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Exceptional Consulting Inc.
Exceptional Consulting Inc.
Equipping Parents of Children with Special Needs
As manager of your child’s care, you need to access and evaluate information from a wide variety of sources in order to serve your child and family to the best of your ability.
The resources and links provided below may prove helpful as you operate your 'business' – the business of caring for your child with special needs.
Links
Alberta Family Support for Children with Disabilities
Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) assists families by providing supports while they are awaiting a diagnosis and by ensuring access to information and services across the province. The main goals of the FSCD program are to: sustain the child within the family, facilitate the child’s developmental growth and participation in community life, and retain family involvement if a child requires out-of-home support.
Child Disability Resource Link
1-866-346-4661
The Child Disability Resource Link is a toll-free provincial phone line that provides callers with information about a wide range of community supports, services, and resources for children with disabilities and their families.
Calgary SCOPE Society
The Calgary SCOPE Society works in alliance with people with disabilities, their families and friends, and other community members to understand problems and create solutions to personal and social justice issues.
The Gateways Program, offered through the Calgary SCOPE Society, helps enhance relationships within families, their support networks, and their communities.
Centre Street Church: Special Needs Ministry
Centre Street Church offers a Special Needs Ministry that includes Sunday morning classes for people with special needs, respite events, music therapy classes, small groups for adults with developmental disabilities, and more. Visit their website for information.
Children’s Link Society
The Children’s Link Society provides information and support links to families, communities, agencies, and professionals in Western Canada for children and young adults with special needs.
Exceptional Parent Magazine
PLAN Canada
PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network) is a family-led organization founded to secure the future for people with disabilities. PLAN offers assistance for families wishing to plan a good, secure future for their children. PLAN is a Canada-wide and International organization.
The Road Ahead Society
The RoadAhead Society (PLANCalgary) is a family run organization that helps families build a secure future for their member who has a disability. A secure future includes planning for financial and physical stability, but the agency's primary focus is to facilitate the building and maintenance of networks of friends who support the person with a disability.
Southern Alberta Family and Community Resource Centre
The Family and Community Resource Centre is one of the essential components of the Alberta Health Services and is located at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. The Centre provides a comfortable and supportive environment where families, service providers, and community members can find reliable child health information, receive support, access child health education, and connect with community resources.
The Family to Family Connections program helps families support each other.
Supportive family members receive orientation, support and encouragement to connect with a requesting family member who needs to talk, ask questions and receive support regarding the health and well being of a child or youth.
Sample Tools
When managing the care of a child with special needs, parents are often asked to collect information. One of the best ways to make this task easier is to use an information management tool. For example, it may be helpful to use a chart, checklist, rating scale, journal entry form, etc.
Provided below are three sample tools. The tools can be downloaded and used to organize information related to the business of caring for your child, or to document and share information specifically related to your child.
If you find these tools useful, the book, My Child My Business: Organizational and Management Skills for Parents of Children with Special Needs contains a chapter on Information Management, as well as a CD-ROM with over 80 adaptable forms for use in operating the business of your child’s care. The book can be purchased on the Products page of this website.
Note: click on title to download the form.
This tool provides parents with a method of recording information in relation to their communications with others. Using this form, it will be easy to keep track of the specific dates you have connected with service providers, professionals, and others associated with the care of your child. The form also contains space to record specific details and comments with regard to communications.
This tool allows parents to record a quick description of their child, highlighting the details that are the most important for others to know.
This tool was designed to assist parents in preparing for meetings and appointments. The form is designed to be filled out prior to a meeting, and will help you feel organized and confident.
Copyright 2010 - Exceptional Consulting Inc.
