If you child attends a public school the will most likely have children at their school with different forms of special needs. One wonderful thing about children is their innocence and lack of perspective when it comes to discrimination. Most children are curious and enthralled with other children with special needs; the problem comes in that they do not know how to connect with them. This is something that we need to educate our selves on and teach our children so that they do not grow up with a fear of individuals with special needs.
Educate yourself
The first step to helping your children in this area to is making sure that you are educated when it comes to children and individuals with special needs. There are thousands of different medical needs that are out there and your do not need to know every single one of them. Knowing the most common disorders that your children will most likely see in their schools such as Asperger’s, Downs syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, or seizure disorders will be helpful when talking to your child about their special needs friends at school.
Ask your child
Ask your child if they have any special needs children in their schools and what they think about them. This will help you know whether or not your child is even interested in getting to know them or help you spark an interest in them to get to know their special needs school mates. Asking your child these types of questions will help you know how they view the special needs kids at their school.
Inform their teachers
If your child has a specific kid in mind or just has an interest in getting to know the special needs kiddos at their school let their teachers know. This way the teachers can set something up or if your child’s school offers a buddy program with the special need department your child can be involved with that. This will be a great way to teach your child about equality and that even though people look or act different that they are still people and should be treated the same.
Invite them over
If your child has a specific interest in a certain special needs friend that they have gotten to know or interact with get to know that child’s parent’s. This might be hard with schools privacy laws but there are ways to find out. This way you can build a relationship with them and your children can have the opportunity to be friends out side of the school setting. If your child’s special needs friend is able to invite them over to your home so your child can have a play date with them. This will be a great way for your child to connect and learn more about their special needs friend.
If you are going to have your child’s special needs friend over make sure you are aware of how to get your home ready for them. A great way to do that would be to purchase a home security system. I found a company called Smith Monitoring who specializes in security systems. Their security system sends alerts straight to your phone and contacts emergency services immediately if anything is wrong in your home so you don’t have to worry and can completely focus on your child and their new friend.
Author Bio: Ally is a writer, wife, youth mentor, and health nut. Follow her blogs for all the current trends on home, health, and family.
