About Us

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Special Gifts"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>About Us</B></div> <div> <A HREF="specialneeds.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Special Needs"><U><B>Special Needs</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="waystohelp_anchor.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ways to Help"><U><B>Ways to Help</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="donations_anchor.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Donations"><U><B>Donations</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>LC Foundation</B></div> <div> <B>PO Box 1971</B></div> <div> <B>Edmond, OK. 73083-1971</B></div> <div> <B>(405) 837-2148</B></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:osg@att.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:osg@att.net"><U><B>osg@att.net</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=415 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>OUR MISSION</B><B> <A NAME="mission"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> <B>Our mission is to raise awareness and educate the public about "shadowed" or "hidden" special needs in children by making available to the public: Definitions and examples of special needs that affect children, a condensed version in the form of printable pamphlets, links to resources and small business-type cards for parents to give out to help spread the word about their child's circumstances.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>WHO WE ARE</B></div> <div> <B>We are parents who have a child or children with shadowed or hidden special needs that have come together to try to extinguish the misunderstanding, frustration, isolation and hurt we feel due to the lack of knowledge from the public so they can at least better understand our situations. </B></div> <div> <B>We are not doctors, so please do not use any information on this website as a substitute for a professional's diagnosis. </B></div> <div> <B>Also, do not use any information on this website for any legal advise.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>WHAT IS SHADOWED OR HIDDEN SPECIAL NEEDS?</B></div> <div> <B>When someone has a missing limb or is in a wheelchair, you can physically see it. But when a child has a shadowed or hidden special need, it's not immediately obvious because they are neurological, not physical. A lot of times even once you've spent time with the individual, it's still not visible or you can't quite put your finger on what's "different" about them. </B></div> <div> <B>Shadowed special needs are neurological special needs that the child has, but is only being minor to moderately affected by it. It can also be when a child has various special needs at once, that are all minor to somewhat moderate.</B></div> <div> <B>Hidden special needs are special needs that are not common or may be normally misdiagnosed and not known to the general public.</B></div> <div> <B>These types of special needs can come across as the child just being disruptive, rude, throwing a fit, in their own little world, zoning out, clumsy, hyper, mean, goofy, etc. "A good old fashioned spanking would fix that," is something the parents of these children hear all too often. But in reality, it's not the child's fault, they're not doing these things on purpose. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>THE SILVER AWARENESS RIBBON</B></div> <div> <B>Silver is the color of the awareness ribbon for Children with disABILITIES and Special Needs. Dark blue is associated with several different awarenesses for children. We felt it was fitting to have the silver ribbon with dark blue words across it for our logo. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>OUR PROGRESS</B></div> <div> <B>There may not be much here now, but this is just the beginning of Our Special Gifts. We are working hard to complete this website, one special need at a time. So please be patient- a lot goes into researching a need and writing out descriptions that the general public can understand, especially someone who has never had to deal with anything like it before.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Check out this</B></FONT><B> </B><A HREF="http://www.autismspeaks.org/sponsoredevents/autism_every_day.php" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.autismspeaks.org/sponsoredeve"><U><B>article</B></U></A><B>,</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B> this amazing</B></FONT><B> </B><A HREF="http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=d1292af8-1a5f-43e4-9fe8-20ea7b8df73f&f=01/64&fg=email" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=d1292a"><U><B>video</B></U></A><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>and this interesting</B></FONT><B> </B><A HREF="http://www.awalkonwater.com/home.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.awalkonwater.com/home.html"><U><B>site</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>.</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>__________________________________________________________________</B></div> <div> <B>Our Special Gifts is a division of </B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.godspreciousgifts.org" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.godspreciousgifts.org"><U><B>Life's Circle Foundation</B></U></A><B>.</B></div> <div> <B>All statements made on this website are for educational purposes only; </B></div> <div> <B>Do NOT use for medical or legal advice.</B></div> <div> <B>Life's Circle Foundation is registered with the state of Oklahoma as a non-profit organization.</B></div> <div> <B>We do not discriminate against race, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status or handicap.</B> </div> <div> <B>©2006-2008 Life's Circle Foundation</B></div> <bR> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=65 BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="tencommandments_ten_commandments_children.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ten Commandments for Parents of Special "><U><B>Ten Commandments for Parents of Special Needs Children</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="specialmother_the_special_mother.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Special Mother"><U><B>The Special Mother</B></U></A><B>  |  </B><A HREF="heavensveryspecialchild_heaven_s_very_special_child.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heavens Very Special Child"><U><B>Heaven's Very Special Child</B></U></A><B>  </B></div> <div> <A HREF="themisunderstoodchild_the_misunderstood_child.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Misunderstood Child"><U><B>The Misunderstood Child</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>