call from a doctor at the hospital a week later saying the infant was lethargic and refusing to eat.

Doctors discovered Connor had meningitis and "they basically told us, all we could do was pray," their parents recall.

On May 3, 2008, their baby died at home.

"He knows there's something missing," Amanda Carlin says of their surviving child, Logan, who turned 1 last week.

Officials listed the cause of death as hydrocephalus and bacterial meningitis. The bacterial infection, according to a memo from the Illinois Department of Public Health, "may be associated with the consumption of a powdered breast milk fortifier."

Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Depression During Pregnancy Can Double Risk of Premature Birth

It has been a while since I wrote on my blog. Thank you to my loyal readers. Here is another article I found which presents research on the impact of depression on premature birth.  Let me know what you think. I'll write more later!!
Cathy

 

 

   

                         By: Allie Montgomery    
    Published: Friday, 24 October 2008

            

                 

Mothers-to-be who suffer from depression have been shown to have twice the risk of delivering a premature infant than pregnant women that have no symptoms of depression. This risk for premature infants increases as the symptoms of depression become more severe.

In a new study, which is among the first to study depression and premature births in a representative and diverse population in the U.S., looked at approximately 791 pregnant Kaiser Permanente members that were in San Francisco City and county from October of 1996 through October of 1998. According to the researchers, the findings provide preliminary evidence that reproductive and social risk factors, stressful events, and obesity may exacerbate the depression-premature delivery link. Because the majority of the mothers in this study did not take anti-depressants, the study provides a clear look at the link between the premature delivery and depression.

Music Therapy

I found this post and thought you might be interested in the content.
Cathy
                        
Sounds of Healing: Music Therapy                                                
                        
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
-William Congreve

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by a mellifluous strain that tears have streamed down your eyes in a wave of catharsis? Or has a soulful melody opened the flood gates of old memories, to transport you back in time to a beautiful reverie? How often have you rocked your blues away listening to feet tapping music?

From infants to the infirm, music’s appeal is universal and nonpareil, wafting its way to the heart!

Dan Ellsey, a 33 year old cerebral palsy patient couldn’t agree with this more, for him music has become a novel way of expression. On his specially designed computer program called hyper score, Ellsey breaks into a composition to convey the innermost feelings in his heart. Just like Ellsey and for a many others, the repertoire of musical notes has helped convey a myriad of emotions, which words often fail to do.

The quintessence of communication, sound, is evident right from the instant of birth. A baby’s cry is endowed with a certain rhythm, pitch, intensity and purpose, to attract an appropriate response from the parents.

Our hearts beat to an internal rhythm. It is further believed that sounds influence the complete human energy system, increasing our response to them, which is perhaps one good reason why we are also called ‘musical beings’.

Music Therapy is "the prescribed use of music by a qualified person to effect positive changes in the psychological, physical, cognitive, or social functioning of individuals with health or educational problems" (American Music Therapy Association 1999).

In a Foreign Land or School Daze

What’s it like for parents as they get ready to send their preschooler with a disability off to school?

Imagine that you are the parent of a three year old who has developmental issues or a medical condition. For the past three years you have grown accustomed to a new language and new people. You have welcomed strangers bearing bags of toys into your home who have given you tips about how to play with your baby to enhance development. To change or add to your child’s services in early intervention, in general all you really needed to do was ask, maybe have a re-evaluation of your baby’s current level of strengths and needs and attended a meeting. Sometimes your early intervention team even used finding from the hospital follow-up clinic to implement changes to your Individual Family Service plan.

Just to reach today, you had to learn that your baby has a diagnosis affecting her growth and development. You had to learn about the differences between physical and occupational therapy, allow strangers into your home and into your life.

All that as changed…This morning you put your three year old daughter or son with special needs on the bus and sent her to school for the first time. You made it through the first three years of your child’s life. (click to continue reading)