How To Raise Children With Disabilities

My first goal was to learn more about how to work with, support, and help people with disabilities. Along with this goal, I wanted to become more familiar with the experience of working with this population. I am studying to become an occupational therapist and am currently interested in working mainly with disabled children. I am also interested in the elderly population, but through this experience at Windsong Equitherapy and some shadowing at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, I am leaning towards working with disabled children. Aside from this goal, I also wanted to learn how parents and families with disabilities cope with having a child with special needs and the effect this has on the

The Federation for Children with Special Needs (FCSN) was one of the AT resources that caught most my attention meanwhile reading for this assignment. The FSCN specializes in providing information, support, and assistance to parents of children with disabilities, their professional partners, and their communities. They also seemed to be committed to listening to and learning from families, and encourage full participation in community life by all people, especially those with disabilities. This entity believes that individual differences in people are a natural part of life and that disabilities provide children and adults with unique perspectives, insights, and abilities which contribute to the overall well-being of society. The Federation

Parenting is a feat all on it's own, but do most people ever stop to acknowledge the true difficulties underlying the day to day challenges of parenting a disabled child? For most of us, becoming a parent means making selfless sacrifices in order to make time and to simply grow up. Some aren't as lucky to get off that easily. Raising a child with a disability varies in difficulty, but regardless of the case, each parent is required to go above and beyond the average role. More education, more patience, and more attention are just a few of the "extra curricular" duties that go along with raising a disabled child. Unfortunately, the seemingly never ending list of additional responsibilities isn't necessarily the only obstacle for these parents. Certain medical conditions aren't covered by insurance companies due to lack of awareness or simply the state's disinterest in funding a non-profitable cause, leaving these families to fend for themselves.

The day a child turns eighteen and graduates from high school is usually a happy day for a family. The even better day is when a parent drops their child off for college letting them learn how to be an independent adult. This stage of life is where parents can consider themselves an “empty-nester”, since the children are technically gone and it is just the spouses left at home. Sadly, things do not always happen this way. Families sometimes are not able to launch their children they way they want to, especially families who have children with disabilities because their mental or physical capability is not equipped to handle it. This is considered a burden to the caregivers. This is not the only type of burden that can happen to

This support group informs the parent were they can buy specialized clothes, toys, or equipment, this support group teaches parents how to find summer or after school jobs for their disabled children. Many disabled children that have been abused and maltreated are also able to receive treatment to cope with everything they had to go through with their parent or guardians. There are programs for parents who need help coping with what they had to go through with their disabled child, they may need help to get over the way they treated their disabled child. There are many support groups that can help a disabled child and his/her parent or guardian cope with the trauma they have gone through or are going through, for example one support group that

Support systems can play a major role in limiting the impact of a disability for a child. For example, support from peers and families can provide a system of services that can help

After interviewing my mother, I realized that raising a child with emotional and mental disabilities is hard. There is more disadvantages than advantages, you will make mistakes, and you have to do your research for the help your child needs. “I’d do it all over again,” my mother confessed, “the struggle was well worth

“Overall patterns of adjustment and well-being are similar across families with children with and without disabilities. Thus, families who have a child with a disability are probably more like other families than they are different(Vaughn & Bos, 2015, p. 133)”. Family adjustment is important for any family that hopes to stay together and achieve success in life. Raising children requires constant adjustments as they progress through developmental stages. Parents and siblings of those with learning disabilities or behavioral problems usually require education and training on the disability or behavior. Methods to manage the added stress and extra energy required to care for affected children or siblings are very beneficial.

Understanding the situation of a disable person is not something we can take lightly. At the same time, understanding the role the family members play supporting a disable love one has no comparison. Having such program available to help them is a blessing. Working with disable children allow me to say that lots of help are needed to provide for their

Encourage training and continuing education about violence against children with disabilities for those with disabilities themselves, their families, legal professionals, judges, prosecutors, victim advocacy agencies, Guardians ad Litem, public defenders and police officers. Children with disabilities need early education about the risks of abuse and how to avoid it in a way that they can understand. Parents can get to know all persons working with their child and observe interactions closely for any signs of abuse. Parents and other caregivers may be the abusers, so other adults in the child’s life should also be able to identify possible abuse and know how to go about reporting the abuse. Parents of children with disabilities and the organizations

Specifically, as a skills trainer I work one-on-one with developmentally disabled children in an in-home and community setting. As a direct skills professional, I also work one-on-one in a group home and community setting. Both as a Life Skills Trainer and Direct Support Professional for Mentor Oregon, my mission is to teach individual independence despite disabilities, intellectual or behavioral challenges (The Mentor Network, 2012). By teaching individuals independence despite disabilities, intellectual or behavioral challenges how to independently take better care of themselves, I am improving their quality of life (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1998), and lowering their health care cost. The personal and professional experiences I have underwent better prepare me for The Doctor of Behavioral Health: Management program at Arizona State

The key theme of the video was to gain a better understanding from the family’s perspective as to why disabled children went to institutions such as Willowbrook. The video established that while many families wanted to keep their disabled children at home, in most cases they had no other choice but to institutionalize them. This choice was either because of a doctor’s recommendation or the child had reached a point where the parents no longer were able to care for the child safely.

Child (ren) with disabilities’ success in development, education and life depends on parents’ ability to accept the challenges of raising a child (ren) with disabilities. Weiss, Cappadocia, MacMullin, Viecili & Lunsky, (2012) advocate therapy for Parents. They feel that child-focused therapy should include the parents as well, to ensure children diagnosed with a disability receive the best possible developmental and educational support from their parents. With the tremendous amount of stress that accompanies caring for a child with a disability, which can encumber their effectiveness in caring for their child, researchers are examining parents’ reaction to stress. Stress is incurred through many challenges, i.e. marital, financial, emotional,

After viewing the videos, I have better understanding that parents with a child with a disability will face many difficult choices, interaction with many different professionals and specialists, and an ongoing need for information and services. Their normal lives get challenged and these parents do really need a lot of support from their families and communities. As an educator, I would like to share the knowledge, assistance, understanding, and support as much as possible rather than criticizing the behaviors of their children.

Families with children with special needs usually experience distinctive additional challenges in supporting their children and promoting their holistic development. While these children can achieve extraordinary things through necessary support from families and friends, they usually fail to receive support from their families. Generally, these children need care, necessary support for growth and care, and safety. One of the major reasons for the failure for lack of family support to these children is that recognizing a child's developmental disability or delay is not usually an easy task. Therefore, it's important for a family of a child with special needs to receive empowerment from an Early Childhood Care Professional on how to recognize the child's needs and provide essential support.