I asked Tashia what inspired her to open a sensory gym in Virginia Beach. Tashia was looking for something in our area that would help her son with motor skills and socializing.  Something more like fun and less like therapy.  She came across a gym started by a group of autism mommies in Massachusetts.

Be sure to check out the giveaway being hosted by My Active Child for three FREE family passes (up to 3 people from the same household) to the Sneak Peek on Friday Night!

See You Saturday!


For more details, including pricing, on the sensory gym check out my last post.

Cinema Cafe in Virginia Beach let me know that they are doing another sensory friendly show this Saturday at 10:30 am at the Pembroke location.

Guess what?  Tickets are only $1.50!!  Guess what else?  We have a pair to give away.  I'll tell you how to win in a second. :)

Cinema Cafe has decided to have a regular sensory friendly event every month on the 1st Saturday morning of the month at 10:30 am.  For $1.50, I think there will be a lot of families who will be able to afford to take their kiddos to the movies.  Now getting everyone out of bed and to Pembroke by 10:30 on a Saturday morning, that might be tricky. ;)

Nikki Schwartz is a Licensed Professional Counselor at Oaktree and focuses on using neurofeedback, play, and talk therapies to provide practical, effective counseling to families and clients. 

Tidewater ASA (Autism Society of America) updated their Resource Directory last month in January.  This is an invaluable resource for anyone new to Autism, Asperger's, or Sensory Processing Disorders, as well as anyone who's just moved to Virginia Beach with a child on the Spectrum.

Providers typically request to be part of the directory, so they are indicating that they specifically work with people with ASD.  This is great for you, since it can be hard to find Autism-friendly businesses sometimes.

We've added their Autism Resource Directory as a download on our site as well.  We've also added a calendar of many of the Autism-friendly events, meetups, fundraisers, and respites in the area.

Looking for local Autism-Friendly events in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads?  Suzi Noyes, a realtor in Kempsville, Virginia Beach, has offered to let us post her calendar for you here.  It includes several types of events including respite nights, sensory friendly outings, social groups, fundraisers, meetings, support groups, etc.

Click here to see the full calendar

Nikki Schwartz is a Licensed Professional Counselor at Oaktree and focuses on using neurofeedback, play, and talk therapies to provide practical, effective counseling to families and clients. 

I was excited to see this morning that Cinema Cafe in Virginia Beach & Hampton has decided to continue offering monthly Sensory Friendly Shows for the Autism community! 

Escape from Planet Earth is a new Disney movie that will be showing at Cinema Cafe Kemps River and Hampton on Tuesday, February 26th at 4:30pm.  Tickets are only $4.75 each!

Sensory Friendly means Cinema Cafe will turn the lights up and the sound down.  The other families attending are familiar with sensory issues, so no one looks twice if your kiddo is stimming or has a meltdown.  This kind of judgement free space takes the pressure off of you as a parent.

Nikki Schwartz is a Counselor Resident at Spectrum Psychological and focuses on using neurofeedback, play, and talk therapies to provide practical, effective counseling to families and clients.  You can find her on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook, and Google+.

I love ideas for play-based learning for every kiddo, but especially those with special needs, Autism, Asperger's, and ADHD.  The point of play-based learning is that it is FUN!  Not that it "looks" educational.  So, anyone who is writing about play and encouraging others to play with their littles, feel free to link up!

Make sure to check out our co-hosts, Lora at Kids Creative Chaos and Mary Anne at Mama Smiles.  Their blogs are almost too fun. ;)

Nikki Schwartz is a Counselor Resident at Spectrum Psychological and focuses on using neurofeedback, play, and talk therapies to provide practical, effective counseling to families and clients.  You can find her on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.

Over Christmas, my husband built me a light table!  If you have not seen these, they are so great for sensory play and play-based learning techniques.  

So, last week I went in search of cheap light table activities at Dollar Tree®.  There were so many great inexpensive finds, I knew I had to share.  My toddler has had so much fun with these that I went back to buy a few more of his favorites!  What inexpensive light table activities have you found and loved?  Let me know in the comment section!
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(P.S. I have no affiliation to DOLLAR TREE®  and was in no way compensated for this post.)

I love The Imagination Tree!  So many ideas to make at home for kids to play with for hours.  This is a simple tutorial to make a light box for sensory play at home.  Most light tables are fairly expensive ($400 to $500).  This is a much less pricey route with good instructions.