By Sharon Randall
We all anticipate the birth of our children with great joy. But when you receive the news that a sibling or a close friend has delivered a child with special needs, immediate discomfort may set in.

Here are 10 ways you can help your friends and family welcome their new arrival:

By Keith Ferguson
Paula Kavolius, founder of the House of Possibilities, choked back tears as Michael McCarthy, 11, gave her an oversized homemade check for $900 and a hug.  

Cafe 21 was founded at Fisher School in Walpole last year as a creative setting and means to teach Shevon Kuznezov's special education students math skills in real life situations.

On Thursday afternoons the children help make snacks and breakfast foods to sell to teachers, parents and other students along with coffee, hot chocolate and tea on Friday mornings.

But a Thursday afternoon early this spring was a little more special than normal.

Before delving into cookie creation, five students presented the poster board worth $900 signed simply by Ms. K. The memo read "donation."

 

By Catherine Buday
Kevin Babcock, age 7, is carefully building a train with small wooden locomotives and freight cars. His small hands guide the finished train up and down the wood track. Then, with a triumphant smile, he brushes the train off the track for a spectacular derailment.

By Barbara DidonaWhen most people hear the word hippotherapy, the jokes are as inevitable as they are predictable. They feature either a person riding a hippopotamus, or a hippopotamus stretched on a therapist's couch.  People can't seem to help themselves.
 In fact, hippotherapy is defined as "therapy using the movement of the horse", and it is a therapy that in the last ten years has become increasingly popular for children with a wide variety of special needs.


 

 Something is cooking at the Minuteman ARC in Concord. Today it happens to be pancakes. With your choice of strawberries, bananas, or chocolate chips.

The Cooking with Friends class meets weekly after school, and is designed to create opportunities for children with autism to make friends and practice social skills. Darcie Heller, Family Services Coordinator at the ARC, explains that the food preparation is a fun activity for the children, who are 10-12 years old, but the real learning lies in the social interaction embedded in the cooking process.

 

The National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) held its 36th annual convention in Boston this July.   Drawing over 2500 participants from around the country, and staffed by 350 volunteers, the weekend-long event provided education, networking, and above all, an opportunity to celebrate the lives of people with Down Syndrome (DS).