In one of the meditations in A Different Dream for My Child, I shared the story of how my husband sat in the neonatal intensive care unit and stroked our son’s cheek for hours and days following his first surgery. Comfort in the Midst of Chaos In a recent Comfort in the Midst of Chaos post, Barb Dittrich blogged about how she used the meditation to facilitate discussion with moms of kids on...

In my last post, I was tickled pink to share a searchable list of children’s hospitals. Today, I’m tickled yellow to share another great resource for parents of kids with special needs. Wrightslaw Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities Wrightslaw is best known for their educational and advocacy work in the field of special education law. They travel around the country educating parents...

Sometimes thinking about the future is hard for parents of kids with special needs. If a child is severely developmentally delayed, parents worry about who will care for their child after they die. If a child’s needs are less severe, they worry about whether or not their will find work and be able to live independently. If a child struggles in school, parents wonder if they’ll graduate...

If you’re the foster or adoptive parent of a child with special needs, thank you for opening your home to the most vulnerable and needy members of our society. Many of those children endured severe trauma before arriving in your safe and loving homes. And you, though not the cause of the trauma, deal with its effects every day. Wounded Children, Healing Homes You need much more than thanks and...

Wrights Law is an organization devoted to educating parents about the IEP process. If you have children in the public school system, and especially if they’re nearing age 21, when they will no longer be part of the system, I encourage you to go to their website and sign up for their newsletter. A recent newsletter titled Transition: It’s Never Too Early to Plan for Your Child’s Future...

A few days ago, I blogged about Barb Dittrich and her ministry’s website which Twitter helped me locate. Today’s post is about another Twitter find, Special Needs Parenting Magazine. Special Needs Parenting Magazine The magazine is an online publication which comes out six times a year. It was founded by Chantai Snellgrove who is the parent of a special needs child. The premier issue was...

As I’ve mentioned in previous DifferentDream.com posts, (PTSD Treatment Can Change Your Child’s Life, PTSD and NICU Parents: What About You?, and Critically Ill Kids and War Veterans Have What in Common?) war veterans aren’t the only people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It also affects children who have endured invasive medical treatment, and  PTSD can affect...

In the previous post in this series you met Rachel, the mentally impaired young woman who wanted to live on her own after graduating from high school. In this post you’ll learn more about her mom, Jane Bernstein. Jane Bernstein In addition to being Rachel’s mom, Jane is an award-winning author. Some of her essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Ms and Glamour. She also teaches...

Being the parent of a special needs child is incredibly rewarding, but the role comes with a set of unique challenges. Choosing living arrangements for the child after graduation is one of them. Charlotte Glynn Through Twitter, I recently discovered a film that shows how the family worked through this challenge.  The film was created by Charlotte Glynn, the older sister of Rachel, a mentally impaired...

Every now and then, a book comes along that helps both parents of typical kids and those with special needs kids. When Your Child Is Hurting is one of them. When Your Child Is Hurting The book’s author and mother of five kids, Glynnis Whitwer is transparent as she shares personal experiences and lessons learned while parenting her own children. The chapters deal with every day issues kids face:...