If I Only Had a Heart:Part 2

Second part of blog post that will talk about giving and receiving from the heart.

I have decided to step out of my comfort zone and follow my heart...

Children on the Autism Spectrum often have sensory issues. They vary with each child and can range from mild to severe. For some kids, sensory issues mean, noises too loud, smells overwhelming, too much visual stimuli, food aversion because of texture or taste, or not wanting to be touched. For others, it can mean that they need to smell everything or put everything in their mouth in order for their brains to process the incoming stimuli. Emily has a sensory bag that I made for her to take to school or anywhere we go. It contains items for her to chew on, it has lotions and room spray, it has sensory brushes so that she can get "soft tickles" as well as a light up spinning toy for visual stimulation. She also has noise reduction headphones at school. Last year, she would gag upon entering the cafeteria and refused to eat. The smells and the noise were TOO much for her system to handle at one time. We put the headphones on to reduce one stimuli and she was able to start eating again!

If I had to choose a sense that she had the most difficulty with, it would be smell. She typically smells EVERYTHING! Food, objects not related to food, pictures of food, people. There is not a day that I pick her up from school, that she doesn't have a little marker under her nose from smelling them. We even give her smencils(scented pencils) to write with. If we are in a checkout lane, she will commence to smelling every packet of gum in order to choose the one she wants. Pretty smart way to tell if you may like it, but not appropriate for an almost 9 year old.  We were at Chuck E Cheese recently and she was smelling every game there was. I will sometimes put lavender lotion on her arms and redirect her to smell herself instead of others. Lavender is also very calming for most kids! I know of another ASD child who likes to smell everyone's hair. Even saw her walk up to a bald man once and smell his head! LOL!

A few weeks ago on facebook, I was directed to a page called Buddies for Autistic Kids. This sweet woman, Mary Olson, was GIVING away Scentsy Buddies to children with autism. They are stuffed animals that you are able to put scent paks inside. Calming scents like lavender and vanilla. For those of you who know me, know I LIKE free stuff. I posted on the wall, that I would be interested in getting one for Emily. Completely prepared to pay for it, since I knew this was something Emily could benefit from. She would not allow me to pay for it! She relies on donations and an online open scentsy party to provide these for ASD kids. I immediately went to the open party and bought 3 scentsy paks to help her out a little. I also told her that I would host a basket party. When Emily RECEIVED  her Penny the Pig and I saw how much she loved it and how calming it was for her, I posted pictures on the Buddies for Autistic Kids wall and thanked Mary. She and I spoke on the phone several times and I decided that my heart was leading me to help this woman out in her campaign. Mind you, I had NEVER even ordered anything Scensty until just now!

So with that being said, I am following my HEART! I signed up to become an Independent Scensty Consultant! My goal is too get Scentsy Buddies into the hands of as many sensory kids as possible. I will have an on-going online party,Jessica Lawson, Independent Scentsy Consultant, where people can order Scensty products and ALL  proceeds will go to the Buddies for Autistic Kids campaign. You can also order a buddy and give it to a child who may benefit from it. I have a paypal button on my blog for anyone wanting to donate towards the buddies. They are $25 each and come with a scent pak. I will be having a launch party and all proceeds will go towards the Buddies! I will also need some sweet souls host parties for me! There are excellent hostess benefits. I can even do basket parties for those who don't live near me! I send you every thing you need to have a basket party and even include return shipping postage. I will also be able to do fundraisers!! This is one of the other reasons I decided to sell Scentsy products. So many people need fundraisers to help with medical costs, therapy sessions and equipment purchases. You get 20% of all sales. I will probably be asking many of you to help me along this journey.

Please go like Buddies for Autistic Kids on facebook and see pictures of those who have benefitted from the Buddies campaign! If you have a child on the spectrum, post a comment on the page and we will get your sweet child(age doesn't matter) a buddy as soon as possible! Mary has sent out over 30 buddies in just a few weeks!

Thank you for allowing me to share my HEART...

Jessica

Here are some pictures of Emily with Penny the Pig!