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For Families and Caregivers – The News You Need This Week (3/21/12)

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Special treatment for kids with special needs (and the fine line we walk as their parents)

One of the things I most desire for Max is for other kids and adults to look past his disabilities and see the amazing child that he is. I’d like them to treat Max as a kid—someone to play with, joke around with, enjoy activities with. More often than not, kids are wary and adults treat him with kid gloves. And so, when I can, I bridge the gap and forge connections and get people interacting with Max.

How To Help Your Child With Homework

Many students, especially those with learning disabilities, have difficulty planning for, benefiting from, and completing homework assignments. However, there are strategies that can be implemented which can make homework a positive and effective tool to help optimize your child’s learning and help her to achieve academic success. The following are key areas to target when supporting your child’s homework habits:

How Parents Can Help Siblings of Kids with Special Needs

Note: For more on this, please check out my interview with Caroline McGraw of A Wish Come Clear.

Parents of kids with special needs tend to be worriers. Mainly because they have more to worry about than other parent do. Many worry not only about their kids with special needs who require extra time and parenting energy, but also about the siblings who get the short end of the attention stick more than mom and dad like.

Billions Unleashed To Expand Community Living

No one should have to live in an institution or nursing home if they can live in their homes and communities with the right mix of affordable supports,” said Cindy Mann, who oversees the federal Medicaid program. “These new grants will help states like New Hampshire give people with long-term care needs the choice about how and where to live their lives.”

Bridging Home-School Communications: Helping Parents Begin Conversations with Teachers

A meaningful education for children begins and ends with open, honest communication between home and school. Without a positive and comfortable relationship, solid and meaningful plans for a child’s education cannot move forward. This is particularly true when the child in question is one with ”special,” or as I like to call them, ”extra” needs.

Building a Transition Plan

Transition planning, in its most basic sense, means figuring out what you want to do in the next stage of your life, gaining the skills and resources you need to do it, and then doing it. In theory, everyone—autistic or not—should engage in a transition planning process, not only during high school but also during the years preceding every life change.

If you have found any great resources or stories, please share them in the Comments Section.

Filed Under: Information and Resources, Parenting Information and Resources, Special Needs Caregivers Tagged With: , , ,

For Families and Caregivers – The News You Need This Week (2/15/12)

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Worth Repeating: Speech-Based Activities for Kids with Apraxia

But you just want to know what you can do at home to help your child?

There are a few things you need to keep in mind as your “golden rules” in working with your child with CAS…

The State of Illinois and the lives of medically fragile kids with special needs.

This program provides them with dignity and independence, allowing them to live at home with their families by providing them with home nursing care and other Medicaid benefits.

Obama Plan For Special Education Leaves Advocates Disappointed

Despite a heavy emphasis on education in the president’s budget proposal this week, advocates are worried that students with disabilities are being left out.

Related Services

IDEA requires that a child be assessed in all areas related to his or her suspected disability. This evaluation must be sufficiently comprehensive so as to identify all of the child’s special education and related services needs, whether or not those needs are commonly linked to the disability category in which he or she has been classified.

Other Health Impairment

“Other Health Impairment” is one of the 14categories of disability listed in our nation’s special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Under IDEA, a child who has an “other health impairment” is very likely to be eligible for special services to help the child address his or her educational, developmental, and functional needs resulting from the disability.

How to Get Help at School for Your Child with a Disability

An absolute must read if you have a school age Special Needs Child!

Children’s Books on Special Needs

Explaining a disability to your child or his classmates, friends and young relatives can be a challenge for parents. These books discuss special needs in a kid-friendly way that can shine a positive light on a tricky topic.

Divorce and Your Special Needs Child

There are few challenges more difficult than going through divorce and having a special needs child. As a divorced, single parent of a beautiful special needs daughter, I can tell you that you realize immediately that the burden of future planning, well-being, and protection fall squarely on your shoulders as a custodial parent. It is the daily living and ordinary moments that test your self reliance and capacity to parent alone. When there is a special needs child involved in a divorce, issues of child custody, visitation, and support and property division are significantly more complex to negotiate. As part of your divorce, make sure your attorney knows what your child’s needs are and walk them through a “day in the life” of you and your child.

Essential Skills for Becoming Your Child’s Advocate

Learning the essential skills to become your child’s advocate and ensure your child receives an appropriate education does not require lots of money or even years of schooling. All it requires is learning five basic skills and consistently implementing them within the school community.

If you have found any great resources or stories, please share them in the Comments Section.

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Filed Under: Information and Resources, Parenting Information and Resources, Special Education, Special Needs Caregivers Tagged With: , , , , , ,

For Families and Caregivers – The News You Need This Week (1/25/12)

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To read comments or to leave a comment, please click on the Comments link in the upper right.

Last week I shared the story of Amelia Rivera and her family’s struggle to get her a kidney transplant. Here are two more articles that share some of what is happening as a result of the outcry from the Special Needs Community.

Amelia Rivera and Medical Morality

Bill Targets Bias in Transplant Decisions

 

Parents now ‘less tolerant of disabled children in same class’

 MORE than one in five people say they would object if a pupil with an intellectual disability or autism was in the same class as their child.

The disturbing statistic marks a growing level of intolerance of these children in the education system.

Just one in 12 said they would object when a similar study was carried out in 2006.

While this story is from Ireland it makes me wonder if the attitude is prevalent world-wide. We see so much in the media these days about tolerance. And we see so much about bullying and abuse. The moral of the story? Keep on working for awareness, acceptance and inclusion. And not because it is forced upon people, but rather because they truly want to.

Which leads me to…

The power of empathy: Peer groups help veterans, police and moms of kids with special needs

The programs, offered by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, are proving that empathy, which arises from walking in the shoes of another, creates a powerful connection and support for those in crisis.

 Special thank you to Doreen Fulton of IEP for Mom and Believe in a Ray of Hope for sharing this article.

Some suggestions for IEP goals when your child is bullied

Wish I had this wonderful list back when Matthew was bullied. Gregory Branch shares some excellent ideas to explore with your IEP Team in this article.

As we all know by now, special needs children are bullied 2 to 3 times more frequently than their typical peers. As I have mentioned in previous articles, one of the first steps that the parent of a special needs child should take is to request an IEP meeting.

Help for fragile X victims

The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute breakthrough could allow newborn screening of the world’s most common cause of inherited developmental disability.

Top Ten Most Ridiculous Comments Heard at an IEP Meeting

This article from Special Needs Advocate Denise Golberg is so important because many parents don’t realized that these statements are not only ridiculous but flat out wrong.

I have also, at times, heard some of the most outrageous statements!!! These ridiculous comments fly in the face of everything the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) stands for. What you will find below are ten of most ridiculous statements that I have heard and why they are so ridiculous.

Tips for helping your child with special education needs with their homework

For all parents helping their children with homework everyday takes time and effort. However, for parents of children with special education needs often this can turn into a long and challenging process. Some key tips to support children with special education needs in completing their homework include:

Tiger Mother to an Autistic Son

I’m including this article today, rather than in the ASD/PDD digest because it applies to Moms of all Special Needs Kids.

I’m tired of being called brave. But being the mom of a deeply autistic young man of 22, I can’t avoid it. Because I survived.

Interpreting the signs

This is an article from one of my local newspapers but I am sharing it because it is on a topic I don’t cover often – Deaf and Hard of Hearing issues. But even more important is this message:

Through my experience, research, and talking with teachers, audiologists, and therapists, I have learned the No. 1 factor that determines a child’s success: family involvement.

 

John Corbett Stars in “A Smile as Big as the Moon,” New Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie Airing Sunday, January 29 on ABC

The inspiring story of a high school football coach and special-education teacher who worked to achieve an impossible dream — to take a class of special-education students to NASA’s Space Camp

If you have found any great resources or stories, please share them in the Comments Section.

Help make The Village Your Village but sharing your thoughts, ideas and suggestions in this short survey. It’ll only take a few minutes but I appreciate your time very much.

 

 

Filed Under: Information and Resources, Inspiration, Legal and Medical Information and Resources, Parenting Information and Resources, Special Education, Special Needs Caregivers Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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