August 28, 2007
Travel Services for Kids with Cerebral Palsy and Special Needs
Came across service- care giver for your child when you are travelling. Not a babysitter - but some one who will come with you on your trip and help all the members of your family enjoy the trip.
This could mean taking a swim with your child while you build a sandcastle with another or helping at a busy crowded theme park. The idea is to take a family vacation where in some cases it may have been difficult or impossible because of a child with special needs.
The offer supportive services that will enable all family members to enjoy a travel experience.
Special Travellers Website: http://www.specialtravelers.org/location.htm
Overview:
Our founder, Meghan Mulvenna, has ten years of experience serving children and adolescents with special needs and has seen the tremendous benefit of traveling support. Recognizing the uniqueness of each child with a disability, we are eager to work with you in determining an individualized plan of support for your child, leading to a productive and enjoyable vacation. While we have provided a highlighted Caribbean location, we are willing to travel to the destination of your choice and welcome suggestions of places that meet your family’s interests. Having fun is a big part of a family vacation and that should be no different for your child with special needs. We have included some activities in the description of services that have served families well in the past, and are open to further suggestions that fit your child’s interests. Our dedication is to helping you create a successful travel experience and we welcome any of your questions and thoughts toward achieving that goal.
August 25, 2007
Free, or next to Free Speech Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy- Blow Bubbles!
#1 on the list- Blowing Bubbles!
Yes, this is one of the most effective things you can to to develop muscles needed for speech. You use the same muscles to blow bubbles as you do to form sounds in speech.
Here is cheap and easy bubble recipe :
Bubble Recipe
1/2 cup of dish washing liquid (Dawn or Joy)
2 cups of water
2 teaspoons of sugar
Add your choice of food coloring if you like.
Here is more information about cerebral palsy therapies.
August 21, 2007
Camp Barnabas Special Needs Camp, Missouri
Also featured on “Extreme Makeover Home Edition,” this camp gets rave reviews from families with special needs kids.
Camp Barnabas exists to offer childhood experiences to Nicky and many other children and young adults who have been robbed of them by disease or disability. For one week, these young people are able to shift their focus away from sterile medical environments and the language of their disability or illness to focus on activities that build their courage and expand their belief in themselves. Many people with special medical needs endure unthinkable pain and isolating treatments for diseases or disabilities such as cancer, hemophilia, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy and AIDS. Their need for acceptance is overwhelming!
Tuition $600
Registration Fee $40
Camp Barnabas offers limited sponsorships to help offset this burden.
More resources for children with cerebral palsy in Missouri.
August 14, 2007
Getting Ready for School: Special Needs Strollers and Safety
As we get ready for kids going back to school, or sending our kids off to school for the first time, consider safety for a minute. Many parents use a special needs stroller such as the ones made by Convaid and use it on school bus. Please note-it is required by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Association you have tie downs, head extension and five point harness system. At the time of purchase, you will need to have the head extension, along with a 5 pt harness system.
Find out more information about “adaptive equipment” and products for children with cerebral palsy.
August 12, 2007
Speech Therapy Toys and Tools
Here is a simple and affordable Speech Therapy Tool Kit. It is a pretty simple, self-explanatory program although you can also use with the guidance of a speech therapist.
This program is particularly good for addressing issues with articulation & breathing.
From the TalkTools website:
A motivational and fun therapy tool that serves as a beneficial adjunct to traditional therapy techniques. Each of the fourteen horns in this Airflow Hierarchy also addresses a specific speech component. The system is designed to normalize oral musculature, correct articulation errors, improve abdominal grading and speech clarity, and also serves as a prerequisite for working on oral-nasal contrasts. Each horn’s position in the Airflow Hierarchy is based on its difficulty and degree of potential benefit. Refer to the “Horns as Therapy Tools” video for detailed information on the proper use and benefits of therapeutic horn blowing. Instructions included (available in English, Spanish, and Italian).
More information about therapy and treatment for cerebral palsy.
August 10, 2007
South Carolina School for Children with Cerebral Palsy
The Pattison’s Academy will be the first of its kind in the Charleston, South Carolina area to provide the support and choices that parents and special needs children want and deserve. Currently the organization runs very successful day camps during the summer months.
Pattison’s Academy will be a year-round school where students, 5 to 12 years of age will receive an individualized quality education and therapies from some of the area’s top professionals. Pattison’s Academy is projected to open in the fall of 2008. After researching funding sources in the area and across the state, Pattison’s Academy is going to pursue charter school status. It is the intent of Pattison’s Academy to provide services to children in Charleston County as well as Dorchester and Berkeley Counties.
If you would like more information, want to know how you can help then please contact:
Name: Cindy Dodds
Title: Director of Physical Therapy
Email: cindy@pattisonsacademy.org
Name: Debbie Lamb
Title: Director of Occupational Therapy
Email: debbie@pattisonsacademy.org
Name: Kimberly Wilson
Title: Director of Education
Email: kimberly@pattisonsacademy.org
Name: Pam Sloat
Title: Executive Director & Business Manager
Email: pam@pattisonsacademy.org
More information about cerebral palsy resources and special education for cerebral palsy.
August 8, 2007
Sensor-Based System Could Help Sufferers of Cerebral Palsy
Sufferers of brain and spinal diseases could get a boost from a developing technology that could allow them to regain the ability to communicate with computers or wheelchairs, or to other people through a synthesized voice.
Known as The Audeo, the new technology uses an electromyographic-type sensor to detect electrical signals on the throats of people who are attempting to speak, and then processes those signals into text, synthesized words or commands for an electrically activated wheelchair. Ambient Corp., developers of the new system, said that it hopes to use it to help individuals disabled by such diseases as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease), cerebral palsy, and traumatic brain or spinal cord injury.
“Our mission is to give back communication to those who have lost it through disease or diability,” said Thomas Coleman, chief technical officer of Ambient Corp. Coleman and Ambient CEO Michael Callahan demonstrated the technology to an audience of about 2,000 engineers during a keynote speech at NIWeek here yesterday. During the demonstration, Coleman controlled a motor-powered wheelchair by giving it silent commands on stage.
“When you speak, your brain sends a signal to the muscles in your throat,” Coleman explained. “We detect the electrical activity at the throat, convert it, and then use it for communication.”
Ambient’s electromyographic-type sensor, which fits around the user’s neck like a tiny scarf, picks up the electrical signals from the nerves near the surface of the skin. It then uses an A/D converter and an on-board 16-bit Texas Instruments microcontroller, along with software algorithms in a separate PC-based microcontroller, to process and understand the incoming signals, and then send them to an output.
“Once you convert the signals to words, you could do a transcription, or create a synthesized voice, or send commands to a wheelchair,” Coleman said.
Coleman, who co-founded the company while studying engineering at the University of Illinois, said that he was aided in his product development effort by the use of National Instruments LabView software. Although he started school as a computer science major, he was initially overwhelmed by the task of implementing the control algorithms in hardware, and needed LabView’s graphical techniques to help him through that process.
“Without LabView, I probably wouldn’t have finished this,” he said. “It would have taken too long.” Even with LabView, he said, the product development took approximately three years.
Coleman noted that the ALS and cerebral palsy sufferers, in particular, could benefit from the new technology. Many such patients can still use their throat muscles but cannot squeeze enough air out of their lungs to generate audible speech. As such, some ALS patients are ultimately forced to communicate by blinking their eyes.
By reading the signals from the appropriate throat muscles, however, The Audeo could enable such patients to communicate in an audible fashion.
“We’ve worked with patients from a number of different medical categories, and this helps them,” Coleman said.
Charles J. Murray, Senior Technical Editor — Design News, August 8, 2007
August 2, 2007
Good Blog by Mom: “Cerebral Palsy Baby”
I quite like this blog, Cerebral Palsy Baby. It is by a mom of two girls, Shannon. Shannon has had two preemie babies, one of whom has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
From her blog “Shannon lives near Seattle with her husband and two daughters. Darsie was born in 2004 at 28 weeks and has right hemiplegia cerebral palsy. Elise was born in 2007 at 33 weeks. ” You can follow Shannon’s journey since 2004 from the birth of her first daughter.
Do you have a blog you like to share? Please post in comments section and I will post.
