Parenting Skills

Bella Online - http://specialneedschildren.bellaonline.com - BellaOnline provides an encouraging, supportive publishing community for women. We provide free training, support and promotion so writers may reach their personal and business goals. Overall, BellaOnline aims to provide high-quality, helpful, trustworthy content.

Parenting the Child with Disabilities -- http://www.tittle.net/~mariposa/find_parents.html -- Some things that parents of a child growing up disabled should avoid and some things that even good parents might not intuitively think to do for their child.

Band-aides and Blackboards -- http://funrsc.fairfield.edu/~jfleitas/contents.html -- Their goal is to help people understand what it's like to grow up with medical problems, from the perspective of the children and teens who are doing just that. Areas for parents, teens, and children

Special Families -- http://www.specialfamilies.com/  -- Psychologist, author, and parent Robert Naseef, Ph.D. uses his personal and professional experiences to explore the emotional and developmental challenges to the family life of parents and siblings, as well as children with special needs.

Parenting Special Needs -- http://specialchildren.about.com/  -- good collection of resources on parenting issues, including a section on SMA

For Parents with Disabilities

Through the Looking Glass - http://lookingglass.org/ - for parents with disabilities

Pathways Awareness - http://www.pathwaysawareness.org/ - milestones for development; early detection and early therapy for children with physical movement differences

Siblings

The Sibling Support Project -- http://www.thearc.org/siblingsupport/ -- seeks to increase the peer support and information opportunities for brothers and sisters of people with special needs and to increase parents' and providers' understanding of sibling issues

Notebooks and Communication Tools

Care Pages - http://carepages.com/ - personal web page, where you can easily post news and updates about the patient, exchange messages of support, without intrusion, post visiting hours and contact information, share photos with friends and family members. Free.

CaringBridge -- http://www.caringbridge.com/ - create free personal web pages

Care Notebook - http://mchneighborhood.ichp.edu/CARENotebook/care-notebook.htm  -- organizer for families who have children with special health care needs, keep track of important information about your child's health and care

theStatus.com -- www.thestatus.com -- free, secure private web pages with the purpose of maintaining communication between family and friends. Use this to keep your family updated when your child in the hospital.

Being a Care-Giver

Today's Caregiver Magazine -- http://www.caregiver.com/  -- online version of Gary Barg's great resource

Empowering Caregivers -- http://www.care-givers.com/ -- large variety of support resources

Aging Parents and Elder Care - http://www.aging-parents-and-elder-care.com/

Support Networks, Advocacy and Information

National Parent Network on Disabilities -- www.npnd.org  -- The mission of the NPND is to provide a presence and national voice for all families of children, youth and adults with disabilities.

Special Needs Advocate for Parents - http://www.snapinfo.org  -- good articles on SSI, legal issues, education, and more- see http://www.snapinfo.org/News/index.html 

Special Needs Network -- http://www.tsnn.org/  -- dedicated to helping families with special needs optimize the lifelong care of their loved ones. Articles written by experts in education, residential, benefits, planning, foundations, etc.

Make a Child Smile (MACS) -- http://www.makeachildsmile.org -- an  internet-based, non-profit organization that provides emotional and financial support to critically ill children and their families. Visitors to the site can participate by sending the featured children and their siblings cards, letters, and small gifts via postal mail.

StarBright -- http://www.starbright.org/familyroom/ -- online community that provides information and support to help families care for their seriously ill child

The Special Child -- http://www.specialchild.com/ - for parents and caregivers

Internet Resources for Special Children -- http://www.irsc.org  -- Dedicated to communicating information relating to the needs of children with disABILITIES on a global basis.

KidPower Special Needs Links -- http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village/9021/links.html -- HUGE list of useful links on many topics - accessible housing, toilet training, toys and sports, state education laws, and much more

KidNeeds.com -- http://www.kidneeds.com  -- resource for children and families

Attendant and Respite Care Services

CaregiverPros.com - www.caregiverpros.com  - purpose is to empower caregivers and caregiver employers to connect directly with each other

Dare to Dream Attendant Services - http://www.daretodreamattendantservices.com/ - San Francisco area - post an ad for an attendant

Respite Match - http://www.respitematch.com/ - complete classified ad service for caregivers to find home health care jobs and patients to find home health aides

Assistive Technology Support

The Family Center on Technology and Disability - http://www.fctd.info - For general good information about Assistive Technology with a family focus

Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) - http://www.ataccess.org - National network of resource centers

Assistive Technology Industry Association - http://www.atia.org - Listing of technology companies and resource

Financial Planning

Merrill Lynch www.askmerrill.ml.com/specialneeds - offers a special needs calculator and a resource referral for financial advisors.

Metropolitan Life www.metlife.com  includes articles on financial and estate planning, resources and links

Pacer - www.Pacer.org  This parent advocacy group helps with insurance issues, education concerns and financial planning

Special Needs Advocate for Parents www.snapinfo.org  offers advice on medical insurance problems; referrals to educational advocates, support groups and attorneys; and special needs estate planning.

The Special Needs Network www.tsnn.org - provides estate planning.

Other resources

Parkview Services - King County Washington parkviewservices.org

Parkview Services is a King County based non-profit organization that supports people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Parkview Services has five distinct programs: Parkview Group Home, The Affordable Housing Program, Camp Parkview, Stepping Out for Fun, and The Homeownership Program.

Parkview was started by Norman and Stella Chivers in 1967 with the purchase of the state's first group home located up on Capitol Hill. It was the Chivers' vision that this home would provide families a community-based alternative to institutionalizing their son or daughter.

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