I have continued to try to find more about the stress of parents with a child who has a disability and how to help those parents cope. Most parents constantly think about their child's future in hopes that their child will be able to accomplish the goals their child sets. Fear of the future can cause the parents with children who has a disability a lot of stress. In the article I found it mention how parents begin thinking about "What ifs." The article mentions that even though some things may not seem like they will happen something good will happen. I think the important key for parents is to keep in mind that they need to think about all the positive aspects that will come of the situation. Sometimes it is easy to wonder why something could possible happen to us, instead of accepting the situation and saying well maybe this will help me grow stronger. Finding someone to rely on with help parents remember that they are not alone. Another stress reliever for parents is finding out more information and learning to ask the right questions. This is where I believe teachers play an important role. If parents are unsure of the laws and who to ask, teachers need to help the parents. The teachers need to know the laws and know where to find out more information in order to assist the parents. I have heard about teachers who don't assist parents. My thought is if a teacher wants to have effective teacher skills, they need to know more about each of their students. If a parent can't find information out or can't find answer to their questions, then the teacher won't have any answer for the student either. If the teacher doesn't have answer then when he/she teaches the child it will not be effective and it will become stressful. When teachers help parents their is less stress for everyone.
I thought it was interesting that the article even stated what list parents' can look at to find programs for their child and the family. The article even mention that when one is stressed one must take care of themselves. The are several interesting topics this article discusses.
http://nichcy.org/wp-content/uploads/docs/nd20.pdf
I think that the website you have provided is a great resource for both teachers and parents. For teachers it allows the teacher to be aware of what emotions the family is facing during the early stages of diagnosis. For parents it provides them with support and basically tells them that they are not alone and that other parents too go through these same emotions. In my interview the parent discussed how it is extremely important to seek out resources, and that she has friends who have children with disabilities who went through these emotions. The first person I asked to interview opted out because she said she was still very emotional from the recent diagnosis. It is hard to understand how a person feels who is going through this process, but by receiving resources parents can start to begin to not feel alone.
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