Our Goal:

To make the lives of parents, therapists, and educators of children with special needs and developmental delays easier by enabling them to find a wide variety of resources and products in one location.

 

Hi,

We’re the Savage family:  Kelly, Dan, Joseph and Jessica.  In June of 2003, our son, Joseph, was born.  Joe has Down Syndrome.

 

 

This was the beginning of our journey down the road of special needs. 

 

Joseph was born 5 ½ weeks premature and was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.  The next 4 months seemed like a blur and a mad scramble for information.  We had so much to learn about his disability and have found as the years have passed, that need to learn is an on-going process as Joseph moves from one stage of development to the next. 

 

Throughout this time, we have been fortunate to have connected with many wonderful people: other parents, therapists, doctors, and teachers.  These people have been an invaluable resource to us in our search for ideas, answers, therapies, and products which will help Joseph become the best that he can be. 

 

Over the last year, I have struggled with a need to help other parents benefit from the knowledge that we have gained.  Ideas were running around my head about what I could do to contribute.  One day, as the kids were napping, I spent a couple of hours on the internet, researching various items that I wanted to get for Joe, ideas for speech therapy (which he is really struggling with!), and so on.  I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated at the amount of time I spent looking for just the right thing for Joe.  There are a lot of terrific products out there, but I found that sometimes I would have to “stumble” across them.  I was also frustrated that I had to go to so many different sites to find various products.  Speech therapy tools in one place, toys in another, meal time and potty time items in another, DVDs in another, etc.  I thought, “wouldn’t it be nice if I could go to one place that offered a wide variety of products in ONE place?”  Thus, the idea of The Special Needs Store began.  The more I thought of it, the more excited I became about the potential benefits that we could offer other parents. 

 

As a parent of a child with special needs, as well as a B.S. degree in Exercise Science, I felt I had a unique perspective into what other parents are looking for.  I began networking with other parents and therapists about what products they liked, what products they didn’t like, etc.  We, as parents, have an incredible amount of knowledge about products for our children.  The amazing thing is: almost anyone that you talk to is in some way connected to a child with special needs.  Maybe it is their brother, their uncle, their neighbor, their sister-in-law’s stepdaughter, their grandchild, etc.  Many of the products that are in the store, are products or therapies that have worked for other parents.  There are many different diagnoses, but I have found that there are a lot of similarities in what the delays and difficulties are. 

 

So, I sincerely hope that you find the products that you are looking for in our store and can gain some comfort that these products or types of products have worked for other parents and therapists.  Every child is different and what works for one child, does not necessarily work for another, but hopefully our store will help take some of the weight off your shoulders in your own search.  As a parent, I understand that you want the best that you can give your child.  Many of our children are in therapy, but the reality is, that is such a tiny chunk of time in our kid’s life and we need to make our home as educationally “rich” as possible.  With that in mind, I will be looking for as many low-cost products and alternatives as well as offering well-known products so that we can help keep your costs down.  

 

Our vision for The Special Needs Store is ever-changing as we become more educated.  The list is endless on what we would like to be able to offer our customers and, as we continue to grow, we will be adding new and exciting resources and product lines to our store.  We truly wish to become the “one stop shop” for all of your needs and to be able to offer valuable information for you to help you down your “road of special needs”. 

 

Please keep checking back as we will be continuing to expand our product lines and offering more variety and depth.  So, if you don’t see what you are looking for now, keep checking.  We’re working on it!

 

Sincerely,

Kelly Savage

The Special Needs Store