Mikey’s Command Center

Mikey was not a huge Frozen fan, but he did like the shorts with the snowman in them, so when I saw this sticker puzzle book, I grabbed it. He had fun doing these and since we’ve already had snow here in CT, it felt like a fitting time for some snowman puzzles.

But, the real reason I wanted to share this with you is what you can see in the photos.  This is Mikey’s ‘command center.’  He has a spot at our kitchen bar that is his seat.  We keep his colored pencils there for color-by-numbers and some fidget toys which I change out every month or so to keep life interesting (and to keep Mikey flexible). I don’t buy new fidget toys all the time. We have a couple of bins of them in the basement and we choose a few to bring up to the kitchen. Mikey has his favorites (that snowman drum is one of them).

His command center has lots of choices for fun. His ipad is plugged in here (with a color-by-number app and jigsaw puzzle apps). At times, he also has a portable DVD player, which he knows how to use independently and a few DVDs from which to choose. He also has a ‘happy light’ that we use every morning at breakfast to help with waking up and setting his circadian rhythms for good nights of sleep.

When we travel, we set up an area like this for Mikey in the hotel room or the rental house. It is centering for him to have a small area that is his own.  It has activities he can do independently to entertain and calm himself.  

The Big Idea

When a child cannot fully communicate, they surrender quite a bit of control to the people around them.  Everything we can do to shift the power back into our children’s hands empowers them to live their most autonomous, authentic lives.  The more they can choose for themselves, the closer they move towards independence…and that’s the best way to help them live their best life!