Power Up with Saddle Pals

Saddle Pals is a United Cerebral Palsy program which offers riding and more to persons with special needs.

1. Right: Saddle Pals volunteer and retired law enforcement officer, Howard Mason, supervises Natalie as she grooms Buddy.

Obviously, it's fun, right? But there's a lot more to it than that. Anyone involved with the program -- clients, parents, volunteers, staffers -- can tell you that something really special happens when your special student gets to know and ride a horse! Something really special. Call it magic, call it empowerment, call it awesome!

It was after a Saddle Pals event, that our non-speaking, Selective Mutism-diagnosed Natalie read aloud to us, at her request, for 3 1/2 hours. We've been walking on clouds ever since, as she continues to impress us with exponential progress on being willing to speak and doing it!

Thank you, Saddle Pals! And thanks to UCP, United Cerebral Palsy, whose motto is "Life without limits for people with disabilities."

Rescue Remedy Pastilles to the Rescue !

An indispensable item in the Natalie Academy tool kit is the Rescue Pastille by Bach Flower Remedies Ltd. Alcohol-free, homeopathic, chewable, sugar-free, comes in black currant flavor or plain. rescueremedy.com

We keep a tin in her tote bag, with all her CDs, Discman, sun-blocking lip gloss and sunglasses.

They are generally available at health food stores, and I also found them on amazon.com.

Natalie chews a pastille or two prior to a stressful event, and it seems to help her relax and not panic, allowing her energies to deal with the situation instead of being sapped by panic.

We are great believers in the use of Rescue Remedy, first introduced to me as a tincture in the 1970s, when my friend Tucker Held of Toronto found that it helped him function in the midst of extreme grief and distress by the unexpected death of his mother.

As a litigation attorney in the 1980s, I found it extremely useful in calming my clients in preparation for deposition or trial testimony. I found it beneficial myself in steadying my own nerves before a trial or an appellate argument.

Since that time I have become aware of expansions to the Rescue Remedy offerings: sleep aids, children's spray, alcohol-free and the like.

Very nice stuff!

rescueremedy.com

Using Lyrics for Speech Exercises

When your student has Selective Mutism, even though Speaking is the sought-after prize, it does not work to go after it directly. That's why we sneak up on speech.

Photo: Ready Springs Schools Speech Teacher Janet Borba observes consonant exercises while Natalie sings along to a favorite song.

Natalie started Speech training by way of the Infant Stim (Infant Stimulation) program offered through Nevada County Schools beginning her first year. We began with Signing, courtesy of the Elks who provided Speech Therapists to students with Special Needs in Nevada County, California. Terry McCoan was her extraordinary first teacher, and she was soon fluent in saying Mom, Dad, Auntie and more !!! As in "more food" or "more hugs". The sign for "more" became a keynote in her vocabulary.

It wasn't long until she started verbalizing, however. Within her first year, she'd started saying the basics.

Teasing / bullying doesn't help.

Fast forward to Kindergarten and getting made fun of for reading being hard to understand. Speech started to taper off. A couple more teasing incidents in public school and it was completely submerged but for the most "select" situations.

She was then diagnosed with Selective Mutism -- an anxiety-based disorder inhibiting normal speech.

It's been challenging! Let me collapse an ensuing multiple-year period and cut to the chase of what works:

• Incentives. Offering a new CD when Natalie breaks through her anxiety to speak in a given, limited situation.
• Small, specific goals. Entering a social situation, we set a couple, achievable goals, such as responding to hellos and how-are-yous, if not with a word, at least with a smile. Each "win" in this area contributes to her foundation and creates greater strength for future challenges.
• Incidental opportunities to speak. Keeping vigilant for opportunities for her to have a limited, safe, win-win verbal exchange for more foundation building.



• Capitalizing on favorite activities. Natalie loves music, so Janet Borba, Speech Teacher for Ready Springs Unified School District, asked her to bring in the lyrics to some favorite songs. A few classes later, she asked her to bring in her boombox. She then found that Natalie was willing to sing for her, and -- voila! -- they found themselves in a dialogue in which Janet was able to start coaching Natalie on her "ch", her "s" and her "z", which had been the goal of the class to start with!

Thanks to Janet Borba, for her creativity, intuition and -- best of all -- effectiveness in employing these methods. This last has been a breakthrough year.

Natalie gave a concert to a standing room only audience, singing 6 songs, and afterward engaged in conversations with the many guests. Take a look.

"We Don't Rush"

Pictured: Natalie's first portrait of her mom, Annie, drawn when she was five years old.

The Natalie Academy is named for my daughter Natalie. It's the name of our home school. Fast and speedy don't work for Natalie. She takes time to process input, and it pays off: when she gets it, she gets it.

She went to kindergarten and all the way through the beginning of Third Grade at our local elementary school, which had a superb Special Education stand-alone in the center of a ring of other classrooms, presided over by what appeared to the children to be a magical fairy princess, delivering targeted tidbits of knowledge coated with sparkles and delight and positive reinforcement.

Then we had an opportunity to enroll in a Waldorf-influenced public charter school, where Natalie became their first Special Needs student. It was back to Second Grade to join her age group, as the Waldorf curriculum called for two years of kindergarten in keeping with the Rudolf Steiner system. A happy family of students, the same class passed together each year on to a different teacher and many bonding field trips, May Pole Dances, Harvest Faires, "The Snow Queen" all-school play and many more adventures that elegantly wove togetherness and the arts with the daily discipline of hand writing a summary of one's work in the charming, hand-made, oversized portfolios maintained by each student for each subject.

The pace was a bit too quick at times, mitigated by friendly parent tutors and an ever-present aide, as well as an understanding class, many of whom were always ready to share hugs and understanding.

Come Fifth and Sixth Grades, however, things changed, rhythms changed, hormones changed (remember we're a year later here at Waldorf). It was no longer a friendly environment and she started heading under the desk rather than face the chaos and the noise of her classroom.

We took some Independent Study home and her aide -- also a family friend luckily -- worked with her for a few weeks in the quiet and comfort of her own living room. Voila! The Natalie Academy was born. And we don't rush!