Like many of you, judging from my Twitter and Facebook feeds right now, I'm hanging on the news coming out of Connecticut about a horrific shooting at an elementary school, praying for the families, and holding my kids tight. I've told both of them about it; my son was appropriately solemn but quickly moved on to other interests, while my daughter, whose job goal is to be a kindergarten teacher's aide, is glued to her own Facebook feed, with a face about as stricken as mine looks right now. Kids hear and process news of tragedy in different ways, and that's particularly true of kids with special needs, whose language and developmental and emotional differences may affect how hard they take such news, and how much they need to know. Since it's almost impossible to shield kids from news in our 24/7 online world, my article on "Talking to Children With Special Needs About Tragedy" may be worth taking a look at before you have your own uncomfortable conversations.
UPDATE: I'm going to start a running list here of posts and statements from special-needs bloggers and organizations about the shooting. If you've written or seen something that needs to be shared, add it in the comments. Also, please read my follow-up post, "Special Needs and Sandy Hook."
- ASAN Statement on Media Reports Regarding Newtown, CT, Shooting from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network
- Monsters Are Real... from Life With My Special Ks
- It Could All Be Over in an Instant. from Basically FX
- Unimaginable Tragedy from The Caregiver's Living Room
- Responding to Fear With Facts and Stepping Into the Void from A Diary of a Mom
- Worries from Bird on the Street
- Sometimes They Win from Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords
- Where Is the Light Today from Adventures in Juggling
- Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 Available after Sandy Hook School Tragedy from Disability.gov
- Shooting in Connecticut from About.com PTSD
- The Connecticut Shootings: What's Autism Got to Do With It? and On Not Talking to Your Kids About the Connecticut Tragedy from Love That Max
- Statement from Michael John Carley on the Newtown, CT, Shootings from The Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership
- For Charlotte from Garden of Eagan
- When Children Die, It's Time to Grieve and to Reflect, Not to Scapegoat and Dear Elisabeth, Who Thinks That All Autistic People Should Be Locked Up from Disability and Representation
- Mother with Asperger Syndrome Grieves Sandy Hook Elementary Victims from Paula C. Durbin-Westby Autistic Advocacy Blog
- In Response to Connecticut from Yes, That Too
- Inexplicable Tragedy: Honoring Vulnerability from Mama Be Good
- "I'm an autistic person, not a killer." from Hello TOTKO
- Autism, empathy, and violence: One of these things doesn't belong here from Emily Willingham
- AWN's Appeal to Media Sources Covering Newtown, CT from Autism Women's Network
- No Linkage Between Autism and Planned Violence from Autism Society
- Statement on Newtown, Connecticut from Autism Speaks
- To the Media, Regarding Newton from Mom by the Bay
- Autism Rights Watch Grieves for the Families after Newtown, CT Shootings from Autism Rights Watch
- Thoughts on Newtown, and Love to the Autism Community and Why? #Newtown #Autism from Raising Rebel Souls
- I Am Adam Lanza's Mother from Gawker
- You Are NOT Adam Lanza's Mother from Autism Wars
- Can I Hide Somewhere Until It's Over? from Autistic Hoya
- Why You Sad? from Big Blueberry Eyes
- Tangled Emotions from Life With Joey
- AANE Statement on the tragedy in Newtown, CT from Asperger's Association of New England
- The Connecticut Tragedy and Autism and A Letter to Elisabeth J.A. from Yeah. Good Times.
- Plea from the Scariest Kid on the Block from Radical Neurodivergence Speaking
- Telling My Daughter About Newtown from An Acorn Dreaming
- After Newtown: Why Amateur Diagnoses Are Dangerous from Child Mind Institute
- I Refuse to Be Adam Lanza's Mother from the Balanced Mind Foundation
- Jiminy Crickets!: Disability, Conscience, and Misconceptions of Each and Taking Off the Mask: Disability and the Truth of "Social Appropriateness" from independencechick
- Autism Isn't a Tragedy, and Tragedy Isn't Caused by Autism from the Autism Research Foundation
- Autism: The Target from The Joy of Autism
- Peace, Love and Understanding from Try Defying Gravity
- I Was One of the Scary Kids from Cracked Mirror in Shalott
- Bazelon Center Statement on Sandy Hook Shootings from Disability Law
- In Grief, Stereotyping Mental Illness by Ari Ne'eman, from The Jewish Week
- We Need to Talk About Adam Lanza by Shannon Des Rochas Rosa, from BlogHer
- Where Fear Leads Us from Emma's Hope Book
- Please Don't Pathologize Asperger Syndrome from Care2
- Conn. School Shootings Unleashed Attack on Disabilities, Too from Education Week's On Special Education blog
- Our Sons Are Not Future Killers by Emily Willingham, from the New York Times Motherlode column
- Why I Prefer to Say "Challenging Behaviors" from We Go With Him
- AAPD Condemns Media Coverage Linking Autism to Violence from American Association of Persons With Disabilities
- You Matter from Easy to Love But Hard to Raise
- Re: "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother" from Autisable
- Special Needs Children and Atrocities from About.com Gifted Children
- Delicate Balance from Kidneys and Eyes
- Making Sense of Sandy Hook from Into the Woods, Living Deliberately
- No Distance from Spectrummy Mummy
- Statement of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Related to the Sandy Hook Tragedy from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- In Shooting Aftermath, Autism Backlash Feared from Disability Scoop