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
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteYou pose a very interesting question here about families with multiple children, but only one (or some) with a disability. All sorts of things come into play here--how do siblings act? How do parents differentiate their treatment of their children? Is it easier or more difficult to have both disabled and non-disabled children? Maybe you can find some comparisons of families with only disabled children and families with a mix--I'm sure it would be very interesting to compare and contrast their approaches. Looking forward to learning more about your topic.
Gabe
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteThe website you cited had a wealth of information for parents to reference. I thought the opening sentence; “Siblings of children with special needs have special needs themselves” was a profound statement. They will have to experience things that “typical” siblings may never have to face. Much of what I have read about my topic, parenting a child with a disability has stressed the importance of focusing on and choosing to be positive, so I was pleased that the website also presented the positive aspects of being a sibling of someone with a disability. I looked at Sibling Support Project, http://www.siblingsupport.org/ an organization dedicated to the life-long concerns of siblings and disabilities. It has a Connect with Other Sibs tab that brings together siblings of all ages that can relate and support each other. I look forward to learning with you this quarter!
Kim