Special Needs

As our special needs experts and parents have said, life is different - but is different necessarily bad?  Of course there's the struggle to understand what their child is dealing with - the diagnosis, the care, the treatment, the responsibilities. It's also a challenge to achieve emotional balance - as an individual, as a couple, as a family. Yet many parents of kids with special needs have said relationships with their children evolve to be richer and more profound than they ever knew was possible.

Because we're TVOParents, we've collected our resources on raising children with special needs - from home to school. For example, parent and child advocate Georgina Rayner came in to our studio to advise parents on navigating the school system. We did a special on what to expect from those first months and years for parents of special needs kids - and what supports you can look for. We also discussed the gifted child who needs an IEP to help learn. Don't know what an IEP is? We explain it. What if you're not sure your child has special needs? We map out what you need to know if you start down the path of assessing your child.

Now that's practical advice. On the lifestyle side of things, one of our favourite TVOParents Book Club discussions was on how special needs kids are represented, or to be honest, not that well-represented, in kids' books. Our panel brings some book suggestions for kids with special needs to feel included and for kids without - who might need a little perspective. Which is what our fabulous colleagues over at TVOKids have done with the award-winning series Mark's Moments, where host Mark profiles children with special needs and offers them a chance to offer insight into their world. They're not just for kids...parents will love them too.