Ways to talk to other childeren about a child with disablites

     So today  I came home from school and  caught up with  the  Bravermen family   from the NBC show  Parenthood.  This is a really good  show  but  last  nights episode   raised some  questions.  In the  show    Max, a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, wants  his  cousin  Jabber to sit with him every day during lunch.  Jabber did not want to sit with him and tried to talk to his parents about it.  His dad  told   Jabber  some  well  intention  information about his cousin   Max but  it  went all wrong and  the two boys ended up getting into a fight.  That got me thinking.     With so many kids with disabilities being  include  in stuff like scouts and school  and  (insert  typical  kid activities here)   kids will have questions  and that is  great as long as  the adult has  a proper answer  Here is my guidelines  on explaining a child's disability to other  kids. For this  propose  I am going to  relate it  to group setting.

 1 Don't keep  your kids  disability  information   from them.  This  is not a good  idea  if you want other kids to know about  your child's   special need  then  it makes  sense that the  child in question knows  what his or her disability is.  The first time your child/ student here's about the disability should not be when the other kids   are also finding out.


2   Find a time, sooner rather than later, to   talk to the group.    Talk to  the necessary people to make this happened pick  a time and a date that works well for  both parties.  


3Get the child in question involved  with the preparation as much as possible.    Make a poster   have them  draw on it  or   have them  wear their  favorite  outfit.   make it  fun for them.




 4 Ask the child   if they want  to be present when the information is being present  let them  make the choice.


5   Find a way that is age  appointee.   Some  disabilities have  children's book geared  towards the  specific disability.


 6   Whatever  the way you chose on in step four  practice  it     If it is a book  practice reading it out loud  try to  anticipate any questions the kids might have so  you can   plan an answers


7   When talking with the kids  start out on a positive  note   continue it though  the talk    Avoid using words  like  'broken, damaged, problems, or anything that give a connotation that it needs to be fix.   Most disabilities can not be fixed nor is that a bad thing.


8  Read a book/ talk about the disabilities  Encourage  everyone  to  listen and try and  engage those who are not. Also if the kids start laughing at a unapproved point   ask them why disabilities are not   good  reasons to laugh at someone else.


9    Talk about all the things the child likes   or elements of themselves  that  pertain to being a child. What  is there favorite toy, color, food, etc


10  Stress that even though  disabilities make it harder for someone to do things    they are  imposable. They have gifts and talents  just like the others in the group.


11 Use   respectful language.  Depending on the kids   age  have them sign the  R word pledge. Do this  weather or not the child in question has a  Intellectual disability. Tell  little ones about that  bad word.   It will help  make a world   a  better place to be .


12 Have hands on activities.  Chubby Bunny  is a great  game  for speech impairments.    Have kids  try using a  wheelchair.  Kids, especially  young ones, like   interactive activities.


13  Leave  time for questions.   In general all  questions should be answer but  if some are to personal   say so.  Respect the child's  personality.




14 Wrap it up .  Have  the group of kids   repeat back to you some facts  they know.  In soccer we do  this  and it helps  us  remember what we were learning.


15  Note that the  role  of  advocating  should be for the child with the disability to  be able to  speak up for themselves. The older  the kid is  the more   of this they should do


  Anything I missed  please comment below




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