What Kinds of Summer Activities Might Be Fun for Special Needs Children?
Summer is the perfect time to explore different and interesting activities at home and in your area. Your special needs children may need special accommodations for some of these activities, but with help, they’re all possible.
Sensory Play
Sensory play is an awful lot of fun and it can help your special needs children to learn so much about the world around them. Some of the examples of sensory play you might use could involve sand or water tables, or playing with bubbles. Other objects, like dried beans, cloud dough, or even shaving cream, can add variety and fun to sensory play.
Art Activities
There are any number of art activities that even special needs children can create and enjoy. Using chalk on a variety of types of surfaces, finger painting, and even making small sculptures from clay is easy and fun. These types of activities allow your child to stretch her creativity and explore the world around her.
Imagination Play
Older kids might enjoy imagination play. This might mean building a fort out of couch cushions or blankets and inventing a story around the fort. Or you might pretend that you’re all going camping and set up a tent. The play can be as detailed and as imaginative as your child wants it to be.
Local Museums or Zoos
If your children are in the mood for getting out of the house and the weather is cooperative, you might want to try heading to zoos or museums in your area. There are so many different learning opportunities in both of these locations and every time you go you can see something a little bit different. Children’s museums also often have exhibits and areas especially for children with special needs.
The Library
Your local library has story times for children, but they may also have special programs that your children might find particularly interesting. Talk to the children’s librarian at your local library and see if they have information about those programs and what you need to do in order to sign your child up for them.
Much of this can depend on the age and the needs of your child. If it’s difficult to manage some of these activities on your own, home care services for children can make the process easier on both you and your special needs child. This might be especially helpful if your child uses equipment or assistive devices that are complicated.
If you are considering participant assistance and care in Broad Ripple, IN, please call the caring staff at RSI Cares. Serving Greater Indianapolis Area. Call for Immediate Info & Assistance: 317-471-0750.
As a practicing Registered Nurse, Etelka was keenly aware of a void in quality patient care that could be provided in the home. She embarked upon a journey to develop a home health care agency that would exceed all expectations and become a trusted partner to physicians and patients.
A Distinguished Career From Nurse to Director of Nursing to President of Home Services Unlimited
Etelka’s distinguished career followed a logical progression to her position as President of Home Services Unlimited. She graduated as a nurse practitioner with a Bachelor of Nursing (RN) in 1972 from Meshgorya University in the Ukraine, close to where she lived with her family. She married her husband Phil in 1973 and decided in 1977 that they would relocate to the United States to be closer to family and to come to this land of opportunity. With an eagerness to continue her budding career, Etelka sat for and passed her Boards in the U.S. in 1979.
A Love and Talent for Working with the Elderly
Etelka began her nursing career in the U.S. at Colonial Crest, now part of Golden Living, where shewasthe In-service Coordinator, the Director of Training and Education and Director of Nursing, a position she occupied for several years.
With a group of partners, she co-founded Adept Corporation, which operated group homes for the mentally challenged. The business was successful and in 1996, Etelka sold her share to return to her roots, caring for the elderly.
In January of 1997, Etelka opened Home Services Unlimited as a fully licensed business to provide home health care. In her quest to learn to do better for her patients, she had already obtained a Masters in Healthcare Administration (MHA) in May of 1990 from the College of St. Francis. As President of Home Services Unlimited, Inc., Etelka guides the trusted, experienced care model Home Services Unlimited uses to continue providing excellent home health care.
Giving Back to the Community of Indianapolis
Volunteering for community services is a high priority for Etelka. Her memberships include the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Executive Women in Health Care and the Indiana Association for Home and Hospice Care, where she is a member of the Board of Directors.
Etelka has also served on the Board of Directors with Hooverwood Home, a highly regarded geriatric facility, since 1997 and as the President for 2005-2006. Through her community work, she has received several awards and accolades, including the Nora McFarland award in 2002, from the Indiana Association of Home and Hospice Care.
Etelka was honored as a “Health Care Hero” by the Indianapolis Business Journal. The issue can be read online here:
http://mags.ibj.com/activemagazine/welcome/html/ibjhch.html.
After clicking on the link, then click on the image of the issue’s front page. After that, you can browse through the issue or click in a box near the top of your internet browser to adjust the page to 17, which is where Etelka’s article appears.
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