Build An Emergency Special Needs Binder

Holland may be beautiful, but it's very, very complicated. If (God forbid!) anything were to happen to you, would your spouse, mother, friend, brother or other trusted person know what to do to keep your special needs son or daughter's life running smoothly? I know mine wouldn't, so today I'm building an emergency special needs binder. 

I have my big, fat, 2-inch binder from Costco, and my big, fat pile of every document I've filed, every bill I've paid, and every report I've received on my son's behalf during the past 12 months. I also have a nice pile of crispy new sheet protectors and dividers, and my 3-hole punch and copy machine on standby. I am ready to go!

Learn Something New Every Day

The Los Angeles Public Library offers free, online tutorials in a number of subjects, starting with foreign languages. Learn Spanish (or French or Italian or dozens of other languages, or English if your native language is another) with interactive software that includes apps for Android and I-Phone. (I've used the Mango Language courses, but the library also offers Powerspeak.)

Universal Class is organized into over 40 major topics, including (among many others) accounting, business, computers, finance, history, homeschooling, math, real estate, psychology, and special education. Within each of those topic areas, there are anywhere from 10 to 40 or more online courses (more than 500 total courses). Registration is required, as some of these courses may be used to meet continuing education requirements. However, these are self-paced tutorials.

A little less intense, Learn4Life rotates a series of 6-week, online courses from about a dozen topic areas, including a number of courses in computer software applications, a beginning guitar course (what?),

Earthquake and Emergency Preparedness

We have also posted links to Red Cross pamphlets on emergency planning:  Make An Emergency Plan, Basic Survival Kit and Additional Emergency Planning for Special Needs.

Discounts

We have posted two short pages on how to get discounts on telephone, utility and transportation services: (L.A. phone & utility discounts) and (L.A. bus & transit discounts). These pages only discuss the process to qualify for discounts; we plan future articles on how to use the Los Angeles bus, dial-a-ride and other transit services. So go get your cards -- We promise to help you use them.

Welcome!

to ALLYnceLife, where we'll be posting all things community and adult life. I hope you enjoy our site, come back for more, and maybe join in on some of our conversations. Let us know what you think, what we're doing right, and where we need to improve!