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helping special needs children

HELLO? Are you listening?

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Podcast No Comments
autism-and-parenting

Let’s Talk About Super Special Kids & Cake Podcast [Episode 006 / Segment: Super Special Question]

A mother recently asked me the following question: “My son is 18 months old, but when I call my child’s name, he doesn’t respond. Shall I be worried?”

To anybody else having this concern, I would first point out that sometimes this can be difficult to judge, since even typically developing children less than 24 months will not always respond when to their name is called. Toddlers are only able to concentrate on one thing at a time and so if they are deeply …

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It’s okay to not be okay!

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Podcast No Comments
autism-and-parenting

 

Let’s Talk About Super Special Kids & Cake Podcast [Episode 005 / Segment: Arghh]

Many of my blog posts are based on questions or concerns that parents share with me about their children. But today, I want to focus on a subject that is just as important, but that’s often neglected: parents. The parents of children with special needs.

We get so caught up with asking “How is your child doing”, “How is your child developing?”, “How is your child feeling today”, that rarely have the time to stop and ask the mothers and fathers of special children …

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Why Are You So Sad?

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Podcast No Comments
autism-and-parenting

Let’s Talk About Super Special Kids & Cake Podcast [Episode 005 / Segment: Special Q]

The other day a mum asked me “Why has my son become so upset at seeing an unfamiliar adult? What strategies can I use to combat this?”. This question isn’t uncommon and I think the suggestions below are really useful for parents whose children also suffer in this way.

Firstly, I would suggest something I’ve mentioned on my blog many times before: priming. Prime your child beforehand by explaining where you’re going. You could tell them the names of the family members they’re likely to …

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White Noise

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Podcast No Comments
autism-and-parenting

Let’s Talk About Super Special Kids & Cake Podcast [Episode 005 / Segment: Super Special Topic]

In the simplest of terms, speech is the way in which a person produces and pronounces language.

For some special children however, all this talking can just seem like a whole lot of noise that they cannot decipher. When parents ask me for tips on how to overcome this issue, one of the things I suggest is to introduce other things such as an image of an object or a photograph of a person or place that can be used to point to. You …

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Who are you? What do you do?

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Parenting Tips, Podcast No Comments
support-for children-with-asd

Let’s Talk About Super Special Kids & Cake Podcast [Episode 004 / Segment: Super Special Topic]

If you have a child with ASD, you may find yourself overwhelmed with the number of different types of professionals and the work that they do. However, when it comes to intervention, remember that although a professional is an expert in their field, it is you that is the professional when it comes to your child. You know your child better than anyone and so I really encourage parents to build a positive relationship with the professionals that their child is working with; making …

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Public spaces are lovely places!

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Parenting Tips, Podcast No Comments
keeping-special-children-engaged

Let’s Talk About Super Special Kids & Cake Podcast [Episode 003 / Segment: Eating Cake for Breakfast]

The world is a big place and even bigger for our special little ones. If you want to make your child’s day super fun and interesting, but inexpensive at the same time, you needn’t worry. There are such wonderful public places that you can take your child to for free!

Museums such as the Natural History Museum where you can look at dinosaur bones; or The Transport Museum where you can ride old replica trains are such fun and so educational without being …

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Toddlers & Tantrums!

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Parenting Tips, Podcast No Comments
when-toddlers-have-a-tantrum

Let’s Talk About Super Special Kids & Cake Podcast [Episode 003 / Segment: Special Q]

Tantrums are tough. Whether it’s our own child or maybe a niece or nephew: we’ve all been there – they tantrum and at the worst possible time! Tantrums can be especially difficult to deal with when it’s a special child that’s throwing one. This is because communication is usually already a barrier and so it’s even more difficult to decipher exactly what your little one wants. What do tantrums mean? Why do they do it? Usually it’s because they’re tired or they can’t communicate what …

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How to Choose a Preschool for Children with Special Needs

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Parenting Tips No Comments

While US federal laws requires that accommodations be made to educate children with special needs in all public schools across the country, many other countries have followed the lead on this. When it comes to educating pre-school children the regulations are not as stringent and, when it comes to choosing a preschool for children with special needs, great care should be taken to ensure you find the right place for your child.

When I worked in Africa and the Middle East, at a time when we were establishing the guidelines for setting up early intervention programs and inclusion practices during …

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Teaching Math Concepts to Children with Special Needs

By Dr. Donia Fahim Blog, Tips for Parents and Teachers 5 Comments

While language and auditory processing deficits can affect the ability to learn language, they can also hinder your child’s ability to understand abstract concepts and to master the problem solving skills conveyed when teaching math concepts. Children with special needs may have receptive or expressive language problems that can substantially affect their learning and ability to express what they do not understand, or to show how they solved problems.

Words and phrases we use every day, will have very different meanings when it comes to numbers and mathematical operations. When you say to your child, “I’m just in the middle …

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