Massaging Action Teether Review/Giveaway

Ok everyone this is my first review/giveaway here on the SPD Life. Thanks to the generosity of One Step Ahead I received a Massaging Action Teether to do a review and giveaway on. The Massaging Action Teether is not only for infants, it is great for children with SPD too! It vibrates when the child bites or chews on it and helps give your child oral input. And of course it's also really good for those teething babies.

Now I know that you all have children with SPD issues but for those of you whose child(ren) have issues with oral gratification (i.e. over stuffing their mouths with food, chewing on non-edible objects, etc.) this is a wonderful product to try. Little Miss mouths everything! Her therapists have told me that getting her a vibrating toothbrush or teether would be good to help give her input so that she won't over fill her mouth while eating and it would curb her chewing on toys and such. One Step Ahead has even partnered up with the National Lekotek Center —the leading not-for-profit authority on play for children with disabilities—to offer a different kind of toy selection. Click here to view their toys and ratings.

When we got this Massaging Action Teether in the mail I cleaned it up and gave it to Little Miss and I sat down to see what she would do with it and waited for her reaction to the vibrations. SHE.LOVED.IT! She walked around with it between her teeth for a long time, just enjoying the vibrations. She has been chewing on it everyday since we received it. This is something safe for her to chew on. No toxic chemicals and no small pieces to break off that she could choke on. Plus it's soft, multi-textured and the sealed internal battery lasts 8 hours! At only $7.95 they're a great buy but this is your chance to win one for free. One Step Ahead is going to give one of you lucky readers one of these! Here's how you can enter to win:

Mandatory Entry:

~ Go over to One Step Ahead and come back and tell me in a comment your favorite product. (3 entries)

Extra Entries:

~ Blog about this review/giveaway with links back to this post and One Step Ahead.
(5 entries)

~ Follow us on Twitter
(3 entries)

~ Fave us on Technorati
(3 entries)

~ Follow the SPD Life
(3 entries)

~ Grab our button
(1 entry)

~ Tweet about this review/giveaway
(unlimited entries)

* We are trying to get more followers to join us here. If you know anyone that has a child with SPD or sensory issues please send them here to join in on the review/giveaway or just the blog. Or if you belong to any mom boards, sites or forums please do a post letting them know where to find us. Doing this (after verified) will give you 5 more entry points!

*Each time you do one of the above leave a comment for each entry. For example if you blog about this giveaway do this: "Blogged about this review/giveaway. Here's my link: (Your URL TO the post) #1" Then come back and do the same thing 4 more times in separate comments. If you tweet about this review/giveaway then leave the tweet URL in the comment.

You have the chance to do 12 + entries. You don't have to do all of them though. Do the first one or all of them if you want! First Mandatory Entry must be done first to enter the rest of the entry requests.

Contest will end on April 30th and winner will be picked using the Random.com generator and announced on April 6th. Good luck!

Any comments that do not follow the rules listed above will not be entered into the contest to win. So please make sure to follow the rules. Thanks!

*Check back because I will be doing more giveaways and reviews on products that benefit children with sensory issues and more!

Therapy Thursday (Question/Answer)

Here it is, our first Therapy Thursday question. Shireen, our Speech Therapist, has answered your question. I hope this helps. If anyone has another question please email me at: bloggymommy3@yahoo.com

Question: I have a SPD question for you. My 7yo son is constantly playing with the baby toys. He always has. Tonight he was playing with this toy https://www.tinylove.com/toy.aspx?toyId=25 and I asked him why he liked it so much. He said he likes the gears that turn, the squeaky ball, the levers that go back and forth, the ball that spins, and the music. Is this a sensory thing? Are there more age appropriate things for him to play with that will meet those sensory needs? I'm pretty sure he's got a strong tactile sense. We have lots of clothing issues with him, and he has to constantly touch EVERYTHING. I'd get him some other toys geared at babies and toddlers, but with him being 7, and he's pretty rough on toys, I'd hate for him to break them. I guess what I'm asking is how can I constructively channel this need for touch and to play with the baby toys. We don't have many of the baby toys left as my youngest is now 2 and is on to bigger and better things.
Sincerely,
SPD Follower

Answer: You are right that that toy is not very age appropriate for him, but there are plenty of other toys that are. Some suggestions I have include Gearation or Gears Building Set, Light n' Chaser, Visual Tracking Ball Tower or other marble run, and the Light Up DNA ball or Window Ball. All of these toys can be found at www.beyondplay.com I have no affiliation with this company. I just think they have some great sensory toys. There are also things at home to give him more tactile input like playing with water, sand, playdoh and shaving cream. Hopefully this gives you some ideas of some more age appropriate toys for your son. A book I can recommend with many more ideas is "The Out of Sync Child Has Fun", by Carol Kranowitz. Thanks for your question and let me know if this helps!
Sincerely,
Shireen (Speech Therapist)

Don't forget about Therapy Thursdays!

Don't forget about Therapy Thursdays. If you would like to submit a question for this weeks Therapy Thursday please email me at bloggymommy3@yahoo.com by tomorrow evening so I can get the email over to one or both of our therapists to answer. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon! :)

**Oh and just to let you all know, I will be hosting my first review and giveaway here on the SPD Life sometime next week so make sure to check back!**

Join us for Therapy Thursdays

Hello everyone and welcome back! I am here to tell everyone that now on Thursdays we are going to have something called Therapy Thursdays. All you have to do is email me or Michelle with any questions or comments that you want either heard or answered and we will put them in a post with the advice from one of our therapists on Thursdays.



We are bringing two therapists on board to help with questions, comments, new ideas and so on. They are Little Miss' Developmental Therapist, April (we will post her intro as soon as we can) and Little Miss' Speech Therapist, Shireen (who has already posted her intro). Please give them a warm welcome and have your questions and/or comments in by Tuesday of each week so they have time to answer all of them.



From time to time they may also post links to new places for you to check out, new ideas on different therapy ideas, at home recipes for you to try with your youngins and so on. I can't wait for our first Therapy Thursday which will start next week. So mark your calendars and submit your questions by Tuesday. See you all then!

Giving your SPD child more options

So far to help her throughout the day we have been doing yoga ball exercises (explained here). This is something she really enjoys and seems to really help her.

We are also getting her "control book" ready. I took pictures of all her things: things she eats, things she plays with, things that are in our schedule and so on. So starting, hopefully tomorrow, we will be able to let her have more control over what she wants. So tomorrow I will sit her at the table and give her two choices. I'll show her a picture of cereal and a picture of a bagel and let her pick which one she wants. Now this will be a little tricky because Little Miss doesn't point to things that she wants. She does, however, sometimes point to things that she wants us to look at but just not at whatever it is that she is trying to get.

Then at playtime I'll show her a picture of her little toy phone and a picture of her stuffed animal and let her choose which one she wants to play with. This lets her have more control over things throughout her day, which in turn will make her feel happy because she got to choose what *she* wants.

We will also show her pictures and explain what is going to happen next. Like a picture of the bathtub, "Ok Little Miss, now Mama is going to put you in the bathtub and (showing her a picture of her ducky) you get to play with your duck." Then at bedtime, "Little Miss now it's time for bed. Let's say goodnight." This lets her know what's coming, helps her put words with actions and routines *and* prepare herself for the next step.

Letting your child have more options is great. And after they get the idea that you show them the picture, they pick and you give it to them then you can move onto step two of the 'control book' process. If your child is like mine then helping them put words together and begin to form those words is a huge, very important step. So after she gets it I will then start to hold up two different pictures for her to choose from and ask her, "Little Miss, do you want the banana? Or do you want the apple?" but when I ask her I will hold the picture up close to my mouth and over-exaggerate the words. "...b-a-n-a-n-a?" or "...a-p-p-l-e?" and hopefully after a while she will start watching my mouth and start trying to say, instead of point, to which one she wants.

I am going to laminate my photos for her so that they will last a long time. You never know, maybe after she gets all this down we can figure out some new thing to do with them. But for right now this is enough. If you decide to do this with your child I highly recommend saving yourself some laminating sleeves and doing pics of foods on one side and pics of objects on the back. That way you can turn them over to do the next picture instead of having 100 pictures all one-sided.

What are some things you have made for your child that help in your everyday life?

Tantrum Strategies (ARTICLE)

This article was given to me by Little Man's O.T., and hopefully it can help some parents out!

1. BEST TREATMENT: PREVENTION

a. Pick your battles: Avoid confrontations when it really doesn't matter. If they are not at risk for harm or harming something, give them time to get bored and try to get your way later.

b. Identify when and where your child has tantrums to see if there are particular triggers. Is it only in public, when they are hungry or tired? Is it during transitions from one activity to another? Knowing this info will help you prevent tantrums.

c. Be careful about setting yourself up for a NO answer. Do not ask your child a question if they don't have a choice to make. "We are going to leave now, okay?" is better stated, "We are leaving the store in 1 minute". Don't ask, "Do you want?" If you can't have the answer no!

d. Make a big deal often during good behavior that your child does. The key is letting your child know what pleases you and will get positive attention for.

e. Give your child cues that will help them prepare for what lies ahead. Sometimes telling a child when they have 5 minutes, then 3 minutes, then 1 minute until a transition is to occur helps them prepare for a change.

f. Always leave a small toy handy in your bag for distracting or providing an activity for those tantrums caused by boredom. If the toy is reserved only for when you are 'out', the interest in it will last longer.

2. DURING A TANTRUM:

a. Stay calm! The crazier they are, the calmer you need to be!

b. Let them know that you understand what they want, but that it is not going to happen now, then you stop talking!!.

c. Be careful not to reinforce the tantrum with extra attention and words that may actually be encouraging or rewarding the tantrum. Kids want our attention more than anything and often even negative attention is better than no attention at all. to work effectively, a tantrum needs a sympathetic audience.

d. Use isolation when ever possible for the tantrum. Establish a routine with total predictability. Put the child on a soft surface and IGNORE them for a few minutes, staying close enough to make sure they are safe. Occasionally reassure them that when they are calm, they can go play.

e. If they get up and move, do not chase them but make sure they are safe. If they are tearing up a room, then hold them on our lap tightly until you feel their arms and legs surrender. Holding can be reinforcing for some children.

f. Some kids can't calm themselves, and the tantrums last for longer than 30 minutes. These kids sometimes need to be rocked and held quietly when it appears they are 'stuck' and can't calm themselves. Sometimes giving them a pillow and a favorite blanket helps them to calm.

g. When the tantrum is over, let it go. Give them a hug and let them know that it is their behavior you don't like, but you love them all the same.

h. BE CONSISTENT with your words and actions. It is normal for tantrums to increase in order for your child to see if you react the same way every time. If the tantrums then decrease, your strategy is effective!! If the tantrums do not decrease, then you are doing something that the child finds reinforcing!!