Your Style ~ Yourself ~ Your Life
What’s on your back to school checklist? If you’ve walked into almost any store lately, you’ll have noticed that it’s back to school season – which, amazingly, starts shortly after the 4th of July in the US. As a full-time educator, I always want to get a jump on things for my own kids – without reminding myself of how… Read More
You need a self-care survival guide. It’s not just your imagination. Parenting special needs kids has been shown to be more stressful. However, this stress is not experienced evenly. It depends on the coping mechanisms implemented by the parents. On an airplane, flight attendants advise you to put your oxygen mask on first, before assisting others. Parenting – especially special… Read More
An autism diagnosis changes not only the world of the person with autism but the world of those around them. Overnight, you become an autism mom. The news can, at first, be paralyzing. Then, often comes a period of intense research – reading everything you can get your hands on, waking up in the middle of the night to google… Read More
Is Outdoor Fun Important to Your Autistic Family Member? Different autistic individuals have different affinities. Some are attached to animals, others fixate on cars. My son is very nature and outdoors focused. He would choose to be outside 24 hours a day, 365 days a year if at all possible. (Good thing we are lucky enough to live in California). If… Read More
So what is a “sensory bank”? Many special needs diagnoses, come along with either a heightened or dulled sense of input to the various senses. This includes autism and sensory processing disorder. The sensory bank is the idea that an individual who is sensitive to crowded areas or events, for example, may be able to tolerate a a busy party… Read More
In planning a trip to Paris, there are certain sweet treats that seem impossibly hyped – which at some point makes you wonder if those macarons or that ice cream can actually be that good. On a recent sibling trip to Paris, my thirteen-year-old and I put our sweet tooths to the test – and can verify that these sweet… Read More
As you plan a trip to Paris, you may be asking, “Is the Paris Museum Pass worth it?” The four-day pass for one adult (62 Euro at the time of our visit), gained skip the line access for both my 13-year-old son and I as we toured Paris. For reasons beyond our control, we were actually outside of Paris for… Read More
Maximize Your Time In Paris #1: Stay in a central location For us, this meant a hotel just off the Rue de Rivoli. The room was small – but we were barely in it – and the bathroom was generous by most European standards (especially the high-mounted rainfall shower). What mattered most to us was that les Jardins de Tuileries… Read More
For many people, the best of Paris means eating out. Family travel in Europe is an entirely different beast. I was lucky enough to travel recently with my thirteen-year-old son on a “sibling trip.” Packing for a trip to Paris means you may put a bit more thought into what you’ll wear on vacation – not that you’ll instantaneously turn… Read More
Have you considered sibling travel in your special needs family? Having a family member with special needs can impact a family’s ability to do nearly everything in day-to-day life – eating, sleeping, and going just about anywhere. Travel can magnify these challenges. Whether it is in packing cases of a favorite food item in the car, or pre-arranging strategic airline… Read More
