Once upon a time there was a little boy with Aspergers syndrome. Sometimes he had a hard time calming his body, especially when he started to get upset. His mommy loved him very much, and she tried to find ways to help him learn to calm himself.

One day the mommy had an idea. “I could get my son a rainmaker toy. He would enjoy watching the beads fall down, down, down through the holes. The rain-like sound they make as they cascade down will distract him from his anger, and be soothing to his spirit.” The mommy searched, and eventually found a rainmaker toy.

The mommy, as many Aspie mommies do, made a big deal of this toy. She created a great sales pitch, and explained to her little man how it was an Aspie tool. She showed him the beads falling and pointed out the calming sound they made. The mommy told her Aspie that when he started to get angry, he could get his rainmaker toy, sit on her bed, and calm himself by watching it.

She had high hopes.

The Aspie son decided to check out his new rainmaker toy. He took it to his favorite corner of the couch, curled up his legs, and tipped it over. The mommy went to the kitchen to start dinner, smiling as she thought of how this was going to help her son.

A few minutes later, in the midst of chopping vegetables, the mommy heard a different sound. It was not pleasant like rain drops. It was banging. And more banging. AND MORE BANGING. Her Aspie was banging on the top of the rainmaker toy. He was not calm. He was becoming frustrated. Quite frustrated, in fact.

You see, this little man was frustrated. Some of the beads were stuck at the top, and were not going down the little holes. Like they were supposed to. They were not following the rules. 

And so, what was intended to be a calming toy became of source of consternation and now lays discarded on the bedroom floor.

Moral: Things are not always as they seem.

Now it’s your turn! Have you ever had a time when you bought something for your child, and things went horribly wrong, or it got used in a much different way than you anticipated? Share your story in the comments!

Saturday was a very exciting day for me. I’ve been working on the Home Educating Family blog, and one thing I wanted to do was incorporate a weekly special needs post. I know there are a lot of homeschooling special needs families out there, and I want our magazine to reach out to them. I also know a lot of special needs families that are not homeschooling could benefit from these posts.

So, I went to work. I started gathering posts from special guests. Saturday was the first post. Holly Nelson was gracious enough to share about being a single parent, special needs homeschooler. Saturday morning I started spreading the word. It sounded something like this: Continue reading →

Last  year my writing buddy (Maybe I should call her my manager, ha ha!) told me about an opportunity to review for this magazine called TEACH. I looked into it, and it seemed like a good thing, so I applied. That was the beginning of my Gabby Mom journey.

Little did I know how much God would use this review opportunity in my life. Continue reading →

I still can’t believe it. Never expected it. I am amazed! Continue reading →

When my witty friend Renee from Clever Copywriting offered to do a guest post to help me dig out of my to-do pile, I knew you would all be in for a treat. I love reading her writing. She is great with words, and usually hides some wonderful advice in amongst the humor. Enjoy!

Christmas in my house rawks. The tree goes up the day before Thanksgiving. Dozens of cookies are birthed from the depths of my oven. The fudge flows freely. Presents pile up…and up…and up. Christmas carols blast from the television speakers all month long while we hop from party to Santa picture event to party and back again.

Pair that up with our annual trip south to see relatives, and by the time the New Year rolls around I’m so tired I can’t even see straight. Continue reading →