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Homeschooling?
 

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Stuff Done By Our Kids
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Book Reviews
Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World

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Special Needs Kids

"Special needs" includes a wide variety of issues, diagnoses, and learning difficulties. Some disabilities or difficulties are obvious to the casual observer. Others are much more difficult to identify and require professional testing to diagnose. 

"Physiological" refers to actual physical attributes. "Neurological" refers to the brain. In the case of learning difficulties, "neurological" usually refers to how the brain is "wired" or how it actually functions. "Behavioral" issues often co-exist with neurological issues, and are often caused by neurological issues. For example, ADHD is actually a neurological problem, but it is most easily recognized by the classic behavioral symptoms. 

In addition to the overlap of neurological and behavioral issues, physiological issues can co-exist simultaneously, and may or may not be directly related to the neurological/behavioral issues at hand. Genetic disorders can also be characterized by specific physiological and/or neurological disorders. Many neurological disorders include or co-exist with psychological issues as well. So it's never quite as simple as just naming the issue at hand! 

Learning disabilities/disorders/delays.....more commonly referred to as "LD's"....can be caused by any of the above. Very often, LD's are neurological in origin, in that the problem is in the 'wiring' of the brain. Many of the disorders associated with LD's are known by acronyms from the actual name of the diagnosis, and because many children have multiple "labels", the term "alphabet soup" has been applied to these labels.

Statistically, one in seven children have some sort of LD. That means you probably know one or more children who struggle with a learning difficulty......and that child may be your own. While this website cannot begin to discuss all LD's nor cover all the information available, we can offer some links to other informative sites, forums, email loops, and resources to help you begin to search for information.

While gathering information in preparation for our support group meeting addressing special needs, many parents of "special" kids were contacted and asked to share their feelings with us. They were told the goal was to share a glimpse of the world of parenting special children with those who may or may not have a special child. They were asked "if YOU were addressing a 'general audience of homeschool parents', what would you as the parent of a special child feel just HAS to be said to the group?" The responses were interesting and varied. They have been compiled to share with those who are interested in finding out what parents of special kids wish to share with the rest of the world. CLICK HERE to read those responses.


 
 
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