A Little About Us
I am Sandy. I am author, entrepreneur and digital content creator. I have two children: a sweet little boy called Lennox and the precious little girl in the picture, Mara. Mara was prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome when I was 11 weeks pregnant. Her diagnosis came as a shock, but it only took me 4 days to get back on my feet and take charge of the situation to make sure that my little girl would have all the resources and support she may need.
I spent my entire pregnancy learning about neuroplasticity and how we can improve the physical and cognitive abilities of our babies. Since Mara’s birth, I have spent countless hours implementing a routine that includes daily physical, cognitive, visual, and tactile stimulation. I keep getting surprised by how much we can assist our children and equip them to conquer anything they want if they receive proper early stimulation.
My motto as a mother, and more specifically as a special needs mom, is “information is power”. That is why I decided to create this website. I know that every single child can reach their maximum potential if we, as parents, have access to the right information.
about us
How We Got Started
After repeated requests from many of my loyal @Instagram followers for more information about what we were doing to help Mara in her development, @MaraTheWondergirl Instagram was born. It was a great way for us to share Mara’s progress, her infectious smile, and her huge personality. It was also a great way to connect with other mamas who had questions and were seeking advice.
Little by little, the “How did you do _____?” questions grew. And it was becoming increasingly clear that one-on-one messages did not allow me to serve the needs of our growing community in the way I wanted. We knew that the impact could be bigger and that we could reach more families. And so, MaraTheWondergirl.com was born. It is an important next step to provide a new home for all of us. Thank you for being a part of it.
Glad You Have Joined Us On Our Adventure
Top Posts
Have you ever heard “Babies need to learn to self-sooth”. That’s the premise behind “cry it out”. Well, I am here to tell you that allowing your kid to cry it out may have terrible long term effects. And I am not sharing this to shame anybody. I am sharing this because we can only do better when we know better.
As the parents of a special needs child, Wendi Hoffer and her husband realized how important enjoyable family experiences together were to them as a family. But she also realized how challenging it was for families to justify the costs of a vacation or the time away from therapy. Wendi is here to share her experience and show others how one person really can make a difference.
Use these 12 strategies to elicit language development, whether you are a therapist, teacher, or parent. There are many fun, simple activities to incorporate in your day to engage and encourage communication skills. These strategies are not only helpful for children struggling with language development but how you should be interacting and engaging with all children!
My driving force behind everything I do is my sister, Rebecca. Becky is my older sister. She is severely disabled. Yes, she had challenges, and yes, she was different, but she was a living, breathing, beautiful human who deserved the same love and respect that any of us do.
A few months back, I read the BEST simple explanation about thyroid function and why checking only TSH and T4 is not enough. Most importantly, why TSH and T4 alone may not be the right way to choose treatment if medication is needed.
So many moms ask me about the exercises I do with Mara and I started sharing them on my YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago. We started doing these exercises at around 1-month-old (even though you can start as soon as your baby is born) and up until Mara’s neck was super strong (at approximately 4-months-old).
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