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Families of special needs children must grieve old dreams to embrace new realities together.

Caring for a child with special needs deeply impacts siblings and overall family dynamics.

Open communication helps children express feelings instead of shielding parents from stress.

Children with neuro and physical diversity have special needs, and so do their families. I am the father of a neurologically and physically diverse 51-year-old daughter named Sarah. Initially, I was convinced that my daughter was different, and that I was being asked to address only her difference. Over time, it became clear that our family was different, and so was I, Sarah’s father. The unique makeup of any family yields a constellation of unique decisions on how to meet those needs. The greater the needs of any particular member of a family, the more the other members need to decide how to support themselves and care for the one most challenged.

Managing Familial Diversity

Let’s look more closely at the family and the parents of a child with special needs.

Shock and overwhelm. Discovering how diverse one of our children was left us in shock and feeling overwhelmed. We were uncertain about how to parent our able-bodied children, and now we were faced with many unknowns concerning the child with special needs. What would be the best care for our child? Who would be the best possible resource for our child? How would we effectively parent this child? How would our family life be different?

Responsibility and guilt. These feelings........

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