Resources for Parents with special needs child
Special “needs” is an umbrella term for a wide array of diagnoses ranging from cognitive disabilities and developmental challenges to physical disabilities and so on. In some cases, the affected person (children in this context) phases rapidly through a healing process. In other instances, the disability is a challenge for life; they can be relatively mild or they can be very profound.
Just like other children, special needs children deserve a shot at living a balanced life. However, this balance cannot be achieved through the conventional means of child upbringing. Just as the name implies, special needs children need a special upbringing. These cover all areas like their education, their socialization and integration into the community, their exercises, and a whole lot of other activities that give them a feeling of living.
Why do You need Resources for Special Needs Child?
This post may contain affiliate links. For my full disclosure policy click here.
The methods of taking care of special needs children vary with a lot of factors. Notable among these factors include the nature of their disability, the number of disabilities they suffer from, the degree to which they are affected, and the response rate of the child in question. Depending on all of these, the degrees of difficulty parents, guardians and caregivers may encounter vary. To be able to effectively overcome the challenges these things may pose, certain resources are needed.
The special needs resources are useful. It can help you obtain needed services, set appropriate goals, and gain an understanding of your child and the stress your family may face. The resources also help the parent easily match their child with educators who understands their disabilities.
It helps them identify individual learning styles and make them focus on their capacity and not their disabilities. The resources help a child learn new strategies to help them in their comprehension. Summarily, the resources create a better world for the parent and the child.
The Best Resources for parents with Special Needs Child
Just as every child is entitled to care, so do children with disabilities who deserve care and more. The children with special needs should be provided with every attention and care they need to make up for their disability. Below are some Resources for Parents with special needs child that you need to give them the best experiences they are entitled to.
1. Magazines articles and write ups
Magazines articles and write ups serve as a very useful means for parents with special needs child. Depending on the type of disability that your child has, you have to get yourself engaged in medical write ups and magazines that talk about how to your ward. Different magazines and articles discuss different types of disabilities as extensively as possible; you need to get acquainted with them. That way, you are not only equipped to take care of your child, but you are also always prepared for various contingencies that may arise. Some examples of magazines and blogs that you can read include;
- Hopeful parents
- Parenting isn’t petty
- Love that max
- Supporting for special needs
- Parenting special needs magazine
- Very well family
2. Extra-curricular activities
You have to figure out how to engage your ward in extracurricular activities, outside the normal classroom work. You should involve your ward in sports, clubs and societies outside academics. There are quite a number of individualized education programs that help them with learning homework and tests outside study. You could adopt these programs; they help them a lot to interact and have long lasting relationships with others. Furthermore, you have to tailor the games to suit the disability of the ward in question. Below are some of the examples of games and sports that special needs children can engage in;
- Card games, An example includes flashcard with quizzes on them
- Scrabble
- Chess
- Ludo
- Emotion color wheelers
- Matching pair games
- Dance
- Video games and so on
3. Assistive Technology
Technology has definitely made life easier for humans. An in those areas of ease, special needs children are not left behind. Just like all other resources that were mentioned before, these technologies are patterned to take care of different disabilities specific to their designs. A child that has a physical disability may require a different technology from one that has cognitive disabilities. Below are some of the assistive technology devices for special needs children
- AAC care manual for caregivers (Elementary)
Resource guide for using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), including handouts - Accessibility Feature of Google and Chrome book (Children and Adults)
List of accessibility features you can use on Chrome books and in Google Classroom - Accessibility settings on Androids and IOS (Children and Adults)
Article about tools to make personal electronic devices accessible - All4mychild Learning apps (Elementary) Apps for iPhone and iPad that work on social development skills
Videos and colorful texts – A special needs child is likely to have attention issues. To cater for these, some certain texts have been built to always gain their attention by employing color and fun activities. Apart from the texts, interesting videotapes are great ways to catch their attention and make their learning process seamless.
What are other things to help aside these resources?
Aside from the resources that have been stated above, there are some institutions, organizations and structures that have been put in place for special needs children. The areas where these organizations function differs with respect to their specialization. However, you could use all their help to ensure your special needs child develop into a functional human being.
1. Caregivers
Parents should avoid stressing themselves out or bothering themselves with the belief that they are in the best position to take care of their ward. They should hire professional caregivers who will help them in taking care of their ward, helping them to develop gradually. Caregivers are well grounded in the use of the necessary technology and technique to help the children evolve better.
2. Educational learning center
There are several educational learning organizations that are specialists in different areas of disabilities, this will help them develop and cope with their disabilities. It will also teach them how to develop themselves without the help of others.
3. Therapy for children
As a parent to a child who is sick or has special needs, your schedule should involve doctor visits and therapy sessions You should try to take them out for therapy based on their area of disability.
4. Teaching special education
Special education helps them on how to build and strengthen their disability and making their disability a capacity to build on.
5. Insurance companies
This helps them on how to go about their financial needs and it keeps them rest assured whenever things are fallen out financially and it also promises them a better tomorrow for their child.
Conclusion
The fact still remains the same that this category of children needs special equipment and resources to bring out the best in them. Suffice to say that parents and society have lots of work to do to bring this into reality. More organizations need to dedicate more funding to research projects and proper care for these children. If all those can be done, this category of children will know and have the feeling of belonging to a better society.
Also Read:
My Husband is like another Child