Resources and ideas for teachers of learners with severe, profound, intensive, significant, complex or multiple special needs.
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Monday, August 22, 2011
For the Parents: Age Appropriate Back to School Shopping Ideas
A new backpack is something every student looks forward to at Back-to-School time
A Trabasack is can be both a wheelchair bag and a tray (we have one in my classroom and love it!)
ActiveCare, Caselogic and Wheelchair Gear make nice wheelchair packs (try to buy from vendors that are not disability specific for better prices)
Or just any sturdy and cool new bag would be great!
Functional Accessories
medical id is essential, probably the most important thing your child wears every day, definitely the only thing that can save lives
These companies offer hip bracelets, necklaces, shoes tags and other options for your child's medical id needs: N'Style, Medic Alert (has 1-800 number for EMS to call) Zoo Bears, Petite Baubles
if you can't or won't do medical id jewelery please be sure a medical id card is in your child's bag
Chewable Jewelry is a great way to prevent your child from tooth grinding, mouthing/biting objects and other oral stimming behaviors while providing calming sensory input. Gone are the days of having to give children washcloths or attaching chewy tubes to clothing
for messy eating you can try an adult cloth clothing protector, but try to pick something hip (Etsy.com has some from time to time)
a tee shirt cut up the back and worn while eating can work
another choice is a make-up/hair-dresser cover-up/apron or "cutting cape"
a box of 500 disposable clothing protectors (think lobster bibs) can be purchased for about $40 and should last more than a whole school year for clothing protection during snack and lunch (restaurant stores are cheaper than medical stores)
I love your posts! I often share them on my FB. I have a comment about shoe tags...they don't STAY on your child's body! A couple years ago my daughter (who has Down syndrome) was in a very serious car accident. She was with her dad in his semi truck, several states away. As a result of the crash, the truck she was removed from burned to a crisp. When my daughter was pulled from the truck, her shoes were gone. Fortunately her dad was able to speak, and within a couple of hours someone was able to reach me. But had her dad been injured nobody would have known who she was, and it would have taken a long time for it to be sorted out. (we're divorced so I wouldn't have been listed anywhere as a contact.) How many times do you see videos or photos of accidents and there are shoes lying about on the crash scene? (for that matter, how often are you driving down the road and see someone's shoe lying on the shoulder? LOL) A friend of mine, who's daughter won't wear jewelry, has taken to sewing medical id labels inside her daughter's clothing.
That's a really good point. In a crash your shoes, wallet, purse and anything not "attached" (like a bracelet) will be lost. So many parents refuse to consider ANY medical id that I still think a shoe tag is better than nothing. Personally I wear a medic alert. The 1-800 number to get my medical file makes it the best choice for my complex medical needs. But again, some ID is better than no ID. Thanks for reading my blog!
A new backpack is something every student looks forward to at Back-to-School time
oh how I love this post! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love your posts! I often share them on my FB. I have a comment about shoe tags...they don't STAY on your child's body! A couple years ago my daughter (who has Down syndrome) was in a very serious car accident. She was with her dad in his semi truck, several states away. As a result of the crash, the truck she was removed from burned to a crisp. When my daughter was pulled from the truck, her shoes were gone. Fortunately her dad was able to speak, and within a couple of hours someone was able to reach me. But had her dad been injured nobody would have known who she was, and it would have taken a long time for it to be sorted out. (we're divorced so I wouldn't have been listed anywhere as a contact.) How many times do you see videos or photos of accidents and there are shoes lying about on the crash scene? (for that matter, how often are you driving down the road and see someone's shoe lying on the shoulder? LOL) A friend of mine, who's daughter won't wear jewelry, has taken to sewing medical id labels inside her daughter's clothing.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point. In a crash your shoes, wallet, purse and anything not "attached" (like a bracelet) will be lost. So many parents refuse to consider ANY medical id that I still think a shoe tag is better than nothing. Personally I wear a medic alert. The 1-800 number to get my medical file makes it the best choice for my complex medical needs. But again, some ID is better than no ID. Thanks for reading my blog!
ReplyDelete