Welcome to “On the Horizon”

Issue 141: Where will you be five years from today?

On the Horizon is an award winning weekly ezine for parents of children with developmental disabilities who want simple, effective strategies to reduce stress, support their child’s development, and improve quality of life for the whole family.

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A Note from Nicole: Exciting New Teleseminar

Idea of the Week:  Fingerprint Rainbows

Feature Article: Where will you be five years from today?

The Horizons Team Recommends: Learning as we Grow

Allergen-Free Recipe of the Week: Chili-Mac

Upcoming Events: Workshops/Conferences

Hi Everyone,

I hope your week is going well so far.  We are a little late with getting this out to you because we have been working on an exciting new teleseminar happening next week.  I wanted to be able to share the information with you in this edition of the newsletter.  Those of you who subscribe and read our information each week are so important to us, and we always want you to be the first to know about the exciting new opportunities we are working on!

Are you frustrated with the way you and your child communicate?  Do you find yourself engaging in the same communication patterns over and over again, without knowing how to change it?  I’ve got solutions for you in a brand new teleseminar happening on March 31 at 8:00pm Eastern.  During this free 1-hour call I’ll be sharing the main reasons why children with autism, Asperger’s, ADHD, and related disorders struggle with communication, and three strategies you can implement right away to make positive changes.  Click here to get the details and register for the call!

Make sure you check out Erin’s article this week about future-thinking.  Have you thought about where you want to be and what tangible quality-of-life things you want to achieve with your child?  Her article gives you some food for thought in this area.  Enjoy!

Looking to the horizon,

Fingerprint Rainbows

With finger paint, make a rainbow using whatever colors you want in your rainbow. It would be good to do this project on a piece of light-blue colored construction paper so it’s a bit sturdier. Then to add clouds to the end of your rainbow you can put the side of your fist in a blob of white paint and onto the bottom of the rainbow. Another way to add clouds would be to glue cotton balls to the ends for a more fuzzy cloud look. Whatever way you do it you’ll have a great looking rainbow that looks like it’s sitting in the middle of some clouds.

Where will you be five years from today?

By: Erin Roon, MA CCC-SLP

“Choose your mission – your life is worth a noble motive”

(from liveinspired.com).

Five years can seem like a long time when you are just living one day at a time; but in reality, five years pass by very quickly.  Where will you be five years from today?  Do you ever take the time to stop and think about your future, and what lies ahead for you?  How about what lies ahead for your children?  This can be an especially difficult thing to think about for any child, and even more difficult when you have a child with special needs.  Projecting into the future may be one of the most important things you can do for your child.

One of the very first tasks we ask of parents who are working with us is to do is write mission previews for their child.  This provides parents, and consultants with a shared vision, and it assists the consultant in knowing what the parents would like to see for their child in the future.  Where would they like their child to be five years from today?  Just as the above quote states, you need to choose your mission because your life is worth a noble motive.  If we have no understanding of what we are working toward, we will blindly stumble along without knowing where we are headed.

Read more …

Learning as
we Grow

You’ve Been
Asking For It – The Resource for Applying Principles of Remediation in
School Settings is Finally Here!

This long-awaited book is written for parents and
professionals who want to be more effective in their work with students
who have neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.

You will learn how to:

• Identify the core features of neurodevelopmental disorders
  that create communication, learning, and relationship challenges for
  your students

 

• Shift from a mindset of working around deficits
  (compensation) to correcting the root issues that create obstacles for
  your students (remediation)

 

• Modify your communication to promote your students’
  communication and thinking abilities

 

• Identify the unique strengths and obstacles of each student
  in order to determine appropriate placement and programming

 

• Achieve meaningful outcomes for students that allow them to
  reach their greatest potential

 

Chili-Mac

(Recipe from Allergy Proof Recipes for Kids by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger, age 132)

Whether you have just started a special diet with your child or you have been following one for years, it can be difficult to come up with what to serve. We decided to try to make that just a bit easier by providing you with a new allergen free recipe each week. While it is impossible to meet every person’s unique food sensitivity needs, we hope you will find these recipes helpful and delicious. Please feel free to adapt the recipes to meet your needs and taste buds; we do it all the time. In addition to the weekly recipes, we will be highlighting a specific allergen free product of the month. Enjoy!

Chili-Mac

Yield: 5 serving

• 1 box (8 to 12 ounces or 225 to 340 g) gluten-free elbow
  macaroni
• 1 pound (455 g) ground beef
• 3/4 cup (95 g) chopped onion

Get the recipe …

Please join us!

• Autism Society of Wisconsin Annual ConferenceNicole will be presentingApril 14th – 16th
• Teleseminar
  Carschooling Ideas and Resources for Learning while in the Car
  Guest: Diane Flynn Keith
  (Horizons Families Only)
  Thursday April 21 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
• Simple Solutions Seminar
  How to Set Limits Without Losing Your Mind
  (Open to Everyone)
  April 21st at Horizons from 7:00 – 8:30 PM
• MAGIC Foundation Children’s Convention
  Nicole will be presenting
  Chicago – July 10-12