Thursday, November 17, 2011

This and that



Sara, BLOOM's designer, and I walked in Spiral Garden the other day (above). It's the magical location for a summer program run by practising artists that brings together children with and without disabilities. It's a peaceful place that fills you up with nature and growth and colour.

I've been mulling over some blog ideas in the last couple of days, but none have come to fruition. One is about what I perceive to be an unhealthy, over-emphasis on IQ percentiles in services and schooling for people with intellectual disabilities.

We had a wonderful open house in the Family Resource Centre last night and many parents and staff attended. I was able to do three video interviews with parents for a new series I hope to post on BLOOM. These will be short 1.5 to 2 minute video clips of a parent talking on a topic of interest.

The interviews last night were about: helping others feel comfortable with your child's limb difference; strategies to keep your marriage strong when raising two children with disabilities; and cultural and language barriers to accessing services for parents in the Canadian Somali community.

Sara will help me with editing early next week so stay tuned.

One of my British cousins read the last issue of BLOOM and described it as "uplifting" and "sobering." I thought that was an apt description for special-needs parenting!

Here are some links. Louise

Inclusion: The right thing for all children (take a look at the comments too)
Medikidz (Comic books that convey medical information for kids)

1 comments:

I am moderating a webinar in December with the Epilepsy Foundation about adolescence and puberty in children with developmental disabilities/epilepsy. I'd love for you to tell your people about it so that they can participate. Email me if you're interested!

And thank you for all the wonderful links and resources -- you're such a wealth of information and thoughtful commentary.