The Twelve Day-Ruiners of Christmas: Shopping

Thinking of taking your child with special needs to the mall with you for hours of Christmas shopping, and maybe more hours of standing in line to visit Santa? Honestly, you plan a day like that, you deserve the heck you're going to get. Malls can be stressful at any time of year -- full of sounds and smells and escalators and jostling people and shiny things you mustn't touch -- but the holiday season puts it over the top into the area of unbearable sensory overload.

If you absolutely have to go to the mall, follow my tips on surviving the trip. Or think outside the mall with gift ideas from these articles:

• Six Simple Gifts for Your Child With Special Needs
• Finding the Perfect Gift for Your Child With Special Needs
• Sensory Integration Tools and Toys
• Sensory Integration Stocking Stuffers

More Day-Ruiners: #1 Traditions