Welcome to “On the Horizon”
Issue 88: Help for the Holiday Hmm’s
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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Thoughts for the Holidays
 A Note from Nicole: Tis the Season
Idea of the Week: Layered Pizza Dip
Feature Article: Help for the Holiday Hmm’s
The Horizons Team Recommends: Schooling Minds®; Do Something Daily Calendar
Upcoming Events: CORE Approach Parent Teleseminar; Family Fun Night
Hi Everyone!
It’s definitely feeling like the holiday season around here with snow on the ground and more coming. Decorations are up at home and in the office, and we’re gearing up for our Horizons Family Holiday Party this Friday. We’re looking forward to spending the evening with our client families playing games, decorating cookies, making crafts, and getting photos with Santa. My husband is such a good sport to dress up as Santa and entertain the kids!
This week’s feature article will give you some great gift ideas for kids of all ages. Michelle has listed some of our favorite toys and activities for you to investigate as options for your children. If you’re looking for a great teacher or other professional gift, definitely consider purchasing a subscription to our new resource site Schooling Minds. This is the place for education professionals to get information, support, and resources related to neurodevelopmental disorders and addressing the root issues that impact these students in the school setting. Check it out here and give your child’s teacher a gift that will benefit your child all year long! the
Make it a fabulous week!
Looking to the horizon,
Layered Pizza Dip
Who doesn’t like pizza? Well, here’s another way you can enjoy it – in a dip! Find a 9-inch pie plate and put an 8 ounce container of soft cream cheese and spread it in the bottom. On top of that spread about a half of a cup of chunky pizza sauce. After that you can top it with whatever pizza toppings you like. Then, what would a pizza be without cheese? Sprinkle the top with cheese. Bake it in the oven at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted on top and the dip is bubbling. You can use any type of cracker, Italian bread, tortilla chip or bagel chip to dip in it. What a great snack idea and something the kids can help you make.
Help for the Holiday Hmm’s
By: Michelle VanderHeide, BSW
If your life is anything like mine near the holidays, it’ll probably sound a little like this: “Mom, can I get that for Christmas?” “I’ll put it on your wish list honey.” As the next commercial comes on, “Mom can I get that for Christmas?” “That does look like fun. I’ll put it on your wish list.” The television, newspapers, and billboards are inundated with advertisements for all the hot toys and gadgets for this year. As parents, aunts or uncles, and grandparents, it can be very overwhelming to know what gifts to buy that will be both fun and “educational.” Knowing what gifts will be best for our children – that they’ll enjoy – leave many of us going “hmmm.”
Here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for all children:
- Television, movies, and video games can be nice for some relaxing times, but should be limited. I read in a recent study that the average child watches 50-60 hours of television a week! As a result, children are being negatively impacted, including increased aggression and decreased attention; plus other negative side affects such as robbing the mind of important things like reading, writing, creative play and story telling, friendship development and so much more.
- Board games can be a wonderful way to help children learn important lessons such as taking turns, graciously winning and losing, and team work. This is also a great way to encourage family time. One of my greatest memories as a child is sitting downstairs with my family, by the wood burner, playing the game of LIFE.
- Arts and Crafts are a great way to encourage creativity. It also develops fine motor skills, building of competence, and doing things for others. My children love to make things for other people and feel great about doing it!
- Building sets of blocks, WEDGiTS, or LEGO’s are also great gifts that encourage creativity, playing with others, or self play. There are so many things you can do with these sorts of things. Kids love to build fences for their animals, castles, or event cities with any building materials they can find.
We’ve been creating a list at Horizons of both family and consultant favorites. Here’s my top ten list for this holiday season:
- WEDGiTS – These have been suggested by a couple of Horizon’s families, and have very good online ratings. They are wonderful for kids of all ages: even small children can easily use them, and older children love to build with them.
- Ned’s Head – This is a fun and grotesque game that boys especially will love. Reach into Ned’s Head and see what you pull out! This is a great opportunity to build anticipation, and share what you’ve found. A nice variation to this game is Gassy Gus. As I was searching the Internet on these two games, I found Alfredo’s Food Fight. If your child is resistant to new foods, this may be a fun way to decrease the anxiety of food by using it to fling at “Alfredo.”
Within this one site you will find EVERYTHING you’re looking for related to:
- Neurodevelopmental disorders—including Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, PDD-NOS, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Nonverbal Learning Disability, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Learning Disabilities, Developmental Delays, Mental Impairment, Speech and Language Delays, Feeding Disorders, Sensory Processing Disorders, Epilepsy, Cerebral Palsy, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Tourette Syndrome, and many others
- Child development
- Educational strategies and treatment options
- Balancing the needs of all your students
Schooling Minds™ is the go-to place for professionals like you!
For more information, click 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.
Please join us!
- Family Fun Event: Holiday Santa Event – Santa, cookies (sugar & gluten-free), crafts, games, and more!
(Horizons Families Only)
Friday, December 11, 2009 from 5:00-8:00 PM EST
- Holiday CAMP: This is a great opportunity to let the kids come and enjoy some time away while you finish up holiday shopping or preparations that are more easily done without them!
Children ages 4-12 with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Monday, December 20, 2009 from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM EST
- Holiday CAMP: This is a great opportunity to let the kids come and enjoy some time away while you finish up holiday shopping or preparations that are more easily done without them!
Children ages 4-12 with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Monday, December 21, 2009 from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM EST
- Workshop – Evaluating for Autism: The Nuts and Bolts of Quality School-Based Autism Spectrum Disorder Evaluations
- Workshop – Autism in the Classroom: Simple &
Effective Strategies to Learn Today and Use Tomorrow
Friday, March 12, 2009
- Workshop – Day of Change: A
Groundbreaking Workshop for Parents of Children with Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Saturday, March 13, 2009
- Extreme Makeover: Autism Education Edition
August 4-6, 2010
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