Swiffers, Magic Erasers and Other Products That Simplify My Life..

Hey! As my youngest son was watching one of his favorite movies on his portable DVD player, I got to thinking. What would I do without this nifty little invention? It seems the moms that I meet with children on the autism spectrum all rave about this great invention that enables one to get through a day of errands with a little less drama. (That is if the battery lasts through the duration of your errands.) My best friend's son is also autistic and she swears by it.

Some might protest that all that movie watching stupefies a child. This is exactly why I purchased the entire set of Bumblebee DVDs as well as the Signingtime DVD collection. It has really made a difference. The Bumblebee DVDs helped my son learn sight words. He can see most of the words on those DVDs on paper and sign them, this is called reading people!! He can also sign most of the words on the Signingtime DVDs. He has learned the entire alphabet in sign and knows most of the phonics too. He still has trouble combining the sounds to speak. He can even write all his letters. You can tell him to write a letter and he does it. (He just showed me this amazing feat this week. He wrote his letters on the walls and we were all freaking out. We supply paper, but for some reason he loves the walls!) I know that he learned all this through the repetitive viewing of these vidoes as well as reinforcement from us and his school.

That leads me to another great invention for special needs families... The magic eraser. What a great invention! Now who's with me?! I used to have to scrub the walls and use products that would almost always trigger the asthma. And it never really came out completely. Now this magic eraser came out and you just dampen the sponge and erase those sketches! They are on the pricey side, but I managed to find a no frills brand at a neighborhood Dollar Store. Yes, one package brings two sponges and it costs a dollar! It works just as well.

The swiffer is another great one. My son loves to open any container and spill its contents on the floor. This is a great time saver for small spills. You use the cleaning cloth and then toss! What could be easier?

So now that I have rambled on and on, what are your favorite new inventions and how have they made your busy life easier?