Do your children need Early Intervention?

When you become a parent for the first time (especially the first time, or really anytime) you want your child to be perfect, healthy and strong.

However, sometimes, no matter how hard you try, things don’t always go your way.

This is where Early Intervention can help you and your child.

Early Intervention is a place that is run by the State of Massachusetts and will help your child who is not developing normally (or if you think is not developing normally, do get an evaluation) to learn in different ways.

The place I have personal experience with is in Stoneham, MA and they were fabulous with my son (now age 5) who is on the mild autism spectrum with PPD.

It is difficult to hear from someone you don’t know that well to let you know that your child has autism or has issues.  But, sometimes these issues can be obvious to someone else even though you are with your child more than 80% of the time (for those of us working full time, it seems less than that).

A lot of parents that have twins tell me that they also have been part (or were part of) Early Intervention as well.  My suggestion is to do this earlier than later, as the latest age they will take a child is age 2.9 years of age.  As soon as that child reaches 3 years old, they are too “old” to be in Early Intervention.  Of course, this means that you should talk with your pediatrician about it, discuss it with them in full, and do your homework.

There is a lot more that can help these special children out and I feel good about promoting them since they really helped my son out for the better.

Stone Zoo

I took my son to the Stone Zoo in Stoneham last weekend. Although I’ve lived in the Boston area since 1997, the first time I visited this zoo was last Spring. I love the atmosphere at this small zoo. It’s easy to explore in a couple of hours, a fact that I appreciate because I am easily overwhelmed with large day trips. My son, now 2 and a half, enjoyed the freedom that I gave him to walk by himself.

We arrived within a half-hour of the zoo opening, a strategy I would suggest if you are visiting on a weekend day. The zoo is fairly compact, with narrow paths at some points, and the zoo gets very crowded in the afternoon.

Some highlights include:

• the barn, where you can see goats and other farm animals
• wolves sitting high up on some rocks
• the new brown bear exhibit
• a flock of flamingos
• many big cat species, lounging around in the sun like house cats
• a friendly staff more than willing to answer your questions about the animals

There is a great playground across the street from the zoo. In addition, there are a great set of walking trails in the woods behind the playground. I would recommend packing a picnic to eat after the zoo excursion so you can have a day of animals and nature without driving too far.

Zoo admission starts is $6 for children and $10 for adults with kids 2 and under free. And this summer they are open 10am - 5pm on weekdays and 10am - 6pm on weekends.

We had a wonderful time at our visit to the Stone Zoo and would recommend it to anyone!