In June 2003, Kelly Savage gave birth to a baby boy.  Days later he was diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome.  It was a shocking blow to her and her husband, but Savage quickly came to terms with what it means to be the mother of a special needs child.  In fact, rather than allowing the unexpected to destroy her and her family, she embraced her new challenge and built her own business on helping other moms with special needs children.

The Special Needs Store is a one-stop-shop for products that are effective with Down syndrome, Autism, Apraxia, ADD/ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, Asthma and Allergies, and Developmental Delays.  Her website is also a valuable resource center for parents and grandparents of special needs children, providing links and information that you’ll refer back to again and again.  We’re proud to have The Special Needs Store carry UpSpring Baby products.

I had the opportunity to interview Kelly this week about her business and her family:

Kelly, what does it mean to have a “special needs child?”

Tough one. That answer has changed as Joe grows up. He really is like any other child except that we go by developmental age instead of chronological. He is 6 years old, but developmentally more like a 4 year old. We’re simply learned over the years about how to make things easier for Joe to learn. I never would have realized how much thought goes into what kinds of toys we get for him as everything has a purpose. For example, this is fun and cool, but it also works on fine motor skills as well as being able to work on colors and counting. You tend to expand your vision of the world much more. That is just the therapeutic side. On the personal side, it broadens how you view the world, it opens you up to people that you would have never met, and you learn to appreciate things that you didn’t before, like the unconditional love that Joe gives us simply because his life is a simple one. There is just something about him that draws you to him.

What different types of challenges do customers of The Special Needs Store face?

We get a wide variety of customers from therapists, doctors, nurses, and teachers, to parents whose children has all sorts of diagnoses as well as simply having developmental delays or a medical issue like reflux.

What was the biggest challenge you’ve faced since learning about Joe’s Down’s Syndrome?

For us, the biggest challenge was learning that he had a disability. We grieved and cried a lot of tears and then we realized that we loved him no matter what and that we were simply going to go down a different path than we expected. I think all parents have a vision of what they think their kids are going to do – play football, be in the band, go to college. You just learn that there are no guarantees in life, even with a so called “typical” child and your child with a disability is still going to have achievements in life, just different ones, though no less important in your eyes and theirs.

What encouragement can you give a new mom with a special needs baby?

A nurse told me something that I will never forget when were were in the hospital with Joe when he was born. Joe is just like any other baby: he wants to be loved, held, rocked, fed – loved most of all! How true this is. Whenever I speak with parents with a new diagnosis, whether that is at birth or years down the road, I always say, “I’m going to talk to you again in a year and I guarantee that you will see everything in a different, positive, light.”

What motivated you to open The Special Needs Store?

I spent an afternoon looking for various products for things we were working on with Joe. At the time, it was throwing. I was looking in particular for bean bags. I wanted just plain bean bags without the cost of buying a toss across game just for the bags. You know how surfing the net is, you get to one site, which leads to another, you get caught up reading, and then on to another and a couple of hours passes before you stumble across something that may or may not work for you. I thought to myself, “there must be an easier way!”. So, The Special Needs Store was created out of my own frustration in finding products. There are a lot of really great products out there, but most of what we look for are not “mainstream” types of items and they are so scattered. You end up buying speech items from one place, fine motor from another and so on. Add to that the cost of multiple shipping costs as well as the price tag that comes with so many “therapeutic” items and it becomes very expensive. And each developmental phase is a whole new set of items.

What are the considerations you have when selecting products to carry in your store?

I have a lot of considerations that I take into account. My degree is in Exercise Science/Athletic Training, so the rehab. background really comes in handy in what I am looking at as well as the many self-education DVDs, seminars, conferences, and books that I do. There are particular “lines” that I started with as I really like them and they are important lines to offer, such as Sign Language (mainly Signing Time), Talk Tools (Oral Motor Therapy), and Kid’s Express Train (music CDs for speech work). In the back of my mind, I am always watching for cost effectiveness. You’ll notice on my website that there are a lot of products that are not made in particular for a child with special needs, but they work well for various things and are more affordable than going the medical route. I try to put ideas in the product descriptions regarding what they are used for, i.e. fine motor work, hand-eye coordination, balance, core work, etc. Many parents don’t have the background to really understand what they are looking at, at least initially.

How do you manage your time with starting up a business and taking care of a special needs child?

Good question. I often wonder myself! I do a lot on the weekends and evenings when my husband, Dan, can watch the kids. The beauty of on-line for us is that we don’t have “retail hours”. This allows me to work when I can for the most part. That means I can get the kids to school, doctor appointments (and we have a lot of those), and twice a week therapy sessions, not to mention the work that I do at home with Joe and his sister. Our customers have been extremely understanding if I have to take a call and the kids are playing (or fighting) in the background. We live the life they do, so they understand what we are doing. I think most parents are very comfortable talking with me if they are looking for help in deciding on a product or need a little direction because we do have a child with a disability. I’ve found that even though the diagnosis may be different, there are more similarities than not. When you really break it down, it is speech, fine motor, gross motor, sensory, and so on. There are specific medical similarities, but within each diagnosis, there is such a range of abilities, that it really does break down to this. Then you have the similarities beyond the child, like family dynamics, added stresses, siblings, etc. that families face. A diagnosis is just a word.

Thanks to Kelly and her family for sharing their inspiring story.  You can shop at The Special Needs Store online at: www.thespecialneedsstore.com.  If you have a comment for Kelly or would like to share your experience with your special needs child, please leave a comment.