Support Available For Parents With Special Needs Children
Support Available For Parents With
Special Needs Children
By Tanjua Damon
Parenting is said to be one of the most important and difficult jobs around. Are you a parent with a special needs child looking for support and information to add to your parenting skills? Newtown Youth Services may be the first place you should look.
A new support group for parents of children with special needs is being offered at Newtown Youth Services. The group will be a place for parents to come twice a month for support and a place to share and gain information about parenting.
The group will begin meeting on Tuesday, October 3, from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Newtown Youth Services Offices on 41A Main Street. Interns Tracy Roberts and Addie Sandler will facilitate the new group.
âWe want to provide support and empowerment,â Mrs Sandler said. âThere is empowerment to be around people who are in similar situations, feeling that you are not alone, that someone else understands, is empowering.â
Every other week from October through May, parents who have children with special needs can come and bond with others in similar situations and gain information from a variety of topics including emotional security (what children really need), loving limits (setting limits), keeping safe (safety concerns), extended family (how to be interactive), recognizing your own support system (nurturing yourself), discipline styles (what works, what doesnât), anger management, and siblings.
âHopefully the group will have kids who are older and newly diagnosed children,â Mrs Sandler said. âThatâs the whole value if we get different tier levels.â
Learning from other peopleâs experiences is one good way to learn about what is out there. Having parents come together to share their experiences may help some become even better parents and help others gain new ways to parent.
âI think it will make them think about parenting and themselves in ways they havenât before,â she said. âIn some ways it is like a lifeline. We all need to be energized with parenting. I really think if people come they will get energized and renewed as parents.â
The new support group will be a therapeutic one, Mrs Sandler said, a place parents can also nurture themselves.
âWeâre not just talking about parenting,â she said. âWeâre also talking about taking care of yourself.â
Two grants have helped make this support group possible at Newtown Youth Services, the Childrenâs Trust Fund and Swindellâs Foundation.
For more information about the new support group or to register, call Newtown Youth Services at 270-4335.