The ups and downs of raising 4 amazing kids

I wish...

2011-12-16T07:19:00.001-05:00

Ashley's wish for Christmas.

Ashley gets to speak at last nights holiday concert priceless and an early Christmas present for me.

This Christmas I'm so thankful for Ashley's amazing grade one teachers. They go above and beyond each day to ensure Ashley is thriving at school and always included.

Santa Clause Parade

2011-11-23T11:26:00.001-05:00

We headed downtown to see the Toronto Santa Clause parade last weekend. It was so much fun!!!

Yummy Turtles! Can't wait to enjoy some of these over the holidays.

Hasbro's Mr Monopoly and My Little Pony

Someone named Ashley was so excited when she saw this float coming!!

You can tell she's a Princess!

She doesn't need a crown.

She'll turn the world around.

You can see it in her smile!

and the way she wears her hair.

The look on Ashley face when she saw the Barbie float above was priceless and worth the trek downtown and the long drive home. She's hoping for a copy of Princess Charm school and Barbie Blair from Santa Clause! Santa can you add that to your list please? She's been a really good girl this year.

Kung Fu Panda was a hit!

Super Mario came over and gave Taylor a high five!! He enjoyed that as he is a lover of Wii

Look how much he enjoyed Super Mario.

Everybody enjoyed the Lego float!

Kermit and the muppets too!

When you see Mrs Clause you now Santa is just around the corner!!!!

The man of the hour Santa himself!!!

I feel like it's time to start decorating and shopping. Tell me have you started?

Ashley 6 years old, a public speaker and self advocate!

2011-11-18T13:06:00.001-05:00

The Quest 2011

It was such a privilege this week for Ashley and I to share her road to inclusion story, at an international conference for educators called "The Quest" hosted by York Region Public School Board.

I was emotional delivering this speech as this was truly a tribute to Ashley's entire team of teachers, aids, and therapists and only with them working together and believing in my little girl is this such a success story. There was a 1000+ educators in the room they gave us quite the audience. Public speaking was new to both Ashley and I but we were both very passionate about our message.

Ashley's road to inclusion. A road I hope many other kids will travel.

Myself and Ashley getting ready to speak!! We were all so excited!

My words;
My daughter you're so amazing.
You were born into a storm. Coming into this world, so tiny, and yet instantly fighting for your life.

I hope this world can see how wonderful you are.

Your life started in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for months followed by daily therapy to learn to do what comes so easy to most, walking, communicating, eating and even holding a toy. 

Instead of playmates you had dedicated nurses and therapists.  Instead of walks in the park and rides in a stroller you went to therapy, doctor visits and experienced long hospital stays

Ashley speaks -

 I just want to run and play.

 I have something to say.

Then I continue to share...

When Ashley entered Mrs. Gambino’s kindergarten class, she had her challenges but was welcomed by her teacher just the same as her classmates.

September Junior Kindergarten

Ashley’s speech therapist Mrs. Visconti brought her augmentative communication devices. She gave Ashley a voice for the first time!

And if that wasn't great enough that she now has a voice!

Mrs. Visconti also worked with

Ashley's teachers on appropriate IEP goals that were measurable and attainable.   She helped Ashley's teachers find the appropriate curriculum even beyond communication but for language and math. 

So Ashley has a fabulous IEP!   Ashley's teachers and Aids were excited with this guidance and modified teaching methods they followed thru and worked hard with Ashley each day. Ashley was able to make progress with all this support and has had her IEP expanded. This team work is the KEY to successful inclusion.



Dream team meeting!!!


Her   classmates connected when Ashley was able to comment and ask them questions.

Ashley was embraced by neighbourhood friends and blossomed through the encouragement of her teachers and classmates. 

Seeing Ashley doing so well in kindergarten, her father and I decided NO special classes, NO limits, No labels!   She like her brothers has so much potential and the sky is the limit.

We feel it’s important that she learn how to interact with the real world and not be sheltered.   Most importantly we want her to believe in herself, and all of her abilities!

Ashley needs to be surrounded by able-bodied peers and this is hard to provide in a separated special education classroom. We feel she will do best if she exposed to typical classroom environment where her peers can be her friends and role models.

Ashley - At school they gave me a voice. My name

is Ashley.  Will you be my friend?

Inclusion in education for Ashley is the beginning of inclusion for the rest of her life. Just as we all want to belong, Ashley wants to belong and Ashley wants to be included.


I don’t want the school to focus on guarding and protecting her. I want the school to focus on giving her lots of chances and choices.

They have assisted her to walk daily and in response, she led her entire class into kindergarten graduation with her walker.

She was given a simple step-by-step communication device and is now learning to use an iPad with even more options to communicate.

Ashley has been given the opportunity to stay for grade one, and we are so appreciative of the incredible support she has received in Ms. Bloom’s class.

We hope to see Ashley’s at this year’s primary skate days and were excited when Janice Lee the school’s physiotherapist suggested of course Ashley could skate with a sledge.


Who would have thought when Ashley was born that she would be up here giving a speech to all of you.  Ashley loves music and I’m sure would be thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in primary choir. I don’t see anything as impossible for my little girl as long teachers and support staff, are open minded and welcoming Ashley can do anything!

I’m confident Ashley will be successful at her home school for all of her elementary years.

I look forward to seeing how OUR family, OUR resource teams and OUR school will continue to collaborate.

With careful planning and resource management Ashley will benefit with greater access to the full curriculum throughout elementary school and even high school.

How will YOU help me to make this happen?

Ashley's closing words;

I love being in Ms. Bloom’s class.

I love books. I really want to learn to read.

I enjoy going to birthday parties and playing with my friends in the yard at recess. I just want to be a kid.

And will you be my friend? Please

We received a standing ovation from all the educators in the room. !!!

My public speaker just 6 years and advocating for herself and others in her position look what she can do!

I'm so thankful for this opportunity. I hope we inspired at least one parent or teacher in the room to see a child with a number of needs as an active learner and raise their expectations for all children to the sky!

Special thank you to Erin S. one of Ashley's friends and a neighbour who recorded Ashley's thoughts for this presentation on Ashley's step by step. It was very sweetly done. By the way Ashley's story was just one of 5 stories shared in this dramatic presentation. I will do my best to find out when this will air on ROGERS TV channel 63 if anyone is interested in watching this.

With walking comes other privileges

2011-10-31T21:49:00.001-04:00

Like Trick or Treating!!

Ashley loved walking down the street bumping into friends from class, she was very happy to be out and about collecting candy too.

Here's Ashley with her brothers all very excited to get going this evening.

By the way we have way too much candy here right now.

My plea to the premier

2011-10-18T06:25:00.000-04:00

Few people have that special touch, a miraculous skill, that relentless dedication to their profession that make an incredible difference in peoples' lives. This special lady Bernie who is a paediatric physiotherapist has all those qualities. My daughter had the good fortune to start seeing Bernie when she was just a few months old. She was very fragile and her future was very uncertain. Ashley needed Bernie's help to gain head control, roll over, use her arms to reach, and bear weight through her legs. I began to learn that she is one of the very best in her field and Ashley was so very lucky to have her on her team.

Because of this lady, Ashley is now a walker, and even a soccer player. Ashley has a new level of independence with her walker and every new accomplishment is like a gift. This did not come easy for Ashley but with Bernie's skills and advocating that Ashley received the adequate number if visits to make it happen, Ashley has now received a new level of freedom. You can't image how shocked and saddened I was to learn that Bernie's contract was recently cancelled by 1 to 1 Rehab. We need more physiotherapist like Bernie in the public sector.

At present CCAC's and Children's Treatment Centre’s in Ontario look more at the number of visits and block the child for treatment, rather then focusing on the child's ability to progress and to attain outcomes goals. There is just not enough funding for physiotherapy to provide the level of therapy to make a difference for the growing number of special needs kids in Ontario. We are lucky in that we can afford to supplement the government therapy with private therapy. That was also needed to get Ashley where she is today. Not all families are able to supplement the government therapy with private physiotherapy.

I wish I knew how to let the provincial government know many more kids need more therapy and that it really pays off in the long run. Many more skilled physiotherapist need to be hired to meet their needs. Kids who can walk and who are not confined to wheelchairs will function better and be happier adults. They will require less expensive health care and equipment if they can move about independently.

Dalton McGuinty, I know you want to build a brighter future for Ontario. Please don't forget about my girl. If it were not for Bernie, Ashley would not be where she is today. Bernie is someone that you want on your therapy team. There are many more kids in York region that would have benefitted from her service. Not all parents can afford private therapy. Physiotherapy should not be a luxury for kids who cannot walk, hold up your head, feed yourself or speak.

Kids here need more therapy and this isn't just a physiotherapy problem, it can be said for occupational and speech unfortunately. Ashley is enjoying and benefiting greatly from her current block of PT at CTN and but it is only an 8 week block. Ashley will have to sit out at least 8 weeks before starting again. Ashley will spend more time out of therapy then in therapy in the next year. Image if she regresses and doesn't have that opportunity to learn how to walk independently. Ontario has amazing therapists who are forced to work privately and many families can't afford this cost. Please don't let these children down. It's an uphill battle just to be a kid.

You can see what Ashley can learn to do when receiving on-going therapy in her progress videos here, here and here.

A treadmill work out

2011-10-03T11:00:00.001-04:00

September passed by in a total blur for me even though three kids where in school full time there was no time to blog. My days are filled with phone calls and meetings. There seems to be something on my calendar each evening too. Ashley's doing fabulously with the new schedule and managed very nicely to give up her naps she is actually sleeping 12 hours each night which leaves her very happy and giggling each day. Dropping the nap seems to work really nicely.

Last week Ashley had back to back OT and PT at CTN. It was honestly much more then I expected and Ashley loved it. She was on the treadmill for 15 minutes straight and they kept speeding it up from 0.4 miles an hour to 0.8 miles an hour at the end her feet were moving at a nice pace and she was smiling the entire time. I take her on a treadmill at home but I never challenged her to move her feet that fast and she would have short breaks at home as my arms would get tired just supporting her. Mommy needs to get in shape. I was surprised to see how easily she handled the faster speeds and her heart rate was good the entire time.

She also crawled up a hill, worked on balance on the trampoline, crawled across a very big bean bag walked along the parallel bars and laterally along the edge of a table. Perhaps a few other things I'm forgetting too. It was a great workout and all this following a session of OT, plus a morning at school too.

OT was very busy too with targeted drawing, throwing, stacking and locating beads in putty. I have a feeling her new OT had more tricks up her sleeve if there was more time as there was a few washroom breaks but it was really great. Ashley has not had OT since preschool. I feel this session was long overdue and with guidance and practise I'm sure Ashley's fine motor skills will improve.

Ashley is already looking forward to returning CTN this week.

School here we come!

2011-09-07T01:45:00.000-04:00

My first grader

Grade 6 and Grade 4 for these two.

We live close and thought we would walk - Ashley giggled.

Both Ashley and I enjoyed having Grammy and Grampy here for the first day.

She continued with that giggle in class too.

I hope the rest of the year will go as smoothly as the first day.

Does summer fun really have to end?

2011-08-29T13:58:00.000-04:00

Last week Ashley attended her second session of Soccer camp it was fabulous even the second time around. Special needs soccer camp was the summer highlight for Ashley. It was top notch. I blogged about this back in July when she attended the first session. The august session was just as wonderful. Up on her feet walking, running and scoring goals plus time with friends what could be better.

These two high school girls in green shirts were very sweet and received volunteer hours to help Ashley run and score goals. YAY!!!

One of Ashley's new buddies...

Ashley with all the boys .. there was a few girls but boys definitely out number the girls. She does like boyfriends especially this little boy Sean in the chair next to her..

Ashley has another medal and beautiful trophy. The girl needs a trophy shelf now! How great is that.

The boys even tagged along and enjoyed the beautiful park as well as cheering on their sister.

Getting ready for school with some haircuts all around, check out these new looks.

Too cool for school or what? Miss Ashley is not a fan of hair cuts as you can see here.

Our evening at the park was fabulous. Even if we need to bundle up a bit now.

School starts in one week right after labour day and I'm so not ready for that. Please tell me summer is going to go on for another month or so. I need to get into that daily routine of getting 3 of 4 kids up and off to school. I'm trying to get the kids to bed early each evening which is easy for Ashley but her brothers would love to stay up all hours of the night. Tell me are you ready for school? What will Taylor and I do while Ashley and her brothers in School all day ever day? Things are going to change around here oh my.

Hanging out - video

2011-08-19T09:48:00.003-04:00

and check this out Ashley also loves walking around with her iPad in her princess basket preferably while Justin is singing Never Say Never.

Why the iPad and Proloquo2go is a definite win win

2011-08-10T00:45:00.004-04:00

Yesterday Ashley was not her usual self at breakfast not really finishing her toast, which she asked for using prologo2go or interested in other yummy options like berries or yogurt being offered. Since she was so unhappy eating I placed her on the floor with her toys and her iPad. She got right to work telling mommy and her brother, what was up she quickly went to the something is wrong, then something hurts message. Then repeated pressing it until Mommy came right back over and her older observant brother Damon was telling Mom Ashley hurts hurry up. Both Damon and I didn’t notice right away but we looked her over and her ankle was swollen. Also present tiny scratch marks and little bug bite. She had been bitten by a bug and bug bites and her don’t mesh well she was upset and crying. I don’t know how I missed it when I dressed her just before breakfast either if it was there at the time. But I was very thankful she was able to tell me so effectively this would not have been possible without the ipad and this amazing app! I would likely have thought she didn’t sleep well she’s constipated who knows what when your child is non verbal sometimes even Moms don’t have the answers which is painful for all involved and very frustrating for my girl at times. As I see Ashley getting better and better with this new tool. I’m very thankful she has a way to express herself it is such a gift.

She was even trying to bum scoot with her foot in the air to avoid using it. Luckily after some Benadryl and a number of hours her ankle was back to normal. But I was very pleased with my girl, her ipad and amazing app proloquo2go for letting this mom know what was going on.

At a quick glance it's hard to notice a bug bite if your child isn't pointing it out you. You can't see it too much in the pictures I took but she was holding it up in the air while bum scooting yesterday. I'm pretty proud of her for communicating this to her brother and I so effectively.

Mission iPossible - is raising funds to put iPads in some other very deserving kids hands so they can communicate just this type of thing or just the fact that despite being non verbal they sure do know their stuff. So hope on over and read all about their mission too.

Hot weekend at home

2011-07-25T08:12:00.001-04:00

My little fisherman in need of the lake.

We set up a pool and played some soccer!

Such a caring brother making sure Ashley gets her super girl juice aka power aid. Not a usually drink for our high cal diet girl but something her older brothers love. She managed to have a sip.

I wish she would get thirsty especially when it's this hot.

Hose water was a little too chilly to climb right in.

One other way we cooled down this weekend. My new favourite place MARBLE SLAB yum!

Yesterday my husband shopped, prepared and cooked up a fabulous bbq dinner. It was so yummy and sweet especially the Malibu Sunset cocktails all this to help me celebrate my 40th birthday last week. I felt very loved.

My neighbour brought these over for my birthday too. Such a nice surprise. I have the very best neighbour.

What's happening around here... photo blog.

2011-07-21T13:18:00.001-04:00

My boys can't seem to get enough of fishing lately

Damon's here hoping to reel in something big.

James was pretty excited about this catch. Which he believes to be a small mouth bass.

My amazing husband thought our dock needed to be leveled.. this was the perfect ~~make work~~ project for a heat wave. He is the best husband in the world always working so hard to look after us, our home and cottage.

Here's Ashley hanging out .. we really need some cushions for these chairs.

Taylor enjoys golfing especially if his brothers are going to retrieve his balls. See how far he got on the dock. He will have this finished by the end of this weekend I'm sure.

Taylor is not a fan of the water despite the soaring temps. It's 100F / 38C in Canada today wow.

Moonsand was a hit.

These pictures are from last week but I had to post them. My girl with her trophy and medal she is a soccer super star!!!

Lastly one way to handle the heat a water table. This pick taken when the grass was still green. Now after a week of extreme heat it's a nice shade of yellow. So lovely.

How's your summer going? Love to hear how your surviving the heat.

Ashley Scores!

2011-07-12T21:48:00.000-04:00

Today something very good happened Special Needs Soccer Camp.

Ashley was full of giggles the entire time. She loves to be up and about she was on her feet for nearly 3 hours. Walking, running, chasing the ball and scoring some goals.

The camp was first class it was hosted at a beautiful artificial turf field, lots of volunteers to help the kids Ashley had 2 or 3 helpers at times. Everyone was so friendly talking to Ashley, encouraging her and cheering for her on. The coaches were great at keeping the kids laughing with jokes too. They had a nice tent and chairs and lots of cold water for breaks. Ashley got a great t-shirt. All the kids and parents had a great time. It's was just so cool to see her playing soccer. She goes again for the next two mornings it's just a 3 day camp but it runs again next month and they are still looking for more kids to attend so as long as we are not away she will be there for sure. Another really nice thing this camp is free for special needs kids all the cost of this camp are covered by corporate sponsors. The many helpers are also volunteer. It's really sweet. Thanks YRSC. There is so much good out there which was refreshing after this past week in blogworld and the never ending saga of the non-exsistant ipads.

2011-07-10T22:04:00.001-04:00

Still feeling bad about the whole ipad thing but I took my warning post down as felt I was very hard on him and that's really not my style honest. If your interested in this drama please read about this on these two blogs they have much more grace and writing talent.

Ken - Blogzilly - mission iPossible

Ellen's LoveThatMax

Spent the day watching my boys fish this weekend. We stopped at Canadian Tire and picked up two new rods - turns out Taylor really needs a fishing rod too so I'll have to see if I can find a toy/rod for him no hook for sure. Ashley prefers to sit lake side and read or play barbie with mom.

This is what Taylor and Damon did for an hour while Ashley was inside doing physiotherapy. It was fun for all as Ashley enjoys PT and the boys had a great time on this trampoline the hour which went by in a flash. We survived the first week of summer break nicely.

These two are too cute for words.

Can't wait to see what fun we have this week .. Ashley is attending Special Needs Soccer Camp.

Turns out there will be no ipad!

2011-07-09T10:07:00.019-04:00

Well I learned that Ashley is not going to get her iPad this week and I should have known weeks ago it was way to good to be true. I was foolishly blogged about this ipad win here and here. This person was very questionable and blogged for three years about his special needs daughter and used many giveaways and even guest blog posts on famous bloggers sites to generate traffic. Then he asked for small donations with chances to win expensive products to get people to CHIPIN to a fund for his disabled daughter. I noticed he was frequently reseting his CHIPIN back to zero over the last few months. Another obvious clue I over looked but thought was strange at the time. He would tell the ipad winners that if he just collected $200 more his bosses would include extras. He was very subtle in his requests for funds from the winners never asking too directly for money. He was also always telling us sad stories of his child's suffering epilesy and needing brain surgery. I reported this person to the RCMP here in Canada but we have no way of knowing who he is except by his email address.

Please be aware if you don't know someone in real life and they are looking for your money beware. I won a few prizes on the internet from legit sources and real people they never ask for money even to ship across the border and always send the prizes right away. They also never ask you to even blog about your win you just do to thank them once the prize arrives.

I never personally donated any money to his CHIPIN but I feel sick to my stomach that I promoted it here on my blog and posted in FB and retweeted some of his tweets. He would ask us to do that stuff for him. The iPad winners were being used to help promote something that's so questionable. Which makes me upset that I took so long to realize this. There will be more posts about this on the other winners blogs I'm sure. One of my FB friends made a small donation to his fund to apply to win an ipad in his second round of ipad giveaways. I feel very bad about that. I should have been a blaring clue he was planning to have a second round of ipad giveaways and charge a small fee to enter weeks ago before sending out this first round of ipads. Not to mention the value of the package he was planning on shipping to 40 people I feel very foolish.

Please do not donate money on-line if you don't know the people in-real life no matter how long you have been reading there blog there is lots of this going on I'm so sorry to say. Never enter internet contest where you have to make a donation. There are lots of legit ones you can enter that just ask you to leave a comment or Like them on face book or tweet about them

Please spread the word to your blogging buddies. It's too easy to donate a few dollars for the chance for a wonderful prize that could be just imaginary and there are all kinds of wonderful legit charities that need our donation funds. When I reported this it to anti-fraud police in Canada they said it was very important to spread the word. It's also import to report anything like this stuff to the police. This makes me want to stop blogging which I love doing.

updated 07/10 with latest email from.

I thought I should add this last email from Mike to my post that went out to all the winners yesterday. I truly hope he is on the up and up and this is just a series of unfortunate events but my faith in him is dwindling. If the ipad does show up I'll be sure to post a photo and apologize about this post however I don't really believe one is on it's way at this point.

From: marissasbunny
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2011 22:06:03 -0400
Subject: Update 7/9 10:05 PM

When we selected the final 40 awardees back on March 21st from a pool of 311 applicants and provided them to the selection committee, we had no idea that all the finalists would be awarded at that time. We were originally expecting 5, then 10, then 20, then finally 35. During the determination of the awardees, the entire selection committee was so touched by everybody's stories, they decided to tell me in early May that they would award all 40 finalists the ipads and applications. The winners were publicly announced on May 11th. Through the rest of May and through June 22nd we collected iPad application lists to pre-purchase for the winners, and other than some surmountable legal issues we were informed all was proceeding reasonably smoothly.

Through all the escalations of awards, this has proven to be a monumental task, much more than anybody expected initially and we probably didn't have adequate consistent manpower available. We live in Northern Virginia and I telecommute to North Carolina. Application purchase, box packing, and shipping of the iPads with accessories was supposed to have been handled at the North Carolina location. We've recently discovered that many mistakes were made by a variety of employees and not reported to us even after we became directly involved with the principals. We were informed the iPads had shipped, and given our family's ongoing health concerns, perhaps we didn't supervise the situation as well as we could have. On the night of July 6th, we received an anonymous threatening email related to the giveaway and promptly informed the awardees of the email.

After consultation with law enforcement and legal representation, the decision was made to temporarily halt the iPad shipping process based on the threat. Since then, we have received some information as to the origin and nature of the threat and it has been provided to members of law enforcement. While we haven't been supplied a timetable, as soon as the threat evaluation is complete we fully intend to closely and in person supervise future shipping of the iPads to the awardees as long as they had no involvement in the threats. Verifiable tracking information omitting awardees' personal information will be provided to any interested party during the shipping process. When the evaluation is complete and shipping recommences, an announcement will be made at marissasbunny.com.

While my goal has always been to help the special needs community, I'd be remiss in my duties as a husband and a Father to not take care of my own family's safety first due to the still unclear nature of the threat at the time of this post. That said, we remain committed to the cause, and anxiously await reports in the not too distant future of iPads arriving and photos of their first use.

Summer time is here! Photo blogging

2011-06-20T20:47:00.001-04:00

A walk around the block.

A fun Dance class our city and CTN put on but Ashley was wishing a few more friends were there to Dance with.

Taylor's new favourite place

Our favourite visitors...

Kindness of strangers - Helping my girl

2011-06-13T23:10:00.003-04:00

Ashley's Voice is getting a big upgrade!

I’m not even sure where to begin with this post as my girl has been blessed by so many totally strangers this past month who have heard her story and wanted to help. On Mothers’s Day we learned Ashley won her very own iPad2 + Apps in a merit based giveaway from MarissasBunny.com Infantile Spasms Awareness blog. Mike Marissa’s Dad and his employer not only gifted my special girl with a iPad2 but another 40 families with iPads and they have set up a foundation to carry on doing the same thing for many other families to help make kids lives with disabilities better.

Good news keeps coming…

Late last week I found out I won a Facebook Contest I entered from FortZed Challenge for a $50 Otterbox gift certificate. Ashley is my lucky charm I think but I was shocked that I’d win her an iPad2 then 50 towards a fantastic cover!

Otterbox iPad2 Defender case

This story gets even better, Ariana from FortZed challenge loved Ashley’s story and shared it with Otterbox. Kristen from Otterbox PR contacted me and said she too was amazing by Ashley and wanted to send us their super tough iPad Defender Case free of charge and suggested we use the gift certificate to order the Otterbox Utility Latch. WOW! I’m totally blown away at all this kindness and generosity of so many others that are totally strangers and want to see my girl have a voice. This iPad will be be Ashley voice and travel everywhere with her she didn’t qualify for funding for dynamic speech equipment in Canada as she would first have to prove she could use it. Which she definitely can but needs lots of hands on practice to learn to move from screen to screen and locate her choices. She need to show them she can do that before the gov't would fund one. They were not going to give her a chance not yet anyways.

Here's a peak at Otterbox's Utility Series Latch it allows you attach iPad to many things.. I'm sure we will put this to very good use.

We did set aside some funds to purchase an ipad just a week before we found out we won one from Marissa bunny so Ashley been practicing and doing really well with choice making. However with 3 brothers there is a lot of demand for the iPad and it’s getting used by her two year old brother the most. When Marissa Bunny iPad arrives (there has been paperwork delays due to Apple concerns with giveaways but it’s on it’s way this week) It will be dedicated to Ashley and at her side at all times. Her brothers will have the other one to play with.

I just had to share all this as I feel totally thrilled that my girl is benefiting from all this generosity. Raising 4 kids and having therapy bills is not cheap so all this is greatly appreciated.

Don’t miss Ashley's graduation video I posted this week too. I’m so proud of this girl we purchased her walker for her just before she started JK and I remember standing outside with her at the walker on the first day of Junior Kindergarten we needed to assist her to balance and move the walker in the door that first day. Someone had to hang on to her and the walker. I’m sure a few would have thought she's not ready for that. However with daily practice she learned to use the walker totally independently last January and just the other day she led her class in to the gym for graduation. It was so incredible. I know with her new iPad she needs hand over hand direction right now to navigate the speech device but with time and daily practice I’m sure she will get it. She can independently make her own choices on pages but can’t quite navigate page to page due to the fast speed. I’m so confident in her and super excited and pleased so many strangers are so happy to help her gain her voice. My husband and I are so humbled by all this generosity.

Be sure to check out Otterbox's amazing cases, like and share FortZed Challenge facebook page and read all about Marissa at MarissasBunny.com . Just today Marissa's Bunny is launching there next iPad giveaway so if your child needs one be sure to jump over there and check it out. If your so lucky you will be blown away by this families kindness and eagerness to help others despite all they are going through with there sweet little girl.

Our Graduate - Amazing video!!

2011-06-09T19:55:00.001-04:00

What a special day this was. Our girl WALKED in and led her entire class up to the front to graduate from senior kindergarten. She just learned to walk with the walker this past January. Her teachers and peers always knew how to support, encourage and allow her to shine. This day was no exception.

I will be forever grateful to Mrs G. Ms F and Mrs L for how very far she has come over these past two years. She's grown in leaps and bounds and has made gains in all areas. I couldn't have pictured her walking up just this past december with out someone holding on to her. I'm truly sad to see kindergarten end but I know she has so much to look forward to in grade one. Inclusion at it's very best!

Area track meet

2011-06-07T16:58:00.001-04:00

It was hot out today and James was on his game. I used to run track in school too so this brought back a lot of memories. James won his heat in the 100m dash. James is wearing black and is in lane 3.

it was a very hot day to be hanging around outside but Canadians are not suppose to complain about the heat so I'll stop there. Not to spoil the video but there was 8 heats and only the top 5 times went on to the final so James didn't get run the final but lots of fun was had and he was pretty pleased with his results.

100 m dash - check this out from Sherry C on Vimeo.
James in Black wins his heat in the 100 m dash at the area track meet today.

June already and lots has been happening around here.

2011-06-01T14:01:00.001-04:00

Last week my oldest turned 11 I have a preteen. We had some very special visitors Grammy and Grampy to celebrate his birthday.

Pancake breakfast for my 11 year old. OMG almost a teenager.

Check out this cake my mom made this for him it has boiled icing, tons of candy decorations, best of all according to my boys it was a money cake with loads of toonies ($2 coins) hidden inside.

Yummy!!! Thanks Mom for making this it was a big hit!

Are you wondering what you get an 11 year old with loads of energy well?

A new POGO stick which he loves and gets a real work out on it too. He also received some money which he used to buy a spy gear watch and the new Alex Rider Novel. He was pretty happy with his presents.

Last week I also received these beautiful flowers for being a super mom from these ladies I adore.

I wish I had taken more pictures when Aunt Colleen and Aunt Betty dropped by for lunch which they even brought with them. I was totally spoiled for the day. Their visit was such a treat for me and the little ones look how happy Ashley was to see Auntie Betty and Taylor loved playing with Auntie Colleen.

Unfortunately my older two were at school and husband working but it was short oh so sweet.

The ABC's of IPRC - Wonderful advice for Ontario students I learned from Janis Jaffe White

2011-05-19T14:47:00.008-04:00

I was lucky enough to go and listen to Janis Jaffe White from Toronto Family Network a few weeks back when she visited my daughters local treatment centre. CTN (Children's Treatment Centre has been doing an amazing job of keeping us parents informed and educated on everything from the best bike or how to access camp or recreation programs and best of all how to work co-oportiviely with your school to ensure your child's needs are met and they are set up to succeed.

I want to share here some tips I learned form Janis. If you live in Ontario and your child has an IEP you will likely find some great information here.

A) Aware - be involved and aware with what going on at school for your child. Be informed on the current education law. Highlights of Regulation 181/ Section 98 also read this document here in all it's detail Education Act 181/98

B) Be there! - never pass up on an IEP or IPRC meeting at school. It's your chance to ask your questions, advocate for your child and sing your child's strengths, affinities and needs. Some schools may tell you that the these meetings are not needed after the initial meeting but there is usually value in sitting down even if placement for your child isn't changing at least once a year.

C) Communicate. Share your ideas, ask questions and listen.

If your child has additional needs she requires good teaching, differentiated instructions but they also need able bodied mentors. All these things can be provided at your home school with your child's siblings and neighbourhood friends by their side.

You should never waive your annual IPRC meeting, you should use this time to discuss your child's strengths and needs. With your written permission the IEP can also be discussed at the IPRC meeting.
According to regulations 181 section 98 an educational assessment can be done annually prior to the IPRC meeting and the results can also be discussed at the meeting. Your school my say this is impossible as there is a big wait list for that type of assessment but it does not always have to be formal physiological assessment. It could be a simple math or writing assessment completed by the home room teacher or SERT. This meeting should be more then 15 minutes if it's set up that way and you didn't finish you have a right to ask to have the meeting reconvene. You may want to tell them that you looking to have a longer discussion if they initially set up a 15 minute meeting.

Also according to 181/98 you are required to get a copy of all documents 10 days prior to the meeting.
At the meeting you will also meet and decide if your child should be an exceptional student.

Your allowed to bring a support person with you, if your child has complex needs there is likely someone on your child's team that supports you that could come with you. This support person could be a neighbour or friend even. You can even print out the education act and bring that with you.

You also have a right to ask for an alternate time if they date and time the meeting is set up for doesn't work with your schedule. I won't want this meeting to happen without myself present for my daughter and I'm sure you won't want to miss it either.

If your told your child should be in a community classroom and you have a choice or classroom A classroom B. PLEASE know there is always another option your home school is also your child's right and is always an option to your child!

Probably the most important thing I learned is don't be shy to tell the school you know your rights sometimes that is necessary to share. Goes a long way although most educators want to do right by our kids there is a lot of pressure in my daughters school board for these kids to attend community classes whether or not it's part of the child or family vision. This pressure was their even though she was making great strides right here at her home school in kindergarten.

Hopefully your still reading this long post as this part is great.

Undue Hardship Standard

Under the Code, every student with a disability is entitled to accommodation up to the point of undue hardship. The Code sets out three factors that may be considered in assessing whether an accommodation would cause undue hardship: cost; outside sources of funding, if any; and, health and safety requirements, if any.

Consultees told the Commission that school boards frequently cite limited resources as a reason for not being able to provide appropriate accommodations to students with disabilities. The Commission’s Disability Policy makes it clear that “whether an accommodation is ‘appropriate’ is a determination completely distinct and separate from whether the accommodation would result in ‘undue hardship’.”94 The legal duty of a school board to accommodate students with disabilities is not discharged unless the school board can make out an undue hardship defence based on costs. In order to claim the undue hardship defence, the school board has the onus of proof. As stated in the Commission’s Disability Policy, “The nature of the evidence required to prove undue hardship must be objective, real, direct, and, in the case of cost, quantifiable. The person responsible for accommodation must provide facts, figures, and scientific data or opinion to support a claim that the proposed accommodation in fact causes undue hardship.”95

The Supreme Court of Canada has said that, “one must be wary of putting too low a value on accommodating the disabled. It is all too easy to cite increased cost as a reason for refusing to accord the disabled equal treatment”.96 The cost standard is therefore a high one.

Regulation 181 / 98

The undue hardship law applies to all accommodations so even if your child has an intellectual disability and needs an EA they can not tell you the reason is due to limited resources or funding.

Here's another good link too "The Blame Game" Are school problems my kids fault?

Isn't this great stuff. I found this information to be so valuable to me.

Should I

2011-05-18T21:39:00.001-04:00

Trim this beautiful hair?

-- Post From My iPhone

Farm Trip

2011-05-18T12:27:00.004-04:00

On the one nice sunny days this month Ashley, Taylor and I went to the farm with her Kindergarten class. It was fun to pet all the baby animals and feed the chickens.

Love this girl!!!

Checking out the big 6 month old pigs.

Baby goats

Feeding the chicks

Learning about eggs...

WHY INCLUSION BEGINS IN KINDERGARTEN...Or Doesn’t

2011-05-16T11:49:00.001-04:00

WHY INCLUSION BEGINS IN KINDERGARTEN...Or Doesn’t

By Charlene Comstock-Galagan

Revised February 2008

BECAUSE EVERY CHILD DESERVES A CHANCE TO LIVE LARGE: INCLUSIVE EDUCATION MEANS GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Parents and professionals must practice having great expectations for all children. Expectations for learning are sometimes lowered due to a desire to protect kids if they learn or look different than other students. As a result, parents and teachers may unconsciously limit chances for kids and the kids may be “living down” instead of “living up” to our expectations. Maintaining low expectations for kids does not preserve their dignity: having great expectations for children affords them dignity, challenges our perceptions and gives us new problems to solve.

We must constantly guard against protecting our own perceptions of what kids can do, be, or learn. We must take care that we do not invest more in protecting our comfortable perceptions than in giving children many chances and choices.

BECAUSE INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FROM THE START MEANS INCLUSION IN THE FUTURE: THE ROAD IS CHOSEN EARLY

We need to begin including kids with labels in kindergarten because by placing them in a given setting, we are setting expectations for their futures. By choosing one road, we necessarily reject the other. Robert Frost reminds us of the long-term effects of our choices when he says “Two roads diverged in a wood. I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

We must educate kids in learning environments which look like the ones we hope they will live in as adults, because as adults they are likely to live in environments which look like the ones in which they were educated. The adult-life match for segregated elementary education is the institution and the sheltered workshop. By beginning from kindergarten to include kids with labels, we ensure that our children who “get to go” to inclusive schools will, after graduation, “get to go” to real life.

Kids who are included from the start are welcome in their community and aren’t forced to depend largely on human service systems for their lifelines. Including all kids with labels in kindergarten builds natural supports for their futures, a process that takes time and shared experience. Being included builds natural supports that will prove critical to their success in community living in the future. Being included with 22 kids in their class means your child is a known and recognized member of a group of kindergartners in the school community. It means that 22 families in that community can interact with her.

In one week, the kid who is included gets many opportunities to make connections in public with families who know and accept her as a kindergartner. These families are excellent community educators, and more effective than any public service announcement. Each time they interact in public with their labeled friend who happens to have disabilities,they are delivering a clear message to other people that interaction with this person is okay.

BECAUSE INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FROM THE START MEANS LOTS OF PEER MODELS

Kids learn from each other. Models for kids in segregated settings are often other students with learning language or behaviour difficulties. Constant learning opportunities for kids with labels in regular activities are created by peers in regular classes, at lunch, at recess, in the halls, at assemblies, in P.E., at music, and in the bathroom line.

Kids with labels included in regular activities have access to different peers in many contexts throughout each day. In typical educational settings, students with labels have as many as 22 learning peers, and many potential opportunities to see and hear those peers engaging, with various degrees of success, in social or academic learning. Peers provide models as they react to and interact with each other, teachers, materials, and information. Even the most talented, dedicated special education teacher with the most innovative materials and equipment is unable to provide these models in a setting exclusively for students with disabilities.

BECAUSE INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FROM THE START MEANS EVERYBODY WINS

All children benefit from sharing educational experiences with each other, no matter what their needs or labels. It seems sensible to allow children those benefits from the beginning, especially kids with labels who may need more time to take advantage of those benefits.

Kids without labels also benefit when kids with labels are included in regular settings from the beginning of their educational careers. They benefit directly when they are allowed to be peer tutors. When we use students as peer tutors, or learning sharers, we provide the tutor an opportunity to process learned information in a new way, a sense of mastery and accomplishment and reinforcement for the value in helping others.

If kids are classmates from kindergarten throughout their schooling, with good modeling from teachers, regular kids will come to expect and will have many opportunities to practice re-explaining, adapting, and trying various ways to get kids with labels to participate or partially participate in learning activities. They come to expect modifications and accept it as routine. All children must be prepared to cope with different learning styles and abilities of coworkers in the adult work world.

Kids without disability labels, although we do not think of this often, will grow to be the neighbors, community members (doctors, grocers, dentists, mechanics, shop owners, church members, hobby and club members), legislators, and most of all PARENTS of kids with disabilities.

Kids with labels, who are segregated for learning purposes, are often not seen by their peers as learners. They are seen only as recess goers or lunch eaters, largely as passive, rather than active participants in school life. When kids with labels are included in regular

education settings, other kids see them actively engaged in the process of learning. The kids with labels get validated with the status of “learner”, and the kids without labels get a new perception of labeled kids as contributors. This perception can carry through to adulthood, giving a long-term, two-way benefit.

Special education teachers can benefit from delivering instruction in regular environments. In inclusive settings, teaching is no longer a matter of making something happen, but more a matter of turning each ongoing activity into a learning opportunity by finding ways to involve kids with labels. Teachers learn to orchestrate, facilitate, and arrange for learning to happen; they teach kids with labels to be learners, rather than to do learning activities. In this scenario, everybody wins.

BECAUSE INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FROM THE START MEANS FRIENDSHIPS

True friendship is immeasurably important in each of our lives. All of us need opportunities to develop friendships and relationships in schools and community environments. Friendship is a commodity that transcends labels. The best reason to begin fostering those relationships in kindergarten is that it is easy. It makes including kids throughout their school experience easier, and it increases the likelihood that children will form lasting friendships. Kindergarten kids don’t know the meaning of labels. Children accept each other until they are taught to discriminate and reject. Beginning to include kids with labels in kindergarten allows real, sustainable friendships to develop and to be built on the basis of mutual interest and shared experiences.

Each child has abilities, capacities, and gifts; with guidance and support, each child can contribute to her/his school community. Our responsibility is to nurture each child in developing these capacities. A school is a dynamic community of diverse learners with various gifts, each valuable in its own right. Our job is to model for all students many ways to value each member of the school community.

John McKnight of Northwestern University says, “All communities depend on the capacity of people, on their fullness, on their possibilities, on what they can do—not on what they cannot do—the heart of the community is capacity. If we want to create community, we build on capacity, not needs and deficits.”

Schools can embrace the value that all children belong from the beginning. All schools can develop the commitment and expertise necessary to meet the unique needs of all children in regular education classes and provide the supports and services needed for each child to become a valued, contributing member of the school community.

Each year that we don’t close the door on segregated placements as an option for kindergartners, another set of kindergarten students miss critical, lifelong benefits, such as great expectations, peer modeling, functional learning, and friends. What are we waiting for?

My girl included with her kindergarten class at the farm! Lots of fun was had.

Ashley won an iPad and more!

2011-05-13T16:37:00.004-04:00

A few months back I entered a giveaway for special needs kids to win an ipad based on merit. I never thought she would win but we learned on Sunday Ashley is really blessed and is amoungst 40 kids that won a ipad and apps. This amazing family blog at Marissa’s Bunny about their beautiful daughter who happens to have infantile spasms. They are raising awareness about this condition and have been raising funds. Not only are they doing everything possible for their daughter they are reaching out to make the lives of other families with special needs kids improved.

40 very lucky and deserving kids won ipads how cool is that. Be sure to visit Marissa's bunny they are raffling off an ipad2.

Mike and your bosses Ashley and I are so thankful.