The Viking Compass
Navigating Special Education With Princeton City Schools
“Siblings seem to create their own parentless mini-civilization within a family, one that has its own laws, myths, language, humor, and its own loyalties and treacheries.” -Jandy Nelson
Happy New Year Princeton SPED Families!
A little while ago, a parent reached out to me after we met to go over her child’s IEP draft. She asked, “Do you have any resources to help me help my (typically developing) other children understand their sibling’s disability? I need help explaining why I have to treat their sibling differently sometimes and why behaviors and expectations are sometimes different.“ I realized I had the same need and began searching for information.
First, I found this article, "Growing Up Alongside a Sibling With a Disability."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/parenting/children-sibling-disability.html
It suggests that sharing information about disabilities with siblings, letting siblings be kids as long as possible, making parent-child connections individually, and encouraging siblings' friendships with peers outside the home can have positive effects on lives.
The search also led me to several resources to support siblings of children with disabilities. See below.
1. Great resources for supporting siblings gathered by the Special Olympics organization:
https://resources.specialolympics.org/community-building/families/sibling-engagement
Including this wonderful, free workbook with several translations.
Strong Siblings https://media.specialolympics.org/resources/community-building/youth-and-school/Strong-Siblings-Workbook-2023.pdf
2. The Sibling Support Project
3. SibShops through the Sibling Support Project, workshops for siblings of disabled children that help them build community and process their experiences together.
https://siblingsupport.org/sibshops/
4. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Sibling Support
https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/patients/child/special-needs/family-support/sibling
5. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Aaron W. Perlman Center SibShops
(This is open to all siblings, not just siblings of Perlman Center patients.)
2024 Dates of SibShops at Cincinnati Children's Hospital
https://irp.cdn-website.com/64ba3bae/files/uploaded/Sibshops%202024%20flyer.pdf
6. Book lists for siblings, recommended by The Sibling Support Project
https://siblingsupport.org/publications/
Please feel free to share any resources that have helped you that I may not know about! Soon I’ll add sibling resources on the Special Education Parent Resources section of the Princeton City Schools website.
https://www.princetonschools.net/o/pcs/page/parent-resources
As always, let me know how I can help you!
Sincerely,
Carol Korte
513-864-1112
