Parents of kids and adults with special needs know how difficult it is for our children to make friends. It is one of the most heart-breaking parts about watching your child grow and one of the most difficult to help our children overcome.
Author and special educator Rick Lavoie recently conducted a workshop to teach educators, PTA members and others just what it is like. He offered understanding, hope, and solutions as well.
Read more about what he did
The examples he used helped those who participated in the workshop to really experience what it must be like.
There are other resources that can also help you to help your child. First, make sure you are in contact with your local Arc and the Parent Training Information Center for your area. Both organizations sometimes offer workshops related to making friends.
A few other resources include:
Snapshots - Making Friends - produced by the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC Chapel
Hill.
An article from About.com : Top 6 Tips to Teach Social Skills and Help Kids Make Friends
A paper called Making Friends: Using Recreation Activities To Promote Friendship between Children with and without Disabilities.
Information from a study that was done on the subject.
It is also important to continue to educate everyone around you about what you are experiencing. Sometimes, the grief parents feel inside as we watch our children try to navigate the social world can cause us to be biased about what we believe is happening. There are many times when your child actually is having a good time and relating to friends when you don't know it.
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