Children with Special Needs

Parenting with Families of Children with Special Needs was a very informative, interesting, and educational article. This article included information that would be very important for teachers, family members, caregivers, and any other people who work with children with special needs. This article also includes some inserts from a parent of a child who was born with Down syndrome. Baby Ella’s mother briefly discuss how they felt when they found out about Ella’s condition and how they are dealing with it now. This article also helps educators and parents understand the difference between IEPs, which are Individual Education Plan, and ISEPs, which are Individualized Family Service Plans. In closure, this article offers information on understanding family life of children with special needs, tips on how to learn more about disabilities, how to communicate with families of children with disabilities, and ways to help educators when working with challenging situations. Overall, I really gained a lot of information from this article that I will carry with me throughout my educational experience.

Learning that your child has a disability can be very hard to deal with. In this article, the mother of a child with Down Syndrome states that her world instantly stopped and she felt a black flog closing in on her. Some parents, like Ella’s are very confused when they find out that their child has a condition that will change their whole life. This article discusses four levels that occur as parents become aware of the impact their child’s disability. These levels include the ostrich phase, special designation, normalization, and self-actualization. During the first level, parents do understand that their child has a disability, but they do not yet understand the impact it will have on their lives. In the second level, parents realize that their child does have special need and search for help and special services. In the third level, normalizations, the