Since my daughter was very young my wife and I have been setting goals for her. They were often small goals that for most people are just milestones like, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, climbing, walking, etcetera. Sometimes we would consciously sit down and set goals and others were just recognized as needing to be achieved. At some point I began becoming a student of self improvement and began to understand the importance of goals. Once I understood the importance of goals and my daughter was old enough I started sharing them with her.

The methods for sharing goals have varied over the years as her communication abilities increase with age and maturity but generally they all start with saying, “Hey, why don’t we try this! Wouldn’t it be COOL! How fun to..!” and we get really excited together.

Well today was a breakthrough for this technique. We decided to go swimming for the first time this summer. My daughter’s feet are always sensitive to the deck. It’s a sensory thing that is somehow related to CP. She also is very sensitive on the head and still cry’s more often then not when we comb her hair. Well she came up to me and showed me her feet. I looked at her and said “What?” She says “I’m not wearing anything on my feet!” “Hmmmm” I say “Does it still hurt you?” “Well sort of but I’ve decided that I’m just going to get used to it.” “Really H, that’s awesome! I’m so excited! You just decided?!” “Yes, daddy let me show you…….”

She got the idea of how to set goals and knows how to do it! She has applied it! She knows to get the investment of someone else. She knows how to define it and she knows how to celebrate the progress to the goal. Awesome!

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This is a quick hello to say I’m back. I was out of town from Friday through Wednesday and then had to catch up on stuff at work and sleep. Now I’m back. Look for some posts this weekend.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day.

Regards for now,
Kevin

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I just finished an excellent book called Accidents of Nature. It is a wonderful book about a girl with CP (cerebral palsy) who goes to a summer camp whit other kids who have special needs. In the book she learns about, herself, how other special needs kids feel and are treated in 1970, and builds an understanding of how “norms” treated the special needs community. While reading it occurred to me that I had never been taught the etiquette for interacting with someone who uses a wheelchair. I natural try to treat them like I would anyone but is that appropriate?

Here is the proper Etiquette according to Mobility-advisor

Always ask the person using the wheelchair if he or she would like assistance BEFORE you help. It may not be needed or wanted.
Don’t hang or lean on a person’s wheelchair because it is part of that person’s personal body space.
If conversation lasts more than a few minutes, use wheelchair etiquette and consider sitting down or kneeling to get yourself on the same level.
Don’t patronize the person by patting them on the head.
Give clear directions, including distance, weather conditions and physical obstacles that may hinder the person’s travel.
Don’t classify persons who use wheelchairs as sick. Wheelchairs are used for a variety of non-contagious disabilities.
Speak directly to the person in the wheelchair, not to someone nearby as if the person in the wheelchair did not exist.
When a person using a wheelchair “transfers” out of the wheelchair to a chair, toilet, car or bed , do not move the wheelchair out of reaching distance.
Be aware of the person’s capabilities. Some users can walk with aid and use wheelchairs to save energy and move quickly.
It is ok to use terms like “running along” when speaking to a person who uses a wheelchair. The person is likely to express things the same way.
Don’t discourage children from asking questions about the wheelchair.
Don’t assume that using a wheelchair is in itself a tragedy. It is a means of freedom that allows the person to move about independently.

So basically the answer is yes. Treat a person like a person.

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I’m really excited about this on line radio program I have coming up. I’m currently targeting July for the launch. Generally the show will be held ever other Tuesday night at 9:00 PM EST. We may have some exceptions though as I have some guests lined up who are on the other side of the world. I want to give just a little taste of the types of folks we’ll be having.

Pharmacists
Therapists
Dr’s
CEO’s
Authors
Non profit founders
a man with CP who walked 900 miles
a movie producer
people who set huge goals and achieve them
and much much more!!!!

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A few weeks back I got a program called Raising Confident Kids by Denis Waitley PhD. It’s a short and excellent program which I truly enjoyed. Anyway there were a few poems the Mr. Waitley wrote for the program, one of which was Roots and Wings. I really enjoyed the poem and thought it would be cool to publish on my web site. Well later that day I also got an email (I get Denis Waitley’s newsletter) and the poem was published in the newsletter. They didn’t know I bought the program so this is pure coincidence otherwise know as, fate, God’s will, Law of Attraction, synchronicity, all things I believe in. Any way it inspired me to write The Waitley Institute and ask for permission to reprint the poem on my blog. They granted me permission and now here it is just for you:

Roots and Wings (A Child’s Bedtime Song)

If I had two wishes, I know what they would be
I’d wish for Roots to cling to, and Wings to set me free;

Roots of inner values, like rings within a tree, and Wings of independence to seek my destiny.

Roots to hold forever to keep me safe and strong,
To let me know you love me, when I’ve done something wrong;

To show me by example, and help me learn to choose,
To take those actions every day to win instead of lose.

Just be there when I need you, to tell me it’s all right,
To face my fear of falling when I test my wings in flight;

Don’t make my life too easy, it’s better if I try,
And fail and get back up myself, so I can learn to fly.

If I had two wishes, and two were all I had,
And they could just be granted, by my Mom and Dad;
I wouldn’t ask for money or any store-bought things,

The greatest gifts I’d ask for are simply Roots and Wings.

– Denis Waitley www.waitley.com

If your interested in purchasing the program click on the link below.

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I’m writing this on Friday Night at 11:50 PM so by the time it posts it will be Saturday Morning but in my head I’m still on Friday the 15th. I have a few blogs coming up that I think will be interesting and a few projects that I wanted to share. There is some research and approvals I need to get before publishing the next few blogs so here is some interesting information.

Stats:
1) The first article written on this blog was on April 10th.
2) As of today we have had 993 visits.
3) In the first 15 days of May we have had 606 visits. I think this is awesome since we have not done any advertising in the form of dollars.
4) My favorite article that I have written “Seven Years.”
5) “Reading Dyslexia Laughing and CP” was written because I found a web site saying May 1st was Blog against Disablism day and I felt that I truly wanted to be part of that conversation. That article was posted on a web site with other posts that were written for the BADD Day and the most traffice to my site comes from those links.

Future articles – if I can get permissions:
1) Wheelchair Etiquette
2) Roots and Wings, A poem by Dr. Denis Waitley about raising children.
3) HBOT – Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy discussions

On Going Projects:
1) Blog Talk Radio – I am in the very early planning stages of introducing a regular radio segment to this blog forum. I am currently trying to line up guests on topics ranging from Inclusion, Special Needs in the public school systems, HBOT- research, Adult ADD, Dr. interviews, therapies, and interviews with disabled individuals that have had life success. I am hoping to begin this series in the July time frame.
2) I have one other project that I’m hesitant to say much about because it’s big, ambitious and I really don’t know what the timing will be like, but stay tuned for updates on this big ambitious project.

I’d like to thank everybody who has visited this site and shown interest, read the site and provided feedback. If anyone has a topic that they would like discussed I’d love to hear your ideas.

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Trying to stay consistently focused on doing one thing when you have ADD is always difficult. I have not worked on or looked at strategies for focusing as an ADD in years. Instead I have been looking at and learning from Success experts such as Tony Robbins, Steven Covey, and many others. They however offer general strategies that work for folks who are not ADD. The mistake I have been making is that every time I read a new book or article I always get distracted from what ever it was I was focusing on that the last expert drove me toward. This can be a real nightmare if you want to do something like build a business, blog or even career as you are constantly changing focus.

So how does one stay focused enough to move forward in a career, business or blog? Well, I’m not great at it but this is the strategy I’m currently using:

Funneling Concentric Circles:

The idea is that you have something that looks like a 3 dimensional bulls eye or dart board that has a funnel shape. In the center at the bottom of the funnel is your major goal. As you go out from the center and up the funnel you want to include all the interests that might catch your attention. The important thing is that you need those interests to take a shape that will direct all your efforts back into the funnel and towards the bottom center ie. your major goal.

This approach allows you to follow multiple interests but still stay focused on the goal. Unfortunately the strategy does not keep you focused on any specific task at any one time but it does ensure that you are always going down a path that leads towards your main goal.

So an example of how this works is this website. My major goal with the web site is to inform and educate people on Dyslexia, ADD, and Cerebral Palsy. What are the difficulties, What are some lessons,What are the treatments, How do the disabilities impact the life of the person with the disability and how does it impact the family, Who are some of the people who have been successful with the disability and what has driven them to be successful, the list of course goes on but you get the general idea. This is the core goal and innermost concentric circle. Some of the circles comming out are the blog, marketing, a radio program I hope to be doing soon, useful advertising of products, and more. The idea is that each of these in and of it’s self is a different interest area but all are focused in a way to progress the goal of inoforming.

If you have any questions about how this works let me know.

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Special People Normal World is wonderful new show that will be premiering on the web this week. The wonderful ladies behind this show are Susan Stevens and Kristi Hogg. Susan is the grandmother of Garrett who is a year younger then Haley my daughter and also has CP. Garett’s family was told that he wouldn’t walk until he was five and then he would only walk with a walker. Garrett’s family and his grandmother, Susan, refused to accept that and he is walking unassisted today.

Susan does all the work behind the camera for the show. Kristi is the face on the camera. She has a daughter Maci who has mitochondrial disease. Maci is now 8 years old and doing well with a treatment that Kristi found.

The treatment that Kristi found is HBOT – Hyperberic Oxygen Therapy. There have not been the typical medical studies done on this treatment because there is no money in it for the companies that sponsor these types of studies. However I have spoken to many parents who have tried the treatment and all of them have had success stories including Kristi. The treatment is used to treat, seizures, CP, mitochondrial disease, and even ADD. Unfortunately since HBOT is not a recognized treatment it is very expensive and not covered by insurance companies. It was this common therapy experience and the success they had that seems to provide the inspiration for Susan and Kristi to create Special People Normal World.

They are covering difficulties related to Autism, CP, Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders. They will be discussing treatments, nutrition, and support. I think this show is a must for anyone who is a care taker of special needs people, friends of a special needs person, knows a special needs person or anyone who just wants to understand more about what a special needs family must do to provide the optimal in care for their children.

Check out the sneak peek now!

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Today was a great day. I started a new job and as far as I can tell I’ll be working for myself for the first time. It’s a job for a company and I don’t know how long it will last but I’m being brought on to do exactly what I want to do. I’m coming in to define the processes for the entire business help them find holes, and optimization opportunities. I’m starting by working with the sales department and helping to develop customer profiles we will then construct standard offerings that we provide a specific customer type. This will help shorten our sales cycle, and decrease the time until full integration. This of course leads to more revenue more quickly and I’m psyched to help my first client achieve this. So that’s how my day started.

Well it ended with reading to my daughter which I’ll get to in a minute, surfing the internet, Finding a blog about BADD – Blogging Against Disablism Day (May 1st) and deciding to finish writing this article for the BADD day. You can find out more about BADD at Diary Of A Gold Fish This site is linking back to all the blogs that wrote an article for today.

And Finally I get to my story for the day:

I was upstairs putting my daughter to bed. Every night when I put her to bed I read to her. As a dyslexic when I read out loud there are OFTEN times I read a word incorrectly. ie. Tonight instead of picnic bench, I read Pinch bench.

Well that started the giggles and the story we were reading was really getting funny right there anyway. It talks about a girl pushing a boy and then saying “it was the darnedest thing that boy he pushed himself.” Then the daddy sits down on the bench and hits himself in the head. The kids proceed to talk about how the daddy person has lost it and he now needs to call in backup. Well my daughter thought this was the funniest thing in the world tonight and couldn’t stop laughing. She was laughing so hard she got me laughing with her.

After reading through everything we went back and made sure we understood all the saying and funny words. Well to do that I had to do some demonstrations. For instance when the daddy person sits down on the pinch bench with a blank look and hits himself in the head I had to show her what it meant. She understood what was being said and why it was funny but she couldn’t come up with her own visual representation until I showed her one. As many who read this blog regularly know she has CP. One of the aspects of CP that affects my daughter is her visual perception. I’ve seen her perception come amazingly far in the last year but she still has trouble in the abstract. This is one of the areas my own “disability” provided me the experience to learn about learning styles and how to communicate so you could be understood. And it’s the ability I’ve developed because of my disability that has provided me my core strengths in listening and understanding which provide me the ability to earn a living and sometimes the ability to really help my daughter fully understand and get a concept.

It was a great day.

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