DSP Recognition Week

This is from an article I wrote for the newsletter at work:

September 14th – 18th was recently designated by the U.S. Senate as National Direct Support Professional Week.

What is a Direct Support Professional?

DSP’s, as they are commonly referred, provide hands-on care to a wide range of individuals including people with developmental disabilities. DSP’s are the “hands, feet, and heart” of the direct service profession. DSP Recognition Week provides a unique opportunity to organize events, rally people and generally draw attention to the noble work of more than 3.2 million DSP’s in the United States.

I would also like to take this opportunity to share information on pending federal legislation, the Direct Support Professionals Fairness and Security Act, H.R. 868 in the U.S. House of Representatives that would provide options to states for increasing wages for DSP’s. I encourage you to visit http://www.youneedtoknowme.org to learn more. I also encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative to request co-sponsorship of this important bill. Contact information for your policy maker can be found on http://www.house.gov/

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This subject is very near and dear to my heart. I got through college first working as a DSP, later supervising DSP's and at my current job, I train DSP's. I have been blessed to work along side some amazing people providing services and supports to people. These people unselfishly give so much. My experiences have made me a better person. It is time to give recognition to this PROFESSION!

Daddy Dollars

This is a Daddy Dollar. I read about this in the September issue of Family Fun magazine (which is one of my fave magazines and is very reasonably priced and no I don't get a kickback if you order, it's just that good). The concept is just a reward system. Kids get to earn Daddy Dollars for doing things around the house. In the article, the Mom would give each of her kids $3 Daddy Dollars for each morning if they were up, dressed, teeth brushed by 7:30 am. I made a list of chores and posted it on the fridge. Here is mine:

Ways to Earn Daddy Dollars
Clean your room $5

Make your bed $2

Put your trash in the trash can $1

Get up, dressed and teeth brushed by 7:30 am on school days $3

Pick up living room $2

Put away toys after you use them $1

Feed the animals $2

Vacuum under the bird cage $2

Help Mom fold or put away laundry $1

Sleep in your own bed $2

It can be customized to your household. Then kids can spend their Daddy Dollars at the Mommy Mall. Again, you can customize this to your household and by using true motivators for your kids. The idea is the stuff they can buy should be easily obtainable, inexpensive or free, so you can reward them as soon as they want to purchase. I plan to buy a grabbag of little toys/stickers/candy as well. Here is my Mommy Mall:

Mommy Mall
Trip to the playground $5
30-minutes computer time $2
Cook a recipe with Mom $5
McDonalds for dinner and play time $20
Sleepover $20
Bike Ride $2
30-minutes cartoons $2
Watch a movie $3
Reading with Mom/Dad $1
Trip to Bonkers $50
Trip to Chuck E. Cheese $50
Trip to the movie theater $50
Trip to Amanda’s for a snack $5
Soda from machine $2

I also posted some rules:

Mommy Mall Rules
1. Daddy Dollars can be earned by helping out around the house, being responsible, listening to Mom and Dad and other things

2. Daddy Dollars earned will be kept in the bank envelopes and kept on top of the refrigerator. A balance sheet will be kept on the fridge

3. Daddy Dollars can be used to shop at the Mommy Mall

4. Daddy Dollars can be saved to buy larger items or used for smaller items

At three, I don't know how much Kate will get the whole concept but we will help her. I think Kaelyn will really get into it. I'll keep you posted.

Here's the website where you can create Daddy Dollars. The girls think it is so funny to see their Dad's face on the dollar. I just hope I don't get busted for counterfeiting.

http://www.festisite.com/money/

The Great Mouse Massacre

Those of you on Facebook have already heard this story but I have to share it here too for those of you who aren't.

Sunday, we went to Petco to get some flea treatment for our new dog, Donnie Barko. His name is really irrelevant to this story but I like saying it. Anyway, while there, Kevin decided that he needed some pet mice, three in fact, one for him, one for Kate and one for Kaelyn. I said no but the pouting and whining wore me down, all from Kevin, I might add. He picks out a fancy cage with running wheel and multiple levels along with a fancy price tag. Good thing the mice only cost $2.79 apiece! I consented to the purchase with the exclamation that I would have nothing to do with these critters.

A side note, Kevin told me yesterday, that when he was having the clerk get the mice out for him, the clerk asked him if the mice were "feeders". Kevin said he was standing there with the fancy cage in his hand when he asked that. Kevin said he was thinking "Yes, we like our feeder mice to be really happy before they become lunch." We had a good laugh about this yesterday. A little foreshadowing here.

So we have all been fascinated by the antics of the mice family all week. The three mice recipients talked long and hard before deciding on their names. Kevin's mouse became Willard, Kaelyn named hers Agent Jaurez and Kate chose, what else? Kate. Despite running on their wheel all night and stinking to high heaven, they were really cute to watch.

Kevin called me this morning and says he has bad news. He then proceeds to tell me he was laying in bed when he heard a crash. He found that our cat Sam Henry had jumped up and knocked the fancy cage off the computer armoire and then proceeded to have a tasty snack of Willard and Kate Mouse. We think Agent Juarez got away. That or he was fully eaten. Kevin was near tears and I really dont' want to have this conversation with the girls when I get home. Each morning this week, the first thing they did was run and look at the mice and comment on what they were doing. It will be a sad night in our house tonight. Luckily I have time to come up with a good story before then.

Like they left home to seek their fortunes.

Go Diego Go! Go Iguana Go!

While trying to get through the first day of school chaos at our house this morning, I was sidetracked by the episode of Diego that the girls were watching. Kaelyn brought it to my attention as I was crossing the living room looking for Kate'e shoes. "Mom, look, the iguana is pooping strawberry seeds."

What? I stopped in my tracks and took a look at the TV. Sure enough, it did look like the iguana was pooping. But surely not! Getting out the door on time temporarily forgotten, I used the DVR to start the episode over to figure out what was going on. It appears that the Strawberry Festivale may have to be canceled as a strong wind has blown away all of the strawberry seeds. Diego to the rescue! His green iguana can eat strawberries and then take then to the field to be pooped out. Really. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen. I watched it over and over and then had to go wake Kevin up, get him out of bed and make him watch it. And then I had to come to work and Google it. Amazing.

My favorite part is when the iguana urges Diego to hurry as he "really has to go". The iguana does this little dance, and you can tell that if an iguana had butt cheeks he would be squeezing them, trying to keep those strawberry seeds in long enough to save the festivale. He looks so proud as he walks along the field rows, pooping out little piles of seeds. Then later, we get to see a picture of his intestines with the poop and seeds inside. And at the end of the show, the festivale is taking place and everyone is enjoying the scrumptious strawberries. Delicioso!

Must See TV at it's finest!

First Grade

My baby starts first grade tomorrow. Why does that seem so much older than kindergarten? She isn't too thrilled about it but I think she will be once she gets started. They have seventeen in their class this year. That's a lot of six-year-olds in one not very big room. We had to stop by her old kindergarten room while attending Open House last night to say hello to her teacher from last year. There are only six kids in kindergarten this year! So last year she had seventeen, this year six...what a difference!

So tomorrow we will get up early and take first day of school pictures in front of the tree in our front yard and I will walk my baby to school as I silently cry that another year of her childhood has passed.

Enjoy every minute of it sweet baby, it goes so fast.

Pictures to come.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." Samual Johnson or Ann Landers.

Another Kennedy died...so what? My Dad, an avid Kennedy fan (and Elvis Presley fan, but that's a post for a different day), passed on his fascination of all things Kennedy to me. When I heard that Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away earlier this week, I di a Google search out of curiosity. I knew little about this woman. As I read through the list of her humanatarian work, accomplishments and achievements, I was amazed and in awe. Having worked with people with disabilities for many years now, I am thankful for her work to achieve equality and increase opportunities for these forgotten members of our society. What an amazing woman. I urge you to take a few moments to read about her life.

The following is from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation website.

In memoriam
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
1921-2009

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who for over 50 as a volunteer, led the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation died on August 11, 2009. She was 88.

Mrs. Shriver transformed America's view of people with intellectual disabilities worldwide from one of ostracism and denial of basic human rights and freedoms to friends, students, workers, neighbors and athletes.

During President’s Kennedy’s time in office, Mrs. Shriver advocated for research, services and recognition for people with intellectual disabilities, their families and for developing professionals to work with them. Her work at the Foundation ranged from supporting and advocating for basic research on the causes of intellectual disabilities to recommendations for legislation (P.L. 88-164 and P.L. 88-156) that resulted in the development of research centers at major universities now known as Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRC) and the University Affiliated Facilities, now known as University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD); as well as clinical training programs for professionals working with children with disabilities and special health care needs under Title V of the Social Security Act, which have evolved into the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Programs. Together, these programs have trained thousands of professionals, from researchers to clinicians. This work transformed the field by making it possible for students to see a role for themselves, during their academic careers, in research, training and service.

She also began the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Public Policy Fellowship program, bringing promising professionals and family advocates to Washington for a year at a time, to work on a Congressional Committee, learning how policy is made in Washington.

The Community of Caring program, begun as an effort to reduce teen pregnancy, was built around five core values that empower young people to be responsible and caring members of a community: Caring, Respect, Responsibility, Trust, and Family. That program, a well regarded character education approach to reducing destructive behaviors, is now in schools in 46 states and Canada.

It was from the foundation in 1968, she started what would become the world's largest athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Now, more than 1 million athletes in more than 160 countries participate in Special Olympics meets each year. Realizing the children were far more capable of sports than experts said, Shriver organized the first Special Olympics in 1968 in Chicago. The two-day event drew more than 1,000 participants from 26 states and Canada. At the World Games in 2007 in Shanghai, China there were 80,000 people in the opening ceremonies with more than 7,000 athletes from around the world.

Mrs. Shriver received so many honors and awards including America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she received in 1984. In May 2009, the National Portrait Gallery installed a painting of her - the first portrait commissioned by the museum of someone who had not been a president or first lady.

Her son Mark Shriver said about his parents…"In the course of our upbringing, they stressed the importance of giving back," he said. "But we didn't sit around having family discussions about it. We learned by what she and my father were doing." Her son Tim Shriver said, in a letter to the Special Olympics Movement “She fought the good fight, she kept the faith, and though she knew the race for equality was not finished, she knew that the army of supports she had hoped for long ago had become a reality that would carry and someday complete her vision. On her behalf, as we prepare to say our last goodbyes, my family and I thank you for your shared commitment to that dream.”

For more information about Mrs. Shriver and her legacy, or to offer a written tribute, go to www.eunicekennedyshriver.org.

New Mindset

I am NOT on a diet. I am NOT exercising. What I AM, is in training for a 5K thanks to www.C25K.com. Doesn't that just sound better?

I haven't "ran", and I use that term very loosely, since high school track, more years ago than I care to remember. I didn't really enjoy it then. But I am enjoying it now. A friend asked last night if I felt any different yet. Physically, no, I don't feel different, except my knees are aching more. But mentally, I feel amazing. I am not a morning person but to have my workout done before 6:15 am in an amazing feeling. Watching the sunrise each day as I move my body is an amazing feeling. Reaching for a goal, challenging myself, making new routines...all amazing. You get the picture.

I feel my life changing. I have logged in fifteen workouts in June so far. I am watching less television. I am going to bed earlier. I feel more in control. These are all great things and I am feeling hopeful. I can do this!

I WILL do this!