Playing the Xylophone with limited fine motor skills

Kids love Xylophones but not everyone has the fine motor skills to play one.  When I made my own sensory wall  I put put an altered xylophone on it, then I decided I could put it on a one of my individual sensory boards to make it more portable.  Here is how you can do one too:

You need:

• Plastic chopping board 
• Wooden xylophone ( I got one from ebay for under $10 delivered)
• wooden beads (I got some pet parrot beads on ebay for under $5 delivered)
• hat elastic
• cable ties
• drill

Drill the holes in the board that will allow you to attach the board to something, also drill holes to allow you to attach the xylophone to the cutting board with cable ties.

Thread hat elastic through the beads. You will note I thread it through, then I looped back and went through the hole a second time.  This just helps to keep the beads from moving around too much.  Attach the elastic to the xylophone, then the xylophone to the cutting board.  Attach the board to any fence you have created or put it on a tray/table for your child to play with.

Always supervise when using as nothing is 100% secure.  Good luck and happy creating.

Swim Pants

Swimming with a special needs child can be tricky, especially when they are incontinent.   In a swimmer I look for contain-ability and clean-ability.  So for as long as I could squeeze Owen into them he wore Huggies swim pants because they ticked both boxes.   Here are some swimmers I have tried on Owen.

Eenee: http://www.eenee.com/contents/en-us/d56_eenee_swimmers.html

Look like normal swimmers, strings to tighten to ensure contain-ability and often preferred by schools.  My only issue is when there is an accident and clean up is required there is no easy way to take them on and off.  You can get these from Theraquatics.  There is a very similar version made by Bokers that you can get them from Independence Australia 






So Secure: http://www.sosecureproducts.com/containment-swim-brief
I really like these ones, they are designed to go under a swimsuit, have velcro so getting the right tightness for containment is easy and work like a nappy cleanup wise.   You can get these from Independence Australia  and Theraquatics

Swimmates:
These are disposable swim nappies, so they go under your swimsuit.  I found a bag of 22 for $44 (including delivery) on ebay.  Theraquatics sell them for pack for $28 (plus delivery if you live out of town) .  So they are a little expensive but the ease of clean-up makes it worth it.  Plus, I have managed to dry them and re-use them when there has been no accidents at home.  Not sure if you are techinically supposed to but I did


Here are some links to some swimsuits I haven't tried.

Splash Brand Boardshorts.  Around $50 to $60:  http://www.splashabout.com/swimming/disability/

You can get these from Special Needs Solutions






Splash brand swimpants around $40  http://www.splashabout.com/swimming/disability/

Again you can get these from Special Needs Solutions



Note: I am in no way affiliated with any of these stores.  You may find them cheaper elsewhere.

Good Luck