We invited a guest for today's show. We have Christian Hancock, a speech-language pathologist, feeding therapist, and parent coach. She is also a mom of two. She will be sharing with us her knowledge and advocacy about FASD. Let's dive in!

You can check her website here: https://heartandsoulspeech.com/ 

Her Instagram: heart_soul_speech - https://www.instagram.com/heart_soul_speech/ 

Her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartandsoulspeech/ 

You can check out my website at https://www.mamasystems.net/ 

Check out more training for you, the Special Needs Mama, at https://www.mamasystems.net/Advocate-trainings

The truth, 2022 was really a difficult year for our family. And the truth about a new year is that nothing magical happens when that clock strikes midnight on January 1st. Yes, we are filled with hope that THIS is the year that the missing piece of the puzzle in our life will show up and click nicely into place. Yes, we love the idea that we CAN — and should! — change as we grow.

But it doesn’t just *POOF* happen. It takes a little work through the weariness. And let me tell you, it’s worth it.

I was so grateful for my past self in those flat-out hard days last year. The one who took the time to put important systems in place when the time was right; so, when everything seemed to be going wrong, the house still functioned. We had some cogs in motion to keep us going.

Do you have systems in place that will allow things to run smoothly in your home, even when you cannot control anything else? Do you want things to change in your home and in...

Q: What is the secret to a successful school morning?

A: An effective evening routine!

I know that “an effective evening routine” doesn’t feel like it fully answers the question about a successful school morning, but give me a minute. When you are prepped and ready for school the night before, the morning is SO MUCH SMOOTHER. So let’s take the first step in talking about our evening routine in this email and we are going to keep going with this process to implement it over the next three weeks. And after we go through this, we will look at our morning routine!

Grab your free morning routine guide Here!

First, we start with the time that your people need to go to bed and we work backwards from there. Let’s first find a good bedtime for your buddies. Starting with your wake up time and using the Sleep Foundation’s ideal sleep times, we can work backwards here, too: 

• Preschoolers (3-5 years old) need 10-13 hours of sleep every night
• ...

Sarah Katherine Oliphant is a mama of a deaf child and has so much wisdom to offer if you are new to this community. I hope her story encourages you, mama.

Markeisha Hall is a certified Autism Travel Agent and has so much goodness to share about traveling with special needs buddies. 

Travel with children can be a huge inconvenience and not an easy feat. However, traveling with special needs children can be so much more complicated. Finding venues that can meet your child's needs is always a struggle. I love how Markeisha gives us insight to how we can travel with success with all of our children. 

Kourtney Frohlich shares with us the ECI process and her experience as a diagnostician in the public school system.

Kristin Smith with Easy Peasy Therapy gives us some AMAZING tips on how to help our buddies learn to use the bathroom.

Here is her helpful download. 

Erin Jacobs Stagner helps break down some common diagnoses in the special needs world. SPD,  IDD,  CP, ASD, and BPD, are just a few. You can find her here: Home - The Special Needs Specialist

Depending on where you are on your journey a diagnosis or recieving a diagnosis can feel paralyzing. 

The IEP Mom, Nicole Schechter, explains all of the different sections of the IEP, who will be there, what you can expect throughout the process.