HOLIDAYS AROUND THE CORNER

Hi everyone! We hope that you enjoyed your weekend. Our weekend was filled with movies, exercise, birthday parties, laundry and then it hit us...the holidays are right around the corner. The fun, food, cooking, shopping and the STRESS!

We were speaking with one of our friends who has a child with special needs and she mentioned how large family/friends events can really be an added stress to her daughter who is intellectually disabled. The break from routine, the extra stimulation and the pressure of wanting things to go "right" start mounting up about now.

We spoke about some ways to handle this the top three are:

1.) Expect that not everything will go correctly - then the more things that go right are a bonus!

2.) Start discussing the plans now. Discuss who might be coming for a visit or where you might be going. Give your child a chance to get used to the idea.

3.) Set up a reward system. Several benchmarks that you set up througout the day that are at the expected behavior level for your child.

4.) Bonus number 4! Try to plan now to give yourself moments of time for you to recharge. We know that is hard to do but so important!

What are your strategies? We would enjoy hearing about them in the comments section.