Monday, February 21, 2011

Thomas & Friends - Search and Rescue Station

Thomas & Friends - Search and Rescue Station

Does your child love to play with Thomas and Friends items? Adam has been a huge fan ever since he could grasp a small Thomas engine. He has now found this online store and informed me about this link:)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Caregivers and Clothing

Check out the link http://www.downtownbryan.com to find local resources. Also, stop in and shop at the boutique, "Jim.n.i" to find all kinds of stuff for your want-to-do activities. I realize that as caregivers we want to be comfortable...so sometimes we wear low maintenance, loose fitting, and perhaps non-flattering clothing. This is something that I often do. Why not find comfy + nice looking outfits that help you look and feel as smart and creative as you are?

Monday, February 14, 2011

Video Games and Visual Timers

I recently found this blog post regarding video game addictions and it made me think of my son. With Autism, transitioning out of preferred activities can be a challenge and being able to tell time can be another challenge. The combination of these 2 areas of difficulty can be the ingredients for a massive meltdown. To help my child see how much time he has to enjoy his game and to prepare for the end of his game time, I set the video timer to the desired number of minutes. This timer is battery operated and there was one time when the battery died...giving my son an endless 10 minutes remaining:) What other ways and tools do you use to help your child or loved one transition out of video games?

Friday, February 11, 2011

Celebrating Adam

The running joke in our family is, because I failed to write in my pregnancy journal for Adam (like I had in my journal for Kenny) about hoping that he will not have Autism, that missed journal entry is the cause of Adam's autism. In reality, he has chromosome 15 abnormality and that is his link to Autism. His birthday is this month and I want to express my gratitude for all he has taught me, for all that he has made me laugh about and all he has showed me. Who do you celebrate??? I'd love to hear from you.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

QCharm's Wristband Vendor

We are also fortunate to live just north of Houston, TX where 24 Hour Wristband is located. They are a great resource for me and they can be one for you, too. They have great prices plus no minimum order quantity. They also provide us with our key chain bands (which are excellent for those who can't tolerate a wristband). What fund raisers or gift ideas do you have that would be perfect for either the wristbands alone or with our QCharm system?

How It Works - QCharm - College Station, TX

How It Works - QCharm - College Station, TX

Please check out our website's video to see how to attach the flat surfaced charms onto our 100% silicone wristbands.
I personally pad print Dyna Vox Mayer-Johnson Boardmaker images directly onto the charms. This means you can select from our list of nearly 200 ready -to-print Boardmaker images to customize a kit. Plus, you can select our pre-fabricated sets. (The Picture Communication Symbols (c) 2011 used under contractual agreement. All rights reserved worldwide.)

QCharm: Augmentative Communication

We are grateful for the opportunity to be a featured company on ASHA's Buyer's Guide. Our intention is to help you or your communication partner increase expressive/receptive language, ease of task transitions, tolerance of environmental triggers, and behavior modification. Please visit ASHA's Buyer's Guide for all kinds of important products.

Trixie St. Clair

About - QCharm - College Station, TX

About - QCharm - College Station, TX

We are Updating! Thank you for joining us here at QCharm. We are updating our website (http://www.qcharm.com) and services so that we can better serve caregivers of all types. Through our QCharm Portable and Visual Cuing System and my newly created SOAR program, we will help caregivers easily manage their have-to-do-tasks so they can perform their love-to-do activities. Enjoy, share and contribute to my blog posts so we can all learn and teach new and exciting ways to ease caregiver burden. If you are a caregiver, please let us know your top 3 tasks you need help with ie. someone to play Legos with your child while you sit down with a cup of coffee (in peace) or suggestions regarding products that make life easier. We will look for possible solutions and resources for you to investigate further.

You may also follow us and join us on twitter and facebook (QCharm, SOAR, Denise Meissner).

I look forward to meeting and working with you.

Sincerely,
Denise Meissner

Monday, February 7, 2011

SOAR Business Plan Drafted

Just submitted SOAR business plan draft to Our Savior's Lutheran Church's ministry committee chairperson. She will present it to OSLC's council members tomorrow. I am looking for those of you who can help me help caregivers manage their have-to-do daily tasks so they can more easily engage in their want-to-do tasks. Any products, services, links, information you can send me will be appreciated. I would also like to create an online community for members/visitors to interact.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Every Child’s a Star: The story behind the Autism Today logo

Every Child’s a Star: The story behind the Autism Today logo

For parents of a child (or children) with autism, this author seems to have a lot to offer. Check out her blog...I think you will be impressed.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

New Caregiver Support Program

I am creating a new caregiver support program which will unite caregivers with local & online resources.  Let me know if you are interested in providing activity management tips, links to online info, and even sample products/coupons. I will keep you posted on this program's progress. So far I have presented an outline to Our Savior's Lutheran Church's ministry committee (here in College Station, TX) and soon it will be presented to the church's council members.