In addition to worrying about your child's diagnosis, you may be wondering how on earth you'll find a babysitter, choose a daycare, toilet-train your child, or handle those other hurdles and milestones of early childhood. Here's some help.
Child Care
Child care is a challenge for all parents, but even more so for those whose children have special health-care or behavioral needs. How do you find someone to watch your child for an evening, a weekend, every weekday so you can work? Here are some tips and resources for finding safe and appropriate care for your special child.
Toilet Training
Potty training any child can be a challenge, but children with special needs may have particular issues that make toileting difficult and training overwhelming. Here are some things to consider when deciding whether your child is ready for toilet training.
Developmental Milestones
Every doctor's check-up, well-baby book, parenting website, and meeting of moms at the park seems to center about what babies are doing when. If your little one doesn't seem to be hitting the mark, you can't help but wonder if it's something to be concerned about or just a normal no-sweat variation in development. These articles can help you weigh your worries.
Specific Disabilities
Sometimes, the issues you're worried about for your little one are specific to a disability or a particular area of concern. Check these areas on this Parenting Special Needs site to find more diagnosis-centered information.
Kindergarten Readiness
Your child's ready to make that leap from early childhood to school-age child ... or, maybe not. How do you know whether holding back or pushing ahead is the way to go? Here are some opinions from around the Web on this worrisome topic.
- Before You Decide to Hold Your Child Back From Starting School
- Is My Child Ready ... ?
- Transition: Special-Ed Pre-K to Kindergarten
- Paving the Way to Kindergarten for Young Children With Disabilities (pdf)
- Readyness for School: A Survey of State Policies and Definitions
- Kindergarten Readiness: A Teacher's Perspective
- Kindergarten Readiness: A Pediatric Nurse Practitioner's Perspective
Staying Informed
It seems like every day, there's some sort of new study or recommendation affecting children with special needs and their families. Follow these links to find the latest news stories, blog posts, and books about children like yours.
