Español
or
Navigate Life Texas: Resources for kids with disabilities and special needs
Navigate Life Texas: Resources for kids with disabilities and special needs
November 10, 2017 | By: Shailen Singh
Categories: Family Support
My older son was healthy from day one. He was (and still is) the apple of our eye and the focus of all our attention. So much so that we just had to give him a younger sibling to be best friends with. He got a little brother.
Over time, my older son saw his brother change from being a relatively typical baby to a child who didn’t talk, walk, or crawl, and who interacted a bit differently with his brother. This is our “normal,” but I know it had to have some impact on my older child.
My older son has also seen his parents go from being somewhat carefree and fun to having an invisible layer of stress and tiredness all the time. He’s been sent to his grandparents’ house for up to a week at a time while mom and dad went to a different city for a surgery. He’s tagged along to therapy sessions and doctor’s appointments.
I wonder what kind of an impact that has on my son’s overall mental health.
He’s incredibly smart, but he can be very sensitive at times. Is that because of everything that he’s seen and gone through? How many other 4-year-olds know to run and call mom and dad if their little brother is gagging or spitting up?
This blog isn’t going to give many answers. There have been research studies done showing that siblings of children with disabilities can face emotional problems that manifest later in life. The simple truth is that we, as parents, have to pay a lot of attention to the kid with disabilities and just try and do our absolute best for our other children.
I don’t know what to do about that. I do know that my wife and I have talked about how we need to spend more time with our older son. We’ve gotten him more involved in things, and we’ve started validating his feelings more, too. We want him to know that what he’s going through is normal and that we support and love him. It’s hard to manage an entire environment of well-being that in some sense rotates around a disability, but we’re doing our best.
Find more information on Siblings of Children with Disabilities on this website.
Parenting a child with a disability is a journey, not a destination. Some people have been dealing with this since their child was born. Some people have joined the journey later in their child’s life.
Categories: Family Support
So much I've written about focuses on my child's autism spectrum disorder and ADHD challenges. For just this moment, I want to focus on the absolute, beautiful joy of being his mom.
Categories: Family Support
It’s easy to get caught up in the social challenges that children with disabilities face. But when we consider the progress made over the last 80-90 years, we can be grateful for how far we have come.
Categories: Family Support