Thursday, September 24, 2009

Fundraiser for Children in Need of Special Education in Haverford Township



FUNDRAISER: CHILDREN IN NEED OF SPECIAL EDUCATION IN HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP


W.C. MURPHY'S
1254 West Chester Pike
Havertown PA 19083

DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2009
TIME: 6-9 PM

Drink Specials: $2.00 bottles & $3.00 mixed drinks

Appetizers and Snacks

COME AND SUPPORT LOCAL VENDORS AND START YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING...... WHILE DONATING TO SPECIAL EDUCATION


Lia Sophia - Karen Cummings/Karencgems@aol.comBonnie Belts & Things - Bonnie Cecil/bonniececil@comcast.netSouthern Living - Colleen Bassett/Athome.Colleen@verizon.netCreations Salon - Katie Fortebuono/www.creationsfullservicesalon.comBowTessa - Jess Young/www.bowtessa.comTupperware - Jackie Massey/jackiemassey@my2.tupperware.comRaffle and 50/50 tickets will be sold HomeSource: www.creationsfullser...Read More


Home
Source: www.creationsfullservicesalon.com

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Developmental Delay

Developmental Delay


What is developmental delay? Developmental Delay is when your child does not reach their developmental milestones at the expected times. It is an ongoing, major delay in the process of development. If your child is slightly or only temporarily lagging behind, that is not called developmental delay. Delay can occur in one or many areas—for example, motor, language, social, or thinking skills. Developmental Delay is usually a diagnosis made by a doctor based on strict guidelines. Usually, though, the parent is the first to notice that their child is not progressing at the same rate as other children the same age. If you think your child may be “slow,” or “seems behind,” talk with your child's doctor about it. In some cases, your general pediatrician might pick up a delay during an office visit. It will probably take several visits and possibly a referral to a developmental specialist to be sure that the delay is not just a temporary lag. Special testing can also help gauge your child's developmental level. The first three years of a child's life are an amazing time of development...
...and what happens during those years stays with a child for a lifetime. That's why it's so important to watch for signs of delays in development, and to get help if you suspect problems. The sooner a delayed child gets early intervention, the better their progress will be. What causes developmental delay? Developmental delay can have many different causes, such as genetic causes (like Down syndrome), or complications of pregnancy and birth (like prematurity or infections). Often, however, the specific cause is unknown. Some causes can be easily reversed if caught early enough, such as hearing loss from chronic ear infections, or lead poisoning. What should I do if I suspect my child has developmental delay? If you think your child may be delayed, you should take them to their primary care provider, or to a developmental and behavioral pediatrician or pediatric neurologist. An alternative to seeing a specialist is to work through your local school system (see below). If your child seems to be losing ground—in other words, starts to not be able to do things they could do in the past—you should have them seen right away. If your child is developmentally delayed, the sooner you get a diagnosis, the sooner you can begin appropriate treatment and the better the progress your child can make.If you are concerned about your child's development, check out First Signs http://www.firstsigns.org/, a website with information and resources for early identification and intervention for children with developmental delays and disorders. Explore the many resources for parents available on the site. What can the school system do for my child? Ask your school system in writing for an evaluation of your child, even if your child is a baby, toddler or preschooler. They are required to provide it, at no cost to you. The purpose of an evaluation is to find out why your child is not meeting their developmental milestones or not doing well in school. A team of professionals will work with you to evaluate your child. If they do not find a problem, you can ask the school system to pay for an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE). There are strict rules about this, so you may not get it. You can also have your child tested again privately, and pay for it yourself. But check with your school district first to make sure they will accept the private test results. By law, the school system must consider the results of the second evaluation when deciding if your child can get special services.


Tips for your child's developmental assessment, from Zero to Three, is a guide for parents who are concerned about their baby's, toddler's or preschooler's development and learning. It will help you prepare for an evaluation, and know what to expect.


Basics for Parents: Your Child's Evaluation explains what parents of school-aged kids need to know about the evaluation process. If testing shows your child has developmental delay, the school system will start your child in either an early intervention or a special education program, depending on your child's age.



To view the entire article on Developmental Delay from The University of Michigan Health System go to the following link:



http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devdel.htm

Developmental Milestones

Developmental Milestones

What is child development? Child development refers to how a child becomes able to do more complex things as they get older. Development is different than growth. Growth only refers to the child getting bigger in size.

If you are concerned about your child’s development, please see Developmental Delay Go To: http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devdel.htm

When we talk about normal development, we are talking about developing skills like:

Gross motor: using large groups of muscles to sit, stand, walk, run, etc., keeping balance, and changing positions.

Fine motor: using hands to be able to eat, draw, dress, play, write, and do many other things.

Language: speaking, using body language and gestures, communicating, and understanding what others say.

Cognitive: Thinking skills: including learning, understanding, problem-solving, reasoning, and remembering.

Social: Interacting with others, having relationships with family, friends, and teachers, cooperating, and responding to the feelings of others.

What are developmental milestones?
Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range. Your pediatrician uses milestones to help check how your child is developing. Although each milestone has an age level, the actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can very quite a bit. Every child is unique!

To view the entire article and information on Developmental Milestones, please go to the following link from The University Of Michigan Medical Center:

http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devmile.htm

Early Intervention

Office of Early Intervention

The Office of Early Intervention offers services to children from birth to 3 years who experience developmental delays. Professional, independent evaluators assess the child's level of delay to determine if Early Intervention services are needed. Available services include audiology, health services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, special instruction, nutrition services and service coordination. For a list of helpful links, please click onto Mental Retardation http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/humanservices/mret.html and then Click onto Helpful Links. http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/humanservices/mrlinks.html

For more information, please call the Office of Early Intervention at 610-713-2406. The office is located at 20 S. 69th St., Upper Darby, PA 19082.

Or Go to the Office of Early Intervention website:
http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/humanservices/earlyinterven.html

Friday, September 18, 2009

Support Group Meeting Reminder - October 15, 2009



DELAWARE COUNTY CARING NETWORK

Support Group for Parents of
Children with Special Needs


You are invited to attend our meeting on
Thursday, October 15, 2009
7:30 p.m.
Cardinal Krol Center
1799 S Sproul Rd Springfield, PA 19064-1137 (610) 543-3380
The CK Center @ is on Route 320 Directly Across
from Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery



Speakers:
Maria Unger
Speech Therapist
TEEMS

Kim LaCoste,
Special Education Coordinator for Learning Support K-12
Upper Darby School District

Group Sharing will follow


Questions?
Please contact Jeannine Kelly by email or phone:
delcocaringandsharing@gmail.com
610-259-3341

Check out our website:
http://delcokids.homestead.com/index.html

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

MEETING REMINDER - Thursday September 17 @ 7:30 p.m




First Meeting Annoucement - Sept. 17, 2009
On Thursday, September 17th, at 7:30 p.m. Delaware County Caring Network will hold its premier meeting @ The Cardinal Krol Center, 1799 Sproul Road, Springfield, PA. (610) 543-3380. The CK Center is located on the grounds of Don Guanella Village directly across from Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery on Route 320.The purpose of our meetings is to build a network of parents of children with special needs so that they can support one another and share information and resources.The first meeting will be opened by Father Dennis Weber, S.C. who has been kind enough to offer us the space at the CK Center. The meeting topic will be ACCEPTANCE...a talk will be given by Jeannine Kelly, founder of Delaware County Caring Network.


Group Sharing will follow.

If you have any questions, please contact Jeannine Kelly at delcocaringandsharing@gmail.com
Directions can be found on our website http://delcokids.homestead.com/index.html


Welcome to Holland by Emily Pearl Kingsley - A Description of Raising A Child With A Disability

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.


Saturday, September 12, 2009

Music Works - Delaware Valley's Premier Music Therapy Service Provider


Meghan attended her first music therapy session on Saturday, September 12th. She and the four other children accompanied by their parents enjoyed a wonderful variety of music and movement during the half-hour session. Mr. Jerry O'Leary is a gifted and magical musician who has a way of drawing in each child and making them feel unique and special.

We are thrilled to have discovered Music Works and give them an outstanding recommendation!


MUSIC WORKS
The Delaware Valley's PremierMusic Therapy Service Provider

610-449-966
www.musicworkswonders.com/

WHAT IS MUSICWORKS?
MusicWorks is a music therapy service provider practicing in Delaware County and the surrounding market. The company was formed in 2002 by Jerry O'Leary to identify, address, and treat the social, physical, psychological, cognitive, and personal needs of children and adults of all ages. A distinctly unique feature about our service is that the music therapy session is conducted directly in the clients' home or community setting.
MusicWorks is dedicated to the restoration of health and well being of all people experiencing special challenges while actively managing their focus on everyday life through the use of music therapy intervention.

If you would like to find out more about Music Works and how music therapy can benefit your child, please contact:

Lori O'Leary

610-449-9669

lori.oleary2@verizon.net

http://www.musicworkswonders.com/

The Special Mother By Erma Bombeck




The Special Mother
by Erma Bombeck


This poem was sent to me by a very special mother, my cousin and friend, Jeanne Hallinan.....


I send this out to her and to all of you Special Mothers....







Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressure and a couple by habit.This year nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how these mothers are chosen?Somehow I visualize God hovering over EarthSelecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to take notes in a giant ledger."Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron Saint, Matthew.""Forrest, Marjorie, daughter. Patron Saint, Celia.""Rutledge, Carrie, twins. Patron Saint...give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."Finally he passes a name to an angel and smiles. "Give her a handicapped child."The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy.""Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a handicapped child a mother who knows no laughter? That would be cruel.""But does she have the patience?" asks the angel."I don't want her to have too much patience, or she'll drown in a sea of self-pity and despair.Once the shock and resentment wear off she'll handle it.""I watched her today. She has that sense of self and independence so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has a world of it's own. She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy.""But Lord, I don't think she even believes in you." God smiles. "No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect.She doesn't know it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a spoken word.She will never consider a step ordinary. When her child says momma for the first time, she will be witness to a miracle and know it.I will permit her to see clearly the things I see--ignorance, cruelty, prejudice--and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life Because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side.""And what about her Patron Saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in the air. God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Meghan's Story -A Pearl of Great Price

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, seeking goodly pearls; who when he had found one pearl of great price, he sold all he had and bought it."
Matthew 13: 45- 46

The name Meghan means Pearl. I didn't realize how fitting this name would be for her until several months after she was born.

I became pregnant with Meghan when I was 39 years old. The pregnancy was uneventful and unproblematic. On the day that I went into labor it was discovered that Meghan was in a breech position and had to be delivered by emergency C-Section. She was a beautiful and perfect baby.

When we brought Meghan home, she adapted well to her new surroundings. Her big brother and sister were so happy to have a new sister and she was just as pleased with them. She was a very happy and contented baby, always pleasant and easygoing with a big smile for everyone. We soon started to call her "Smiles".

Over the next few months I began to notice that she didn't seem to be as energetic and as mobile as my older two children had been at the same age. I attributed her lack of initiative to the fact that she was constantly being entertained by an older sibling or mom and dad. I felt a bit worried, but kept my concerns to myself. After all, she was the "third baby".

To this day, I will never forget the phone call that I received from my mother (who bore 11 children of her own) the day after Mother's Day. My mom said to me, "Jeannine, there is something I need to talk to you about." By the tone of her voice I thought perhaps my father had fallen ill and she was calling to let me know. She then said the words that set our lives on a path of shattered dreams and unexpected realities,

"We are concerned about Meghan. She doesn't seem to be developing properly." My first reaction was to be angry. Initially, I felt offended that my mother and other members of my family were thinking that something was wrong with my child. (Can you say DENIAL?) I then caught myself and took a deep breath...in the split seconds that it took me to respond to my mother's statement, all of the doubts and misgivings that I had felt prior to this phone call came rushing to my mind. My worst fears were confirmed for me that day.
The anger left me as quickly as it came and I asked my mother to tell me what her thoughts were about Meghan.

It took a lot for Mom to pick up the telephone that day to say that she and my sisters noticed that Meghan wasn't rolling over or sitting up or trying to reach for her toys....etc.
I thanked my mom for having the courage to talk to me about her worries for my daughter. I assured her that I would call my pediatrician the next morning.


To Be Continued.....

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A Sibling's Perspective

Having a sister with disabilities is hard. There is the frustration, the denial and finally there is acceptance. I am very close to her and I would do anything to make her happier.
Dealing with the prejudice is difficult to cope with because kids use discriminating words to describe people like her. Also, I know that our Friend upstairs (way upstairs) wanted this to happen so I don't question him. Its hard to grasp what she will grow up to be like in future years; however, I do know she will be happy.
By Kevin Kelly
12 Years Old
(Meghan Kelly's Big Brother)








First Meeting Annoucement - Sept. 17, 2009

On Thursday, September 17th, at 7:30 p.m. Delaware County Caring and Sharing will hold its premier meeting @ The Cardinal Krol Center, 1799 Sproul Road, Springfield, PA. (610) 543-3380. The CK Center is located on the grounds of Don Guanella Village directly across from Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery on Route 320.

The purpose of our meetings is to build a network of parents with special needs so that they can support one another and share information and resources.

The first meeting will be opened by Father Dennis Weber, S.C. who has been kind enough to offer us the space at the CK Center.

The meeting topic will be ACCEPTANCE...a talk will be given by Jeannine Kelly, founder of Delaware County Caring and Sharing.

Group Sharing will follow.

If you have any questions, please contact Jeannine Kelly at delcocaringandsharing@gmail.com

Sand Between Your Toes...

Ahhh...the feeling of sand between your toes on a sunny beach in late July...is there anything better? Apparently not for Meghan pictured here on the beach in Ocean City, NJ wearing her sandy sneakers. The moment her tiny toes hit the sand, she gestured for me to wipe the offending grains from her feet. Our compromise was to let her keep her sneaks on. She was then content to play in the sand with her big sister and friends provide none of the sand got on her hands....