How Do You Educate Your Special Needs Child for the Real World When they Grow Up?

Educating your special-needs child is extremely important, if they are to ever grow up and participate in the real world. There are many learning disabilities that children will grow out of, and they will be able to overcome in order to live normal lives, active lives, and participate fine in society. Of course, there are some things which are almost impossible to predict, which just goes to prove that your special-needs child's education never really stops.

The other day I was discussing this with a very nice couple whose special need teen was not really cut out to go to college, and they didn't graduate HS in the regular class, nevertheless they got the appropriate education for their particular child, and they would have to continually work with their offspring to prepare them for the real world. Luckily, there are other social services available to help them through this process, but life will always be somewhat of a challenge.

There was an interesting piece not long ago, on FOX News titled; "TSA Admits 'Bad Judgment' After Disabled Man Subjected to Airport Pat-Down" which was published on June 10, 2011. The news segment noted;

"A Detroit father told FOX that the TSA singled out his special-needs son for a pat-down while the family was headed to Disney World. The TSA admitted was a case of bad judgment. The Detroit Metro Airport took his son Drew, 29, and asked him about the padding underneath his pants, which turned out to be adult diapers. Drew, who is severely mentally disabled, had trouble understanding the agents' orders because his family said he has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old."

When the father intervened to explain, the TSA folks said to step back, let them do their job, they knew what they were doing, and not to interfere. Perhaps, you can understand how difficult this was for the family, but it gets back to my main point, and that is; just because your child can understand how to perhaps count money, dress themselves, do limited cooking, and perhaps live on their own, doesn't mean they are prepared for all the things that might occur in their lives.

In this case it turned out to be quite an event, and perhaps a traumatic one for the mentally disabled individual. Maybe the biggest problem here is that many people in our society do not understand how tough it is, but maybe some good will come out of this story in the news, and remind us all, that these special needs folks are also members of our society, and we need to look out for them as well. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 23,500 articles by mid-day on June 23, 2011 is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off..

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Can I Self Educate My Special Education Level Child?

Is it possible to educate your special needs child at home without sending them to a special education class in school? Yes, many parents end up doing this, and use homeschooling as a method along with finding support groups online. You see they often disagree with school districts as to what is the appropriate education for their child, and some seek legal advice, and others forgo the concept of suing the local school district, and simply educate their own child.

Of course, it's a lot harder than it looks, and many professional psychologists for the mentally disabled and special education teachers don't recommend it. Indeed, I would say I don't either, but I can certainly understand a parent's need to make that choice on their own. Nevertheless, let's go ahead and discuss this for a moment if we will.

Now then, there was a very interesting article in our local paper; the Desert Sun which was titled "Program Lessons Kids' Isolation - One-On-One Time Helps Autistic Children, Learn And Make Friends" by Sherry Barkas published on May 9, 2010. The article stated; "talk to parents of children with special needs about their lives, and one sad word arises - isolated."

Consider if you will be number of increased cases of kids diagnosed within the autistic spectrum. Some insist that it is only recently that we've come to understand what autism is, and that there were always lots of Autistic cases. Others, are pretty sure it's not the case, that autism really is on the rise.

In many places such as in and around Silicon Valley, and states like New Jersey, the autistic rate is exceptionally high, and it puts a real stress on school districts, and school budgets, at a time, right now, when the schools need all the money they can get, and they need to be able to keep the money they have.

Now then, getting back to the article and the point I'd like to make, if you educate your special education level child at home, they will be missing out on what most psychologists, and other parents with special needs kids say is the biggest problem, the problem of isolation, and being alone. If these kids are going to a regular school within a special-needs class, they will be constantly interacting with other kids, and that is very positive for their mental development.

Indeed, I hope you will weigh all of the issues addressed in this article, and talk to a professional psychologist about the choices you might end up making, and the ramifications of those choices. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 23,500 articles by mid-day on June 23, 2011 is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off.

View the original article here