On the Horizon – 04/12/2011

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Horizons Developmental Remediation Center
On the Horizon
On the Horizon 

Welcome to “On the Horizon”

Issue 144: Progress is Measured in Inches, not Miles!

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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In This Issue

A Note from Nicole: Processing Strategies; Announcing a New Program

Idea of the Week: Fill the Birdfeeder

Feature Article: Progress is Measured in Inches, not Miles!

The Horizons Team Recommends: The Autism Transformation for Families

Allergen-Free Recipe of the Week: Turkey Rice Salad

Upcoming Events: Workshops/Conferences

A Note From Nicole
Nicole Beurkens 

Hi Everyone,

I hope your week is getting off to a great start!  I’m getting ready to head to the Wisconsin Dells at the end of the week for the Autism Society of Wisconsin annual conference.  I’ll be speaking about processing strategies for school environments.  If you’re going to be at the event, let me know so we can plan to meet in person while we’re there.  My husband and kids will be tagging along this trip since the hotel hosting the conference has a large water park.  My kids have never met an indoor water park they didn’t love!

This week our feature article is about how we perceive and measure progress. Erin makes some excellent points about looking at the small things that change in our daily life, and how those add up to big successes.  How are you viewing progress with your child right now?

I am very excited to announce a new program I have developed called The Autism Transformation for Families!  Those of you who were on the teleseminar I did two weeks ago have already gotten a sneak peek at it, but for the rest of you I am debuting this program today.  This program consists of 5 audio CDs, a workbook, and other resources designed to help you understand your child’s challenges and apply powerful strategies to make life easier for your entire family.  You can see all the details of this new program by clicking here.


Enjoy!

Looking to the horizon,

Nicole

Idea of the Week

 

Fill the Birdfeeder

Fill the Birdhouse

 

 

 

Fill a birdfeeder that might be empty. If you don’t have one you can buy an inexpensive one, OR, spend time together making one that you can hang in your backyard!

Feature Article
Planning
 

Progress is Measured in Inches, not Miles!

By: Erin Roon, MA CCC-SLP

Each month when I meet with families, we talk about the progress their child is making on their objectives.  I start by asking parents to provide me with information on the successes they have seen in their child over the past month.  Sometimes the progress is measured in the smallest fraction of an inch, and at other times the child makes multiple inches of progress.  Whether the progress is small or large, we view that as success.  As the title of this article states, progress is measured in inches – not miles.  I view every little success as adding up to inches that turn into miles.

There are times when families feel as though they are stuck and not making much progress.  I will admit that sometimes the progress is really slow, but more often than not progress is being made; it just may not be in the area we are focusing on.  I have parents come in to meet with me and report, “We don’t really feel like we have made progress on our objective”; and then they state, “Johnny is now fully potty trained.”  Wow, that is huge progress in a month’s time; it just wasn’t progress on the specific objective we were targeting.   It can be really difficult sometimes to take that step back and find the progress; but I can guarantee that unless the child has been really ill or no work at all has been done, there will be some progress made.

Read more …

The Horizons Team Recommends

The Autism Transformation for FamiliesThe Autism Transformation for Families

Transform Tough Days With Your Child Into Great Ones: Five Simple Steps to Better Communication, Behavior, and Relationships

In the Autism Transformation for Families Audio Program you will learn
five simple but powerful concepts to help you
permanently impact your
child’s communication, behavior, and relationships for the better. You
will learn how to change aspects of yourself and your style of
communicating and relating in order to change the way your child
responds to you and the world around him/her.

If you are the parent, adult family member, or other primary caregiver
of a child of any age who has autism or another neurodevelopmental
disorder, then this program is for you.


For more information, click here 

 

Allergen-Free Recipe of the Week

Turkey Rice Salad

(Recipe and picture from Allergy Proof Recipes for Kids by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger pages 50-51)

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!

Turkey Rice SaladTurkey Rice Salad

Want to go vegetarian? Just omit the turkey! Steamed wild rice gives this dish filling fiber.

Yield: 6 cups (1.5 kg)

 

Get the complete recipe ...

Upcoming Events

Please join us!

  • Autism Society of Wisconsin Annual ConferenceNicole will be presenting

    April 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”

    April 21st at Horizons from 7:00 – 8:30 PM

  • SibshopApril 30th

    Register online!


  • International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR)
    Nicole will be presenting her research San Diego
    May 12-14
  • AutismOne Conference
    Nicole will be presenting
    Chicago – May 25-29
  • MAGIC Foundation Children’s Convention
    Nicole will be presenting
    Chicago – July 10-12
On the Horizon
is a weekly ezine for parents of children with developmental disabilities who want simple, effective strategies to reduce stress, support their child¹s development, and improve quality of life for the whole family.
 

Our mailing address is:

Horizons Developmental Remediation Center

3120 68th Street SE

Caledonia, MI  49316

Our telephone:

(616) 698-0306

Our email address:

info@horizonsdrc.com

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