I saw a beautiful picture the other night. It was a photo of girl
taken during her visual therapy session. Therapy is really important to any
special needs child. Simply put. therapy is the key to their future.
Especially in a case like Feisty Pants, where it means the difference between
living and thriving. I am always acutely aware of this. Other parents often do
other things during therapy sessions, I haunt the therapist like Banquo's ghost
stalking a dinner party. But I forget, sometimes, how amazingly profound it all
truly is. Until I saw this picture. It was a young girl with tube lights
wrapped around her shoulders and in her hands. The look of awe and contentment
on her face as she explored this said all that needed to be said about the
beauty of discovery and hope. So, to that end I wanted to share some down and
dirty tips for cheap visual stimulation. Any kid will like it. All kids will
benefit from the brain stimulation. Special needs kids, well, need it.
So to that end, cheap Christmas and holiday lights are your
friend. FP has a metal day bed. A few holidays ago, we had an extra set of
string lights, so we strung them on her bed. She took one look once it got dark
and informed her father that they would NEVER be coming down. She loves them, and it is great for brain. And as a bonus, Dinky Pants will happily nap on her bed
if turn the lights on. Heck, he will happily lie awake on her bed with these
lights on. We splurged and replaced the originals with a better led set after
Christmas. (Best 5 bucks I ever spent.) The tube lights can even be held by
kids. Wait til the after Christmas sales and stock up.
Dollar stores are great places for things like glow sticks and
glow in the dark arts and crafts items. I've probably kept more dollar stores
in business just buying those kinds of things. Glow sticks are cheap and
awesome, and you can do fun things like cut one open and empty into a jar with
glitter (shake well) for awesome fairy lanterns on summer nights. I've heard
there is away to make glow bubbles but others have reported that it does not work.
(So if you have figured out to successfully mix bubbles and glow sticks, hit me
up in the comment section.) Bubbles themselves are AMAZING visual stim for
kids. They are iridescent and move slowly. Nowadays you can get flavored,
scented, colored, and even hard to pop touchable bubbles really cheap. You want
uber cheap? Make you own. Water and dish soap and touch of glycerin is all you
need for one awesomely fun afternoon. And if anyone asks you why you wasting time
blowing bubbles, you can kindly explain you are being an AWESOME parent by providing
fun, memories and brain stimulation all in one fell swoop.
Sparklers are great too. But illegal in NY so I won't tell
you that you can go right across the border into PA and find fireworks stores
and convenience stores selling them everywhere. Nope, that would be against the
rules. You won't find me telling you that FP thinks they're awesome or that we
do off and on all summer or that the local cops just see her looking adorable in
Zippy (her wc) and laughing at Goo holding a lit sparkler and just smile and
drive on. That would be wrong of me.
But I will tell you that visual stimulation is probably the
most fun part of carrying her therapies over into our day to day life. All
those Christmas lights and shiny flashy things. All those great trippy toys
from the stoner section at the mall. All those fun toys you wish you play with
as a grown up without looking like you're high or a fool. When you have kids,
you get to play with those all over again and still tell yourself you're being a
responsible grown up. After all, we need to teach our kids how to explore their
world. At least, that's what I tell the neighbors.
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