Christmas Gift Ideas for Disabled Kids

In this episode, we're talking about thoughtful, accessible Christmas gift ideas tailored for kids with disabilities. We share our favorites and share ideas from our listeners too!

Key Takeaways:

• When selecting gifts for disabled kids, prioritize their interests and abilities.
• Ask the parents or caregivers to ensure the gift is appropriate.
• Take basic everyday items and make them personal and fun.
• Think outside of the box with subscriptions, sensory toys, or experiences.

If you have any more ideas for us, let us know at @raisingdisabledpodcast

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Transcript

Deonna: Hey y'all, welcome back to the Raising Disabled podcast. We have had so much happening in the last couple weeks, so we're going to give you a little update on our lives before we get into an episode about Christmas.

We finished up football. So that was bittersweet. Like we've had so much fun watching him play. And so he was bummed that it was over. . So no more. Sports for a while. So I'm like, ah, man, but it's okay. But yeah, we finished up football and that was a lot of fun. And then this past week I've had company at my house for almost like two weeks straight because we had a baby shower for one of my husband's cousins. And so everybody came in for that. 

And then my mom and dad were in town because my husband, he's a police pilot. And so , like when a helicopter lifts someone off the ground, like the hoist thing, he had to go get trained on how to be the pilot in the helicopter for those types of rescues. He's never, Learn that until now. Yeah. So, I mean, He had a lot of fun and it was really cool. And 

Rhandyl: I bet that's a different skill. You have to 

Deonna: and where we live, it's very windy and they were in a Palo Duro Canyon, which is, it's not as big as the Grand Canyon, but it's really deep. , 

Rhandyl: I think it's the second largest, I believe. 

Deonna: Yeah, I think it is. And so they were choosing to do the training there because that's where the most typical rescue would be. Yeah. And so the wind just does crazy things in canyons. And so you have to hold the helicopter perfectly still. While somebody's getting loaded up. So it's hard. Yeah, he said it was really fun, but just hard. So yeah. Yeah. . At least it was just training. No, they're figuring it out. 

But they were gone for an entire week, which when you're a family like us. And one of you is gone for a week. It's oh my gosh. And so , my mom and dad came in to help me. Good. Just take, do life, my son to football in the mornings and just, all those things. Yeah. That I can't just you can't just throw a disabled kid in the car and run. No, go do something. It's a thing. Process. Yeah. Yeah, it's a process. And so, , they came and helped me. So that was good. But yeah, . It's been a pretty crazy past couple weeks, actually. Just very busy.

, and then obviously we did Halloween and , we go do South Plains here in Lubbock and they do a Trunk or treat. And so we did a car and we go all out. Like we decorate the whole car and it's so fun. There's tons of kids that come through. And so me and Allie dressed up. Yeah, we did the Disney descendants stuff. And so. that was super fun. Like I was Evie and she was Mal. So she's the one with the purple hair and I'm the one with the blue hair. Yeah. And people loved our costumes. Like all the little kids knew exactly who we were. Even teenagers, who used to watch it when they were young, they just loved it. So

Rhandyl: y'all were so cute. 

Deonna: Tons of kids were dressed as descendants characters. And so they loved seeing us. Yeah, the descendants was a big hit. And so it was super fun, but we were so tired. . But, it's worth it, to stay up late and do the memories and stuff. I know. What have y'all been up to? 

Rhandyl: Oh, same. So in the last couple of weeks, we've definitely done a lot of just fall slash Halloween things. We, went to, there's this little town about an hour north of here, Floydada, Texas. They have, oh yeah, they're known for their pumpkins, like they have, they farm a lot of pumpkins. And so , they have this really cool farm, it's called Assiter Farms, and they have a really cool pumpkin patch and like a traditional red barn. It's super cute. And they , have a petting zoo, and it was fun, so we did that one weekend, and the kids loved it but it was hot. It was so hot. We were trying to get fall photos with all this hay and pumpkins, but we were all sweating. Sweating. Yeah.

But other than that, it was fun. And then Remi's school, they do this, I think Allie's been there before, but they, she has in the past. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is Remi's third year to go, but they do this trick or treat that's indoors that's at the academic building. And all the employees, they, like the 

Deonna: administrators and everybody, yeah, 

Rhandyl: they dress up and they decorate their rooms. And it's a sensory friendly, fun trick or treat. And it's for all the life skills, special education students. And this was her third year to do it. And this was her favorite year. I unfortunately wasn't able to go. I was working, but both of her day shift nurses went with her and they were all dressed up and I got so many photos. She, her favorite was Cruella. She apparently was super excited whenever she saw Cruella. Oh my gosh. But she was with Cruella a couple of years ago for Halloween, but that's hilarious. 

Yeah, but Remi was Princess Jasmine from Aladdin this year, and she actually wore my costume from the 90s. My mom kept it. It was in good condition, and it fit her perfectly, and she loved it. Yeah. I was so excited. So happy to see her in it. It was like my favorite costume of all time in elementary school. Um, And my son was Spider Man. And of course he was all about that. There were so many 

Deonna: webs on everything. Yeah. Oh, I know. There's always going to be a lot of Spider Mans. I feel like 

Rhandyl: he was every time he saw a little kid, he was like, Spider Man, and he wanted to go talk to them. It was cute. And then we trick or treated. We didn't do a trunk or treat this year, but we went this is a second year. It's a neighborhood right close to us. It's a gated community and a lot of my husband's co workers live there and They do this fun thing where they all meet up at one house, and then they all go trick or treat together. Oh wow. So it's one big swoop for all the houses and they have really good candy and it was fun. The kids loved it. It was a lot of walking my three year old was like basically having to run to keep up with us. But no, they loved it. So , that was all of our trick or treating fun. 

But and then, of course, just the fall bugs and things. Remi has, tracheitis. Tracheitis and she has some bacteria that we've found growing in her trach and so she's on antibiotics. We were trying to figure out what was going on. She just wasn't respiratory wise wasn't doing that great. So yeah. Took her in. But she's a lot better. And then my son has pink eye, which fun. Oh no. So it's just yeah. You're like, don't touch your sister's face please. Oh yeah. I'm constantly hand sanitizing and he's like. again? Again? I'm like, yes, son. Again. You're 

Deonna: like, no offense, but you're disgusting and don't touch any of us. Pretty much. Pink eye is the worst. Like, when I was a teacher, I would get it every once in a while. Yeah. It's just so contagious. I would take that over lice, so I'm like, whatever, I'll take pink eye every year over lice once. 

Rhandyl: For sure. But yeah that's all of our fun Halloween stuff.

, so that's what we've been up to, and it's less than two months away from Christmas. I can't believe it, and a lot of people are already asking us about gift ideas. And for a lot of us with disabled kids, coming up with good ideas is really overwhelming. And so, we hope this episode helps. 

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Deonna: Hey, y'all. Welcome to Raising Disabled. So today we want to talk about gift ideas for disabled kids. And we're going to give you a couple of ideas about how to buy gifts for a disabled child. We're talking about ideas that our girls like. And then we also are sharing a bunch of really great ideas from our Raising Disabled parent group. And this is a group you can join if you're a parent of a disabled child. You just have to reach out to us and we can add you to that group. And then we also have our Instagram account at raising disabled podcast and some people reached out to us there too.

 So Rhandyl , do you get anxiety when people start asking what Remi wants for Christmas or for her birthday or something? 

Rhandyl: I used to, but not really anymore I feel like I get more anxiety when people ask me what I want for the holidays or my birthday than I got a long list for that. Yeah. 

I always get caught off guard but I'm constantly thinking about what my kids need and not really what I need. So it's, but it's a good time to reflect and figure out , what, I actually want, it's usually now it's like self care type things. I'm like, oh, just give me all the massages and, but as far as Remi I used to get anxiety because, , if you look up on Amazon or Google, toddler gift ideas or whatever. She could have cared less about any of that stuff. Yeah. But now I just focus on, her interest at the time and that changes, it's changed a lot over the years, but yeah, I always recommend and people have learned now to not just go out on a limb and get something that they think that she might like, I get a lot of people that'll ask me, for ideas Which I very much appreciate that because, , Everybody wants to get something that someone's going to like and so if they ask me what she's into that's gonna change year to year and sometimes it doesn't She still loves her Disney movies and all that, like she has forever, but I would say a first tip that I would give to someone that's looking to buy a gift for a disabled kid would be to ask and listen to the parents ideas.

Yeah. But also use your own creativity, they don't have time to go into full details on exactly what to get them. Yeah, sure, if they have something saved in their Amazon wishlist, they could just send it to you. Yeah. But I mean. just be creative, but also it's nice to get an idea of what they're into at the time.

Deonna: That's not a bad idea to have an Amazon wish list for your kids because I even forget ideas I've had for Allie or even my son, , so that's actually a good idea They can just go in there and get it and when it's gone. So yeah 

Rhandyl: I actually I should do a wish list But I actually just I go in and put it in my cart and then I save it for later And then I'll send it to whenever someone asks for an idea. I'll just send them a link 

Deonna: That's a good idea. I'm copying that. And if Amazon doesn't have it, does anyone really need it? So yeah. 

, I agree with that too. I like it when people ask me, what is she into? I don't always necessarily have the time to tell everyone exactly what to get her. And I do love it when somebody does go that extra mile and uses what I said and get some, something really cool that connects with what I said.

So it's like a fun surprise to me too, to see what people get. , our next tip is just to make something ordinary fun and what I mean by that is let's say that your kid needs new sheets and we're going to talk about this here in a little bit about how sometimes you can disguise a need as a gift, which we all do as we go through theodorant.

Parents that was all parents, but if Allie wants new sheets or if we're getting her new sheets for her bed, we'll get her ones that she really loves that are really fun for her or one of her nurses, Heidi, just gave her this beach towel that is Animal Crossing, which is our favorite thing in our house and she was so excited.

It was just a beach towel, but . She took what she knows about us, that Allie loves Animal Crossing and she just applies it to something ordinary, like a towel. And all of a sudden it's best gift ever. And we have to. to use that towel every single day. I'm constantly washing that towel.

 That's a good way to get a kid a gift is just think of something ordinary, like a water bottle or whatever, and make it fun. 

Rhandyl: Like t shirt, pajamas , something like that. That's yeah. All good ideas and kids all need those things. 

 Yeah, and so disabled kids, most of the time they need supplies or equipment , I would say 95 percent of the time insurance covers the big things that stuff, but there are cases where , there's, Only an allotted amount that insurance will pay, and then , there's some leftover that families are trying to save up for, or they have to seek out other funds.

And that's an idea. A lot of people aren't going to share that. A close family member will probably know that need. Or if they do share it, , that's an idea to help financially if you're able for something like that, that the kid needs. 

Deonna: And we know it's not as fun as these little stuffed animals or, , things like that. But. The kid is not going to be that excited.

Yeah. Another tip, is just to ignore what other kids their age are into, or what they like, or what their interests are, because typically, and this might be too big of a blanket statement, but typically a disabled kid is not going to be on par with their peers in terms of likes, interests, things like that, even my daughter, who is cognitively the same as her peers, It just, it's just different and I don't know how to explain it, but maybe it was the trauma she went through.

Rhandyl:  I think just in general disabled children , most of the time are not into, , whatever age appropriate toys that typical kids are into, or, No. Not just toys, but just, like you said, likes and interests. 

Deonna: There's this Instagram account that we all follow and the mom has a disabled son and her teenage son likes Elmo. She had mentioned one time how people were thinking, Oh, he likes Elmo. He's too old to like Elmo and she was just like, he likes Elmo. If you want to get him something he likes, that is what he likes. . And I remember thinking, okay, that, you know, gave me permission for Allie to like something that is not quite exactly on par with what her friends are doing and it's okay. And. It makes them happy, and that's, at the end of the day, what Christmas and birthday gifts and all that are about yeah, just don't, don't worry about that. 

Rhandyl: I think Remi was probably close to three years old before she even attempted to play with a toy, yeah. And so the first few Christmases , I don't know, it bummed me out that , people would get her toys and she could care less, but then once you finally figured it out, it was amazing and it was exciting, but, yeah, like you said it just accept what your child is into and just go with that because that's what's gonna Make them happy. Yeah, and so another fun gift is experience gifts So obviously this is gonna be very child specific like there's no triggers and things that you know You're not gonna want to get It's a child that hates loud noises movie ticket or, , for example if they don't like crowds, I wouldn't, get them a ticket to 

Deonna: Disney live or something like that. Yeah. 

Rhandyl: Yeah. Just yeah. So you just have to obviously know the child before you purchase something like that as a gift. Cause there's definitely different capabilities and sensory, triggers and things like that, right? Those are awesome gift ideas. As long as what the kiddos into and 

Deonna: and the parents can tell you my kid hates this. My kid loves this. They can really tell you real quick whether something's going to be right or not. So that's us anyways. 

Rhandyl: Yeah, for sure. 

Deonna: Another idea is screen time is something that parents of disabled kids, we just use it. We can't avoid it. And I don't think you're ever going to hear a parent of a disabled child be judgmental about screen time because it's our sanity and it helps our kids have Independence and things like that. That's probably a whole nother episode in itself, but anything that can enhance screen time for our kids, whether that's some subscription or if the kid, maybe the kid has Netflix and Disney, but it doesn't have Hulu, or, you can add on something else they can do.

I know my daughter has seen every show ever made since the dawn of time. And so we're running out of. Ideas for that. Games, iPad games. I know there's so many disabled kids who their iPad is their everything and just getting them some new games for it or just anything , is huge for them. It doesn't have to be like a physical thing you hold. It can be just A subscription to something. 

Rhandyl:  So for a lot of disabled kids sensory items, that's a real broad term, but some kids are Very interested in lights and bright things like visual type sensory um, things.  Some kids that are visually impaired like the lights, they may not be able to see clearly, but they can see. Lights changing and things like that. And and then also some kids are very into sounds. So you can get these little buttons that you can push and make silly sounds or record certain sounds and they can just easily push a button and get that audio input that they love.

And then also, A lot of kids love, different things that they can touch and feel different textures , but some kids obviously hate that. So all these sensory things are super kid specific. All of these gift ideas are kid specific, but definitely when it comes to anything that's really, Either really loud, or bright, or gooey, or itchy, or, soft.

You just, all those things can be, , very stimulating to kids. And then some of them, it can be very triggering. If you're going to buy something like that, just obviously make sure it's not a trigger , for example when Remi was little, her thing was, her first thing was lights. So anything with lights, she was super into, and then it went to sound and lights, and then she hated texture, it took her years to play with Play Doh, and now she'll play with it, but, And there's just still certain little things that 

Deonna: I think Play Doh is so gross. I am with her on that. That's funny. I hate the smell of it, and I hate the way it feels. It's so gross. I like the way it smells. And I was a teacher, so Play Doh was out. I'm like When Kinetic Sand became a thing, I'm like, yes, thank you. 

Rhandyl: Kinetic Sand is awesome. Yeah. I know. But anyway, so those are just, that's just very broad, sensory type things. But some kids, that is life. And then some kids, there's just, you just have to know, you just have to know and always ask. But that can be a hit. Like you can get. A child, , the most amazing play set and you hand them a fidget toy or like kinetic sand and it will be, the best gift ever. So you just never know. . 

What are some ideas that you have for Allie this year for Christmas? 

Deonna: Yeah, Allie if you don't know, Allie is a quadriplegic. No arm movement, no leg movement, which makes gift buying challenging.

I remember her first Christmas. After this happened, we were still in the ICU and everything, and people just bought her whatever they wanted, like stuff that they probably had already gotten her. It was one of the worst days of my life. I just remember opening up all these presents that made sense three months ago, but didn't anymore. It was horrible. She got a. That's Barbie dream house and we still have it and now her friends play with it with her But I hated that stupid barbie dream house We were putting it together in the hall of the icu and i'm like cursing Santa I was just so annoyed that i'm having to put this together Without dane so it was because it was covid and everything. Oh, man I hated that day. 

And so now, , I'm a little more careful about what I even allow people to give her or there's lots of times people will give her something and I'm like, oh, thank you. And then I get rid of it because it doesn't make sense at all for us to keep in the house. But yeah Allie is my stuffed animals girl. She loves stuffed animals and we got over 120 stuffed animals when she was in the hospital. So we don't have all those still, but our role, yeah, I'm like, no, she would keep them all. For reals., but I. Of course. Our rule is if you get a new stuffed animal, one has to go. That's our way of keeping it just under control.

Yeah. But, That's a good rule. She really, Yeah. She really does love stuffed animals and of all her favorite characters. She loves clothes for her American Girl doll. And thank goodness you can get them cheaper on Amazon, and she loves to match grown ups. She thinks it's so fun when me and her have the same clothes on, and so I'll buy her the same clothes as me if I can, or, things like that. Oh, that's cute. And so she does think stuff like that's fun, to match another person that she loves,

yeah. And so, Allie plays video games with a device called a quad stick and I can link that in the show notes, but that's a adaptive video game controller. And there's actually a lot of adaptive video controllers. If you ever wanted to look in that, if you thought a disabled kid would want to get into gaming , but we have one and. She loves new video games, and video games are a great gift, , and they're expensive, so it's a nice thing for parents when someone else buys that, 

but she likes gift cards, too. Like ice cream places. There's this place in Lubbock called Holly Hopps. Have you ate there before? Like the little ice cream? 

Rhandyl: Oh, yeah. We've had, we had one of Remi's birthday parties there. Oh my gosh. Yeah, we love Holly Hopps. It's amazing. 

Deonna: It's like a 50s,, diner. Diner. Ice cream shop thing. But if you gave Allie a gift card in that place, she'd be all over that. Just places like that. 

Rhandyl: We should go there together. We should take the girls there because Remi loves it too. And yeah. 

Deonna: Oh, it's so good. I get like a big Frito pie and then a big ol Coke float. And then later I'm like, why do I feel. Yeah. How did I do that to myself? 

Oh but and she, like I said, she does like the ordinary things that are in her favorite characters. , if you get her sheets or pillowcases or towels, t shirts, pajamas, anything that matches her thing, like right now she's into Hello Kitty. So we're getting her some Hello Kitty things. She just loves stuff like that. And I love Hello Kitty too. So I'm all about that. 

She loves hair accessories. And I think that is if a kid will allow you to do their hair, which I know is not always the case, as you've said, but getting them fun, scrunchies and hair accessories, and then she does like stuff like movie tickets, going to see shows or Broadway plays, and those things are really good ideas for someone like Allie. Now for somebody who, now Allie does wear the headphones. It didn't bother her before her injury, so we're not sure if that's a neuro thing, but we always have those big headphones on everywhere we go that's going to be loud, but they're in cute colors and stuff that she likes, so even stuff like that, don't get them just the plain old black thing, get them something fun that they actually want and 

and then the last thing, this is kind of a um, Idea for kids who now Allie's not mobile anymore, but we have a Nugget, which I can link that to. And it's like that couch that breaks apart into six different play pieces basically. And we had that before Allie got hurt, but it's really nice now because we can lay it in the floor and her therapists can do all of her therapy on this soft. surface, they're not on the ground and it can be used for other things too with your other kids or whatever you want to do. And most kids are not like Allie. Most kids are playing and moving around. And , I've heard that it's really great for therapy to, walk on that cause it's a difficult surface to walk on. And there's all these different ways you can configure it. And so that's also, I think they have knockoff versions of it now at Costco and things like that, but I do love the nugget for therapy reasons and it's just a fun big gift too. I think they're like a couple hundred bucks, but that's an idea for. For most, a lot of disabled kids would like that. Yeah. 

Rhandyl: Like you said, , they're using it for stretching and range of motion and things like that with Allie and then I use those. Even with my mobile kids, like you said, for dynamic surfaces stepping up and down, jumping down, jumping on something, so when , they fall, either falling on something soft, things like that, , it's a fun, adaptable, , long term type. Gift for sure 

Deonna: and it's nice too because when people come to visit you they can sleep on it like kids can sleep on them I mean, they really are a very great thing to have in the house. No matter what. Yeah 

What are you getting Remi? 

Rhandyl: I have a list of things that I think that she'll be into Sometimes I get really excited about something like for example her birthday. I think I've just always wanted her to Be into dolls for some reason. Yeah, and she just doesn't care. I don't know. It's just funny but I went all out on her birthday And I got this doll that looks like her and it's not a doll. I got it from a company called Butterfly Pig, and they make all these accessories , for disabled or medically complex kids. I've heard of this. Yeah, so I, yeah, it's awesome. I didn't end up getting, , the pretend trach and the pretend g tube. I just used some of her old ones, and , Yeah, I was able to put it on the doll but this doll has her hair and bangs, her eyes, and then I got all sorts of outfits on Amazon, like you said, for it, and then on the butterfly pig they have like little play ventilators, they have little Communication devices which I got, I got that I got these really cute, like purple iridescent AFOs for the baby doll. And then all these cute outfits and, I think she liked whenever we opened it, and every time she sees it she smiles, but, she's not into, , playing with it.

Yeah. And we're, so we utilize it some for, , occupational therapy where she has to help, , dress her. But she doesn't really seem that interested, but it's really cool even for siblings younger siblings. Getting them a doll that looks like their sibling and they can pretend to give medicine or do the feeding pump or the vent, it's a great gift for your disabled child, but the siblings or cousins or friends or, you know what I mean? It's a really cool idea. But, so that's 

Deonna: That sounds so cute. And I think with my daughter, it'd be fun for her friends to, , pretend to do these things that they've seen us do to Allie. So that'd be cool. 

Rhandyl: Yeah. And , our big thing that she's been into the, over the last year or so is the Tonie box and the Tonies. And it's it's fairly new in the past couple of years. But , you put these little figurines and they're Disney characters and different show characters. . And you have it linked to wifi and an app, but each figurine basically, once you scan it in it configures with your kid's specific Tonie box, which is just a speaker. But on top, it has this little area where you put the figurine, , and it plays, like for example, we have Baloo from the Jungle Book, and you set him on top, and it plays all the songs from the Jungle Book. , then it basically tells the story of the jungle book, like a summary of the movie. Yeah. After it plays all the songs. It's awesome and we use it a lot for therapies for motivation. So we'll like, okay, you can stand up and then pick which Tonie you want to put on your box and then we can listen to the song . We don't use it for just motivational things and then just for fun, too.

And then something so Allie and Remi and a lot of disabled kids have AFOs, ankle foot orthotics and those are hard to find shoes for. There's various brands of adaptive shoes that are easy to get on and off with the AFOs. And she's wearing those a lot more now. And so used to just any shoe, cute shoe she could wear, but now that she's wearing her AFOs more, we really are limited to shoes. And they're not always cheap. No, . So I've got some shoes , on the Christmas list this year 

but some fun things They're called link amals. , they're more like for toddlers, younger kids little light up toys. And basically, you push the buttons and they light up and they dance. But, we only have one, and she loves it. And I'm wanting to get her a few more. Because from what I've read on them and heard, you can link them all together and when you start playing with one, the others will turn on and they start singing in harmony and like making what, like doing specific dances together.

That's cool. I think Remi is going to love that. So I'm always trying to find something that's highly motivating for her because she has to be highly motivated to which, all kids are like this, but she's. To the extreme, doing any of her therapies, she needs to be very motivated. Yeah. And yeah I'm hoping to get some of those for her. And then she's really motivated by audible sounds and funny sounds or songs. And sound books are always good. But we wear those out so quickly. Especially between her and my son, they just push the buttons over and over and over. But yeah, so sound books that play songs or make the animal noises those are always a good idea. And then like you said earlier, gift cards are a great idea. She loves movies, , so just streaming app gift cards for movie purchases or show purchases 

But, , it seems every year there's something new she's into, and , I can always come up with ideas now. It's not as hard as it used to be.

Other ideas that we've used over the years or thinking about like patients that I've had in the past whenever it comes to good gift ideas. Weighted blankets are great for some kiddos and they're making a lot more now that you can find a lot easier They're not as expensive as they were. Yeah, they used to be. outrageous. Like you said earlier, the nugget, there's all sorts of positioning and support chairs out there. And then just simple things like bubbles , I don't know why, but so many kids, no matter if they're disabled or not being bubbles, no matter what time of year it is, they're so highly motivating and they're cheap and fun. Bubble machines make it easier for, 

Deonna: I need a good bubble machine. Because when Allie's in the shower, I'm like, how fun would that be for bubble machines to be going? Ooh, yeah! It'd be all over us, but , okay with it. 

Rhandyl: That would be fun. Just, like I said earlier, some sensory things, fidget toys. They make these I call them chewies. I'm sure speech pathologists have a better way. Of calling them something they're , for yeah, it's for oral sensory kids. They make these fun different textures, whether it's firm or soft things that are safe for them to chew on. And so , that's an idea. 

And then things that can, help support their different therapies , scooter boards are really good for therapists to even sit on when they're trying to, , gait train. Kids sit on them and they can, move themselves around if they're able to. That's fun. It's good for balancing all sorts of things. You could use a scooter board for a floor mat.

Like you said, with a nugget couch, a floor mat is always great, especially if you have hard floor. And especially for littles that working on, motor skills with doing that on a floor mat, a sanitary surface that you can clean and wipe off, but it's also not hard and a fold up mat that can be like a floor mat, but also you can fold it up and then it can be a step or a prop or that would be, that's also helpful for different positioning, sitting, kneeling, things like that. 

Deonna: That's how we use the nugget is you fold it up and then all of a sudden you can be doing a sitting position. So those are really great.

Rhandyl: Yeah. And depending on what your child's doing, I'm just thinking, for example, like things that we've used for occupational therapy, they make these cool things. Now these sensory bins you used to could only either make them or find them on Etsy. And now they have. A bunch of options on Amazon too and they're a little cheaper but they're these sensory bins and the sand in it is real soft and colorful and it you basically make like ice cream cones with it and it has a scoop and it's fun. And there's these pretend sprinkles and it's cool. So there's so many options now for these little sensory bins.

Yeah, and just like puzzles and shape sorters. And then,, if your kid's into coloring but they need help holding, there's all sorts of adaptable writing utensils and things that can help them hold their markers or whatever they're using. And water beads are really fun. They grow so big compared to what they start out with. I remember the first time I made those, I was like, Whoa, that's wild. And then it's like those polka dot books that have the little buttons, it gives you that audible and the sensory, when they touch it. So I think those are, I see a lot of kids using those polka dot books and they're fun.

 Yeah those are just some random ideas that I thought of that could be fun and also helpful during therapies as well. 

Deonna: Yeah,, and we also had a lot of people suggest different books. Like Allie has one that has a kid in a wheelchair and I've been happy to see regular books having kids in wheelchairs lately . . 'cause I'm like, look, it's you. And she's like, it's a boy. I am like, okay, you get it there in a wheelchair. Yeah. She's like, how does he not like me at all? Aw. , 

Deonna: So we talked to a bunch of our friends and like I said, you can be a part of our Raising Disabled Parent group. If you're the parent of a disabled kid, we all just understand each other in a way that's Really cool, but we talked to a bunch of these parents and they gave us some ideas And so we're gonna read through a few of these and our first one is Ruby. Ruby's in our group I love her But she was talking about the Billie shoes as a gift and Billie shoes are those shoes we were talking about that are adaptive and Allie doesn't walk with AFOs on, so she doesn't really need them because of the AFOs. But even kids who don't have good control of their legs I never realized how much your kid was helping you put their shoes on until Allie...

Was not helping you anymore. And her foot was just there. And Allie's foot does not just go in a shoe anymore. Like it has to be sat down in the sole of the shoe and the Billy shoes. Zip off completely. Like the whole top zips off. You lay the foot down in there. If they have the AFOs on, you set that AFO down in there and then you zip it up over the top.

So I'm pretty sure we all have these Billy shoes, and It's worth it because you don't have a choice, but , those are a good thing to ask like grandma and grandpa for, but they make really cute options for them, thank goodness, and Allie actually really likes all her shoes from there, . . They have like a fake Ugg boot, Billy. Yes. And it's so cute. We got that. That's on our Christmas list. Yeah we unfortunately had to buy all of that now because we couldn't get her foot in the shoe anymore. So we're like, Oh man, couldn't disguise it as a Christmas gift.

But but she was talking about how we do , have to disguise gifts. That are actually things they need. She said, like her daughter, she just did this big remodel of her daughter's room and her daughter thought that was so fun, but it was actually just to make it more accessible for a wheelchair. So I feel like parents of disabled kids are very good at. Hiding the needs as a fun present. Creativity. 

Rhandyl: Yeah, we have to be creative. Yeah . . And like I was saying earlier, I was explaining the Tonies. , Kate and Ana, they talked about the Tonies being a good option. And I think for kids, especially that are visually impaired it's awesome because they're not getting the screen time, but they can actually feel the character and place it on the Tony spot and they're in control of the music coming on. It's like a whole nother way of independence these,, they're going to be able to tell which character is which and then they're going to be able to hear the songs and the story and it's. I don't know if it was created for kids with disabilities, but, they're wonderful , for a lot of children with disabilities.

Deonna: Yeah, people were really into those. So many people are saying that they liked those that I ended up buying one for my nephew who's not disabled, but it just sounded so fun that I was like, I'm getting him that. 

Rhandyl: Yeah, they are fun. My son loves it too. Yeah. And I got some for my nieces and nephews. Last year and I'm pretty sure they love it too. 

Deonna: So yeah. And they have bedtime stories too. I saw where you can. 

Rhandyl: They do. They have bedtime stories, nursery rhymes, all sorts of stuff. Yeah. 

Deonna: . So I talked to Brooke, whose child has lissencephaly and if you want to learn more about that, you can listen to our episode where we talked to Danielle . We talked to her too here in a second, but she said he loves all the sensory toys and they also like doing the gift cards, the memberships, , we have a little science museum in our town called the science spectrum and somebody gave her a membership.

And she said they go all the time and he just gets to go see all the things. And so they like doing that. And she said for their big present from grandparents, they're going to go visit the Dallas aquarium, which I've been there and that is. It's really fun if your kid likes animals and fish and things like that. It's actually, it's not really an aquarium. There's like a lot of other animals. It's pretty cool. 

Rhandyl: Another caregiver, Adriana, she said that her son has ADHD and ASD and OCD. She said that he likes solid figure toys, so anything that would, come apart or detach Creates bad reaction like it's a trigger for him. Yeah, and so, that's just another example of why it's good to ask Because the last thing you want to do is for The kid to open up the gift that you got them and Freak out because of it.

Deonna: Yeah. Oh, like hate it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's okay as parents to peek in there Especially if you think something could cause a massive trigger Just peek in there real quick before you're given it because like in this mom's situation If someone bought her son Legos, that's not going to be a good idea He's not going to like that and so just sometimes just peeking in there and pulling things aside that might not be okay , it's fine. You can do that. It's not the world. Yeah. sO another one of our friends, Tamela. She said that her daughter's 23 and has autism and she loves puzzles and she loves to paint. And so that's what they do. They give her puzzles, they give her art supplies. And I love art supplies because there's just always something New you can be giving them or there's just always some new cool art supply out there and they run out it's good that her family knows what she likes and then caters to that. They're not trying to create some new interest for her or something. They just are doing what she likes. Yeah. 

Rhandyl: Another mom, Anna, said that her son is deaf and developmentally delayed but he loves stuffed animals and little figures of his favorite animals or Disney characters and those are ideas that she always has for him. And then She said that they're going to try a ride on toy this year to hopefully help with learning how to steer and ride a bike and build some arm strength as well. So fun but also therapeutic at the same time Right. Right.. Those are always good gift ideas. 

Deonna: I know. We have to mix them together.

Our next mom is Stephanie and I follow Stephanie on Instagram. Her name's Stephanie Stanley, but I like her because she shows the behind the scenes of , daily life of caring for a extremely medically complex kid. , the good, the bad, and the ugly, she's not afraid to go there. So I appreciate her account for that, but her son had a stroke and utero brain malformation, CP, he's vent/trach, , it's she's a great caregiver.

I'll just put it that way. But. She said he likes the Z vibe from Arc Therapeutic. And so I had to look that up and it's these vibrating things for kids who like to put things in their mouth. It just vibrates and there's a million different attachments and then. , her son likes projection lights that go up on the ceiling and he has the skylight by bliss lights and that's on Amazon and Allie had that I think we still have it and she loved it, especially when we go into the hospital, we take it in there and it makes the hospital not feel so hospitally , and and it's. It's really cool. It's like laser. And so if you look straight into it, it can get your eyes a little bit, but , we have it and it's really good. And she also likes this thing called Lulla Vibe and that's by Munchkin and that's on Amazon as well, 

but she said her son loves soft blankets, especially heated ones. And she said that if you buy a heated blanket from Sunbeam, which is one of the huge brands of heated blankets. That , if it breaks, they'll just send you a new one and replace it , I thought that was cool. Wow , nobody does that ever I thought that was cool too. 

Rhandyl: Yeah, that is interesting. I'm gonna look into the zVibe thing, cause Remi, she goes through these just really needing some oral sensory and I'm going to look into that , she may hate it. 

Deonna: It was like a whole website of things , there were tons of options and attachments. I was looking at it and I was like, okay, this is neat.

But and even the heated blankets, like we have a heated blanket for Allie because she can't control her temperature anymore. So she can. Like she was hypothermic two Saturdays ago. We're like, Oh my gosh, but there are also these blankets. I think we're going to get her and it's a battery pack heated blanket. So you can have it going no matter where you are, what you're doing. 

Rhandyl: . Yeah, for sure. Veronica, she mentioned mellow plushies Those are, if anybody doesn't know what those are, they're like these crazy soft, squishy, stuffed, pillows, stuffed animals. Yeah. They're fun to like cuddle with and for those with ADHD, the poppets or fidgets, those are some sensory things that we were talking about earlier. And they're also good because they don't really make much noise , if you have a kiddo that's triggered by noise these fidget toys are really good. And they're small, easy travel toys, good car toys. And she says, of course, clothes and shoes are great gift ideas, like we had talked about. There's lots of custom clothing now that for kids with certain Disabilities kids that have all sorts of things. 

Deonna: Even when you're buying clothes , for someone in a wheelchair, for example, you don't want to buy them something that has, if they're not adjusting their body, like Allie doesn't adjust her body, so if there's buttons or a zipper on the back of her shirt, it'll cause this massive sore on her back in less than 12 hours , real quickly. And so yeah, there's a lot to think about. For sure.

So we talked to Danielle, whose son also has lissencephaly. She's the one that we interviewed a while back. It was called. Danielle Raising Barron, but her son has a developmental delay and vision impairments. And she said anything with lights and sounds, like we were saying earlier, light projectors, boards, sensory lights, anything that can play music that can be adapted with a switch. So there are these switches that you can. Put with different things. We had some of that when we were in the hospital. And then any little toy that makes sounds like a rattle and things like that. 

Rhandyl: Another caregiver, Devin said, so I guess her child has CP, CDPX1, which I had to look it up. And it's a genetic disorder. It's present from birth that affects bone and cartilage development. She said he's also hearing impaired and she recommended different inclusion books that are awesome. And also she said that. She's excited this year. I guess they're working on sign language and she found some, yeah, she found some alphabet finger spelling fridge magnets 

Deonna: . And then our last mom we got a response from was Heidi and Heidi's actually one of my daughter's nurses but her 16 year old daughter has developmental and intellectual disabilities and a very severe heart condition and She said her favorite thing is hoodie onesie pajamas and that she puts them on the second she gets home And it's just this safe thing like I'm , done with the world and I'm home and I'm in my onesie but yeah, these are just some ideas and 

we've talked about a lot of things, but if you have anything else too, we would love for you guys to share with us your ideas because this is really hard. To tell everybody what your kid needs and wants for Christmas and birthdays every year. And so I'm hoping this will be a good resource where people can say, this is some ideas that you could use for my kid too . We're hoping that's what you guys can use this for. Just send them a link to this episode and they can listen to it and figure out what to get your kids. 

**Disclaimer

Before we go, I wanna remind our listeners that this podcast is for the purpose of education and entertainment only, and is not a replacement for seeing a doctor. We suggest you seek out the help of a trained professional for help with your child's specific situation.