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TopClicks
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Health & Safety
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Children with Disabilities
Family Support for Children with Disabilities or Special Needs - If you're looking for links, mailing lists, book reviews, and more resources on kids with disabilities or special needs, you have come to the right place. Included are sites on sensory integration, therapeutic riding, allergies, asthma, and lots more.
Family Village - Although the main purpose of this site is to support families and friends of mentally disabled or other special needs kids, the site is a wealth of information for all parents. Check the Coffee Shop to find online groups, listservs, and other resources for parents, grandparents, and siblings. The Library has information on specific diagnoses. The Hospital has links to a current medical breakthroughs page, while the Mall has listings for special adaptive technologies, toys, clothing, and other items. Special Olympics links are also here, along with camps and other outdoor opportunities for special kids and special families. There is a lot to learn at this excellent site!
How Can I Help? (CP Booklet) - What's it like to raise a child with a disability? If you have not shared that unique experience, it may be hard for you to understand and imagine how it feels. "It's just a different place," says Emily Kingsley in her article, "Welcome To Holland." For friends or relatives of a child with cerebral palsy, this site offers valuable advice on how to provide empathy and support for the family, as well as information on what they may be experiencing and other ways you can help.
IBM Special Needs Systems Home Page - Want to know how IBM computers can be adapted for use by persons with disabilities? This resource offers information on products, software to download, and lots of advice on making Web pages and Java applications accessible to all. See also "Macintosh Assistive Technologies" and the "Microsoft Accessibility Home" sites that follow.
Internet Resources for Special Children (IRSC) - Whether you need some adaptive clothing, a newsgroup on diabetes, or some therapeutic humor, you'll be sure to find what you want at this site. There are hundreds of links about kids with disabilities and the families who love them.
Kids Together, Inc. - This site helps you create a vision for your child with disabilities. One part of the vision is that individuals everywhere start using "People First" language. That means we should focus on the person first and the disability second. So, don't say "wheelchair-bound" or "victim of" or "is afflicted with." And as this site says "children are not born with birth defects. They are born with congenital disabilities; they are not defective--toasters might be, babies aren't." You'll find useful and important material on a variety of topics: educational inclusion, assistive technology, pertinent legislation, and lots more.
LD OnLine: Learning Disabilities Information and Resources - Did you know that Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, and Albert Einstein all had learning disabilites of some kind? According to this site, actor Tom Cruise is dyslexic and learns his lines by listening to them on tape. This site is a real encyclopedia of information on learning disabilities and disorders (LD). You'll find lots of info on Developmental Speech and Language Disorders, Academic Skills Disorders, and Other Learning Differences. One of the treasures this site offers is the First Person stories. Discover how kids and adults deal with and overcome their disabilities to celbrate their abilities. One of the great tales involves Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko's copy and office stores. Check it out!
Make-a-Wish Foundation of America - Founded in the belief that lives are measured by memories and not by years, the Make-a-Wish Foundation has granted more than 50,000 wishes to American children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 18 who have terminal illnesses or life-threatening medical conditions. Since the first wish (granted in 1980 for a seven-year-old boy with terminal leukemia who wanted to be a policeman), 81 chapters have sprung up around the U.S. With the family's participation, the Foundation is committed to providing a memorable and carefree experience for these children, whose wishes are limited only by their own imaginations. If you know someone who would like to make a special wish, check the Chapter Listing to find the Make-a-Wish chapter nearest you. One of the most frequently requested wishes is to travel to Disneyland or Disney World, but many unusual wishes have been granted, and you can read about them here. Also, be sure to check out the story of Craig Shergold. Long ago, he had a life-threatening brain tumor and asked that people send him greeting cards so that he could get into the Guinness Book of World Records. They did. Then he had surgery and (hooray!) fully recovered. Trouble is, those original requests are still floating around the Internet! You may receive a request from a friend; tell your friend the truth. The Shergold family is swimming in cards, and they want it to stop. Make-a-Wish was never involved with the original request, but you'll find the whole story explained here about this Net chain letter.
National Sports Center for the Disabled - If you love outdoor recreation, adventure, and freedom, then read about all of the fun programs sponsored by the National Sports Center for the Disabled. The NSCD, a nonprofit organization located in Winter Park, Colorado, celebrated its 25th year of "enabling the spirit through sports" in 1995. If you're a winter sports fan, you can join their Ski Pals Program, where disabled and able-bodied kids of ages 8 to 14 hit the slopes. If skiing, snowboarding, or snowshoeing aren't for you, then how about the Family Camp? You and your family can enjoy white-water rafting or hiking on nature trails designed to accommodate any special needs. There's even a rock-climbing course for the blind and visually impaired.
North American Riding for the Handicapped Association - Many, many kids and adults with disabilities find that with some help, they can ride a horse. Net-mom herself used to volunteer at a therapeutic riding facility, so she's speaking from experience! Everything is done with the greatest safety in mind. Depending on the rider's abilities, the instructor usually has a side walker on each side of the horse, watching and spotting the rider and helping with a leg position if needed. There is also a person leading the horse (that was Net-mom's job) who just pays attention to the horse's gait and also takes care of most of the steering. It's amazing what the warmth of a horse can do to ease a muscle spasm or what the horse's rhythmic gait can do for confidence. You can read about specific therapies on this site and perhaps find a facility near you. If you don't need their services yourself, consider volunteering to help as a side walker or groom. You can even help by cleaning tack!
Our-Kids - For a little support and a lot of information, browse the Our Kids archives and then join the hundreds of others on this e-mail discussion list who are sharing stories about their children's accomplishments and challenges with other families facing similar situations. If you are a parent, relative, or friend of a child with any kind of developmental delay, this site is a must. There's also a good list of creative home-made equipment and furniture. Be sure to try some of the links to special education institutions, medical research organizations, and others for more valuable information.
PHP - Parents Helping Parents - The Family Resource Center provides links to many other sites of interest to parents and their special needs children. If you haven't found what you are looking for at any of the other sites mentioned in this section, be sure to try this one. Ketogenic and Feingold diet information, seizure disorders, and Tourette's are only a few of the support group areas at this site. There are links to disability, health, and child care information, and lots, lots more.
Seeing Disabilities from a Different Perspective - This site focuses on several different disabilities: autism, blindness, cerebral palsy, and deafness. In each section you'll find information about the topic plus personal narratives, such as "Jessica's Perspective on Having a Brother Who Has Autism." There's a wonderful list of links as well as suggested simulation activities and book reviews. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest Junior competition.
Special Olympics International - "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." This is the oath of the Special Olympics. What great inspiration this is for all athletes, not just "special" kids with mental retardation challenges! The first International Special Olympic Games was held in 1968, at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. It was organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Since then, the Special Olympics have become the world's largest year-round program of physical fitness, sports training, and athletic competition. In the U.S., games at the local and chapter levels are held every year, with special summer and winter events held every four years.
Virtual Assistive Technology Center - This site is so loaded with information about all kinds of assistive technologies (AT) that you won't want to miss it. Look for links to software for Mac, PC, and Windows that will supercharge your computer so it talks to you, among other things. There are also pointers to organizations and other Web sites with more resources, as well as a fully-annotated and carefully selected list of suggested books. Be sure to read about the webmaster of this site: she types with her toes and says "Feet, don't fail me now!"
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