Parenting Special Needs Magazine

"Ice Cream for Breakfast" Give Kids the World

	Please join Austin Anderson (Nickelodeon) and Savvy & Mandy (Radio Disney) for an exclusive “Ice Cream For Breakfast” social and concert to raise awareness for Give Kids The World Village, a magical resort for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Sunday, July 24, 12 – 4 p.m. Alta Hollywood 1714 N. McCadden Place. Hollywood, CA 90028 (A parking garage is located on Yucca or street parking is available) General Admission: $20 (includes 1 admission and a complimentary gift bag) VIP Package: $50 (includes 1 admission, VIP seating at event, a photo with Austin, Savvy & Mandy on the red carpet, 10 raffle tickets, a deluxe gift bag and an exclusive social with Austin after the event) 100% of all ticket sales are donated to Give Kids The World. Event is limited to 150 people. Purchase your tickets now by clicking here. Indulge in free ice cream sundaes and gourmet soda pop as Austin, Savvy & Mandy perform a dazzling line-up of hit songs. Get to know some of your favorite stars from ABC, Disney, Nickelodeon and more as they come out to support "Ice Cream For Breakfast."
		Special guest appearance by Alicia Minshew (Kendall on ABC’s "All My Children")
	"Ice Cream For Breakfast" is a national campaign that aims to increase awareness and funds for Give Kids The World by encouraging communities to host and participate in ice cream socials. For more information on “Ice Cream For Breakfast” visit icecreamforbreakfast.org. givekidstheworld.org austinanderson.net

BLOC DEALS Benefits Freedom Waters Foundation

Freedom Waters Foundation is pleased to announce a new fundraising opportunity for FWF with BLOC DEALS, a local Naples company that offers large discounts, from 50-90% off on your LOCAL Restaurants, Entertainment, and other Shopping Services

By signing up with BLOC DEALS, you support your local business (Naples) and FREEDOM WATERS FOUNDATION! 

While receiving quality discounts, each time you buy a BLOC DEAL, Freedom Waters Foundation will receive 12% of the proceeds. 

To get started, register free at www.blocdeals.com/freedomwaters  

To purchase the daily deal, just click, "buy". Follow the instructions and the voucher will print.  Take the voucher to the merchant and receive the discount, it is that easy.   Forward the link www.blocdeals.com/freedomwaters and anyone who registers through this link will become a FWF fundraising partner!

If you are already receiving BLOC DEALS and would like to switch over to support Freedom Waters, please email them and let them know and BLOC DEALS will transfer you to the FWF link - Ask them to switch you through - Info@blocdeals.com

Thank you all!  

Debby

Debra Frenkel, LCSW

Executive Director/Founder

Freedom Waters Foundation 

895 10th Street South, Suite 302-D

Naples, Florida 34102 - Main office

(239) 248-1120 P

dfrenkel@freedomwatersfoundation.org

www.freedomwatersfoundation.org

"Making it Happen!"

Mission: 

Enhancing lives by providing boating opportunities and marine related activities for people with disabilities, life threatening illnesses, youth at risk and others with special needs.

Social Parade Follow On Friday, Follow Me and Bloggy Mom's

Visit the Social Parade on Smart and Trendy Moms for lot's of wonderful blogs to check out! 

Hope to see you there.

My plan for a Monday Hop.

Check It Out.

Great ideas for special needs crafts.
http://kidzorg.blogspot.com/2011/07/diy-ideas.html

State of July

Keeping up with my blog is a challenge I gladly accept, however it may be more than I should have taken on.  This mommy is feeling a little sad and run down and really shouldn't share it all, yet I blog on.  Visiting other special needs blogs, I find many of them have autistic children who at least feed themselves or regularly scheduled nursing visits to get them through the day or some sleep at night.  There is the occasional blog where the writer/parent is in the most difficult stage of their child's disability and has found this one outlet to vent.

Speaking  of other blogs, here is an honest account of a special needs child finding his smile at Christians Journey. Also, I strongly recommend a video on Youtube that is definitely worth watching and sharing, The Strongest Dad in the World.

Do not mistake me, there are many moments to be grateful for in the past several days.  First on my mind, John and I had some fun together!  Really.  We did.  I think it's been a year since I was out scuba diving last.  Our very precious respite hours were arranged through Partner's In Care (PIC), bringing Miss Debbie to watch over Riley.  Ronan spent the day with a schoolmate.  John loaded up the car and off we went to Venice for a day of fossil diving.  John got me aboard The Shark Tooth Guy's kayak and he swam alongside.  Strangely he was winded long before me:-)  Visibility was dreadful and John searched until discovering that the blocks (an artificial reef area) off Alhambra had at least 1-2 feet of visibility.  I held on to him most of the time but frightened him quite a bit by getting lost at one point.  I was lost, he was worried.  After lecturing me above, he recovered and we had quite a nice day together.  I regrettably supplied lovely fodder for The Shark Tooth Guys facebook page.  My first return into the kayak did not go smoothly, not that I expected it to be graceful.  John coached me on how to maneuver myself back into the kayak after he lifted all my diving equipment back in for me.  I tried to push my weight toward the far side but managed to tip the kayak swiftly into my face and now sport a fat lip.  The triumph was that we didn't lose any equipment into the ocean depths!  Not so bad then.

Here is the weekend's fossil collection.  This is a riot, everything in our lives now includes a burp cloth, one of the many cloth diapers we use to be prepared for Riley.  I leave trails of them everywhere I go and now they are even used for photo backgrounds. 

Fourth of July we stayed home.  The big activities of the day was swimming.  Ronan was determined to have time in the pool with Daddy.  I don't believe he noticed the deluge of rain, but I know John did.

To the other sad and run down special needs parents and caregivers searching for your child's smile wherever you are, I invite you to share your story.  I see you visit silently from all areas of my little widget globe.  No judgment from me.  This is simply a place to paint a portrait of the special needs life.  Send me a comment and we'll work it out.

We are all special... thank you for stopping by, Stacie.

Here is a discussion on inclusion by Galen which all special needs parents debate.
Since I am really into sharing today, a special needs mom shares her heartache on Serendipity.

One more interesting link for you, The Amazing Art of Disabled Artists.

Children Living at Wolfe Apts... naplesnews.com

(Naples, FL) School age children living at Wolfe Apartments were treated to a special camp experience the week of June 20-24th, when they attended the summer horseback riding program offered at Naples Equestrian Challenge. The opportunity, funded by monies raised at the Naples Winter Wine Festival, provided these children, all of whom have experienced the trauma of homelessness, poverty and worse, the chance to ride, groom, and learn about horses firsthand for the first time in their lives. The children enjoyed camp immensely. Five year old Doris declared, “It was fun and Pick-A-Spot (one of the horses) loves me”, adding that this horse had “the bestest teefs.(best teeth)”. Six year old Edgar said, “It was the most fun ever, plus my Mom and Dad came and they said I was the best horse rider they ever saw. I know it made them happy!” St. Matthew’s House is grateful for the help from NCEF to give these children such a positive, educational experience.
Wolfe Apartments, an affordable transitional apartment complex owned and operated by St. Matthew’s House, was built in 2003 and offers a two-year supportive housing program to homeless families and individuals, as well as those who graduate out of the SMH recovery program.
The Naples Winter Wine Festival has raised $94,500,000 in eleven years and is the most successful wine charity event in the world. The Naples Children & Education Foundation, founder of the festival, supports charitable programs that improve the lives of underprivileged or at risk children in Collier County. They are committed making a profound and sustaining difference in the quality of life of children.

This story is contributed by a member of the Naples community and is neither endorsed nor affiliated with Naples Daily News

Also of interest today is an Editorial: Grassroots effort... Children's Movement of Florida.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/jun/30/editorial-grassroots-effort-could-bring-success/

Holes In His Socks - Guest Post by Sabrina

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

Today I share a story about a special needs brother by Sabrina, a German blogger of the wonderfully creative site, CoffeeRocketFairyTale.  Below I share Sabrina's "Monday Morning Message" posted this morning.

Yesterday I got a call from my brother. 

It was about 10.30 am - a time he usually doesn't call because that's when he is at work. 

When I answered the phone he told me he had just discovered two holes in his socks and now didn't know what to do about it. 

He is 28 years old. 

My brother was born with disabilities, something the doctors called "trisomy 8" - meaning he was born with three copies of the eighth chromosome (instead of two). 

If you see him you wouldn't be able to tell. 

If you speak to him you wouldn't be able to tell. 

But maybe you would notice if you spent more time with him. 

Until October 2010 he lived with my parents. 

We all knew that it was time for him to move out because we realized that he wouldn't make any more progress as long as he stayed at home. 

He relied on mum and dad doing things for him he could have been doing without any help, but you know how things are in "Hotel Mama" as we call it: you get your mum/dad/brother/sister to do it for you. 

But one day he mentioned that he would like to live in his own place one day. 

It took my mother more than a year and countless visits to the authorities before they had found a convenient flat and developed a way that allows my brother to live in his own place but still receive the special care he needs. 

Compared to other people with disabilities I know, there's not much he needs. 

His time management is pretty much non-existent, so he needs someone who tells him to hurry up. 

He can't judge if it's warm outside and he could wear just a shirt to work or if he needs to put on a jacket. 

Also, he needs help with the "official" stuff. Letters from authorities, paying bills... 

And apparently he doesn't know what to do when he finds that there are holes in his socks, either. 

Good job though that he thought about asking someone - I told him to get himself some new socks and not to worry. 

Despite the little problems he sometimes encounters, he thoroughly enjoys living in his own flat which he shares with another man of his age who has similar special needs. 

Both of them knew they wanted to live in such an environment. 

When we all sat together and thought about the possibilities they have, both of them made it very clear that they did not want to live in the sheltered workshop there is for people with disabilities. 

It would have been too much care for them. 

The other options was to live in a flat (just as they are now) but with very little care - only once a week a caretaker would pay a visit to check on them. 

Again - it wouldn't have worked out because that would have been too little care. 

That's the problem we have here in Germany at the moment: you either have too much or too little care! 

So my mother and the other guy's mother got together and thought about the situation - and came up with a system that suits their purpose: my brother and his friend moved into their own flat, but a caretaker would come in twice a day to get them ready for work in the mornings and make sure they get something to eat in the evenings, get their grocery shopping done and get some help with their paperwork. 

Most of the time, this works pretty well. 

But it's still very important for my brother to know that he can call my parents or me if he has a problem. 

Like when he discovers holes in his socks. 

Sabrina

coffeerocketfairytale.wordpress.com