I’ve found that a lot of special-needs families choose to homeschool their children. Their reasons vary, of course, but the bottom line is usually that the parents believe that the best learning environment for their child is at home. In our case, our youngest daughter Lauren has a long list of medical diagnoses and complications. Her heart is thriving after a heart transplant eight years ago, but her days are still filled with frequent doctors’ appointments and hospitalizations. During her most recent hospital stay, I realized that there was no way she could have caught up on two-weeks’ worth of school work to go back to school while she was still trying to recover from being so sick.

There are many things to love about homeschooling a special needs child at home. Unfortunately, homeschooling Lauren has not magically made all of our challenges go away. Lauren received an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis about a year ago, and she has been diagnosed with ADHD for far longer (at least four or five years). We work with a psychiatrist for medication management and a licensed clinical social worker for a behavioral approach. When dealing with as many medical issues as Lauren has, it’s challenging to find a medicine that can increase her attention and allow her to focus. It seems like nearly every medicine we research will interact with a medicine that she’s already taking or will carry too great a risk of harmful side effects. With her lack of focus, I find it difficult to teach her the skills that would allow her to better function as a child with autism and to teach her the academic materials she has missed due to illnesses and hospital stays.

We’ve recently found a non-medication treatment that is making a significant difference in Lauren’s ability to focus on her schoolwork. CapeAble Sensory Products makes weighted blankets and wearables that provide extra sensory input for kids (and adults). We received a Pair of Sashes (in the Medium Mod Dot/Pink color combination), a Wrap-Around (Pewter Stone/Red) and a Fidget (Urban Camo/Red). To be honest, I considered our CapeAble products to be sort of a Hail Mary pass -- a crazy hope that we could help Lauren focus on her schoolwork without having to navigate the complexities of finding another medication option to try. I now wish I had tried them sooner!

Our favorite product is the pair of weighted Sashes that Lauren wears while doing schoolwork at home. The Sashes come in three child sizes and three adult sizes, a choice of ten color combinations, and cost $110 for a pair. They are made of super-soft pinky fabric which is a delight to the touch and perfect for a sensory-seeking child to stroke. Lauren wears a size child medium which is suitable for children roughly nine to twelve years old. Each sash wraps over one shoulder and fastens with a hidden magnet at her hipbone. They are designed to be worn as a pair so that the child (or adult) feels a comforting hug while wearing them. According to CapeAble, they "conform to the torso and give compression so that the child may feel calm and comforted, yet alert and focused." I see them as an important part of the changes we’ve made in our homeschool environment this year, and I can tell a big difference in Lauren’s schoolwork on the days that she uses them. This year, I set up a desk area specifically for Lauren to use while she does her independent school assignments. It’s a bit removed from the main traffic areas of the house so that she doesn’t see or hear other people moving around quite so much. This area is stocked with everything she needs (pencils, pencil sharpener, calculator, etc.). With no excuse to get up and with the sashes giving her a subtle reinforcement to remember to stay seated, her focus is greatly improved. I’ve seen the biggest difference when she’s working on either math or grammar -- two subjects that require her to focus through multiple steps. When she is in her school area using the CapeAble Sashes, she slows down to correctly diagram sentences instead of just slapping the words on lines somewhere. For math, she has become a lot more accurate when working on problems with multiple steps, such as multiple digit multiplication and long-division. She’s even working complex problems with decimals with minimal mistakes.

While Lauren prefers to use the Sashes for her seated schoolwork, she also sometimes uses the Wrap-Around weighted pad during our school days. The Wrap Around is a weighted pad measuring 12" by 72" and costs $95. Like the Sashes, it is available in ten different color combinations of CapeAble’s super-soft minky fabric. The Wrap Around is long enough for Lauren to wrap around her shoulders, drape over her lap, or bunch up to snuggle with. CapeAble also suggests wrapping around the waist or hips. "When draped over the shoulders, the Wrap around offers a calming hug, but when wrapped around the hips, the Wrap Around makes the individual feel focused and grounded." I sometimes suggest that Lauren use the Wrap Around when we are sitting on the couch doing read-aloud time. The sensory input from the weight seems to reduce fidgeting and help her focus, but she sometimes finds the length of this product to be a bit distracting. Since she doesn’t actually wrap it around herself, she might do better with CapeAble’s Lap Pad which comes in a size that’s a bit wider and half as long as the Wrap Around.

The third item in Lauren’s package from CapeAble was their Magnetic Fidget ($25). It’s a small tool designed to help children focus through lectures or other listening activities. When fully extended, it measures 5" by 15" and contains twelve magnets securely fastened in evenly spaced compartments. Depending on how it’s folded, it can be roughly as compact as a deck of cards. Lauren likes fiddling with this tool because "there are probably endless things to do with it." She’s talking about all the ways that the magnets can connect to each other to make different shapes out of the flat minky fabric. The snaps do make a bit of a noise when they fasten to each other. The sound is muffled by the minky fabric, but it might be loud enough to distract other children, especially if you have a child that’s extra sensitive to noise.

All three of our CapeAble products are well-made and have withstood all the abuse Lauren can throw at them. I was impressed with the way the stitching throughout the two weighted products kept the glass beads in separate compartments so that the weight was always evenly distributed. I’m also thrilled to know that I can toss them in the washing machine and dryer when they get dirty. Most importantly, I’m thrilled to offer Lauren tools that help her stay focused while she’s trying to finish her schoolwork each day. In our case, I’m especially grateful to find a solution that doesn’t require me to balance the effects of adding yet another medication to her daily schedule. CapeAble products are a definite win at our house!

-Product review by Cristi Schwamb, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, October, 2017