Every weekday, Monday through Friday, the About.com Parenting Special Needs site offers an opportunity to read, reflect, and respond to a passage from a book, blog, or article. Here are the entries for November 2009. Read the quote, then follow the link for questions and response suggestions.

October 2009 | December 2009 >

Monday, November 2: Balance

Read: "I encourage you to boldly take on the challenge of finding the balance between accepting and cherishing your child for who they are right now. Even if they never go any further we will still love them with EVERY fiber of our being. And at the same time: Never give up, never loose hope. Keep fighting with every single thing you got, and then some for this little one that's your world." -- Kate, from the post "Let's Get Together" on the blog Autisable.More »

Tuesday, November 3: One of Those Parents

Read: "I've gotten to a place in my life where I no longer feel sorry for myself for having a kid with special needs. ... I long ago stopped mourning the child Max could have been, and accept Max for who he is. But when I go to events for kids with special needs, I get acutely aware that I am One Of Those Parents with One Of Those Kids." -- Ellen, from the post "I don't enjoy feeling like a 'good cause'" from the blog 5 Minutes for Special NeedsMore »

Wednesday, November 4: Kids and Grief

Read: "Too often we may ignore the needs of special education students to talk about the loss of a loved one or a friend. When grandma or grandpa die, why pretend nothing happened? If you can talk to your child lovingly and in a way that they can understand, and perhaps do an activity together that can help them process some of the really feelings, you will help them build resilience to deal with other losses." -- Jerry Webster, About.com Guide to Special Education, in the blog post Good GriefMore »

Thursday, November 5: Not Like Other Students

Read: "Okay, let's make this perfectly clear. If I could just TALK my asperger son out of his obsessive behavior, I would be touring the world, making millions of dollars talking other kids out of their syndrome. What don't educated people realize about this? He is NOT like the other students in their class." -- bizymomof3, from the post "Teachers should be educated in how to handle Asperger students" on the blog Autisable.More »

Friday, November 6: The Final Blow

Read: "For the parents of a child with a behavior, social, and/or learning disorder, the diagnosis can be devastating. Typically, parents are told that there is no known cause for their child's problem -- that, most likely, it is genetic, which makes them feel even worse. But the final blow comes with the prognosis: There is no cure." -- Dr. Robert Melillo, from Disconnected Kids, this week's featured book.More »

Monday, November 9: Building Up, Tearing Down

Read: "Our language can build children up or tear them down. It can model respectful and caring social interactions or just the opposite. Effective language encourages and supports students in their learning, rather than criticizing them for their mistakes." -- Angela Maiers, from her blog post "Two Powerful Words: I Notice"More »

Tuesday, November 10: Expectations

Read: "If you feel that demands so exceed your child's abilities that she cannot succeed, then you may find yourself going against the current in re-aligning expectations. The current culture ... seems to be characterized by a more-is-better approach. If reading at age six is good, then reading at age four must be better. If being good at school or athletics or music is an advantage, then doing all three must be better! ... As you consider scaling back your expectations, be forewarned that you may meet with resistance from others in your child's world." -- Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel, from Late, Lost, and Unprepared, this week's featured book.More »

Wednesday, November 11: Island of Competence

Read: "Our children's best hope for the future may lay in the discovery of some strength that blossoms into an island of competence, and perhaps even becomes a continent of possibilities for personal satisfaction and job success." -- Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel, from Late, Lost, and Unprepared, this week's featured book.More »

Thursday, November 12: Interventions

Read: "The goal of interventions is to help our children to extend their abilities, one small step at a time, by working right at the edge of what they can do now and helping them move on to the next step. This requires an ongoing evaluation process as maturation occurs, as learning and experience move our children forward, and as expectations change." -- Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel, from Late, Lost, and Unprepared, this week's featured book.More »

Friday, November 13: Endpoints

Read: "There is no standard formula for parenting. Between the endpoints of doing too much and not doing enough, you find lots of variability." -- Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel, from Late, Lost, and Unprepared, this week's featured book.More »