"Healing Garden" at Fircrest School, Shoreline

Therapeutic Gardens

Gardens are magical - that's my take on them. I have enjoyed gardening both for my relaxation but also to interact with our son. The garden offers many topics of conversation - from the weeds to the scents of the herbs to birds chirping to bees nesting. We have followed flowers from seeds to gorgeous blooms and grown vegetables and berries. The garden offers education in so many aspects of life - there are endless opportunities in the garden to use for education and therapy.

I have wanted to enroll in the Therapeutic Garden certificate program through the UW Continuing Education but do not have the funds or time right now - it's on the horizon of things to do though. I browsed through their site today and came across this video about an upcoming therapeutic garden. This is such a wonderful plan. It is so true that our disabled family members need a secured area to go outside and enjoy nature.

There is a lovely garden on the grounds of Fircrest. I have attached a couple of links to information regarding that garden. We love to go there to visit and walk the garden. We love how the planters are built so that people can garden from wheelchairs or waist height. The water is such a great addition to the garden too.

I know from our small garden how much enjoyment that our son gets from it. He knows where each herb is planted, where to get berries, where his pumpkins, cucumbers and tomatoes grow and loves the various colors of the flowers. We've arranged various sitting areas in the gardens for him from which he can talk to me while I'm out there too.

Gardens are magical!

Links: Definition of Therapeutic Garden: http://pce.uw.edu/uploadedFiles/Offerings/Master/Certificates/Therapeutic_garden.pdf

Articles on Therapeutic Garden at Fircrest: http://larch.be.washington.edu/features/design_build/11505-L1.pdf

http://occupational-therapy.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Content/Editorial.aspx?CC=197378

Short video on planned garden at Washington Soldiers Home: http://pce.uw.edu/basic.aspx?id=4392

OLDER IMACS FOR ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

501-c3 COMPUTER DONATIONS NEEDED
(IRS deductible / Friends of Fircrest )

Hi Saskia
I am making a request on behalf of the Fircrest Assistive Technology Clinic for donations of computers for people who live at Fircrest School in Shoreline Washington. Almost all homes have at least one Mac for residents to use. Some of these are extremely old and failing. At this time we are requesting help in finding ‘newer’ old Macs.

Specifically we need iMacs with "OS-9" operating system, built in speakers and CD drive that are operational, & a working USB port + keyboard and mouse.

The reason we are requesting older Macs is because the software we have is too old to operate on OS-10 operating system. To replace the special needs software, which is very old would be very expensive & funding is not available.

Thank you for all your efforts for the people who live at Fircrest.

Kathleen(Kathy) M. Smith MSPA
Speech Language Pathologist
Fircrest School
(206) 361-3163
email: smithk@dshs.wa.gov

Note from Saskia: Assistive Technology uses Macs to help residents with a range of needs. They are necessary as well as a special godsend to some whose lack of abilities is extreme. Your donation would make an enormous contribution to their wellbeing.

If you have a tour of Fircrest planned, I recommend that you ask in advance to see the PEP (personal empowerment programs) as part of your tour.

(IRS tax deductible: 501-c3 donations/ Friends of Fircrest )

Autistic Boy Arrested After Confrontation With Officer - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

Autistic Boy Arrested After Confrontation With Officer - Sacramento News Story - KCRA Sacramento

This story brings tears to my eyes and fury to my soul - I think about children that I know who have been unjustly arrested and treated like criminals due to their disabilities. This is what our crisis teams look like sometimes. Even upon discharge from the hospital, we were told there was nothing else they could do and no where to send our son. The suggestion from DDD and hospital staff was to take him home and call the police if we needed assistance!

I know that this was told to us because they had nothing else to tell us - there was no place for him to go and they were right, the hospital wasn't helping. There were many tears in the room at that discharge meeting and not just mine. Everyone felt terrible with their hands tied and no resources available. Several of the members called me that night, still in tears about what had not happened. It's a tragedy and I'm fired up to change things.

We need to be advocates for real change for the benefit of our family members - not sugar coating and patting the backs of services already in place. We need to look beyond what we have.

ActionDD team for NAMIWalk

NAMIWalk - Seattle, WA

ActionDD formed a team to walk in the fundraiser for NAMI to help bring awareness to the issues that many of our family members face - being dually diagnosed with both a developmental disability and mental illness.

NADD, an association for persons with developmental disabilities and mental health needs, is an organization that I recently joined to gather more information. As you can see, this population is not a small segment of the whole DD population and really needs to be advocated for.

Mental Health Aspects of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities:

"Persons with a dual diagnosis can be found at all ages and levels of intellectual and adaptive functioning. Estimates of the frequency of dual diagnosis vary widely, however, many professionals have adopted the estimate that 30-35% of all persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities have a psychiatric disorder. The full range of psychopathology that exists in the general population also can co-exist in persons who have intellectual or developmental disabilities.

The co-existence of intellectual or developmental disabilities and a psychiatric disorder can have serious effects on the person's daily functioning by interfering with educational and vocational activities, by jeopardizing residential placements, and by disrupting family and peer relationships. In short, the presence of behavioral and emotional problems can greatly reduce the quality of life of persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities. It is thus imperative that accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment be obtained in a timely manner."

http://www.thenadd.org/pages/about/ddinfo.shtml

Special Need Subdivisions

I found this article on the ActionDD.org website. This looks absolutely terrific - it's things like this that can happen when people dream!

HOUSING

Families seek approval of special-needs subdivisions

A bill that would allow subdivisions catering to the developmentally disabled raises questions on how best to integrate those with special needs into society.

BY ROBERT SAMUELS

HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU

TALLAHASSEE -- Parents of developmentally disabled children from Pasco, Leon and Broward counties had an idea they thought would help their kids: create new subdivisions that would serve as safe havens for special needs people to live, eat, dine and play.

But an existing law prevents special-needs homes from being established within 1,000 feet of each other, so the parents began lobbying lawmakers to rescind it. The parents hope to clear the way for a cluster of communities catering to those with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

AWAITING HOUSE VOTE

A bill to rescind the 1,000-foot law has passed in the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House. And it is triggering discussion of a larger question that advocates for the disabled have struggled with for decades: How best to integrate those with special needs into society? Some warn that creating separate communities only ends up segregating those who are different.

``In our society, we call places like this institutions,'' said Kingsley Ross, who represents Sunrise community, a nonprofit organization catering to the developmentally disabled and the elderly. ``People with developmental disabilities have to be in contact with good models of behavior. If you surround them with people that don't have normal types of behavior, what we are going to see is more people with bad behavior.''

Others argue that the communities would give those with special needs a chance to be with people and families like them. Living among those who don't understand their situation sometimes leads to the disabled to being ostracized, harassed or assaulted, said Bill Sammons, president of the nonprofit group, Noah's Ark, in Central Florida.

Sammons, the father of a 24-year-old with autism, has seen the difficulties of his boy, Drew, as he tries to stay safe.

``He can name, maybe, every road in Florida,'' Sammons said. ``But then he won't look both ways crossing the street.''

About four years ago, Noah's Ark won approval from the city of Lakeland to build a 56-acre community that would be home to 200 special-needs residents and 40 family members.

``He would have more freedom in the gated community,'' Sammons said.

The subdivision, dubbed Noah's Landing, would have a communal dining room for socializing and pedestrian walkways between houses, so residents could cross the street without fear. It would be a mix of single-family homes, apartment units and group homes.

GROUP HOMES

The group homes were the flashpoint. Afraid that homes catering to addicts and the developmentally delayed would drive down property values, the state Legislature ruled that the homes could not be within 1,000 feet of one another.

Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, introduced the new legislation which would allow local governments to make exceptions for group homes to be within 1,000 feet of each other. The lawmaker had learned there were other communities planned from Duval to Broward counties that would cater to the developmentally disabled and might have group homes in them.

``This is trying to establish a neighborhood, if you will, that would be conducive to people who are developmentally disabled, similar to a 55-plus community,'' Stargel said.

Robert Samuels can be reached at rsamuels@MiamiHerald.com.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/27/1599506/families-seek-approval-of-special.html#ixzz0oEUZj7EN

MOVIN' FOR MONEY

by
Peanut Butter & Jelly

As I watched his shoulders smoothly roll back and forth, his arms slicing through the water, his strong legs kicking behind with hardly a splash, I remembered that my son was always more graceful in water than he was on land. As a toddler he crashed his way through life with more than his fair share of thumps and bumps; a "toe runner" the neurologist called him, and then something about it being a developmental indicator that had something to do with delays, and then there was this low muscle tone thing, which was really hard to understand because this was the most active two-year-old on the planet. A whirling dirvish, my grandmother called him. He would buzz around a room with such high level energy that his fine blond hair would be sweat-soaked and stuck to his head. Then we discovered the pool. There was something about the water resistance and being horizontal that set his "body map" right. Maybe it was like a return to the uterus, you think? Whatever it was and is, if you watch him walk, you can tell there is something "different" about him. But when you see him swim, you see he is all right with the world.

So I watched him, and the people he has grown up with for the last twenty five years, as they swam laps at the Meadowbrook Pool to raise money for Seattle Parks Specialized Recreation Programs. Most of these people, like my son, are completely at home in the water, and in their own skin, their own joy, as they experience the freedom from gravity and the joy of play on purpose. There is no competition here. Every participant has raised money by pledging to swim a certain number of laps and getting friends and family members to sponsor them. I am envious that nobody cares what they look like in their bathing suit, nobody has body hang-ups, nobody cares how fast they swam a lap or if they rested between laps or even in the middle of a lap. It so isn't the point. And it so makes me wonder if, in our competitive, hurried, false-beauty conscious world we do get the point.

The participants who didn't swim walked laps around the track, or rolled around it in their wheelchairs. The high school marching band gave a great performance, and the laid-back atmosphere of the day was a reminder that we might all slow down once in awhile and lap up life for all the right reasons.

peanut butter & jelly

It is not too late to contact Seattle City Council Members about retention of the Specialized Programs in the Seattle Parks Department budget. They won't know how important the programs are unless we tell them.
Saskia