Making Use of Non-Special Needs Equipment

As the manufacturers of standard kids products look for more innovative ideas to keep their customers happy, they are inadvertently creating products that fill the needs of our special needs kids. Things that many parents would consider luxury items, like shower chairs, are pretty essential for many kids. Car seats are starting to fit kids for a lot longer, which means not everyone will have to get a special needs seat. And the innovative products designed to grow with your child, have the added advantage of fitting bigger kids than they did in the past.
Tere are a few of the products available in any baby shop that could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

CharliChair

The CharliChair is a new invention that recently hit the stores in Australia. Invented by a Sydney
father, in collaboration with Occupational Therapists at Westmead Children's Hospital. This shower chair can take a child from birth to 17kg, has 2 recline positions, and comes with a 5 point safety harness. It can be set to 3 different heights to suit the parent or caregiver, and there is an optional padded insert. While it doesn't have all the support of some of the disability specific shower chairs, for most young children, it will have sufficient support for the short time they will need to be in it. And starting at just $119, the price will save you thousands.


Infasecure Evolve



When Samara outgrew her common birth to 4 years car seat, we had a problem. The next stage required her to go into a booster seat. But, despite spending several hundred dollars, we could not find one that was supportive enough for her. So we bought a special needs one. $1725 later, and while she was better supported, it did not have enough recline to keep her head back, and was too wide for her, which meant she would do things that were impressive, but not good for her, like splitting her legs apart until her knees were almost touching the seat of the car, behind her! So we gave that one to my charity, Aroha Angels (www.facebook.com/arohaangels), and bought a second hand Carrot car seat. Overall, this seat has been a great seat, and we are happy with it. But these things cost around $5000 new! Then, in September of 2014, Australia finally caught up with the rest of the world, and Infasecure released the Evolve. This seat will fit your child from approximately 6 months (although, particularly with a social needs child, I would suggest rear facing them well past this), until somewhere between 8 & 12 years, depending on height. (95% of 8 year olds, 50% of 10 year olds, and 10% of 12 year olds is the general guideline). Not only that, but the seat comes with extra padded inserts, it has a temples recline, and, very important in my opinion, once it is strapped into your car,
there is no need to ever remove it if you don't want to. The one handed height adjustment works from the front, and adjusts the harness automatically. And the entire cover can be removed without unbuckling the seat. Better still, you can just removed the soiled part if, say your child has a toileting accident. Starting at $350 for the up padded model, many parents will be able to avoid the special needs seats altogether. We ended up buying one for our other vehicle, and I actually prefer it to the $5000 Carrot, and when she falls asleep, her head is much better position, even with the addition of the wedge option for the Carrot.

IKEA Innovations

IKEA is a great place for getting things that are ideal for special needs kids. The Lömsk swivel egg chair is a great example for both the vestibular movement, and the ability to hide inside it. The Ekkore is a swinging nest, that again is great for vestibular input. The Plufsig is a padded gym mat that can be folded away, and the Rusif is a plastic rocker the child can sit inside. The Svava is a platform swing, that is great for providing several types of vestibular input. And the PS2014 is a balance beam for kids who need to practice this. When it comes to beds, we found the Hemnes day bed is a great option for kids who fall out of bed. Simply turn it to face the wall, and you have a big kids cot! The sides are high enough to stop accidental falls, and the solid surround means there are no gaps or protrusions to cause injuries. The Antilop or Leopard high chairs can be used in the shower for children who can sit well with minimal support. And I discovered when cutting Samaras hair, the Antilop will fit a 6 year old nicely as a makeshift barber chair! 

Baby Jogger

While the Baby Jogger is not recommended for a child with low tone, due to the sling style of the seat, it's high weight limit of 35kg makes it a great option for many families. Particularly good for kids on the autistic spectrum, as it is nicely enclosed with a sunhood that comes right down, to hide 

behind. There are home other brands that will also take larger children, such as Mountain Buggy, Phil n Teds etc, but I have found the Baby Jogger Summit range to be the roomiest.

CHICCO Polly Magic Highchair

This high chair stands out from the rest when it comes to special needs kids. While there are plenty 

that offer height adjustment, and back recline, the thing that makes it different, is the height adjustable foot rest. The seat is well padded, and if need be, you can easily add lateral support in the form of pool noodles. Most OT's will want your child to be able to place their feet firmly on the footrest, and this is where the adjustability of the CHICCO really comes in to play. Many children will be able to use this rather than the first size in a high low chair, with little to no modification. 

Fisher Price Baby to Toddler Rocking Chair

This is another example of a product that has been inadvertently made more accessible to kids with special needs. Because it is made to fit until 25kg, a child can use it in the reclined position for longer than other rockers with a lower weight limit.

Smart Trike

These trikes have continued to evolve since we bought Samaras one when she was 2 years old. The main thing missing is some sort of foot fixation. But you can fix that with a pair of fake crocs and some cable ties. Simply keep using the harness as long as needed, and you will get a few years out of this before needing a special needs trike or bike.

These are just a few of the products I have found over the years that have done a great job in the place of official special needs equipment. Please share in the comments some of the products that have meant you could avoid buying the specialised version.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog.

Over the last 6 years, since my 7th daughter was born with Down Syndrome, I have spent a lot of time and money on therapies and equipment to help her. Over the years her diagnoses have grown to include hearing impairment, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (a connective tissue disorder she shares with her sisters and I), Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, Bronchiectasis (a lung disease caused by scarring from repeated pneumonias), Autism, and next week she sees a neurologist to see whether she also has a mild form of Cerebral Palsy.
We are a Kiwi (New Zealand) family living in Australia. Samara was born here, in Brisbane in September of 2008. Her disability meant we were unable to qualify for Permanent Residence. And being born here does not make her a citizen until her 10th birthday. This meant she did not qualify for the services, equipment resources, respite, and financial support that other children with disabilities are entitled to. Because we have a public healthcare system, insurance doesn't cover most of these things either.

Our battle to get Permanent Residency was a long one, and with a mammoth effort, a small fortune, and a total uprooting of the family, we finally won that battle and got a Medical waiver so our Australian born daughter, and the rest of us, could become Permanent Residents. The story of this journey is on my other blog http://just-juniors.blogspot.com/ for anyone who wants to read it.

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. And our circumstances certainly necessitated using our imaginations to find other ways of doing things! I also started spending a lot of time on the internet, like a lot of parents of special needs kids do, and started several pages, groups, blogs, 2 businesses, and a charity. Like a lot of parents of special needs don't! Lol.

To date I have my Disability Awareness business on Cafe Press. www.cafepress.com/justjuniors where I sell t-shirts and other bits and pieces, promoting disability awareness. Often very tongue in cheek, they reflect my opinion that if you can make people laugh, they will feel much more comfortable around you or your special needs child.

Then I started on my Facebook groups. So far we have www.facebook.com/groups/SKOZbuysell which is Australia's largest Facebook page for buying and selling disability related equipment for children. www.facebook.com/groups/SKOZsupport is another Australian based group where we share information on what support and funding options are available throughout the country. www.facebook.com/groups/specialkiwisinoz is a support group for New Zealanders living in Australia who have special needs kids. www.facebook.com/groups/SNEquipment is a worldwide group to ask questions about specific equipment before buying. www.facebook.com/groups/extraspecialkids is for Australian families with children with multiple unrelated diagnoses. And www.facebook.com/groups/DisabilityBudget which is the group that this blog has grown from, where parents can share ideas on ways to save money when it comes to equipment. 

An offshoot of the Special Little Kiwis in Oz page was started in 2013. A charity group, Aroha (Maori for love) Angels was started by me to help families by giving them used equipment that we have purchased or had donated. So far, with only around $5,000 spent, we have been able to pass on equipment that had an original price tag of $500,000! Which just goes to show how much wastage there is out there! Aroha Angels operates Australia wide. 100% of the proceeds from my Cafe Press store are now directed to Aroha Angels. 

In 2013, when we got our Permanent Residency, we suddenly became eligible for all the equipment we were not able to get prior to that. During the process of looking for, and getting quotes for equipment I discovered that Queensland was lacking in fairly priced products (Queensland was more expensive than the other states for the same thing), and variety. And so Just Juniors Disability was born. www.justjuniorsdisability.com is my website, and while I mainly sell within Queensland, I have  helped several customers outside the state. 

So as you can see, my interest and knowledge is fairly extensive in these areas. My calling in life has been found! I aim to help as many special needs families as I can, both practically and emotionally. I hope in some way, the ideas I share here will help you. 

These ideas are not all my own. Not by a long shot. I will be linking to other pages, and once I get established will ask people to guest blog as well. There are many blogs out there who share their brilliant ideas with others. My aim here is to bring all those clever ideas together into one spot. I will also aim to be as descriptive as possible in my titles and tags to help you find what you are after. My only regret with this format is that I can't categorise posts the way pages can be categorised. But I have found that most free websites don't offer this option. Maybe one day I will be able to fund a website to make this easier. But for now, this is the best I can do. 

In the meantime, please subscribe to this blog so you get all the updates and new ideas, and please share this with all your friends, therapists, teachers, anyone who has an interest in special needs kids. And please feel free to follow me on Pinterest, where I have several disability related boards. www.pinterest.com/kiwiaussie