Children With Special Needs - By Category

Diagnosis: The First Step Toward Helping Your Child

A diagnosis doesn't change your child, it explains your child. It may be scary or hard to accept, but the right diagnosis can lead you to information, therapy, technology and services that can greatly improve the quality of life for your child and your family. The articles below will take you through the process of getting, researching, and dealing with a diagnosis.

Early Intervention: Help for Babies and Toddlers

Many children with special needs get services and therapies they need through the school system, but if your child is younger than school-age, you can still find assistance. The articles below will help you find and understand the "early intervention" services your child may be eligible for.

School and Special Education: Getting the Best Educational Experience

We all want our children to reach their maximum potential -- but sometimes it seems like we have to fight with the schools every step of the way. Whether your child is in inclusion or a self-contained class, in a special school or homeschooled, here's how to be an effective advocate and make the most of your child's educational opportunities.

In the Community: Finding a Social Life for Your Child

So much of children's lives these days are driven by their after-school activities -- soccer and Little League, Scouts, church groups and cliques. But what do you do if your child isn't physically or developmentally able to participate? Integrating your child into extended family gatherings or community events isn't always easy, either. Here are some suggestions for giving your child a social life -- and making your community more open to people with special needs.

Long-Term Planning: Finances and the Future

Your child may be entitled to special education services until age 21, but what happens after that? Start looking into employment and residential programs -- and planning for your child's financial needs -- so that the transition will be a smooth one for your child and your family.

Handling Your Child's Medical Issues

It's hard not to feel helpless when your child is ill, but remaining focused and organized is the best way to be an effective advocate for your child. Find information to help you understand your child's condition, tests and treatments, and tools and support to help you put that information to use.

Handling Your Child's Behavior Issues

Is it that your child won't or can't? So many children with special needs have behavior problems built into their diagnoses, and may act out due to impulses or self-protective routines that we can't understand. That doesn't mean you have to accept chaos as a way of life. Here's some help in handling the unique behavior challenges special-needs kids present us with.

Handling Your Child's Developmental Issues

You know the feeling: Your child is playing in a roomful of kids his or her own age, and you notice how much the others are talking, or playing together, or performing feats of physical dexterity, while your child sits silent, playing alone, relying on repetitive movements. Every child marches to his or her own developmental drummer, but if yours is marching far off the track, you may need to bring in special help.

Handling Your Child's Learning Issues

Whether your child has a specific learning disability or requirers a different approach to succeed, here's the place to find information on tools, techniques and therapies that can turn learning from frustrating to fulfilling.

Handling Your Child's Mental Health Issues

Diagnoses like bipolar, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and other psychiatric disorders are being applied to children more than ever before. Find help here for determining whether your child's special needs are mental-health related.

Helping Your Family Deal with Special Needs

A child with special needs can quickly become the center of family attention, for better or worse. While an intensive focus on therapy and treatment can be good for the child receiving them, they can often leave siblings feeling neglected -- and if one parent is taking on most of the burden or disagrees with the course being followed, strain can show in a marriage as well. The good news is that help and support for individual family members and the family in general is often only a mouse-click away.

Equipment: Shopping for Your Child's Special Needs

Shopping takes on a whole new meaning when you're looking for equipment for your child with special needs. Where do you find a desk that will accommodate a wheelchair, a spoon for a child who has feeding problems, medical equipment for caring for a child at home, a surgical brush to provide sensory therapy for a child uncomfortable in his own skin? Find the best resources for all your child's special equipment needs.

Therapies: Learn More About How They Help Your Child

You may fight to get your child therapy in school, drive endless miles to reach therapists' offices, perform therapeutic activities at home, or research the latest cutting-edge techniques -- but do you really know what those therapies do, how people become qualified to do them, how they're supposed to help and how quickly? Get the information you need to make good choices.

Respite: Finding Ways to Take Care of Yourself

Children with special needs often react badly to stress; they need us to remain calm and even-tempered even in the face of the most frightening symptoms or the most provocative behavior. A stressed-out, tired-out, emotionally drained parent can't provide that; but how do we manage to recharge our own batteries when it takes so much energy to care for our kids? Here's how to find everything from a respite provider to a support group to an e-mail list of understanding friends.

Adopting a Child with Special Needs

Some adoptive parents chose to raise children with special needs, and others find out after the children are home that they will have unexpected challenges. Lack of information can make getting a diagnosis and providing appropriate help difficult, and lack of preparation can put strain on families. Here's where to find help and support.