If you’ve never heard of Best Buddies, now is a great time to discover just how wonderful this program is. Founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, Best Buddies is a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with (IDDs). Programs are organized in local schools, businesses, and even online.

Our Son's a Best Buddy

Our son, Nick, has been a part of the Best Buddies for the past couple of years through the High School program that he attends. He is paired up with one of the mainstream high school kids, who visits him in class, attends after school parties, exchanges grab gifts for Christmas, and even goes on weekend outings with him. Truly a wonderful program that Nick enjoys very much.

Each week in 2010, they will feature a single country. The first country will be the United States, followed by Canada, Philippines and Egypt. They are asking the people that particapate in their program to share how being involved has impacted their lives. You can follow these stories on Twitter, facebook, their blog, and on YouTube.

The disAbility Support Network: Updates in Your In-Box

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign up to receive web site updates via Email. Just look for the little ENews and Updates box in the upper right hand corner of the main page of our site. Enter in your email address and follow the instructions.

I’ve created a couple of Squidoo Lenses for shopping ideas. And I’ve also started a Yahoo! group on the subject. I’m sure there are lots of great gifts that many of us would never even think of. Besides suggestion toys/gifts, you’re also welcome to post a WISH LIST with your Yahoo! username and send the Group link along to friends and family so they can see what you and your family would like for Christmas and throughout the year. It will also be a great database of ideas.

Squidoo Lenses. Scroll down to the bottom to see a list. I’d post them individually, but I plan on adding more.

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/ldoone88

Yahoo Group:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/giftsandtoysforspecialneedskids/

Hope to see you there!

Read my Squidoo Lens to find out more:

http://www.squidoo.com/gifts-for-moms-of-special-needs-kids

Happy Shopping!

So I don’t go to toys stores anymore. You can get pretty much everything you need online, right on Amazon. I’ve also managed to stop being so overwhelmed with the selection, and occasionally venture away from the typical gift. I’ve written a Squidoo Lense on the subject, complete with TONS of suggestions on what to buy. There are even a few YouTube videos in there to keep things interesting. So if you’re having a tough time deciding on what to buy, head on over to my lens. You could also help out your friends and family that plan on shopping for a special needs kid, too. Just shoot them the link. Oh, and give the page a minute to load. There’s so much info there that it takes a minute :0)

http://www.squidoo.com/specialneedsgifts

Here’s our son, Nick having a wonderful time playing his Dad’s keyboard. Music and swinging are his favorite past times, and we get such a response from him with these activities that we use them as tools during therapy. All of the aids at his school have even been trained in incorporating the swing during the school day. Cool, huh?

Hope you find it enjoyable, and helpful. I started a thread on twitter about it, too. I thought it would be interesting to see how many people decided they liked the lense and passed the info along. You can join in, too. Just go to the bottom of the Squidoo  Lens and you’ll find the twitter info there. I have to admit, I’m beginning to become one heck of a twitter fan! Too much fun!

Members can now share videos with the rest of the community. Not only that, but if you find a public video on YouTube, etc. that you think the rest of us should watch (such as a Dr. Oz video), you can add those, too.

See you online! :0)

After trying a few different programs, I accidentally stumbled upon a program called jReviews. Doesn’t sound like a classified ad system, does it? I found others talking about it on a support board for webmasters. It is typically used for product reviews, but it is so versatile that it can be used for many other things. Classified ads is just one of  the things that I plan on using it for.

All members of Our Community are allowed to post an unlimited number of ads, free of charge. But be aware of your state laws if you are selling or donating something that Medicaid paid for. You cannot sell things that you have Medicaid pay for with the intention of simply reselling it. I would imagine that you are allowed to sell or donate used items that you have been using for a period of time and you simply have no use for anymore. You may be allowed to sell supplies that you no longer have a use for. But do not take my word for it! You are responsible for checking with your state’s laws before posting items!

That being said, I’m quite pleased with the Classified Ad program. Some of the features include:

• Categories to keep everything organized (if you don’t see the category you want to list an item in, suggest a new one!)
• When you view ads, you will also be able to see which member placed the ad. You can then click on their name or their avatar to view their profile.
• You can add individual ads to your list of ‘favorite ads’ so you can find them quickly later on.
• Ads that you place are listed under your profile.
• Ads will show the number of ‘hits’ it has received.
• You can add up to 4 photos to each ad.
• When anyone creates a new ad, you’ll see it in the activity stream on the main page of our community.
• Eventually, when there are many ads listed, you will have the option of paying for Featured ads to increase visibility.
• You can click on the State that the item is located in and get a list of all items in that state.
• Quickly get a list of items that are donations by clicking changing the sorting options in the drop down menu on the right hand side

If you can think of any more options that you would like to see when you enter/view ads, please let me know. It may be possible to implement, and I’m always looking for ways to improve our community.

This site consists of two main areas. The first area consists of product reviews, news and blogs.

The second area is our community. This community has features that are very similar to Facebook, in that it is extremely easy to connect with people with the same interests as you.

For example, if you wanted to find a mom of a child with Cerebral Palsy in New Hampshire, you could do that. Or you could just search for moms of children with CP. Like Facebook, you can send a Friend Request and stay connected with the people that you wish to be friends with.

Members can also:

• Send each other messages using the internal messaging system
• Share photos
• Add events to the Event Manager
• Suggest new resources for the Yellow Pages
• Create and join groups

Members can also use the blogging program to tell their own personal stories, share good news, submit tips & recipes, etc.. When creating their blogs, they can assign TAGS, so that other members can find blogs on topics that interest them.

Membership is free, so please join today!