Chicago Special Needs Photographer
Our first claim to fame was through our work with special needs children, specifically with those with Autism. Around 12 years ago or so, we were featured in ABC News for our work. Since that time, I have always loved working with special needs children and giving back to this community. So in this spirit, we offer special needs mini sessions every April in honor of Autism Awareness Month. It is not open to only those with ASD, but all special needs families. We offer discounted pricing specifically for this event.
Now, since I’m far behind, this brings up back to April 2020. If you can’t remember what you were doing then, it is because you were doing NOTHING. It is when all businesses closed down for the pandemic. So we had to push these off a bit, and many people were not willing to risk having pictures at that time, so this was the smallest year we had.
We offered outdoor minis to keep germs spread out. This next young lady has been coming since the beginning and always is so stylish. Her purple hair was beautiful against her dress. While she may be non-verbal, her eyes say plenty.
We also get to meet some special family members during these sessions – the service dogs! Elmo here is a wonderful boy who provides deep tissue pressure when one of his three charges is over stimulated.
Our special needs mini sessions aren’t just for the individuals with special needs, but the whole family, I know the difficulty involved in getting good family pictures when you are worried about your child’s behavior or lack of eye contact.
But nothing is better than getting those sweet smiles.
And kids know that these mini sessions are fast and fun and filled with laughter, thanks to plenty of potty humor on my part.
I offered outdoor sessions due to the pandemic, but one family asked to wait to come into the studio. Some kids do better in the studio while others need a little more freedom of being outside.
If you have a child with special needs, keep your eyes open for next year’s special needs mini sessions! Of course, you are welcome to have a full session at any point in the year.