Juvenile Diabetes - resources for the newly diagnosed

My 6 year old nephew was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes type I this past week.  He was fine until a few weeks ago when he started drinking and peeing a lot. Thankfully his mom, my SIL, is a nurse and got him tested right away. A quick trip to the fabulous children's hospital yield lots of helpful information and practice at shot-taking, blood-testing, food calculating, and monitoring for the whole family including grandma.

Feeling useless I started to at least sort out some resources to help in these early whirlwind days of adjusting to the new reality. Here are some things I found that might be of help to other families with kids:

Getting oriented -- information, support, help, and resources

Children with Diabetes: The online community for kids, families and adults with diabetes. Online support, tips and product information, etc.

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International: Dedicated to finding a cure
Get your "newly diagnosed" kit with Rufus the Bear, find local chapters for support, how to help with fundraising, getting involved in clinical trials, up-to-date news on research toward finding a cure.
    
Diabetes Stinks: Tips and thoughts on living with diabetes at home and at school from 8 year old Bailey who was diagnosed at age 6.

Nick's Simple Wins - Nick Jonas of "The Jonas Brothers" teams up with Bayer Diabetes Care to fight diabetes. Read Nick's blog, enter contests, find product information.

Medical Identification Tags

• Low cost metal bracelets, necklaces, shoe tags that can be engraved 
• Low cost zipper pull or keychain
• Super inexpensive tags for shoes, bracelets, zipper pulls, etc. and can be engraved. Cheap enough to stock up and put on everything and have spares for when others get lost!
• Low cost jelly wrist bands that come in lots of colors
• Low cost kids neoprene wrist bands in lots of different themes and colors suited for kids and teens
• Low cost waterproof discrete band with secure hook and loop closure and with the identification information tucked inside the band
• Low cost beaded bracelets in different colors or more creative and expensive ones here
• Make your own bracelets with these medical tags and your favorite beads and baubles.
• See more options at http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/

Personalizing your devices with changeable covers (skins) and other features

• 
  
  Skins for multiple devices including some glucose monitors and other medical devices.
  
• Skins for Medtronic insulin pumps in a variety of colors and designs
  
• Skins for Accu Chek Aviva glucose monitors
  
• Skins for Bayer Contour Meter glucose monitors by Nick Jonas
  
• Bayer announces the Didget meter designed for kids. The new Didget connects with Nintendo DS to personalize and reinforce good testing habits. Thus far, only available in the U.K. but you can sign up to be notified when it can be shipped to U.S. addresses.
  

Homeschooling with Nature and Science

There are some terrific resources from 3rd generation homeschooling parents at http://www.bringinguplearners.com/ to help integrate nature into homeschool activities:

• Nature walk ideas and tips
• Making a nature journal from found objects
• Getting "into nature" when you aren't "into" it
• "Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding" by Bernard J. Nebel, Ph.D." This K-5 curriculum guide gets high marks from Amazon reviewers as well as lots of "crunchy" homeschooling sites.

And they offer 101 ways to spice up your homeschooling or afterschooling activities.

Cool gifts for kids this holiday season

Here are some wonderful educational gifts that can engage hearts, minds, and senses...

$20 "Galileoscope" telescopes - Recreate Galileo's discovery of the improved telescope (someone else actually invented it first) by putting it together yourself!

Young Builder's Toolset - This Montessori inspired group of tools are real quality tools that are small enough for a child to use comfortably. This comes with a Compact Level, Saw ( fine-toothed blade won’t jam in wood), Hammer (wood handle and metal head), Drill (working Fiskars hand drill with 4 bits), Safety Glasses, Retractable Measuring Tape , Sanding Block, Little Toolbox (plastic, sturdy handle and snapping latch). We bought a similar set from Duluth Trading (see: specialty shop - toys and games) last year for our son -- it DIDN'T have the saw! The hand drill was enough to monitor and I'm glad to report we only had 1 or 2 rogue holes drilled in almost a year.

Junior Workbench - We purchased a different color of this workbench from Duluth Trading (see: specialty shop - toys and games) for our son last Christmas, but we've all used it!  It's so handy to be able to move it where we need to use it.

And now our much younger daughter is anxious to have her own set of tools and workbench....but in pink of course!

Pink Tools -- So here are the pink tools available individually from Little Pink Tools who have lifetime guarantees on their tools.  The tools aren't specifically designed for kids, but you can get a small 7 ounce hammer which would be a good size. 

My daughter squealed with delight at this Pink Toolbox but it doesn't come with a warranty or anything so I'll pass! Like the gals over at Tomboy tools remind us, some pink tools are NOT good!

So for a teen I would definitely consider getting the pink tool traveler tool set from Tomboy Tools.

Jedi Mind Control Game - For our kids with attention difficulties this toy is cool for kids AND the parents!  This toy uses EKG technology to help you harness your powers of concentration to move the ball, triggered by your brainwaves.

This is the kind of technology I had read 5 years ago in "Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life that was being piloted as a way for kids with ADHD to actually learn how to force brainwaves into patterns of concentration. It was designed to help them actually learn what the sensation of "concentrating" felt like so they could practice it since it did not come naturally.

Last minute Halloween crafty goodness

Here is a quick and easy to sew mermaid tail or dragon tail. 

Good for Halloween and beyond! I'm thinking about Christmas gifts...

And then there is this easy one...

But what happens if you need to use the bathroom??

I'm feeling wordly

Just a note to say thanks to everyone who has stopped by the blog since I started...It's so much fun to see dots from all over the world :) These are the dots showing the last 500 visitors...where are you?!

What are schools going to do in response to the rise in Autism spectrum disorders?

Science has issued a statement that I'll bet doesn't surprise a lot of teachers, day care workers, or parents. 

More kids have autism than we thought.  New research suggests that 1% of all kids in the U.S. are included in this group. That includes 1 out of every 91 of our kids.  And it's more likely to be our boys than our girls. 1 in 58 boys now have this label.

And we know there are estimates that 1 in 20 kids have sensory processing disorders more specifically.

Taken together, this means that every teacher can easily find him or herself with one of these children in class.

Granted, the labels are becoming wider and less specific as the spectrum grows according to the Doctors at the Eide Neurolearning clinic and authors of The Mislabeled Child.  But they note that this label opens the doors to help.

But they also note that giftedness often occurs alongside autism spectrum disorders including sensory processing disorder (formerly referred to as sensory integration disfunction).

Good reads, good causes

Kayak Anna and the Palindrome Creek: A splashing eco-adventure for readers ages 9-13

This was book was recommended to me by a friend of a friend of the author.

The initiative was spurred by the author's time observing first hand the perils of the lack of clean water.

Sales of this book help provide clean, safe drinking water for children around the world.

Hear new music, learn more palindromes, find out how to start a clean stream project of your own at Kayakanna.org.

And while you are reading for fun and for a good cause, please visit Better World Books where you can get a great deal on books while funding literacy around the world and reduce your carbon footprint -- all at the same time. 

Hopes for Broken Glass and China -- an ode to Artisans

It was bound to happen.  You can't have small children in a house and precariously placed China without something happening.  Yes, one of my grandmother's unique China pieces tumbled to the floor.

In previous generations, the death of ones grandparents happened at a time when their great grandchildren were much older. (So China was likely much safer in earlier generations!) ..sigh... Another downside to delayed parenthood...not so much overlap in the generations.

Oddly enough, just the day before the "great break" I had been searching for someone to repair my grandparents' antique beveled mirror.

It suffered some stress fractures and broken pieces during it's transport out of their house.  We cannot blame the kids for that one!

I was extremely impressed with the artisans at Bruening Glass in Ohio. You can see all the steps involved in how they skillfully repaired this antique glass with tons of beveled pieces.

I was hoping to find something within driving distance -- It'll cost a fortune to ship this mirror. It weighs like a zillion tons.

I hadn't been through all the google search results for the mirror restoration before the "big break." So after the "big break" I came back to the search results and Svetlana's page was the first one I opened...

Learning to write Chinese

One of the great books we checked out at the library is The Pet Dragon by Christoph Niemann.

It's a really fun book that has a great story AND shows you how to write various Chinese characters.

See more Chinese language resources in an earlier post and anything from Grace Lin.

Try to stay on the outside!! One version of the emotion color wheel

This emotions color wheel has been really helpful for me this week as a mother of a child with a sensory modulation disorder. 

It's hard to keep track of when my child needs to get revved up with more sensory input or when he is on overload and needs respite from stimulation....

Parents reports of sensory kids' challenges affirmed in clinical studies

Just one of many studies objectively documenting what we as parents observe.  Details of this and other studies at the Star Center are also reported in Dr. Miller's book Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder


Abstract


Sensory-modulation disruption, electrodermal responses, and functional behaviors; Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (1999), 41:608-615 Mac Keith Press; Daniel N McIntosh PhD, Lucy Jane Miller PhD OTR, Vivian Shyu M, and Randi J Hagerman MD

It was hypothesized that children clinically identified with sensory-modulation disruptions (SMD) would have atypical physiological responses to sensation, and that such responses would predict parent-reported behavioral responses to sensation. Nineteen children with clinically identified disruptions,

Free K-12 Life Science lesson plans

One of the MSU grad students from the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology referred me to this K-12 Life Science project from Oregon State University.  Thanks, Shannon!

There are lesson plans here for a variety of ages on these topics below.  I was impressed how the lessons integrated multiple intelligences and multiple subjects in the science experiments.

Keeping kids on track with a visual "to do" list

Thanks so much to Nancy Peske over at SensorySmarts.com for another terrific newsletter with this great  resource.

This online "Make-a-Schedule" program from the great folks at Do2Learn allows you to create daily schedules with picture cards for our kids (okay, and some of us parents) that need some extra help staying on track with the activities of the day!

It's also great for calming anxieties about what is going to happen next, transitioning to a new activity or preparing for the dreaded medical visits. The cards for those are great...

If you see a broken old level....

Now I really want to scour the thrift stores and garage sales for a broken level.

It has to be broken or I wouldn't feel right doing this!

Check out this Level necklace from Instructables contributor Sunbanks. 

It's especially cute when adorned by the Instructables Robot.

This was cleverly inspired by...

The snowflake principle

I've recently started reading some down-to-earth useful and insightful blogs about personal finance. A topic I normally find painful at worse and boring at best.

But I've been enjoying reading a very interesting blog called The Simple Dollar, written by Trent, who likes to say he is a normal guy openly and honestly discussing money and is not a financial or frugality expert.

And he's a parent of a young child, so that makes him an expert in my book.

He is a talented writer and his work goes beyond the frugal living discussions and addresses some additional practical and reflective issues. There are tons of free resources here that seem really useful.

Turning plastic, paper, and household ingredients into bling and scholarships

Green jewelry ideas from Instructables.com.  These look like so much fun to try!!

Clove necklace and beads from instructables

Beads from wavy-cut paper from instructables

Jewelry charms from #6 plastic from instructables and expanded on at the dabbled blog

Faux pearl necklace from cornstarch clay from instructables

And if you really want to stick with the recycled theme, you can make your own jump rings from used paperclips!

The ultimate repurposing gig can be found at the Fool for Art silent auction.

The John Tyler Community College, employees of Chesterfield county, and area businesses and schools all join in the fun to create items that are made of at least 75% recycled material.

These items are then sold to raise funds for scholarship. The items range from simple to incredibly artistic.

One of my favorites was this adorable doll house made entirely of recycled materials.

Repurposing Clementine boxes

We're coming to some big hurdles in the organizing as we try to clean THE basement. 

It's a giant puzzle akin to the Rush Hour Traffic Jam game in which stacks of things need to be moved and shifted several times to get everything in the new location. 

Oh, where are you Clean Sweep team when I need you????

In the shuffle I'm encountering my odds and ends face to face, including my giant stash of clementine boxes. 

They are just too wonderful to throw away! 

So I needed to find a way to repurpose them and hopefully pass them on in their new reincarnation.

photo by www.re-nest.com

Here's what I found:

Easy, No Knead Crusty Bread from Mother Earth News

Moms in my area have been discussing how to make the transition to healthier eating (raw foods, non-processed food, sprouting, home made yogurt, etc.).

One suggestion was to make home made break and this recipe from Mother Earth News came highly recommended!  The secret to the crust is in the use of a Dutch Oven.

Slowing down for the kids....

Traffic Calming.  It's a big topic in our neighborhood right now. 

And it looks like many citizens are taking things into their own hands to solve traffic problems in this age of budget cuts.

In our post-war era neighborhood when cars were king everything was designed around the automobile.

We are realizing we need some immediate steps to slow down traffic in our neighborhood for the safety of our kids on bikes and on foot.

Thankfully there are huge efforts underway to promote the Complete Streets idea in which pedestrians, bicyclists, strollers, wheelchairs, and other modes of transportation are given the same importance as the mighty vehicle.

[And let me tell you...if you have a sensory challenged kid who cannot tolerate car rides or car seats and screams bloody murder with every car trip you will SOOO wish you lived in a walkable city!!!]

Here are some great ways to learn more about traffic calming -- the successes, challenges, pros, and cons to different approaches. See also the innovative approach of shared space conceived by traffic engineer Hans Monderman that has reduced traffic speeds by up to 50%.

Or really treat yourself to the tactile sensations of The New York City Street Design Manual.

It not only provides a beautiful overview of best practices in terms of street design, but it also does so on lucious paper if you purchase the print version instead of just downloading the pdf.

 

[Vintage Car Photo by AgnosticPreachersKid shared under Creative Commons License]

Some good reading for parents...especially with kids on the autism spectrum

Identifying Brain Differences In People With ADHD - Fascinating research profiled on NPR. It helps me to understand why my son craves "Monster Drinks" and can be so hyperfocused and so unfocused at the same time.  I just hope and pray that this kind of research grows exponentially so we can truly understand the underlying neurobiological causes for these challenging behaviors and create effective treatment, or at least empathy for the challenges our kids face.

When a Parent’s ‘I Love You’ Means ‘Do as I Say’ - Great article from NY Times explaining the importance of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE in parenting and how our society is promoting CONDITIONAL LOVE in parenting.  In many ways we are told to withhold our love or our very presence until our children "behave according to our wishes."  I find this behavioral strategy particularly noxious with children who have neurological challenges. When our kids are melting down and acting out it is really a cry for help, not abandonment. Thank goodness attachment parenting offers a totally different paradigm and has wonderful results associated with it...deeply bonded parents and children and kids who grow up confident and able to face challenges.