If you were to write a dictionary for parents of children for special needs, you might find yourself defining the upcoming special day like this:
Lag Ba’Omer /LaG Bāʿōmer/ (n): The ultimate day of sensory overstimulation.
Be it the stim-inducing flickering bonfire or the tantrum-triggering blasting music, it’s no picnic to get through the Lag Ba’omer celebrations with a special needs child.
Be sure to plan well ahead of time, and b’ezras Hashem you can and will create fantastic memories with your family this year!
Many children struggle with the loud music on Lag Ba’Omer.
Even if you’re staying at home, your child will likely hear the music from local bonfires.
Noise-cancelling headphones can be a sensory lifesaver!
Call Ezreinu for a headphone gemach referral, or order your own pair on Amazon for $10. 👉
Is your precious neshama getting his first haircut this Lag Ba’Omer?
Print out this adorable social story to help him understand what will happen and how he can cooperate nicely.
Written by Perry Binet, a renowned professional in the special ed world, this story is a great way to prepare your child for a haircut from both an emotional and a sensory perspective. With its upbeat, simple language in rhyme, colorful illustrations, and 2 interactive draw-your-own pages, this story is full of great tips and ideas for both you and your child (Illustrations from Google Images).
Did you know that haircut machines are not one size fits all?
They come in varying degrees of soft, hard, quiet, loud, shaky, steady, etc. Using the right machine for your child can have a major impact on his cooperation.
One parent reported that they used a softer machine on their child (who until then had refused to sit for a haircut), and the next day, he gave himself another haircut because he enjoyed the feel so much!
- Everyone in the family agreed that Nussi was the most beautiful baby ever, even with the unique features that his syndrome graced his little face with. And no one thought he was cuter than Nussi’s mother. But cuteness is one thing, and staying awake and alert straight through the day and night to monitor Nussi’s breathing was another thing for the new, exhausted mother. Ezreinu hooked them up with a nursing agency, and now Nussi’s mother can cuddle him all day... and sleep all night.
- When Shifra, a good-natured, high-functioning girl with ASD, hit her teens, her personality began to change, slowly at first, and then rapidly, until she was practically unrecognizable from the old Shifra. She developed a complicated mood disorder, and her fun-loving, social nature was replaced with an irritable and often physically aggressive temperament. Her younger siblings would cower in fright when Shifra came home from school each day, and her parents were beyond worn out from dealing with her frequent outbursts and violent behavior. Ezreinu found a warm family to take Shifra in for a weekend, and her parents got to relax, spend quality time with their kids, and renew their energy so that they could continue to support Shifra fully, the way they wanted to.
- Perry, a mischievous little girl with developmental delays, turned 8 years old this year. Her parents decided it was time to send her to one of the amazing camps for children with special needs so that she could enjoy her summer to the max (and so they could get a well-deserved vacation). But to their shock, camp tuition wasn’t going to be covered by Children’s Waiver services (a.k.a. “HCBS”). Ezreinu helped them understand the differences between Children’s Waiver and OPWDD services, and what they could gain and lose from each of these arrangements. Armed with the information they needed to make a decision, they spoke with Perry’s care manager and switched over to a plan that would allow her to attend camp without breaking the bank.
Identifying details have been changed to protect client confidentiality.
Holding Hands
718-750-1010
If you…
Have some time on your hands
&
Love kids
&
Want some pocket money
Then you should think about signing up for Holding Hands!
New opportunities are posted every day, some for volunteers and some for pay.
No WhatsApp? No problem! Join the text group by texting @ezreinu to 929-450-4433.