Tonight NoveMber wanted me to sing lullabies. No problem but I only know two or three and not all the words for those!

I looked online and found a really cool site that has songs for kids and played a few which calmed her down enough to sleep.

Some have words and some don’t, but still relaxing and fun music.

 http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/allsongs.html

Jenn Brockman

If you have a product or service that you feel would benefit our parents in any way, please send an email with information.

Your product or service might be in regard to helping parents relax, children learn, or the whole family enjoy their time together.

jenn @ paintedlaydies.com

Our esteemed and highly exalted family therapist (who is going to kick me for that title) got onto me about playing with my kids. I don’t know how to relate to NoveMber, who is Autistic or something really similar. Actually, she probably doesn’t relate to me and that makes it difficult to know how to play.

She has tangental thinking. She might get an idea in her head but what ever is going on in front of her right now gets put into the story weather it makes any sense or not. That makes it hard to follow a story line if we play house or dolls or even structured games like Monopoly for kids.

His suggestions to me were “So What?!”Well, the suggestion was really to play however I wanted to play and if she “gets” it, then fine, and if not, then fine too.  This is going to be a new skill for me to learn because I’m used to interaction in play, and every other thing in life.

You see, with Nove, she tells the story of how you will play her game, even if it was your idea in the first place and even if there are clearly rules in place that she knows about because she has played before. For instance, she likes to pretend we are pirates and that we sail and plunder and find treasures all over the world. However, she tells me what to say as if there were a script that I didn’t get to read. If I don’t go along with it, well woe is me because all hell breaks loose.

She has actually come a long way in cooperating with shared play, but I may never get to be the captain of this ship.

Jenn Brockman Co-Host

I recently read an article in a magazine that was focusing on parenting children with special needs, specifically autism. The article covered many things and had interviews with several moms.

One mom expressed a huge amount of guilt in regard to her son’s autism. This was somewhat foreign to me because while I have felt guilt, it was not in relation to my being the reason that my kids have issues. I did one day, for a minute or two, wonder if my being severely dehydrated with my second pregnancy had something to do with my youngest having delevopemental and anger issues. But that thought quickly passed. I had no control over my pregnancy - well at least not over the dehydration part. I couldn’t keep anything down with that one!

I do however, experience guilt on a daily basis in regard to my reactions to the behavior of my kids. My short temper and outbursts shame me, but I am trying my best to learn how to cope better. My girls are resilient though, and it seems that no matter how awful I feel that I’ve been with them, they still seem to love me and I hope they know that I love them too.

I was talking with co-host Dawn last week about wether we remember the bad stuff from our childhood. Sure I remember some of it, but for the most part, I remember how much my mom loved me. She was scary in that she had a lack of control over her emotions, and for some good reasons, but while I remember those outbursts, the love, care and help I got from her with everything is what stands out in my head.

So, try to put your guilt to good use and change some behaviors. We all have to work but maybe instead of insisting that you do something right now - go play with your kid for a minute or two when they ask. Get your work done when they don’t want anything to do with you and quit beating yourself up.

Jenn Brockman Co - Host

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Special-Needs-Kids

What a fabulous show we had today with Lisa!

She shared so much information and enlightened us about the Deaf community in general and about American Sign Language.

Take a look at  her video that answers some very common questions she was faced with as an adult and that she still encounters. http://codadiva.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/coda-faqs/

And check out her blog http://limelight-training.com/sounding/

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With American Sign Language being the third most used language in the United States chances are you’ve seen someone signing.

Our guest today is Lisa Callsen. She grew up with Deaf parents and in her mission to inform our hearing world about deafness and becoming more aware has become an advocate for the Deaf community.

Since April is National Autism Awareness month, Lisa will be talking to us not only about Deaf awareness but about how sign language can be used to communicate with Autistic children.