Free Aquarium Day

Free Night at the Loveland Living Aquarium

On Monday August 4th, 2014 at 6:00 p.m., it is a free aquarium day for families who have children with special needs.  You must RSVP by July 31st, 2014.  

Please click on the following link to the Utah Parent Center for more information on registration.

http://www.utahparentcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/eConnections-7.30.2014.pdf

What a great day with your family!!

Loveland Living Aquarium
12033 South Lone Peak Parkway
Draper, UT 84020

5 Ideas for Swimming

Does your child enjoy swimming? Here are 5 ideas for how to make swimming into RDI:

5 great ideas for swimming

1. Count out loud together and then jump in simultaneously

2. Take turns coming up with crazy ways to jump into the pool

3. Count out loud together and then go under water at the same time

4. Toss a ball back and forth in the shallow end

5. Could out loud together and then make a big splash at the same time (with your arms, or kicking your feet)

We hope that you've been enjoying your summer!

Grocery Shopping

With it being summer, do you have a few extra minutes that you can spend at the grocery store? Shopping is a great way to integrate RDI outside of the home! How could you have your child involved in this process?

Could you start with having your child help you pick out some fruit? Here is an example of being at the grocery store with your child and picking out fruit:

Push your cart up to the apples, making sure that your child is by your side. Take a few seconds to look over the apples to find one that you would like to buy. Grab the apple and then turn to your child saying, "This one looks nice... it's firm, red, and has no spots! I wonder if you can find one like it." After saying that, pause and allow your child to process what you just said. By pausing, you are allowing your child to first, process your comment, and then to decide how he/she is going to respond. This allows for that dynamic thinking moment.

What are other ways you can have your child involved as you are grocery shopping? We'd love to hear your ideas!

Free July Issue

Do you enjoy reading "Autism World Magazine?" The July issue is now available for free download!

Click here for access to this informative issue about Autism and Cancer

Family 4-Square

Summer is about half way over. Do you feel like you have been able to enjoy it with your child? We sure hope so!

Are you interested in getting your whole family involved in RDI? A family game of 4-square is the perfect opportunity!

5 Tips for family 4-square:

1. Start small - Start with 4-square being a two person game (you and your child) to simple get a back and forth motion going. Depending on your child's ability, you may want to start as small as handing the ball back and forth to each other.

2. Gradually make the game more complex - As you're playing a two person game with your child, gradually add variations and changes into your game. What variations can you add? Could you add in different speeds at which you hand the ball over to the other player? What changes can you add? Could you change the game from handing it back and forth to each other to bouncing it to one another?

3. Continue to evolve the game - Through different variations and changes, make sure to keep the interaction always changing. This will help your child think in a more dynamic way, and also change the game into 4-square (with two players).

4. When child is ready - When your child is ready, it may be in the same day or a week later, try changing the game from a 2-player game to a 4-player game.

5. Have fun - Make sure to enjoy the time you spend with your child!

How can you expand the game even more? What other variations and changes can you add to the game? We are excited for you to try this activity. Please let us know how it goes!

Tips For Picky Eaters

The RDI Online Learning Community has a lot of great resources that can assist families with questions or areas where they are struggling with their child. It can also be a great support system as you may be able to offer advice or help to another family. This information was taken from a current parent discussion board:

Tips for Picky Eaters

Picky eaters are not uncommon among children with ASD and our consultants and parents are full of experience when it comes to trying ways to get children to eat new foods. Here are some suggestions from our discussion boards on how to get new foods into picky eaters' diets:

- Breathe and take your time: remember the child has a lot of control over this behavior and rushing it might not be the best way.

- I have found that he (son) likes helping me in the kitchen and especially cutting things up... he still very rarely eats them (cut fruit), but he is happy to touch them and will occasionally smell them or lick them or try a bit in his mouth.

- If taste is a big part of his picky eating, certainly small amounts of fruit in smoothies and jellies should be a way of gradually introducing fruits, away from needing the oral skills.

- Something we do with new foods is to slowly, slowly introduce them. For example, our son can eat peas, so we started out by putting a single pea on his plate. Over time he could tolerate the presence of the pea. Then we asked him to touch it to his lips (he didn't have to put it in his mouth). After he could tolerate that, we asked him to touch it to his tongue... and so on.

If you have any questions on how to find the discussion board in your own family profile, please send an email to:

nicole@pryorconsulting.net

"In-sync"

Why can it be so hard to feel "in-sync" with with your own child? Is it possible to change this? Absolutely!

While trying to feel 100% mentally "in-sync" with your child, the most important thing to remember is to focus on yourself. It is impossible to control another person and make them want to be engaged with us, but we have full control over ourselves. It starts with our own mental engagement. Are we able to put our mind 100% into our child and simply "enjoy the moment?" Or are we constantly thinking about all of the other things that we need to get done?

With busy daily schedules, it can be hard to find the time to work on being mentally "in-sync" with your child. Make a goal to find one activity a day to work on your own mental engagement, and surprisingly your child will follow!

A simple way to work on feeling "in-sync" with our child is by doing a relaxing activity. One of our favorites is simply cloud watching. Grab a blanket, spread it out on the lawn, and relax. Depending on your child, you can choose if you will communicate about different cloud shapes that you see, or if you will just lay there holding hands enjoying the time together.

Do you want to learn more about feeling "in-sync" with your child? Please email or call us with any questions:

nicole@pryorconsulting.net

Dealing with the Fireworks

Do fireworks frighten your child? Here are some of our tips to help you and your family:

1. Start small - Start by doing small fireworks at your house a few days prior to the holiday to slowly introduce your child to the whole idea. The easiest way to start is with "Poppers." Enjoy going outside and throwing them at the ground together with your child, making it a fun experience for both of you.

2. Gradually introduce new fireworks at your house prior to the holiday

3. Start far away on the 4th of July - You can always get closer to the fireworks once your child starts to feel more confortable

- Start by sitting inside together on the coach and just listening to the fireworks

- Gradually make your way to the window to watch them

- Open the door so the noise is a little bit louder

- Simply ask your child if he/she wants to go outside for a closer look

The most important thing to remember is NOT to force your child to do anything. If you both end up inside during the firework show, it's okay. There is always another chance to slowly introduce them.

July 4th BBQ

Have you planned your BBQ for the 4th of July yet? What a great opportunity to enjoy the holiday with your child! How can you get he/she involved in preparing for your BBQ? Remember that the most important thing is for your child to feel valuable in the activity. How do we do that? Give them a specific job. What are your ideas on how your child can be involved?

Preparing the watermelon - Could you cut the fruit and he/she put it in the bowl?

Making a dessert - Could they help you decorate the cookies or cake?

Setting the table - Could you hand he/she a plate and let them set the table?

Making fruit (or vegetable kebabs to grill) - you could work together to put the fruit on the skewer

We suggest that you start your preparations early to leave for enough time to enjoy the moment without feeling stressed before your guests arrive. Let us know how it goes!

Happy 4th of July!