Families+with+Children+that+have+Severe+Disabilities

__Description__ Families with a child that has a severe disability will need an enormous amount of patience, time, and love given to this child. They will also need an extremely supportive family system to help with taking care of the child's needs as well as involving many of the community resources to be able to care for the child. A severe disability is defined as: "People with severe disabilities are those who traditionally have been labeled as having severe to profound cognitive impairments or intellectual disabilities. Now, there’s a growing understanding that disabilities can affect individuals along a scale of minimal or mild to severe. It is possible to have a mild learning disability or a severe one, just as it’s possible to have mild or severe autism, without a clear-cut diagnosis of intellectual disability. Multiple disabilities, by its very name, means that an individual usually has more than one significant disability, such as movement difficulties, sensory loss, and/or a behavior or emotional disorder."

Taken from:[] __ C ____ ommon Problems: __ __ Housing Issues: __ This study provides, for the first time, data at a national level on the housing needs of disabled children and their families, and their experiences of addressing these needs. The researchers - Bryony Beresford and Christine Oldman from the University of York - surveyed almost 3,000 parents of severely disabled children, and interviewed over 100 housing, social care and occupational therapy practitioners. They found: Taken from: [] __﻿__ __Sibling issues:__ Nondisabled siblings may feel obligated to compensate for the child with the disability, to make up for that child's limitations. They may be acting as a surrogate parent, assuming more responsibility than would be usual in the care of a nondisabled sibling. On the other hand, siblings may help the family by providing their parents with assistance and support, which they otherwise might not have, in the care of the child with a disability. The nondisabled child may experience jealousy because he or she may be required to do family chores, whereas, the sibling with a disability is not required to do them -- despite the fact that the sibling with a disability may be unable to do them, or would have great difficulty doing them. The nondisabled sibling may resent having to integrate the sibling with a disability into the neighborhood peer group, and may experience or perceive peer rejection because of having a sibling with a disability. Finally, the nondisabled sibling may feel embarrassment because of a sibling's physical characteristics or inappropriate behavior. Essentially, parents, other adult family members, and professionals should realize that nondisabled siblings need special understanding, attention, support and recognition of their unique contributions to the family system (Powell & Ogle, 1985). Taken From: []
 * Families with a disabled child experience far greater problems with their housing than families with non-disabled children. Nine out of ten families reported at least one difficulty with their housing, with many reporting multiple problems.
 * Difficulties with housing can be experienced by any family with a disabled child: not just where there is physical impairment.
 * Many families would prefer to deal with their housing problems by moving rather than adapting their current home.
 * Inside the home, the most frequently reported problem was the lack of space: space for play, for privacy or 'time out', for equipment use and storage, and for carrying out therapies. Other common problems related to house condition and access.
 * Over a third of families found the location of their home to be a problem, either because it was an unsafe place for the child or because of difficulties with neighbours.
 * Only a minority of families had received assistance from statutory agencies in order to address their housing needs. Typically, at a local level no single agency or department assumes lead responsibility for meeting the housing needs of disabled children. In addition, the lack of strategic information collection hampers improvements in service provision and delivery.

__Financial Strain__ There are a variety of financial strains placed on a family with disabled children. Disabled children will likely need special schooling, tutors, therapists and/or specialized doctors, all of which can prove financially straining. A parent may need to leave her career or work limited hours due to the need to care for the child. With only one parent able to work full time, a family's income can be drastically reduced. This can lead to many sacrifices experienced by the entire family, such as limits on the extracurricular activities of other children in the family, little or no family vacations and a depletion of sibling college funds. __Emotional Strain__ Families may experience profound emotional stress brought on by the needs of a disabled child. Siblings may experience guilt for being __ healthy __ while their brother or sister is disabled. Likewise, parents can also feel guilt for their disabled child. There is also a social burden associated with having a disabled child. Siblings may feel compelled to protect and stand up for a disabled sibling if he is targeted by bullying. Parents may be unable to participate in social mixers or activities with their peers due to the duties associated with caring for their child. Parent's of a disabled child can also experience marital strain due to guilt felt for their disabled child as well as the time and financial constraints associated with raising him.

Read more: [|Difficulties Experienced by Families With Disabled Children | eHow.com] [|http://www.ehow.com/list_7641492_difficulties-experienced-families-disabled-children.html#ixzz1YLJkJ2JE] __﻿__ __Statistics in the USA__ Using or Needing assistance ... Disability breakdown... Taken from: []
 * __﻿﻿__51.2 million number of people with some level of disability. Represents 18% of the population.
 * 32.5 million number of people with severe disabilities. Represents 12% of the population.
 * 11% percentage of children ages 6-14 who have a disability. This amounts to 4 million children.
 * 20% percentage of females with a disabilty higher than the 17% of males, on the other hand among children under 15 boys, were more likely than girls to have a disability(11% versus 6%).
 * 10.7 million number of people age 6 and older who need personal assistance with one or more activiites of daily living.
 * 2.7 million number of people age 15 or older who use a wheelchair. Another 9.1 million use an ambulatory aid such as cane, crutches, or walker.
 * 1.8 million number of people age 15 and older who report being unable to see.
 * 1 million number of people 15 or older unable to hear.
 * 2.6 million number of people 5 and older who have difficulities with speech of which 610,000 could not be understand at all.
 * 14.3 million people who have limitations on cognitive funtioning or a mental or emotionl illness that interferes with daily activities.

Parent Resources: [] Explains the IEP process to you. [] Support group for families with children that have special needs. [] Free Insider’s Report : How SSI Claims Adjustors Decide Child SSI cases - What You Need to Know

For Special Education Teacher's Insight on Direct Instruction teaching with Special Education students. media type="youtube" key="C6uYhDU5tvg" height="315" width="560"

Tips for teachers:

Use these appropriate strategies with learning disabled students:
 * Provide oral instruction for students with reading disabilities. Present tests and reading materials in an oral format so the assessment is not unduly influenced by lack of reading ability.
 * Provide learning disabled students with frequent progress checks. Let them know how well they are progressing toward an individual or class goal.
 * Give immediate feedback to learning disabled students. They need to see quickly the relationship between what was taught and what was learned.
 * Make activities concise and short, whenever possible. Long, drawn-out projects are particularly frustrating for a learning disabled child.
 * Learning disabled youngsters have difficulty learning abstract terms and concepts. Whenever possible, provide them with concrete objects and events—items they can touch, hear, smell, etc.
 * Learning disabled students need and should get lots of specific praise. Instead of just saying, “You did well,” or “I like your work,” be sure you provide specific praising comments that link the activity directly with the recognition; for example, “I was particularly pleased by the way in which you organized the rock collection for Karin and Miranda.”
 * When necessary, plan to repeat instructions or offer information in both written and verbal formats. Again, it is vitally necessary that learning disabled children utilize as many of their sensory modalities as possible.
 * Encourage cooperative learning activities (see Teaching with Cooperative Learning) when possible. Invite students of varying abilities to work together on a specific project or toward a common goal. Create an atmosphere in which a true “community of learners” is facilitated and enhanced.

It's Elementary
Offer learning disabled students a multisensory approach to learning. Take advantage of all the senses in helping these students enjoy, appreciate, and learn. For additional information on teaching learning disabled students, contact the Learning Disabilities Association of America at 4156 Library Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15234; 412-341-1515; www.ldanatl.org. Read more on TeacherVision: [|http://www.teachervision.fen.com/special-education/new-teacher/48460.html#ixzz1YLU8v8YE] __﻿__

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