Neighborhood Outreach Part 2: Wandering Awareness Cards Tutorial

I've a lot positive feedback from the wandering awareness cards I created to pass out to neighbors during trick or treating a couple of years ago.  A lot of folks have asked how to make them, so... voila! Here's a tutorial.

It's worth noting that, while the examples are tailored for an autistic child, they would be equally useful for notifying neighbors that your family has an adult with Alzheimer's at risk of wandering.

General Instructions
View or download a PDF of the basic instructions for creating wandering awareness postcards.

The rest of this post provides further explanation on individual aspects of the process.

Photo Editing
If you have Photoshop (or your image editor of choice) and know how to crop and/or resize a photo, skip this part.

If you have a friend with Photoshop willing to do you a quick and easy favor, skip this part and call them.

If you want to do it yourself and need an image editor, this article reviews five free image editing progams.

(Yes, your computer probably came with Paint and it will, technically, crop a photo.  But it offers no reliable way to crop to specific dimensions, so it's useless for this task.)

What you need to achieve:
1) A close up, straight on shot of your child with a clear view of their face
2) With unnecessary background clutter cropped out
3) Sized to fit in the postcard template (3" wide by 4.25" high)
4) A resolution of at least 300 DPI

Determine Quantity
The quantity of cards you want to print is a major factor in this decision - it's important to determine how many postcards you need before choosing a template and printing method.

For example, I knew I was only going to give them to neighbors close to us who I was on a first name basis with, plus a handful of close friends and caregivers.  I needed 20, tops.

If you are doing this to educate a larger group your child often interacts with (for example, a church congregation) then the minimum order requirements for most online printers will be less of a concern and may not impact your template selection.

Template and Printing Options
 Due to technology and vendor limitations, template and print method choice are closely linked.

Option 1: Use an online printing site's built-in templates

The advantage to this is that you don't have to have any software of your own.
The disadvantage is that - while many sites offer this feature - on most it's very low quality and a waste of your time.

Vistaprint is affordable, has a great selection of templates and a robust online design function.  This is the vendor I used the first time I did this project.  My only problem was having a lot of leftover cards because they require a minimum order of 100.

Option 2: Design your own card, upload design to online printing site

The advantage to this option is that you can choose a site that does not require such a large minimum order.  The disadvantage is that not everyone is comfortable using the necessary software.

Several years ago I happened to use the site Overnight Prints for something, so I went back to check them out.  While I cannot recommend their online design function, they offer a number of downloadable templates in all the major applications to make it easy for you to make your own card.  The best part is that their minimum order is only 25, which makes them ideal for this project.

This is the list of design guidelines for Overnight Prints templates - if you click on the program you'll use at home (probably Word) just click on it near the top of this page. This project is for a 4.25 x 5.5 postcard.

If you are not comfortable designing a card from a completely blank template, you can use this template I created using the Overnight Prints template and the content from my own postcard.

Download Wandering Awareness Postcard Template - Front (Word dotx)
Download Wandering Awareness Postcard Template - Back (Word dotx)

Please note - after creating the card in this template you do need to save it as a PDF prior to uploading for print. (All newer versions of Word have this option built in now.)

Option 3: Design and print your own cards

If you have a decent color printer and don't need too many cards, this can be a great choice.

Avery makes several printable postcard products for both ink jet and laser printers. The 4 card horizontal layout will work best for this project.

This is where you can download the free Word template for Avery postcards.  Though, you don't even have to download it if you've got Word - all the Avery templates are already built into the mail merge function.

I also threw together a quick version of my postcard template using the Avery postcard template in Word.

Download Wandering Awareness Postcard Template - Front (Avery 4 card horizontal, Word dotx)
Download Wandering Awareness Postcard Template - Back (Avery 4 card horizontal, Word dotx)

I did the front and back in two separate files because it's too easy to hit quick print and end up with fronts printed on one set of stock and backs printed on another.  This way you have to think about it and will hopefully remember to flip the stock over and put it back in the paper feed while you're opening the other file.

Best of luck with your wandering awareness postcards.  I hope you never need them.

What I Need to Remember Today

During morning snuggles today, the 20 month old Dude suddenly looked around and said "buvuh?" in the most adorably inquisitive voice.

He'd never said that word before and it took me a moment to get it.

"Brother? Are you looking for your brother Bear?"

"Buvuuhh! Buurrrrr!!"

We giggled and I hugged him tight and I said I love you.

"Wuuuvv!!"

Happy tears. Best. new. word. ever.

I know it's 9/11 and we're doing all the remembering. I was even going to put out the flag and maybe talk about it with my son. Except turns out? I. just. can't.

I remember watching TV like I did every morning as I got ready for work. The first tower on fire. Calling my husband. Watching the second plane hit. Crying to my husband on the phone, sobbing "all those people all those people." The collapse. And the other. No one really worked at work that day.

It's too vivid and too painful. It makes me afraid of the world and threatens to steal my ability to function in it. Because that's how my anxiety works - things exist, therefore I fear them. Most of the time I'm in control and lately I've been doing so well I nearly convinced myself the anxiety is gone. But then something triggers it and I'm breathless and scared of everything and nothing all over again, teetering on the edge of a pit only I can see.

For me and so many others, 9/11 is the mother of all triggers.

You'll have to forgive me for not liking and commenting and sharing today. I promise I haven't forgotten. Will never, ever forget in ways that I think only people who struggle with an anxiety disorder can understand. I'm going to focus on the good things, because they are my shield against the darker demons in my head.

I can't ever forget the bad things. They will always haunt me. What I have to do is work at remembering that there are so many more good things in the world, just waiting for me to embrace them. Two of whom, in fact, live right here in this house.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to my toddler babble about wuv.

Getting To Know You: Special Needs Student Resume

The year my son was 3, he'd already had over a year of therapy through Early Intervention, was getting private 1:1 and group OT, and had an IEP for speech therapy on hold with the school district.

In short: we knew we couldn't sign him up for plain old preschool.

But, he had put on quite the little show for the school district's evaluators at his 3 year old EI transition evaluation, and they got this crazy idea that, in their words, "he's fine."

Except that he wasn't. And we knew it.  And his doctors knew it.  And all of his therapists knew it.  And we went into debt keeping him in therapy until we sorted out which of his various doctors was going to formally bestow the inevitable autism diagnosis he needed for two reasons:

1) He's autistic.  (Duh! Just ask anyone - his therapists, his doctors, strangers at the park...)
2) It had to be on paper to get school services (Yes, that sucks. But it's reality. So let's accept it move on.)

Meanwhile, the school year and his 4th birthday were approaching and we felt strongly that he needed to start preschool somewhere. 

We enrolled him in a local program. He'd gone to part time daycare in their center, so they were fond of him and willing to give it a shot.  But really? They were just as aware as I was that it was a terrible fit. 

Before he started that class I really pondered how to smooth the way for him.  Then it hit me - a resume!  I write them all the time for my clients, why not write one to introduce him to his teachers?

Long story, well, ok, long... it was a hit. And I did it again when he finally started in the special needs preschool, and it was another hit.  Other parents asked me about it.  I really knew I was on to something when the incomparable Jill Smo shared my idea when school started last year.

Yesterday, my precious Bear left the comfortable predictability of his beloved special needs preschool teacher and started Kindergarten at a new school with new teachers. (Gen Ed with a 1:1 aid. Yes, I'm freaking out.)

I updated his resume and brought a dozen copies to the orientation to pass out to his teacher, the principal, the school nurse, his 1:1, the speech therapist, the janitor... ok, maybe not the janitor.  But you get the picture.  If they are listed in his IEP to provide services or have a position of authority in the school, they got one.

No crying here. Nope, not one little bit...

I also lent the teacher my copy of Answers to Questions Teachers Ask about Sensory Integration - every teacher I've loaned this book to has seemed delighted.  It's got checklists arranged by grade level, so they can copy the one or two pages that apply to their class.

I know that writing a resume isn't something everyone is comfortable doing on the fly - if it was, I wouldn't have a job.  So I wanted to share the one I created for any parents interested in doing the same to get the new school year off to a great start.

View and download a PDF of this sample Special Needs Student Resume

Download a dotx Word template for creating a Special Needs Student Resume

And here's the pin for this post on my Autism & Sensory Processing Disorder Pinterest board.

I hope this helps you as much as it's helped us.  Best wishes for a calm, meltdown free school year!

I Drank the Pinterest Koolaid and This Is What Happened

I held off joining Pinterest for ages because I knew it would suck me in like a black hole.  Because I knew I would find my tribe there.  My Type A Martha Worshipping OCD wacknut tribe. 

And so it came to pass. 

About the same time I drank the Pinterest Koolaid, our awesome sitter brought over an empty plastic mayo jar one day because she really wanted to make a calm jar (aka Glitter Jar aka Time Out Jar aka WTH Were You Thinking?! Jar) with Bear.  Then she came down really sick and wasn't able to come for over a week, and Bear didn't want to wait. 

Because I'm the kind of person who has things like glitter glue and glycerine lying around - and by "lying around" I mean "in clearly labeled matching totes" - Bear knew that I knew that we could make it any time.

What do you mean why do I  have that stuff? Because... um... in case the zombie apocalypse comes and we need to, uuuuum, make motivational posters! And global warming dried out the gel frosting tint and we need artfully decorated cupcakes to distract them from our brains!  You know - reasons.

Anyway. I had the stuff and a small child bugging me to doooo eeeeet.  Because it would totally help him be calm and don't I want him to be calm so let's make the jar because then we'll all be calm and it will be awesome. 

I know. I can hear you laughing at me. SHUT UP.  I know. 

It was late winter. I was delirious with cabin fever.

There are a gazillion bloggers out there who write about this project in an adorably earnest way.  They talk about color schemes for the glitter and calibrate the viscosity of the jars to optimize settling time.  These are the same bloggers who photograph their children holding the are you freaking kidding me with glass mason jars finished project, smiling calmly.

If that's what you're hoping to find here, I cordially invite you to visit Pinterest and seek out a different kind of mommy.  This is more of a cautionary tale.

Shall we begin?

First, get out all the stuff.  Once the glitter starts flying around, you don't want to turn your back on the kid.

There are a number of variations on the ingredients across the interwebz.  I know. I read them all.  This is what I settled on:

Water
Glitter glue
Regular glitter
Food coloring
Glycerine
Dish soap
Clean lidded jar
Really strong glue

I can't stress the last one one enough - one blogger recommends E6000 (a kind of super glue), another says she glue gunned it.   I wish I'd tried either of those.

I was trying to get some sensory work out of this, so I let him squeeze the glitter glue.

Stirring between each step is optional, though I think it's a good idea.  I did it partly to gauge how much glitter I was going to let him unleash and partly because he just really likes to mix stuff.

Food coloring: as always, a little goes a long way.

This is what it looks like after you dump in the regular glitter - it just floats there.  That's where a few drops of dish soap come in.  It breaks the surface tension and lets the glitter sink into the water.

I took this picture mainly to show what the glycerine looked like in case you're looking for it.  Craft bloggers would have you believe it's easy to find in great big bottles.  I tried to 4 stores with no luck.  I finally broke down and used the 2oz bottle I keep with my cake decorating supplies.

I took this picture to show how much glitter gets out even when you're really, really trying not to make a mess.  And in case you were curious - yes, my child did just discover the fine art of photo bombing.  And like any 5 year old boy with anything annoying, he thinks it's awesome!

The finished product. You can get a sense of how much color you might want to put into the water.
I do think coordinating the water color and glitter color is a good idea.

This is why you use glitter glue and glycerine - the increased viscosity creates cool patterns.

I really debated what kind of glue to seal the lid with.  I had not yet discovered E6000 and after accidentally melting another plastic craft project I wasn't sure a glue gun was the right call.  I decided to try Elmer's.  I figured if I could still open the lid in a day or two, I'd seek out a stronger alternative.

Cut to the next day.  That's right, I said the next goddamn day.  Because in Bear's world, sometimes you've gotta resort to calculating the life span of objects in hours.

I heard a noise.  I went to look.  We played the "what happened" game.  I figured he had been frustrated or angry, hence the chucking of the jar.  He said no.  I started naming emotions (#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf!) - he was thrilled to inform me that the emotion he'd been feeling was curiosity!  As in: I am curious how Mommy will react if I fling this as hard as I can!

If you ask him, he will gleefully re-enact the jar's flight pattern and show you where it hit, where the lid popped off, the trajectory of each bounce and where it finally landed.

I put him in the time out chair, which happens to overlook the spill.  I walked into the next room to count to ten and take deep breaths and all that jazz.  While I calmed down, Bear kept up a lively status report regarding the actions of his 13 month old brother.  Highlights included:

- Mooommmyyy!  Dude is walking in the glitteeeeerrrr!
- Moooommmmyyy! Dude is eating the glittteeerrrrrr!
- Moommmmyyyy!  Dude is making glitter footprints all down the haaaaaallll!

It's been 6 months.  I'm still finding glitter.

In case you're wondering about stain removal, of course I tried all the things. Yes, that one.  And that one.  That one, too.

Eventually, we named the stain Where The Zombie Died.  I put a throw rug on it.

Avengers Theme Half Birthday Party

Both my boys were stuck with birthdays that coincide with major winter holidays, and last year Bear started noticing that his friends had birthday parties with, well, other kids.

So, last summer I put into play the plan I'd had on the back burner from the moment I saw two lines on the stick and did the math... a summertime half birthday party that his friends could actually attend because they're not driving to Aunt Ethel's for the divorced side of the family's turkey dinner that Saturday.

Now I need to be clear about something.  This particular event did not live up to my normal Martha Was Here standards.  I was struggling with an autistic, behaviorally regressing 4 year old. And a new baby I was starting to suspect had sensory issues.  And I was just starting to work again.

It was slapdash at best.  I suspect some of these concepts will end up on someone's Pinterest fail post.  But the ideas were all mine, so I thought I should at least share them to give someone else the chance to do it better.

This one definitely gets filed under "Hey, the kids were happy."

Obviously there was more food than this for a party of 20+ people, these were just the themed items I managed to work out.

Thor's Hammers
I used a basic meatball recipe and rolled them out on a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap, then used a ruler and pizza cutter.  I baked them on a foil lined cooling rack over a sheet pan. In hindsight, I should have measured the depth of my hammer handle toothpicks before rolling out the meat.

Hulk Snacks
Obviously the toothpick holding these together is a problem for toddlers, something we quickly realized as the younger siblings of the boys the party was for enjoyed these muskmelon and red grape snacks.

My son was so enamored with these he continued to ask me for them months after the party.

Captain's Cupcakes
Yes, I do realize my cake decorating teacher would be mortified.  Thank you for asking.

(Whadaya want me to say?  It was nearly 100 degrees, the frosting was a melty mess and I did it with a baby hanging off my legs.) The shield was courtesy of Bear's Captain America action figure.

Cute Cups
This party was in 2012, when you couldn't set foot in a big box retailer without tripping over a display full of Avengers schwag.  You can still find plenty of Avengers items at party stores. I found a bunch of these cups in a Walmart dollar bin and snagged enough for each of the kids to take one home.  Their moms saw through my clever plan and I was left with a pile of Avengers cups, which Bear is perfectly happy about.

I should note that I did not buy the Black Widow one and I immediately regretted the oversight.  The lone girl at the party is one of my son's best friends, and she was genuinely upset there wasn't a girl super hero cup for her to use.  This summer I found a Wonder Woman cup and added it to the collection just for her. 

(And yes, I am aware Wonder Woman and the Avengers are from different comic 'verses.  Trust me, my husband will not let me forget it.)

That was pretty much it.  Oh, we did make limeade and called it Hulk Juice.  And forgot it in the fridge and the kids never really drank it. But later on the adults declared it delicious with vodka.


I'm On Pinterest! Shocker, eh?
Still haven't had time to sort out embedding a Pin It button, so here's a link to my Pinterest board with  these Avengers party ideas.

Laminated Painting Bookmark Craft

Last year for Mother's Day my son brought home from preschool the most perfect gift a writer and mom could ever receive: a bookmark made from a picture of him.  I loved it so much I've been actively looking for a way to do something similar ever since.

It was the first thing I thought of this spring when I was looking for an art project for the boys that was more springy, and less, well, Eastery.

I still had bookmarks in mind and I remembered pinning this celery paint stamp concept I'd seen in an issue of Martha Stewart and... voila!  Combination inspiration.

Just about any painting, drawing or photograph that can be recognizably represented within a 4" x 2" rectangle will work for this project.

MATERIALS
Paint supplies
Sturdy paper
Cut end from a bunch of celery
Ruler
Paper cutter (optional)
Laminator
Laminating pouches
Hole punch (optional)
Ribbon (optional)
Round corner punch (optional)

Time required: allow 24 hours so the painting can dry overnight


I got the counter all set up for Bear to do the painting phase of the project.  Which is to say, our resident artist Dude saw me get the painting stuff out and had to get in on the action.

Put this color here, Mommy!

 
We let him have at it until his interest waned.  Then I make the mistake of pulling out the celery for Bear, which Dude promptly stole. And tried to eat.
 

Bear was not amused that Dude was eating his art project

Daddy whisked the Dude away for his second favorite activity - playing in the bathtub - so Bear could get down to business.

Celery paint stamp test

We used neutral construction paper.  If we do this project again, I'll get some white card stock.

Bear is very linear and literal.  It took a lot of coaxing to get him to break away from from straight lines and let some of the flowers be partial along the edges.

Tip: We learned that you get a much cleaner, more recognizable flower impression if you coat the celery with a paint brush rather than dipping.

My favorite part was the lovely mixed color flowers that started to develop, but as you can see from the late afternoon light I didn't have time to explore that.  We set the finished painting aside to dry overnight.

We were able to cut 12 equal bookmarks from the finished painting (this is where the ruler comes in).  You don't have to have a paper cutter for this project, but it certainly makes this step fast and easy.

Because the whole point of this project was to make gifts for friends and family, Bear signed each one.  (He's still learning to write numbers, so I added the year myself.)

Tip: Depending on your kiddo and the number of bookmarks, you may need to break the signing step into multiple sessions.  Last year Bear would have needed at least three sessions, this year he really impressed me by getting through it in one.

I used a standard 4 3/8 x 6 1/2 laminating pouch for each bookmark.  You could also fit several into a standard letter size pouch, but I'm a klutz and didn't want to mess with trying to keep multiple items straight at once.

The kids can help with this step, but laminators get hot so it's obviously a "with adult supervision" situation. 

Sidebar: Look! I finally got a laminator!  And I loooooves it!  I got it to do some things for work. And for making therapeutic items like visual schedules and PECS cards and all that spectrum jazz.  But I love having it around because it opens up a whole new world of crafting and organizing projects.

 

I broke out the paper cutter again to trim the excess plastic, but as before, it's not a requirement.  I did a couple of one-off bookmarks recently and it was no big deal trim with scissors.

Tips:
- Trimming with scissors can leave sharp edges that will scratch, use extra care if cutting this way
- If the bookmark is crooked in the pouch, be sure to trim along the angle of the bookmark
- Refer to laminator's instructions for how close you can trim to the item without breaking the seal
- If you want to hole punch for the ribbon through the plastic and not the painting, be sure to leave at least a half inch of extra space along one edge
- Unless your kids are too old for this type of project, they probably should not be helping with the paper cutter.

A hole punch, corner round punch and color coordinated ribbon (I used necklace string from the jewelry making section of my local craft store) are optional.  The corner rounder makes finishing the edges much faster and easier.  The hole punch and ribbon are a nice touch, but purely personal preference.

We tried it both ways and unanimously decided we preferred the hole punch through the plastic and not the painting.  That's why (and I realize it's hard to see in this photo) one edge of the bookmark has wider plastic than the others.  

The corners of the bookmark are genuinely sharp and scratchy, so I think rounding them is a necessity.  I tried rounding some manually with scissors - it was slow and the results were inconsistent.  For myself I don't care as much (who am I kidding? It drove me crazy), but these were for gifts and I wanted to do better.

That said, the laminate is quite thick and sturdy, and the corner punch I bought was clearly intended for paper.  It was quite a challenge to get it to work on the laminated bookmarks.  We also learned that the smaller radius setting was too small and cracked the laminate; the larger radius setting worked (with significant effort).

The last step in the project was for Bear to carefully review the finished products and tell me which one he wanted to give to each friend and relative.  I was surprised and touched at how much it mattered to him.  After the obligatory familial gifts were dispensed, we gave them to people who have supported us through some rough times with Bear.  It made me so happy to see he realized their importance in his life, and I made sure each one he chose made it to the right person.

I'm on Pinterest! No, seriously. I am.

I'm a total loser and haven't worked out how to embed Pin It button in posts yet.  If you're so inclined, here's a link to my original pin of this project for easy re-pinning.

Game of Life

I left the house all by myself today. 

I can hear what you're thinking and... YES!  That statement does deserve balloons and confetti.  But I don't know the emoticon for that.

Anyhoo.  I was at Staples and turned around to see my former boss's boss.  A warm, smart, funny woman with an effortlessly tasteful, classic style. I both worshiped and was utterly intimidated by her at my last job.

My immediate thought after recognizing her was "Damn, she even manages to make jeans on a Sunday afternoon look classy."

Even though it's been 9 years she recognized me, came right over to give me a big hug, and then we spent a few moments catching up.

As I was driving home, I - the sloppy, exhausted, work from home, yoga pants addicted, special needs mom - realized the unbelievable luck that the one time I bump into this woman I admire so much, that:

- I had just showered
- My hair and makeup were done
- I was wearing my favorite casual yet grown up yet fun outfit
- With cute boots
- I was shopping to upgrade my office equipment
- Because the business I quit her department to start is so successful
- And I weigh 50 pounds less than the last time she saw me

So for today? I am winning. 

Also? I don't think the Universe can send a more clear signal I should go buy a lottery ticket.