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13 iPad cases for your child with special needs | Friendship Circle -- Special Needs Blog 13 iPad cases for your child with special needs | Friendship Circle -- Special Needs Blog tags: iPad You just invested in a shiny new iPad for you child with special needs. Next, you lay out some more money to purchase a few communication apps, install them and your child is off and running with a $500 piece of equipment. Minutes later  you see the iPad less bounce its way down those beautiful wooden stairs of yours… And then you woke up from your nightmare. You were smart enough to purchase a protective case for the iPad. Your child gets to develop communication and social skills while dad becomes an Angry Birds champion. Make sure you don’t have an iPad nightmare… here are 13 great cases that will protect your iPad investment!

This post is part Seven of the Special Needs iPad & App Series. Almost from the day the iPad was launched there was an immediate buzz about the special needs apps that were available in the iPad app store. Apple quickly realized that the iPad was perfectly suited to enhancing the lives of individuals with special needs and created a special education section of the app store. Websites and blogs sprung up dedicated to reviewing apps for Assistive Communication, Social Skills, Life Skills,Scheduling and more. The need for the iPad is an obvious one for children with special needs. But what if you can’t afford one for your child, what do you do?

The nation's premier special-needs theme park, Morgan's Wonderland opened four years ago based on the vision of philanthropist Gordon Hartman. "I was at a hotel pool with my daughter, Morgan, who was 11 or 12 at the time, when she kept looking over at two other kids in the pool who were tossing around a ball," he recalls. "I knew she wanted to play with them, but because she has special needs she didn't have the communication skills to ask, so she hit the ball. They grabbed it from her and got out of the water." That's the moment the retired homebuilder decided that he wanted to create a place where kids with special needs and those without could have fun together. He traveled around the country, seeking input from pediatricians, families, therapists, and engineers. The result: a 25-acre oasis on the city's northeast side, where every ride and attraction -- from the carousel to the train to the off-road adventure -- can accommodate all children and adults.

Smugglers' Notch Jeffersonville, Vermont Although it's known for its skiing, this resort area offers amazing summertime adaptive programs for kids ages 3 and up. Depending on the need, children may be given a trained camp counselor and can be incorporated into the kids' program to swim, hike, climb the rock wall, and do arts and crafts, or be part of a special-needs group. If they're 6 or older, they can take part in an Autism Mountain Camp that includes horseback riding and sailing. Private swim lessons, which focus on fulfilling a child's sensory needs, are also available.

Morgan's Wonderland San Antonio, Texas

The Office of Public Instruction is making available limited funding for the costs of students with significant needs served by the public schools. The approval of the funding on each application is specific to the request and justification for that request. The memorandum file that is below provides an overview of the program, definition of eligible districts and eligible students, allowable costs, definition of Priority I and Priority IA and Priority II. Download Significant Needs Memo for February (PDF) Download Significant Needs Application Form (PDF) If you have questions concerning the included files, please contact Dale Kimmet, Division of Special Education, 406-444-0742, or e-mail at dkimmet2@mt.gov.

Family life in the military is no easy task. Spouses are gone for long periods of time, Children need to be raised, and there is constant worry about a spouse that is deployed. In addition to all this strain, some military families have the additional challenge of raising a child with special needs. Thankfully there are a number of resources available to help. Here are 10 resources and services for special needs families in the military.

1.  If your child is exhibiting new behavioral problems that are interfering with their ability to access the curriculum; your school may need to implement a Behavior Support Plan to extinguish the negative or off task behavior. 2.  If your child is struggling academically in the first semester, don’t wait until second semester to address the problem.  If you have to request new assessments; keep in mind the timeline from the day you authorized the assessments.  The school has 60 days* in which to conduct the assessments and hold an IEP, so if you wait until second semester, the school year might be coming to an end; basically, your child has lost the entire year.  * Some States have different timelines so please check the timelines in your State. 3.  If your child will be attending Kindergarten, Middle School or High School the following year; you need to know all the areas of strengths and weaknesses to help them transition into the next phase of their education. 4.  If your child has been bullied in school, you need to make sure there is a safety plan implemented to protect your child from harm.  In addition, your child should know the name of the school personnel they can approach if the situation arises again; providing a safe place in the school environment. 5.  If your child’s placement is no longer working, do not wait to address this problem; otherwise, your child may lose an entire year of academics. 6.  If your child has been suspended repeatedly for behavioral problems, do not wait until the school is about to expel your child from the district.  Call an IEP to discuss changes in the Behavior Support Plan or ask for additional assessments immediately such as a Functional Behavior Assessment. 7.  If your child has been assigned an Aide that is not experienced enough to prevent your child from eloping, you need to call an IEP as soon as possible to request a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) or additionally training for the Aide.  Remember, every time your child leaves the classroom they are not being educated! 8.  If your child is experiencing depression, lack of self-worth, anxiety…etc.  You should call an IEP and request a Social/Emotional Assessment for in-school counseling.  If your child already has in-school counseling and that’s not working then you need to request an Educationally Related Mental Health Assessment to address these issues before they escalate into more serious behavior. 9.  If the services you agreed to at your child’s last IEP meeting are not working, you need to call an IEP to ask your school to increase the amount of services, or file for Due Process if you feel it’s necessary to take the matter directly to the school district. 10. If the School has not been following your child’s IEP; therefore, is out of compliance, call an IEP right away to allow the school to remedy the situation.  If they are not willing to rectify the situation then you need to either file for Due Process or file a complaint with the State Department of Education.

As a parent to a child with special needs one of the best things you can do for yourself and your child is to join a support group.  Support groups can be rich in information that can be helpful for you while raising a child with special needs.  You can learn from the experiences of parents who have been there before.  There are opportunities for emotional and social support for you and your child.

Taking care of you child with special needs is an important job. I have compiled 13 Key things a caregiver must do for a child with special needs. I call these my Baker’s Dozen – This is in no way a complete list, and each and every family’s situation will have nuances. Remember, it all can’t or doesn’t need to be done at once;

There is often a lot of anxiety around talking to children with special needs about growing up, relationships and sex. Parents worry their children may be vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. But by teaching your child about sex and relationships you can help keep them safe. Whether your child has special needs or not, they will still hit puberty and the chances are they will have sexual feelings. Giving them the information they need to understand those feelings and channelling them appropriately is very important.

Special needs parenting is a lifestyle.  For many of us, it is not the lifestyle we chose.  And even if we did choose to become a special needs family through adoption, there are still plenty of reasons to be cranky – and then joke about it later.

With the summer just a month away parents are starting to feel the heat. Kids will be out of school and the challenge of providing a structured and fun summer are weighing heavily on the minds of parents. To make you a little less worried Netbuddy has collected 19 tips from parents of children with special needs on who to get through the summer break.