Special Needs

For kids with special needs, event transition (that is, stopping doing one thing and starting on another) can be a very important and delicate part of the day. Easy Daysies provides a step by step breakdown for specific routines children need to work on.

“Use routines to encourage good behavior.  Routines help a preschooler understand her world.  When she knows what comes next, she feels more in control and it is easier for her to co-operate.  Routines are especially helpful for those transition points:  getting ready for daycare, bedtime and so on.” — “Ten Tools for Positive Discipline,”  Today’s Parent Magazine, February 2007, p.68

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Lessening Anxiety

Many kids with special needs thrive on routine and predictability.  Easy Daysies helps kids know what is coming next, which helps to lessen anxiety, curb “meltdowns”, and make everyone’s day a little bit easier.  Easy Daysies provides kids with visual indicators allowing them to be familiar and predict what is happening next giving them a sense of safety and comfort.

I’ve had people ask, “Why can’t I fit the whole day’s schedule on the magnetic board?”  Easy Daysies is meant to reduce your child’s anxiety.  The board holds about 8 magnets at a time, because can you imagine giving a kid a list of 27 things they have to do today?  That would only increase their anxiety!  While adults can think in terms of weeks, months and years, children think more in terms of “What’s happening now” and “What’s happening next”.  The board is made this length specifically to help kids become successful and independent at a specific routine.   Start with 3 to 4 magnet tasks on the chart and increase magnets up to 7 or 8 tasks.   Parents simply choose the specific routine they want their child to become successful and independent  and move on when their child is happy and successful to the next routine that needs work.

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A main challenge that children with special needs encounter is the ability to successfully input and output communication.  The simple illustrations on Easy Daysies magnets are ideal for non-readers and pre-readers, which can help with sight-word learning and personal confidence, and lessen embarrassment in a classroom setting where others are reading.  The “To Do” and “Done” columns allow for a clear distinction between a task that needs to be achieved and one that is done, so a child can move on to the next task at hand.

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Affirmation and Accomplishment

For many kids, the kinaesthetic activity of simply moving a magnet from the “To Do” column to the “Done” column is like a big pat on the back, and sometimes the little things can be big things to children seeking their place in the world.  Easy Daysies magnets are also ruggedly designed and fun to handle, making for a classic “learning while playing” experience.  Easy Daysies is helping to teach a life skill, that there are things to be done in a day and getting it done is the reward in itself!  For a child with special needs, the confidence and security they gain from handling their situations better (both at home and at school) can go a long way to helping them function more effectively in society.

We have been asked this question many times, and it is not a random color choice.  Research and experience with autistic children shows that certain colors evoke specific responses.  If our magnets were bright red, this could cause feelings of anger or even a sensation of pain in some autistic children.  Light blue happens to be one of the most soothing, tranquil colors, which is what we want for developing routines and independence.  And we think it just looks nice!

(see for example http://community.hopefulparents.org/forum/topics/color-theory-and-autism)