On the Horizon – 06/16/2009

Horizons Developmental Remediation Center
On the Horizon
On the Horizon

Welcome to “On the
Horizon”

Issue 64: A Journey through Infant Development: One Year!

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

Understanding Child Development

A Note from Nicole: Saga of Parenthood

Idea of the Week:  Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

Feature Article: A Journey through Infant Development: One Year!

The Horizons Team Recommends: Extreme Makeover: Autism Education Edition; Do Something Daily Calendar

Upcoming Events: CORE Approach Parent Teleseminar; Sibshop

A Note From Nicole
Nicole Beurkens

Hi Everyone!

It’s the beginning of the workweek and I don’t feel like I had a weekend! We ended up in the hospital suddenly on Friday night with my oldest son, who needed surgery to remove his appendix. Needless to say it was a whirlwind and we didn’t get much rest since then. He is now back home recovering well, and I’m trying to catch up with sleep and everything else. Just another chapter in the saga of parenthood!

This week’s feature article is an exciting one, because Michelle sums up the first year of development for her son. He recently celebrated his first  birthday, which means she has been observing and writing about his development for a whole year. It’s a rare opportunity to have all that
documented, and this week she provides a summary reminder for us all. She has promised to write occasional articles updating everyone with new important milestones.

Summer vacation may be here, but it’s not too early to be learning new things to make next year even easier and more effective for you and your students. Our Extreme Makeover: Autism Education Edition Workshop is happening at the end of July, and we don’t want anyone to miss out. Over the three days teachers and other education professionals will have the opportunity to learn about an implement strategies that will change the dynamic of their classrooms and therapy sessions in many important ways. It’s going to be a great learning environment, with lots of fun thrown in as well! Click here for details on the event

See you next week!

Looking to the horizon,

Nicole Signature

Idea of the Week

Watering Plants

Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

Use sidewalk chalk to make different drawings along the sidewalk or on your driveway. You can trace different objects, including people! You can write messages, play games (like hopscotch or tic-tac-toe) or just doodle. See how creative you can be with all of the different colors of chalk that there are. This is a great activity that everyone can do
together.

Feature Article
Picky Eater?

A Journey through Infant Development: One Year!

By: Michelle VanderHeide, BSW

It seems like only yesterday that I started this series on infant
development, and now my baby boy has turned a year old. It is fun to
look back and reflect on how much has changed from one year ago. No
year is like the first in the amount of growth and development a child
makes, although the next several years are still critical and substantial in human development. Instead of writing about what I saw in his development over the past month, I’m going to reflect back and
summarize my son’s development during the past year.

The first month: I was worried about how I could find more love in my
heart for another child. The minute you came into our lives that worry
was gone – you stole all of our hearts! You are so small, unresponsive,
needy, and very fought over. Everyone wants to hold you as you have
become a very important part of our family. Basically, all you do at
this point is eat and sleep; but you are a very content baby. The joke
is that as we carry our car seat from place to place, we are afraid
that we are going to leave you behind one of these days because you are so good.

The second month: You began to smile this month! What a beautiful
thing. It takes a lot of effort at this point, but its well worth the
time to get it. Now that I am getting a smile, I’m already anticipating
the next thing – a giggle! You are trying to giggle, and will grunt and
move around when being tickled; so I know it won’t be long now!

Continued…

The Horizons Team Recommends

Extreme Makeover

Extreme
Makeover: Autism Education Edition Workshop

July 29-31, 2009 Grand Rapids, MI

Put together the soaring increase in students diagnosed with autism and related impairments, a group of dedicated educators seeking solutions to the challenges they face daily, a team of been-in-the-trenches experts, three days of amazing content and hands-on experience, and what do you get?

An amazing 3-day workshop that will transform
how you understand and educate students with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Click here for more information!

Learn More Here

Do Something
Daily Calendar

Do you dread hearing your child complain, “I’m bored”?

Struggle to
think of something fun you can do together?

Have trouble squeezing one-on-one time with her into your
day?

That’s why we
created the Do Something Daily Calendar.
The Calendar offers a daily dose of inspiration and ideas
for spending time together–whether you have 60 seconds or 60
minutes.

$19.95 (Per Calendar) Calendars are assembled by clients in our
EmployAbilities program. $1.00 from every calendar will be donated to FARR.

For more information, click here.

Upcoming Events

Please join us!

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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