GA-SNS

Goodbye October, Hello Dear Friends

Tammy Kniffin — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:29:18 +0000

I will be heading to California in a couple of days to attend the Smart Women’s Conference and Expo. I get to go in a couple of days early to visit our old friends and neighbors. To be honest I am feeling a little nostalgic and a bit emotional about this trip. I am thrilled that I get to go the conference and be inspired and learn more that I can share with each of you. I am so excited to catch up with our dear friends, but we were living in Los Angeles when our son was diagnosed with autism. I have truly had some of the greatest and some of the most difficult moments of my life there. I know that overall it will be a great time and I look forward to telling you all about it when I get back.

October is my favorite month. I love the cool weather and changing landscape. I always feel like updating or decorating my house and I love working outside this time of year. My neighbor has the most beautiful fall display in her yard. I thought ”oh I can do that myself”. Well I am pretty sure my neighbor paid a professional because mine is not measuring up. In fact, I am pretty sure if the wind blows mine will be gone…..keep in mind I live in KS…the wind is going to blow! Maybe if I get out my glue gun…

I am so excited about the next few months. I am going to be talking alot about the transition years for students in middle and high school and have some incdredible organization strategies to share. I also have some wonderful professionals to share with you in that area. For those of you who have young children with special needs we will be hearing from a behavior therapist and a special education teacher. I am also really excited because I get to meet Dr. Kari Miller in person. If you have not listened to the audio of our seminar with her, you must do that. I am looking forward to learning more from her and sharing it with you.

To a wonderful fall and more bright days ahead for our children!!

Just for you!

Tammy Kniffin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 03:20:07 +0000

You have to listen to the two new audios on the site. One is from the women who started Possibility Playground. If you have ever wanted to make something happen, but thought there was no way, you have to listen and be inspired by this story. Not to mention there is a special announcement just for you at the end of the audio.

We also heard from Dr. Kari Miller of Educational Excellence. If you are looking for practical ways to help your child with learning difficulties…..you must listen to this. Dr. Miller has so many ideas and strategies that you can implement right away with your child.

I would love to hear what you learned and how these two seminars have helped you. Have a fabulous week! tammy

Such an exciting month!!

Tammy Kniffin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:00:46 +0000

Be sure to check out the audio of our talk with Dr. Kari Miller. If you have a child who is struggling in school, you will not want to miss this. Please be sure to share this with friends or family who may benefit from this information.

There are very exciting things going on here at the GASNS. I am thrilled to offer two FREE teleseminars this month. Please let others know about this amazing opportunity. These are the types of speakers we usually only get to hear at seminars, so that in itself is incdredible. But, it gets even better, as you can listen from the comfort of your home (in your jammies if you like) and you will have the opportunity to ask our speakers questions. I so hope that you will be able to join us and invite others who would enjoy this opportunity. You will find all the details on our home page.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Inspired and Encouraged!!

Tammy Kniffin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:29:29 +0000

Possibility Playground

If you have a dream you want to see come to life, you need to hear the story of Possibility Playground.

Listen Here: Possibility Playground

Possibility Playground is a universally accessible playground for children of all physical abilities. Traditional playgrounds are often inaccessible to children with disabilities; at most, offering one or two pieces of equipment they may be able to negotiate. At Possibility Playground, ALL children are able to play shoulder to shoulder.

Back in the Swing of Things!!

Tammy Kniffin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:57:24 +0000

Hope you all had a wonderful summer! Most of us are back in the swing of school by now. We have so much great information to share with you about our upcoming speakers. Check back soon for all the details and a very special offer that will be coming your way. I can’t wait to... [Continue Reading]

Environmental toxins, ADHD and autism in LAUSD – 2009 update

Tammy Kniffin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:25:17 +0000

by Dr. Kari Miller

In this edition of expert corner, Deborah Merlin, Los Angeles mother and author of Victory Over AD/HD; A holistic approach for helping children with Attention Hyperactivity Disorder, discusses the role of environmental toxins in ADHD and autism.

We face an epidemic of neurological and learning disorders that cannot be explained away by simple genetics. The Centers for Disease Control report that one out of six children has a neurological disorder.

Autism was one of the main health topics discussed during the presidential debates. Autism has increased twelve-fold in California, and many others states are experiencing similar increases. This is an urgent crisis, and we must immediately address the root causes of these neurological disorders.

Environmental toxicity — particularly heavy-metal toxicity — causes a range of serious neurological and degenerative disorders. Heavy metals and other environmental toxins saturate our world. Our children come into frequent contact with mercury, lead, aluminum, pesticides and other toxins such as the fire retardants found in cars and electronic equipment.

How prevalent is environmental toxicity? We don’t have the answers — yet. But, as the Environmental Protection Agency reports, we do know that one out of six women carries unsafe levels of mercury in her blood, putting 630,000 American infants per year at risk for cognitive and developmental damage. Fetuses in particular have the odds stacked against them if they mature in a cesspool of toxins.

What can be done? Please read the full article here: http://www.examiner.com/x-10067-LA-Special-Education-Examiner~y2010m4d19-Environmental-toxins-ADHD-and-autism-in-LAUSD–2009-update

ALL NEW teleseminar!!!! Listen Now!!

Tammy Kniffin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:10:06 +0000

Listen here: Ed Therapy, Kari Miller

What a great time we had on tonight’s call! Dr. Miller shared a wealth of strategies and techniques that you can begin to use with your children right away. Overcome the pain of learning failure. Bring the principles of educational therapy to your home and classroom.

Dr. Kari Miller is a Board Certified Educational Therapist and Director of Miller Educational Excellence, an educational therapy center in Los Angeles. She hosts her own blogtalk radio show, Special Kid School Talk, and is a subject-matter expert for Examiner.com, Parenting Special Needs Magazine, SpecialEducationAdvisor.com, and Bizymoms.com.

To contact Dr. Miller:
Email: klmiller555@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.MillerEducationalExcellence.com
Phone in Los Angeles: 310-280-9813
Special Kid School Talk: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/specialkidschooltalk

Autism and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Tammy Kniffin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:34:28 +0000

If you haven’t read the book by a similar name you really should, (Alexander and the Terrible….). It’s very entertaining and sure to make you laugh. Not so with my day, but of course this is a light and momentary trouble sure to pass. It was just a bad, bad autism day. My son was feeling unexplainable overwhelming anger and frustration, and on this day his response is anger and aggression, both unpredictable. It’s not a surprise as this is common for those dealing with autism. It just makes me sad. Sad for my other children who are on the receiving end sometimes and sad that Taylor is so miserable when he gets like this and is unable to pull himself out of it. There is a point when he has crossed a line (an invisible one) and cannot easily recover. He must go through some unknown process to get calm and be reasonable again. The challenge is that it is not the same process every time. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes, but sometimes like this particular day it took hours and then some. He remained angry and combative for several hours, finally went to bed, woke up agitated and stayed that way most of the following day. That’s a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! Some 48 hours later we discovered why he was angry. If only he could/would tell us these things in the moment, or before, life would be so much easier. Sometimes he cannot put his thoughts into words and other times he just believes we should know what he is thinking. I believe in this particular case it was the latter. The very word autism indicates self-focus, and one of the ways this is manifest in Taylor is that he really thinks we should know what he is thinking and gets very frustrated when we don’t. The good news is that once the episode has passed, he is his sweet, sweet self and feels badly about what has happened.

If you’ve had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and just need to tell someone about it, feel free to leave a comment to this post or send an email to me at tlkniffin@gmail.com. It just feels better to share the burden sometimes. I hope you all have a wonderful, beautiful, relaxing, very good day!

Special Olympics

Tammy Kniffin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:51:34 +0000

Saturday was such a great day. I love watching my son play ball. His team is undefeated and won the gold medal. That’s ok, but he doesn’t really care all that much if they win. He just loves to be out there. He is the most encouraging person on the field and I love that. He says good job, way to go, it’s ok, are you okay; something encouraging to everyone. It doesn’t matter what team you are on or if you are a player, coach or umpire. One day I hope he’ll have the opportunity to work with others who have special needs. This is when he is his happiest and really there isn’t anything I want more for him. If you have the opportunity to get involved with special olympics you should absolutely try it. If your first experience doesn’t or didn’t go well, please try again. Don’t get me wrong we’ve been on teams where things were challenging, but the hearts of the people have always been amazing and we’ve been able to make it work. Taylor did play on “regular” community teams when he was younger, but as the games became more competitive it was frustrating to him so we made the switch to Special Olympics. It may not be right for everyone, but it has been a fabulous experience for us.

We will be offerring a FREE teleseminar the first week of August, so please check back for details to be announced in the next couple of days. You won’t want to miss this!

Have a wonderful week.

Hot and Stinky

Tammy Kniffin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:58:19 +0000

Wow, it was 108 in Wichita today….too hot to do anything outside! Last post I told you we wanted to go to Grossology and that I would give you an update. Taylor got to go and thought it was pretty good, but some parts were just too gross so he had to pass those up. I believe that was the “smell it and guess what body part it came from” area. I would have to pass that up too.

Watch for our newsletter; we sent out the first one today and it includes a yummy gluten free cookie recipe. Make sure to sign up if you haven’t already, and remember it’s FREE.

We have so many amazing professionals to share via our teleseminars for members. These are passionate people who love our kids and want to make a difference by inspiring and encouraging you on this journey. I’m so excited about this I can hardly stand to spread them out over the next few months. I want to hear them all …. today!

Have a wonderful week!