Have you looked at this online magazine yet? Parenting Special Needs Magazine, or (PSN), has officially been around for three years now. The entire magazine is available for parents to read for free right from their website. In general, parenting magazines are designed to give advice, tips, and inspiration to parents of infants, young children, tweens, and teens. Unfortunately, the majority of these types of magazines focus on ideas that are not exactly relevant to parents of children who have special needs. That is why it is especially nice to find a parenting magazine that is actually dedicated to issues … Continue reading →

Facebook is more than just a website to go to when you want to kill some time playing simple video games. The social nature of the website is what allows it to be a great resource for parents who are seeking answers about how to help their children who have an autism spectrum disorder. It is normal for parents to have some questions about how to handle certain parenting situations. Parenting is a difficult job that has quite a bit of “grey area” in it. At what age should a mom stop breastfeeding a child? How old should a teenager … Continue reading →

Every parent needs a little extra support, advice, or understanding from time to time. Parents who have children who have special needs may need that kind of help a little more often. There is a website called S-O-S that is an online special needs information guide that can be used by parents. Stage One of their program is being offered for free right now. There are many benefits to going online in order to get support for something. Online support is available whenever you need it, no matter what time of day or night it happens to be. You can … Continue reading →

Children can be cruel. Although most of us have had at least one miserable experience of being picked on when we were children, this doesn’t mean that it is acceptable for children to behave this way. We know that kids tend to pick on those who are different from them. If this is happening to your child, there are some things you can do to help the situation. Studies show that children who have special needs are 2 to 3 times more likely to be victims of bullying than are kids who have no special needs. There are children who … Continue reading →

So we’ve had a busy couple of days. All I can say is that I’ve seen the inside of the children’s hospital way too much lately. But that’s okay. We go prepared. It makes life a lot easier. We have to spend a couple of hours in one small room waiting to meet with a nurse, a doctor, a respiratory therapist, a social worker, and the random medical student! So to prepare for the long day, my daughter and I pack her a bag of essentials and the fun stuff. A “Newer” Toy. We bring any newer toy that she … Continue reading →

According to the March of Dimes, 3 in 1,000 babies each year are born with congenital hearing loss or deafness. This hearing loss can be caused by genetic and non-genetic factors. Genetic factors are thought to cause up to 50 percent of hearing loss in infants and young children due to the mutations of as many as 400 genes. Non-genetic causes include illness or injury such as rubella during the mother’s pregnancy. In many cases, the cause of an infant’s hearing loss is unknown. If your baby has been diagnosed with hearing loss or deafness you may be frightened about … Continue reading →

When you learn your child has a disability, you are hit with a flood of emotions ranging from fear to guilt to sadness. In addition to the changes you will go through, with some disabilities your physical environment, especially your home, will go through a period of change too. This is most definitely true with visual impairments. Adapting your home to meet the needs of your visually impaired child is an important step in the process of preparing your child for life as an independent adult. Family Connect offers these tips for helping your visually impaired child develop and grow … Continue reading →

Technology has come an extremely long way in a very short amount of time. Just think of where we were even 20 years ago – Commodore 64, anyone? What about Zack Morris’ giant cell phone? Today we can access the world with our fingertips on devices that fit in our pockets. And those devices, more specifically the iPhone and all of its apps, can help us lead healthier lives and give our children a healthier start. We’ve all heard about how important folic acid is in a woman’s diet, especially a woman who is planning to become pregnant, or is … Continue reading →

January is National Birth Defect Prevention month and the perfect time to promote steps to a healthy pregnancy. One in 33 US children is born with a birth defect and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention works with programs including the National Birth Defects Prevention Study to find the causes. According to the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, birth defects account for more than 20% of all infant deaths. These defects also contribute to illness and long-term disability. While the causes of most birth defects are still unknown, many happen early in pregnancy. Therefore, the National Birth Defects Prevention … Continue reading →

I recently had the nice experience of my daughter’s six-year-old cousin asking me questions about her condition. He wanted to know if our new baby had to do the things that her sister does (like taking enzymes and wearing The Vest). When I told him she doesn’t, he wondered why. After all, it makes sense to him that if one sister has to do something than the other should too. So I got to explain what makes Maggie different from him and from her little sister too. I told him the very basic information about cystic fibrosis. All I had … Continue reading →