I forgot to  add the community aide that I found for the county that  I live in, Clermont County.  The main resource that I found for the families of disabled is

The Families Connected office is located at the Thomas A. Wildey Center,

2040 US Highway 50, Batavia, OH 45103 (one mile west of Owensville).

This is part if the Clermont MRDD cite.  Their mission is to support and connect families who have a member with a disability. Families Connected of Clermont County was organized by parents who have experience with the systems and formed a group to support other families with information, resources, peer support in the schools regarding children's education needs, and through knowledge of service providers to support the needs of families.

Here is a picture of my niece and my daughter at Easter.

Well this weekend I got a very healthy baby nephew!  His sister, as I've stated before, has spina bifida and Charlie does not.  At the hospital I started to ask myself, well since he is the youngest he will know Olivia just as she is and he will grow up knowing that his sister has a diability, but she still does many typical things of a non disabled child.  Now what if Charlie were the first child, born not disabled, and then Olivia was born.  How would the older sibling react to a new sibling who is disabled?  It is hard enough to be OK with the attention of a new sibling but if that new sibling has a disability then the attention they will recieve will be over the top.  I found this site and it talks about some of the signs that  a sibling might be struggling.  They are:

Signs that a child is struggling

After a diagnosis of disability, it’s common for siblings to withdraw temporarily, be jealous or try to get your attention.
If these reactions seem extreme or continue for a long time, you might want to seek help. You could also ask for help with your child if he displays any of the following:

• trouble sleeping or eating
• fear of his sibling with the disability
• avoidance of his sibling
• frequent anger or aggression towards his sibling
• obsession with his own health
• underachievement in school work
• low self-esteem
• apathy
• lack of interest in spending time with friends or inviting them over
• lack of interest in playing his usual games
• significant changes in personality
• excessive attempts to please you
• unusual behaviour (for example, an older child might have tantrums that are more usual in younger children, or a child might pretend to have a disability as well).

Factors affecting sibling reactions

• Age: older children will probably find it easier to understand and adjust to the situation.
• Type of disability: children are likely to have more difficulties if their sibling has trouble communicating or behaves aggressively or in other challenging ways.
• Medical and care needs: if your child with a disability needs extra care and services it might interfere with family routines and daily life. For example, it might affect getting to school on time, or take attention away from other children. It might restrict what you can do as a family and mean that some of your children have to take on responsibilities or additional chores.
• How parents are coping: how well the family is coping, particularly the parents’ relationship, has a major impact on children. Helping your child is possible only if you take care of yourself. Easy to say, hard to do! But your child will learn most from how you manage your emotional responses.

I got this information at http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/disabilities_sibling_feelings.html#signs.

I wanted to find a place where a community had addressed the conflict dealing with siblings of disabled children.  I found one that was a newspaper post and it was very interesting.  I felt that it was real life.  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/health/04sibs.html is the website.  The article dicusses negative and postivie stories that people have discussed and how although some children enjoy having a disabled sibling, some feel embarrassed and like it is a chore, and is that really wrong?  I'm not saying that it is right, but is it wrong for a child to feel that way?  I know my "typically developing" child loves attention, it will be hard for her when we have another child, I can't imagine if the chidl were disable, how "jealous" my daughter would become.  I would like to think that she would rise to the occassion and be the helper and responsible one.  I feel that this is a world of its own and that they do form a tight community, and I am enjoying the insight I am starting to get inside of their community. 

Kim got me thinking and I decided to look into the sibling support project.  The website was very interesting!  I found a link on the site that led to a Sibparent group.  This is a place where parents, grandparents, and other family members can log in and chat about the "other children".  I thought that this was a great idea because it allowed adults to compare and trade stories of their struggles of having a special needs child and one without.  I was looking for studies done on siblings of children with disabilities and I read this one: http://academics.holycross.edu/files/econ_accounting/Golembieski.pdf and I felt that it was useful and informal.  I also just signed up for t e mails that will give me helpful information on being a child and having a sibling with a disability!  I look forward to what that information will bring to the blog!  I was looking for a website that showed statictis but I ended up finding another website that talked about and stressed the importance of being educated.  There was a quote that stood out to me: "I Never Figured You Were Disabled"- A Sister's Experience (http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/disabsibling.html) was the website.  That quote really moved me. I feel that children who grow up with a disabled child just assume that it is natural and OK (which it is).  They do not view their sibling as different.  I thought that was a very powerful statement.  Now I get to meet my new nephew this Sunday (his sister has spinda bifida) and I will be excited to learn what Olivia thinks of her little brother who is not handicapped. 

I was reading this website from a Michigan College and I found it very helpful.  The website had the positive aspects of a child who has a sibling of a disability.  It listed many characteristics such as kindness, patience, acceptance, helpfull, and empathetic that a child with a disable sibling may be more likely to have/be.  The website also talks about negative feelings/impacts that a sibling with a disabilty may cause.  As I was reading them though I felt that the negative feelings were feelings that any child with a sibling may have.  Often children feel that one child gets more attention.  What I liked most about this site was that it gave other resources such as books and website to seek out other information. 
http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/specneed.htm

Hello!  So first I am going to tell you why I chose this topic.  I have a niece who has spina bifida and she is expecting a baby brother later this month.  I see the struggles and successes that her disability has had on her family and I keep wondering what is going to happen when her brother, Charlie, is born without a disability?  So often we hear and see families with multiple children, but typically, at least in my experience, the family only has one disabled child and the rest are disability free.  So what is life like behind closed doors for the siblings?  I am interested to start looking around and reading articles on this topic before I experience it with my own niece.