Modifying Your Home

When it comes to us parents of KWSNs, we are the Ty Pennington’s of modifying our homes to suit our kids’ needs.  We have modified our own home and we have friends who have done the same to enable their children to use things in the house without assistance.  Wouldn’t you add a step stool for your child to use so she can brush her teeth independently (with supervision)?  Some of the following modifications are inexpensive and you can do yourself.  Others, may need a bigger check and a helping hand from a local contractor.  You should decide with your own family what exactly your needs are and what you’re looking to accomplish with your modifications.

For getting around the house, we’ve added hand rails.  My husband is a do-it-yourselfer.  Luckily, he’s pretty handy with a drill and knows what he’s doing.  He went to the local scrap metal yard and found a bunch of brand new handicap rails that someone had dropped off.  We were told they came from a hospital supply store.  It was our lucky day!  We bought enough to run the entire length of our hallway, around most of Jamie’s room and even one for the bathroom.  We bought a few extra and keep them on hand.  Side note: they may dot your walls with nice big holes if you  ever remove them.  Have spackle and paint on hand to fix your walls upon removal.

The second thing we did was build a huge deck off the back of our house.  We had a tiny cement patio originally, and thought that there was no way Jamie could move around outside without his walker on that tiny piece of concrete.  So, we went down to our local government complex and got our permit.  After that, a long trip to the lumber store was in order.  We told them exactly what we wanted, had our plans all drawn up to show them and they told us exactly what we needed.  Now, we didn’t go to Lowes or Home Depot because we believe in supporting our local small businesses.

Also, because we used the smaller business, we got a better deal.  We told them what the price was at Lowes and they met that price, delivered all of our lumber for FREE, and helped us decide what color we wanted our rails and posts, etc.  In the midst of all of this, there was a house being built next door to us.  When our deck was complete (we built the whole thing ourselves and it measures 20’x26′) we needed a ramp put in.  The guys building the house next door had seen us outside with Jamie and how hard it was for him to get around.  They came over and offered to build us a ramp with some of the scraps we had from our deck project.  It is a nice ramp!  They even bolted it into place with concrete nails.  This is another possibility for modifying your home.

We’ve done things like gone to the local pharmacy and bought toilet seat rails to make it easier for Jamie to get turned around to get on the potty.  Of course, he still gets twisted up in his jammies sometimes, and still needs a bit of assistance, but he’s a little more independent.  And isn’t that our goal as parents to KWSNs?  We all want them to be as independent as they possibly can.

Another thing we’ve done and may be useful to someone out there is taken that same step stool from the bathroom and put in under Jamie’s feet in the van.  His feet don’t quite reach the floor in his car seat.  Voila!  Instant foot rest.  It’s perfect for him; he looks so much more comfortable now.  We’ve even used it on the couch.  It helps remind him to keep his feet straight when he’s sitting and also keeps his tushy in place.  He pushes against it to keep his hips in line.  Perfect seating!

Of course, we’ve all used safety rails on beds, plates with high sides for scooping when eating, and mirrors for speech therapy.  One thing I’ve noticed is that parents to KWSNs should be inventors.  We’ve all come up with something that we’ve modified at one point or another.  Or at least, not used the item for its intended purpose.  Take a muffin tin for example.  I’ve used this so many times to teach proper spoon usage.  Do you know how hard a kid who likes to eat will work to get that one M&M out of the one slot of a muffin tin?  It also makes him focus his attention to find the one M&M I’ve put in the tin.  I’ve even used it to teach the “pincher grasp” instead of a “raking grasp”.  I know that sounds harsh; but my kid is motivated by food, especially M&Ms because he never gets them.  I taught him how to crawl with M&Ms!

And, because my kids hardly ever get candy, a sucker is a Godsend when working on speech therapy!  One of those little suckers gets him to stick his tongue out like nothing else.  We are working on tongue mobility, so this is his motivator.  Just one pass over his tongue and he’s a happy kid!  Plus, he gets the feedback from us saying, “Good job, Jamie!”

As long as I’m on the torturing-my-kid-by-withholding-treats-until-he’s-done-his-task spiel, here’s another brilliant idea.  For breakfast, Jamie loves a bowl of oatmeal.  I have found that he will hold a snack trap (with the lid off) in one hand and his spoon in the other.  I put just one or two spoonfuls of oatmeal in the snack trap and let him have at it.  Bibs are important here (and if your kid is too big for a baby big like mine is, an artist’s smock available at any craft store works perfectly, plus it covers their pants!).

I hope you’ve found something useful here for yourself or someone you know.  We’d love to hear from you!  What have you done to modify your home for your child?