I am so blessed to be the Mother of a special needs child. I have a 3 year old daughter who rocks. She is the light of my life in every sense of the word and I cherish every second with her.

I want to share something that I have come to understand while being so blessed. One thing which I feel is so important to a childs development is to have fun. Fun, being whatever your child has fun doing even if that is just looking at you. Encouraging them to have fun encourages development is so many ways I have learned.

My daughter loves to draw but has alot of difficulty with and no interest in drawing on paper, so one thing I let and encourage her to do is draw on the refrigerator with washable markers. This has been such a wonderful developmental tool on so many levels for her. One being because it's a large space which is alot easier to draw on. And I draw everybody we know and don't know for her. Over time, I have watched her scribbles turning into eyes and mouths and smiley faces. It has been so great for me as her Mom seeing the faces starting to take shape. It's something fun we do together and something fun she enjoys on her own as well.

She also has sensory processing deficits and this has worked on so many levels. She is very visual and is only attracted to someone based on how they look. So I draw for her the people in my family that she has problems with seeing to help in this area which has been helpful as well.

This is just one thing that we do. I am not recommending you do anything except your own thing and just have fun.

Stephanie Brannett