Costos de implementación de la propuesta

As should be apparent from what we have learned thus far, the pa-rental management of these vulnerable children requires a good deal of assertiveness and advocacy to obtain what the child and your fam-ily need in order to help your child achieve his or her full potential.

There are numerous agencies and professionals that may be contacted and whom you will need to integrate into your and your family’s life.

These groups and agencies can be lifelines for you and your family but they do require extra time and extra endurance.

Although all of this begins formally with developmental screen-ing and developmental assessment, it begins informally and person-ally with coming to emotional grips with the possibility that a child of yours has something wrong with him or her. Accepting this pos-sibility is not easy, as every parent dreams of having normal, healthy children. Thus, it is not uncommon for parents to need time, support, and assistance in accepting this possibility. During this initial per-sonal acceptance state, strong emotions such as anger, denial, and guilt are likely to emerge, and must be addressed. Indeed, if these common and very justifi ed feelings are not addressed and under-stood, they can stand in the way of getting the help that you and your child deserve and need. Having a child with special needs is

one of the most emotionally demanding challenges that any parent can face and you should not berate yourself for experiencing any or all of these emotions.

The professionals you will meet in helping your child can be excel-lent allies in helping you cope with these feelings. Those profession-als—particularly the psychologists, social workers, counselors, and educators who have been trained to provide parent training services—

can also be extremely helpful in preparing you how best to deal with the daily challenges of raising a child with special needs.

In addition, you will fi nd that there are many groups or organiza-tions composed of the parents of children with special needs. These peer groups provide emotional support, education, and a base from which to advocate for your children. These groups, and the profes-sionals who work with children with special needs, are most respon-sible for seeing to it that our nation now has laws that mandate the availability and delivery of services for children with special needs.

By joining and supporting the organizations that best relate to your particular child and situation, you will not only gain support and education, but will also be able to advocate for improved services for your child and family. Here are some of the groups you may want to consider contacting:

American Society for Deaf Children 3820 Hartsdale Drive

Camp Hill, PA 17011 (717) 703–0073

Hotline: (800) 942–2732 www.deafchildren.org

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 10801 Rockville Pike

Rockville, MD 20852 (800) 638–8255 www.asha.org

Autism Society of America

7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 300 Bethesda, MD 20814–3067

(800) 328–8476

www.autism-society.org

Children and Adults with Attention-Defi cit/Hyperactivity Disorder

8181 Professional Place, Suite 150 Landover, MD 20785

(310) 306–7070 www.chadd.org Epilepsy Foundation 8301 Professional Place Landover, MD 20785–7223 (800) 332–1000

www.epilepsyfoundation.org Junior Blind of America 5300 Angelas Vista Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90043 (800) 352–2290

www.juniorblind.org

Learning Disabilities Association of America 4156 Liberty Road

Pittsburg, PA 15234–1349 (412) 341–1515

www.ldanatl.org Mental Health America

2000 N. Beauregard Street, 6th Floor Alexandria, VI 22311

(800) 433–5959 www.nmha.org United Cerebral Palsy 1660 L Street, NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036 www.ucp.org

Another major source to use in becoming more educated in the day-to-day management of a child with special needs is the previ-ously mentioned National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHEY). The NICHEY website (www.nichey.org)

contains extensive information and referrals about managing your child at home. In addition, the NICHEY website has sections on man-aging your child’s behavior at school and dealing with the bullying that children with special needs are likely to encounter. NICHEY de-serves to be a regularly used resource as it will keep you up to date on nearly everything you need to know about raising a child with spe-cial needs. You can now receive a regular electronic newsletter from NICHEY, NICHEY’s eNews, by signing up for the newsletter on their website. That newsletter can be tailored to your particular needs.

Another major resource for your education and child management purposes are the excellent books, videos, DVDs, and CDs that are now available to the parents of children with special needs. A wide range of such resources can be obtained from the bookstore on the web-site of the Center for the Improvement of Child Caring (CICC; www.

ciccparenting.org). The bookstore contains an entire section for parents of children with all types of special needs, with books on how best to relate to schools regarding your child’s special education. The CICC website also contains information about many parenting skill-building programs, including programs that have been developed specifi cally for parents of children with special needs, such as the Steps to Indepen-dence Program and the programs for parents of AD/HD children and for parents of defi ant children and teens. These programs are highly recommended.

Before moving on, it is worth reminding ourselves that any pro-gram that teaches good parenting skills is also recommended for the parents of children with special needs. Remember that children with special needs are children fi rst, and have the same basic needs that all children possess, such as the need to b`e nurtured, loved, respected, and accepted. Any parenting program that teaches strategies for being warm and accepting is appropriate.