You don't have to be a parent of a Special Needs child, a teacher, or a therapist to enter able2able giveaways. This giveaway prize will be mailed within the US only. New to blog giveaways, and a little nervous? Check out able2able's Blog Giveaway FAQ's.

The winner is... Momma Chaos! You have been emailed and you have until 11:59pm CDT Monday 9/20 to reply with your shipping information or Random.org will be used to select another winner.

Has your child been diagnosed with any of the following, or are you concerned about your child but there is no diagnose yet?

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  
• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
  
• Anxiety & Stress
  
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
  
• Asperger's
  
• Pervasive Developmental Delays (PDD)
  
• Play Skills Deficits
  
• Social Skills Deficits
  

Where are you, in your journey as a parent? Are you are feeling trapped or a little lost when you think about how to help your child? Are you drowning in a sea of reference books and links, not knowing where to start? S-O-S Research is here to guide you in creating action out of information.

I recently reviewed the Social Skills Rescue Series with my Typically Developing son in mind more than Clara-Bear. Clara-Bear (Down Syndrome, Autism) is our first child. We knew that Alan, our second, would have his own set of struggles as the sibling of a Special Needs child. We thought we were prepared, but we did not anticipate how being housebound for 7 months of the year with Clara-Bear would affect our outgoing 3 year old.

Alan is the little brother, but in a way he is also the big brother. Because Clara-Bear is just starting to play with him in very limited ways, he is also like an only child. We knew he had a speech delay when he was two, but his speech improved quickly once Spring arrived and he was able to go to a pre-school program. This led us to believe that he just needed time with other kids in order to catch up.



This past winter he turned three and there was a big difference in him. He wanted and needed to play with others. His language was getting more complex, but it was becoming more difficult to understand him. Sometimes he would have to use sign language to help us understand what he was saying. He was getting frustrated.

Since Clara-Bear is non-verbal, Alan was actually our first talking child. We were dazzled by how expressive he was and exhausted by how much he loved to talk. More of the ripple effect of having a Special Needs sib - Alan's verbal skills were miraculous to us when compared to Sissy-Bear's. This was our normal.

We did not realize how severe his articulation problems were until we were off homebound status and he could play with kids his own age. He was so eager and excited to have friends! That excitement quickly turned to stress when other children could not understand him or his signs.

He started having potty accidents if he was with other children and I was not present. The boy who would confidently walk up to any adult and introduce himself, me, and his sister would clutch my leg, unnaturally quiet, when we met children his own age. He adapted by playing silently, choosing to follow other children around without speaking and avoiding eye contact. I was afraid his personality would be changed forever and struggled with Mommy guilt.

The plan was lots of playdates, confidence boosters, and Speech Therapy in the Fall. But we still needed more right now. I have always used research as a way to cope emotionally with Clara-Bear's Special Needs and with the challenging aspects of parenting in general. I started to shut down with this situation. I suddenly felt like I had two Special Needs children and did not know who to tend to first or how to snap out of my funk to create a starting point. I'm usually pretty good at thinking up search terms for my questions, but was drawing a blank on this one.



S-O-S Research can help with situations like ours and yours in several different ways. One way is through their S-O-S Rescue Series Guides. S-O-S stands for School-Other-Social and each Guide in the Rescue Series lists hundreds of resources to help you create an action plan to help your child succeed at school, home, in sports, with friendships, with their spiritual lives, and more. Each part of the series has three parts, or stages, to guide you as you review your resources, create your child's professional support team, and create your action plan.



Stage 1 Identifying the Problem
Stage 2 Analyzing the Options
Stage 3 Refining the Solutions

Depending upon where you are in your journey with your child, you can select one of the Guides or purchase an entire Series. The Guides don't just contain lists of books and websites, there is a synopsis of each to help you decide if it is worth your time to look further into a reference. Freebies, timesavers, and priorities are all flagged. Guides are currently available for ADHD/ADD, Social Skills Deficits, and Anxiety & Stress. Guides for Asperger's, Autism, and Play Skills are coming soon.

Another way S-O-S Research can help is with one on one Parent Coaching through their Support Center. Coaching sessions with Stephanie Scott, M. Ed., Parent Coach, can be conducted in person if you live in the Seattle, Washington, area or over the phone if you live elsewhere. Stephanie, a retired teacher and experienced Parent Coach, can answer specific questions to help you through concerns with your child, family, or with issues at your child's school. Submitting a completed Parent Coach Contact Form with details of your issues or concerns is free. A follow up email will include the price for your session and information about scheduling your consultation at a time convenient for you.

Free resources and information on a variety of topics concerning parents of Special Needs children are available through their blog, Help! S-O-S for Parents. Sign up for S-O-S Research Newsletter for updates in your area of interest and to be notified as new products become available. You can also follow S-O-S Research on Twitter or through Facebook.

One lucky able2able reader will win a three part S-O-S Research Rescue Series in their choice of topic, ARV $34.00.

To enter this giveaway, post a comment following the rules below (scroll to the end of the comments and click on "post a comment"). You have the opportunity to enter this giveaway up to 21 times!!:

All entries must have an email address or a public profile. Email me for directions on how to post anonymous entries without sharing your email address.

Mandatory 1st entry: Visit S-O-S Research and tell me something about their products or the company.

The mandatory first entry must be completed before you can complete any of the following additional entries! You can choose to do one or all of these additional entries in any order.

For 1 additional entry:

• Follow S-O-S research on Twitter.
  
• Like S-O-S Research on Facebook and leave a comment that you have entered the giveaway on able2able.
  
• Sign up for the S-O-S Research Newsletter.
  
• Follow the S-O-S Research Blog.
  
• Enter another able2able giveaway and post the name of the giveaway you entered in a comment here.
  
• Like able2able... Your Special Needs Resource Directory on Facebook and post a shout out comment on the wall. Current Facebook Fans may post an entry.

For an additional 2 entries (post a comment for each entry):

• Enter the Wild Ride to the Heart and S-O-S Anxiety Guides giveaway at Help! S-O-S for Parents! Come back here to post your entry comments.
  
• Post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook status. Click "Share" at the end of this post to quickly link to FB.
  
• Submit a One on One Coaching Contact Form.
  
• Tweet the link to this giveaway. Click on "Share" at the end of this post to quickly link to Twitter.

For an additional 3 entries (post a comment for each entry):
Become a public follower of able2able. Current able2able followers may enter 3 times.

For an additional 4 entries (post a comment for each entry):
Blog about this giveaway! Your blog post must include links to this giveaway and mention able2able and S-O-S Research. Include a link to your blog post in your comments.

It is very important that you post a comment for each entry. Why? Because a random number generator will be used to select the winner. Each comment will be numbered by Blogger, and I will use those numbers for the drawing. So if you combine entries into one post all your entries will not be counted. There will be no do-overs!

I will verify that the winning entry has met the requirements above, so if your comment for a FB status update is the winning comment then I might ask to see that link, etc. If I cannot verify your entry, then all your entries will be removed from the list and the drawing will be repeated.

This giveaway ends at 11:59 pm (CT) on Thursday, September 16th.

The winner's name will be posted on able2able on Friday, September 17th and I will also email you. The lucky winner will have until 11:59 pm (CT) Monday, September 20th to contact me.

Warning - I have been having problems with Gmail holding my sent emails then releasing them with a new release date. I cannot be responsible if your email notice gets delayed by gmail so check back at this post or on Facebook to see if you won!

You might also like:
S-O-S Research and able2able are Teaming Up to Help Your Child Manage Anxiety!
Directory of Blogs with Tips for Parents and Individuals New to Autism or Asperger's
Guest Blogger Post: Invisible Children with Tender Hearts by Danette M. Schott of S-O-S Research.

I received a complementary Rescue Series for use in writing this review. This review was not influenced by any products I received and has not been edited by the sponsor.

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