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



The winner is #8, Kimberly! You have been emailed and 72 hours to reply with your shipping information or Random.org will be used to select a new winner.

Tween Bling was designed as a fashionable alternative to chewing on hair or pencils for girls who fidget. It's so common for Typically Developing children to twirl their hair, bite their nails, or fidget in general that the wise mommies at Smart Mom Jewelry had a couple teen-aged girls help them design a wearable fidget. Tween Bling is an exciting option if you have a Special Needs daughter who fidgets or stims and needs a socially acceptable alternative to the chewable jewelry sold by therapy supply companies. We were blessed to try Tween Bling chewing jewelry with Clara-Bear.


When Clara-Bear was younger, she was a tube fed paradox . Heaven forbid she put a drop of food in her mouth! But she had no problem licking or biting every toy she encountered, her shoes, her hands, stethoscopes, the wall at the doctor's office, and even the dog's tail. Since she has always been medically fragile this was very frustrating. She was her own worst enemy. I was constantly stressed out, but I did have the cleanest floors in town since I was always picking up things so they wouldn't go into her mouth!

In her case, part of what she is looking for is a replacement for movement and sounds, the two types of sensory input she seeks almost non-stop. She had no interest in substitutes like chewy tubes until she was around three. Many of our "chewies" (what we call them in our house) are hand held, so can be easily lost or dropped at school or in the car. We never took them out with us. Her wearable styles either had metal rings and clips or looked like coiled plastic key chains that double as a bracelet so you don't lose the keys at work. Totally out of place around a little girl's neck or wrist, and totally a strangulation hazard. Hoodies with ties at the neck are not safe for children, but wearable jewelry that can catch on anything is acceptable? Not for my daughter, who can't even call for help if she got stuck on something!



Clara-Bear is functioning at a 3 year old level and is in a small classroom with 3 to 5 year olds. It is still very important to me that she be treated like a 5 year old whenever possible. Even though she only wears size 3T (and a size 24 months around the waist!), I choose her clothes and hair accessories carefully. Probably more carefully than I would if she were Typically Developing. I really did not want to send her to school wearing the ugly chewies we had in the house. I was so excited to discover Tween Bling! Finally, an age appropriate, more socially acceptable form of a wearable chewie, designed with girls in mind.

I disliked what we had so much that I would make a weak effort to get Clara-Bear to wear the necklace, clip on, or bracelet every once in a while. I started trying to get her to wear a necklace almost daily when our Tween Bling arrived. Clara-Bear has sensory defensiveness around her head and neck, so it took a couple months to get her to actually wear the Tween Bling. Once she realized she could wear a chewie and always have it with her, she was hooked!

Her teacher and therapists noticed an improvement in her focus very quickly. In fact, they asked me to leave a backup in her school bag in case
I forgot to send her Tween Bling to school. Tween Bling comes in scented and unscented styles. Scents can help some children with their focus. Clara-Bear's low muscle tone (hypotonia) effects her sense of taste and smell, so the berry, peach, and pineapple scented samples we received were a good choice for her.



Tween Bling is made of silicone, which does not support the growth of bacteria or viruses. Since silicone doesn't kill any germs it picks up, I did ask her teacher to tuck Clara-Bear's necklace into her shirt when she is on the playground. I wash ours in the dishwasher daily, and every week or two I drop them in a cup of boiling water to make sure the fabric cord is thoroughly sanitized since Clara-Bear will always have immune issues.

The cord gets twirled, flapped, and chewed on as much as the silicone pendant and has held up great to the abuse. Each cord is adjustable, and has a breakaway clasp for safety. Clara-Bear's Tween Bling still look new after a couple months of hard use.



Clara-Bear is in feeding therapy to try to get her to bite and chew food. Two years of biting plastic chips and fake french fries had caused her to lose interest in oral motor exercises. But she will play chomp games with me on her Tween Bling! We pretend we're dogs, and she bites one end of the pendant and growls at me while I bite the other end and growl back at her. I didn't expect to use Tween Bling as a therapy tool when I pictured how we would use this product!

Tween Bling isn't just for young girls who stim. If you know a girl or woman of any age and diagnosis who sucks or bites her fingers, her hair, hand splints, or anything she can grasp, than you might want to consider buying her some Tween Bling. The added sensory stimulation of the scents make this an especially nice gift for someone who has limited access to all the sensory experiences in their environment. I would have bought Tween Bling for my grandmother when her Alzheimer's was advancing, just to give her something to fiddle with and smell. It makes me sad to think about how she never got to benefit from some of the great sensory products I've discovered while blogging.

Tween Bling is available in donut shapes and heart shapes in a variety of scents, colors, and patterns. Each necklace retails for $16.80. One lucky able2able reader will win 3 Tween Bling necklaces in their choice of style and color!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED AND A WINNER HAS BEEN SELECTED!

Mandatory First Entry Visit the Smart Mom Jewelry website and tell me which 3 Tween Bling necklaces you would choose if you won. Choose carefully - your choice will be your prize! Check out their other fun Teething Bling and dad's accessories while you're there.

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. There are a total of 14 possible entries.

For 1 additional entry:

• Like Teething Bling on Facebook and leave a wall comment saying that you entered this giveaway at able2able.
  
• Visit the Teething Bling blog, and leave a comment about something you learned there.
  
• Enter another able2able giveaway and post the name of the giveaway you entered in a comment here.
  
• Follow able2able on Twitter.
  
• Like able2able 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):

• Post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook status. Click "Share" at the end of this post to quickly link to FB.
  
• Tweet the link to this giveaway. Click "Share" at the end of this post to quickly link to Twitter.

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 Tween Bling jewelry. 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, December 2nd (arrgh, I can't believe it's almost December!).

The winner's name will be posted on able2able and I will also email you. The lucky winner will have 72 hours to reply.

Warning - I have occasional 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!

I received samples of Tween Bling jewelry for use in writing this review. This review was not influenced by any products I received and has not been edited by the sponsor.