True Acceptance

The TedTalk on a mother with a special needs child was really moving.  I learned more than I thought I would, such as the perception struggle parents go through being lifelong instead of temporary as I originally thought.  She mentions the mourning of not having an average developmental child being something she has to deal with her whole life.  Not that it is a death sentence, but acknowledging milestones that perhaps are missed, and the dreams she originally had having to be altered.  I learned how much of an advocate you must be for your child and that while it's worth it, can also be exhausting on the parent.  Social support is so vital for those with children with special needs.  I loved how she also added in how important it is to be able to take care of yourself as a parent of a special needs child.  I feel from what I have read this step is often overlooked by parents and they are often overtaxed physically and emotionally and under supported.

I found an organization called Texas Project FIRST which is an organization aimed at families with a member that has special needs.  It offers many resources such as family support networks, finding friends with disabilities, learning about IEP, and free online learning.  It has support resources for everyone in the family, even specific group support for fathers, siblings, mothers etc.  Theres so many new resources for the family who has just received a special needs diagnosis, like mentioned in the TedTalk it's like learning a whole new language.  I think websites like this can be extremely helpful where they have compiled all the information in one spot.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Normative vs Nonnormative stressors

Normative vs. Nonnormative stressors   Everyday hassles, also known as normative stressors affect every individual, both women and men,  and families in general.  Everyday hassles are things such as taking out the trash, doing the dishes, picking up and taking children to school etc.  They are activities that need to be done daily or even weekly and monthly.  It's important to understand these normative every day hassles so we can differentiate them from the non normative stressors and because they happen more frequently they are better able to tell us the level of family stress a family is experiencing.  Non normative stressors would be things such as a diagnosis, or off-time developments.  Non normative stressors are things that happen on occasion that are usually unanticipated.   Some examples of normative stressors include, laundry, a baby teething, a teen learning to drive, picking up children from school, and finding parking at school. ...
Read more

LGBQ Parents & Schools

I believe there are many things that can be done to make schools a safer, more inclusive space for children of parents in the LGBTQ community, as well as students who identify as LGBTQ.  First and foremost I think education of staff is a necessary foundation.  So much of the discrimination comes from fear and ignorance, both of which can be eliminated through education. There needs to be educational programs geared towards educational staff on the challenges and stressors that children of LGBTQ parents face within the social context.  According to one study published in Sage Journals , " Supportive classroom teachers can make a difference in improving school climate for marginalized LGBTQ students."  This is so important for children to know in the face of adversity, someone has their back and will support them, often it's these connections with others that have the biggest impact in their lives.  It's especially important for the school environment to be a safe...
Read more

Defining Stepfamilies

There are so many different combinations of stepfamilies I feel like the way I would define it would have to be broad to be inclusive.  I think I would refer back to more of a "family" definition.  I would define a stepfamily as any persons belonging to a group they have defined that may, or may not live together, but belong to one another and include each other in their lives.   I feel like this would be the best way to include all the different dynamics that come with stepfamilies, sometimes having children residing in their home, sometimes not.  I think I would fall in line with a more emotional, or loving definition of their attachment than a rigid, structural, and technical definition.      
Read more