Time Management

Managing the doctor visits, therapy appointments, school meetings, and picking up medications for your special needs child feels like a full-time job by itself! But on top of that, parents of special needs kiddos are in charge on managing home therapy practice, helping learn life skills, spear-heading the behavior plans and staying consistent with it... The list goes on and on!

I already wrote in my blog The Cost of a Special Needs Child about the demands on our time, and now here are some ways that I have found to cram in as much therapy in as little time as possible so we have time left for fun things!

1. Combine, combine, combine!!! This is the most effective way I have found to get in everything we need to do. Instead of reading for half an hour then doing OT, I give the kids little stress balls to squish for hand strengthening, or do tummy time, while I read to them.

Or you can work speech into the books- Say "turn page please!" or ask questions about the books, have the child find objects receptively "Who on this page is jumping?" There are SO many options!

I also use this for myself during the kids' "quiet time" (1 hour every day when they look at books or do puzzles in their room so I can work on projects). I will do lunges while picking up around the house, or call out animal walks for the kids across the living room while I make dinner. 

2. Don't forget car time!!! There are so many fun Speech Car Games that you can do for receptive language, and we like to have "Vowel Contests" to see who can hold a sound like "oo" or "ah" the longest. This really helps with breath control, and getting in those reps so that the sound is more readily accessible for our kiddos who struggle motor planning!

One game that my son loves to play with his sister is just "Say _____". He likes to play because he is the boss and tells her to say words like "wolf" or "Minnie Mouse", and she likes it because he usually picks words she likes, and he isn't a parent or therapist.

3. Budget Extra Time for Life Skills!!! I usually try to save time in the mornings to let the kids practice making their own breakfast, washing their own face, getting dressed, or packing snacks, by themselves. I have to remember to take extra time, because Chelsea still needs a LOT of hand over hand help.

While I never want to skimp in any area, life skills are one thing I worry that if we don't work on now, Chelsea will struggle to pick up later, having been accustomed to me doing it all for her. (Plus, it is SO hard to dress a hypotonic kid, and I am concerned I will not be physically able to later when she is bigger and I am old)

4. Use a Visual Schedule! This isn't so much to help me, it is for Chelsea. I use this board so that she knows what to expect and doesn't get overwhelmed or panicked when it is time for a transition- she knows what is coming! I put all the card options on the back so they don't get lost.