Kids Cooking With Colten

Beans and carrots were our haul tonight.

He decided to walk his bike home and tell me all about planting seeds and how cool farms are. It was such a sweet walk home. He also of course told me lots about animals too!

It's now easier to send Kids Cooking With Colten a message.

Not our traditional dish, but mud soup with leaves and grass is just what summer ordered!

We bought the bowls and spoons at the dollar store! Best $5.00 I’ve spent-hours of entertainment.

Man, last week was a hot mess. We struggled at school and honestly, we were not sure what the rest of the school year would bring...BUT, you know what, this week has been amazing!

He has worked hard.

He learned how to play Duck-Duck-Goose with his peers.

He was in awe of ladybugs and other insects.

He built fun things with blocks.

He rode his pumper car without tears into school.

When you feel down and not sure if things will turn around. Remember as Colten would say, "Take a deep breath, all the way down to your tummy" and focus on the wins!

Also, being silly and laughing helps too!

Photos by: Carly Mitchell Photography

I love this picture of me and my sweet boy. It looks like we are having the best of times, and we are, but the real reason I picked him up was because he was about to meltdown as we transitioned from one area we were taking pictures to another, and we had to cross a road.

He doesn’t like to hold our hand even if it’s to keep him safe. He was starting to spiral and in attempt to give him some sensory input and keep the mood light, I whisked him up to make the transition fun! It worked, and my talented friend caught the moment. I’m so grateful.

Every child/adult is different-let me say it again EVERY one of us is different and in one way or another need accommodations! We have to “normalize” this.

Different doesn’t mean deficient. This phrase has rolled around in my mind for weeks now. Colten marches to his own beat and seems to care very little what others think-He doesn’t see himself as different and definitely not deficient, and I love that for him!

Unfortunately, as I have spoken with several older kids with ADHD and parents of children with ADHD, the overwhelming response from them in regards to accommodations, is that as they get older, they don’t want to utilize the accommodations because they get labeled “the SPED kid”, “stupid”, or “slow”. This breaks my heart. This has to change. Change the environment, not the kid/adult. Let’s celebrate accommodations and our ability to be our best when we use them.

Let’s do better-let’s teach our children about differences in each other and embrace them.

I listened to a presentation by Jonathan Mooney today. It was amazing- thought-provoking and funny. "The KGB has nothing on the IEP" haha!

His talk was in regards to what we need to be doing in the schools for neurodiverse students. A few things that really stuck out to me where this.

1) Different doesn't mean deficient
2)We must advocate for accommodations-change the environment, not the kid.
3) Switch from a deficiency model to a strengths model.

Jonathan spoke about having a "stengthfolio"! Yes!! It's easy to get caught up in all the things our kiddos are told they can't do or don't do well because it doesn't fit into the current "normal" system. What if we started teaching them to use their strengths to adapt within the current system and find success using their unique and special talents!


Photo: Carly Mitchell Photography

Such a beautiful day!

Did you notice the way this boy created his own hearing accommodation?

He left his right ear open on his hood the entire time we played 💙

Happy Sunday!

Maybe you’ve got some projects to complete today too.

Colten loves taking this airplane apart and putting it back together!

It's been a while! We are back in school and he's loving it. This is some wonderful information for anyone who works with or knows someone with unilateral hearing loss.

https://www.facebook.com/listeningfuntod/photos/a.347774535978695/614607579295388

Whenever I talk to teachers about a student with unilateral hearing loss, I try to get a few things across: ⠀
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🔹 Hearing and listening are two different skills. Yes, the student can hear normally out of one ear. But having only one good ear makes it much harder to listen and understand what is being said, especially in background noise/reverberation ⠀
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🔹 Research shows that background noise/reverberation has an even bigger impact on kids with unilateral hearing loss. When sounds are bouncing around all over the place, it is so so hard to hear and understand what’s being said in a classroom ⠀
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🔹 Listening fatigue is real and can have a huge impact on student learning. Processing auditory information through a hearing aid / having different input on both sides / listening all day with a hearing loss can make a student physically tired. The more cognitive energy goes into listening, the less is going into actual learning ⠀
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🔹 Unilateral kids often look like “they’re just not paying attention” or they have “selective hearing.” A unilateral loss makes it harder to focus on where sound is coming from, makes it harder to listen in loud environments (like classrooms) and makes it harder to hear if you’re on their bad side. I also try to explain to teachers that even if they have attention issues separate from hearing loss, listening out of only one ear is only going to make it harder for those students to focus.⠀
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➡️ Strategies that are most helpful ⬅️⠀
🔸 When calling on students, say their name so the student with HL knows where to look/ who is speaking ⠀
🔸 Allow for listening breaks ⠀
🔸 Seat the student so their good ear is towards the class and their poor ear is away from sources of background noise ⠀
🔸 Use visual supports and reduce background noise as much as possible ⠀
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🔵 One trick I learned from a fellow LSLS mentee: give the teachers a foam earplug and ask them to go through their day. Although not exact, this simulates a conductive loss. Let them see how hard it really is! I haven’t tried this yet but I thought it was such a good idea. 💡

Great day to run his first virtual 5k to support Hands & Voices

PSA: drink more water 💦
Photo credit:

Sunday Muffins! He loves making these!

Krusteaz gluten free blueberry muffins (we made dairy free by subbing milk with Califia Farms almond/coconut milk and coconut oil instead of butter)

If you know kiddos, or adults that eat a gluten-free, dairy-free diet, we’d love for you to share! Thank you 💙

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=85KGTV8Gkgc

Sunday Muffins Making gluten-free and dairy-free muffins on a lazy Sunday.

No-Bake Granola bar that is allergy-friendly on the blog

https://www.kidscookingwithcolten.com/blog/no-bake-nut-free-granola-bar

No-Bake Allergy-Friendly Granola Bar — Kids Cooking with Colten This granola bar recipe is free from nuts, dairy, gluten, corn, and soy.

📚🖍Back-to-School 📚✏️

We are in our full week of in-person school. Colten is so excited and loves all of his teachers! Lunch can be hard for kids with allergies, but here are a few of our favorite things:

-Pepperoni (We love )
-Hummus and Almond Crackers ()
-Cucumbers
-Grape Tomatoes
-GF/DF pretzels ()
-All Fruit
-Apple and Sunbutter sandwich
-Olives
-Avocado
- Smoothie pouches
-With a few Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Carly Mitchell Photography

Transitioning from one task to another can be very difficult for children on the spectrum. They need to be given clear parameters; what is expected, how long will the activity last, and what is next.

Colten does really well when he can see a visual timer, is given warning to when he will be done with an activity, and what the next activity is. The visual timer is so important because with his hearing loss he may not hear it if it’s not in front of him. Also giving him a tap on the shoulder and getting in front of him to remind him he’s almost done is necessary too. Background noise of a classroom is very problematic for him.

First/Then really helps us in getting him to do non-preferred tasks because he then knows he gets to do a preferred task after. He has a hard time waiting and does need sensory breaks to refocus.

I loved all the information in this article by It gives great ideas for ways to help children on the spectrum be successful at school and home.

https://parentingchaos.com/transition-strategies/

We had some technical difficulties 🥴, but here it -Cinnamon Sugar Blondies.

Throughout the video Colten keeps saying he was making “shorties” 🤣 Enjoy!

You can follow us on Instagram or on YouTube 👍🏻

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ntFTYy709J8&t=123s

Cinnamon Sugar Blondies Gluten and Dairy Free Dessert

I can’t even with this ornery look. Colten loves coffee ☕️ His Danish roots run deep!
We decided we like brownies better, but these Blondies were good.
@ Colorado

We are so excited Blondies won the poll. We haven’t ever had them and are looking forward to trying them! We adapted this recipe from

Cinnamon Sugar Blondies

Ingredients
-1/2 cup coconut oil melted
-1 cup brown sugar
-1 large egg beaten
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup gluten-free flour ( All-purpose)
-Pinch of salt
-5 teaspoons sugar
-1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment.
-Add the melted coconut oil and brown sugar to a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine.
-Stir in the egg and vanilla.
-Stir in the gluten-free flour and salt until well combined.
-Spread into the prepared pan. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the batter.
-Bake for 22 minutes or until a tester comes out mostly clean.
-Cool before cutting.

@ Colorado

We are embarrassed it’s been so long, but later today we will be making Cinnamon Sugar Blondies!!

We have been trying to figure out our schedule with all the school craziness, but we will be in the kitchen this holiday weekend cooking up some fun. Stay tuned 🤣
Photo: