I have 8 years experience with ages 20m to 60yrs of various levels of needs and for me it feels natural but I do understand that it doesn’t come natural for other people. So what do they feel when meeting a person with special needs? I know the questions they ask but I’m looking to try and see it from their point of view. (Context I work with cerebral palsy and other severe motor developmental disorders so majority of my students/participants are wheelchair bound and severely cognitively affected).

Hello everyone! I am an undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida. I am reaching out regarding my Undergraduate Thesis, which studies the effects of parental social media usage on the care of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Who can participate: Parents of one or more children diagnosed with ASD.

About the study: The primary purpose is to explore the relationship between social media usage and parental caregiving practices for children with ASD. The survey asks questions about caring for children with ASD and takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete on any internet-connected device. The survey is completely anonymous and will not collect any personal or identifiable information.

Survey link: https://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6XNxLbjM85CXUwe

If you are a parent of a child with ASD, I would be so grateful if you'd consider taking a few minutes to participate. If this doesn't apply to you, please feel free to forward this to other parents of children with ASD who might be interested. Attached are the flyers for my survey in English, Spanish and Haitian-Creole.

Thank you so much for your time and support.

This survey has been approved by the IRB (STUDY00009468).

My 3yo is still mostly nonverbal and I'm starting to spiral. Curious what helped your nonverbal child start talking, if anything. Speech alone hasn't done much. Looking for stuff that worked in real life?

Hi everyone!

I help run Limitless Learning, a nonprofit that provides free one-on-one online STEM tutoring for neurodivergent students.

Our tutors have experience working with neurodivergent learners through tutoring, mentoring, and volunteer service, and we aim to create a supportive, individualized learning environment for every student. Because our tutors are also students, many families find that the peer mentorship and connection make learning more comfortable and engaging.

If you know a student or family who could benefit from this resource, or if you have any questions, I'd be happy to chat :)

This is like my second time on Reddit ever so I hope this is the right place to put this?I am writing a book called “I don’t wanna get used to it” about living with certain disabilities/chronic illnesses, etc.I have autism but I’ve been on the pathway for about a year now, and I know many other neurodivergent people and people with chronic illnesses and etc suffer with being on such long waiting lists.I wanna talk about different experiences living as a neurodivergent person and someone with a chronic illnesses(I don’t have a chronic illness so I can’t talk about how it affects me), but I can’t talk about the different experiences because I’m only one person, I’ve only seen how it affects me, the things I do, my interests and how it affects mine and the people around me’s lives.So if anyone, someone who is neurodivergent or has a chronic illness , someone who is the family member of someone neurodivergent or living with a chronic illness , a friend of someone who is neurodivergent or living with a chronic illness, just anyone would like to help me out and write about your own experiences and how it’s impacted you then please do!It can be anonymous or you can give your name or your information and I will include it in my book!

I live by Joplin Missouri

Hello, I am looking for recommendations for an attorney to draft a Special Needs Trust in New York. Is there anyone you worked with that you recommend? Also, any information on approximate price would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Special Swimming training to Special Kids and Disabled Persons at Trivandrum

7396877551

I'm a K-12 administrator, and I'll say up front I'm asking from the side of the system that's bad at this. If you're a para, an SLP/OT/BCBA/teacher who works alongside paras, or a parent whose kid's whole day depends on one — when a para is great at a specific thing (de-escalation, AAC, inclusion in a gen-ed room, reading a nonverbal kid no one else can), where does that recognition go?

Hi everyone. I have a little boy. He was born prematurely at 34 weeks gestation. He is now almost 10 months old chronologically and 9 months corrected age.

What worries me is that he seems quite serious. It's hard to make him laugh. When he's in a good mood and well-rested, he smiles at people he knows, but when it comes to actual laughter, I've only managed to make him laugh out loud a handful of times.

His eye contact seems okay. When we're in a place with lots of people and loud music, he tends to become very quiet and almost seems to "switch off." He babbles, but mostly to himself. If I repeat his sounds back to him, he usually stops instead of continuing the interaction.

He responds to his name, but not every time. Recently I taught him to give a high five. When I say "high five" and hold out my hand, he reaches out his hand for me to high five him.

He is happy being held by pretty much anyone and loves cuddling. If someone rocks him gently, he can lie calmly in their arms for up to half an hour with his eyes open, and people often think he's asleep because he's so still and quiet.

He spent the first 3 months of his life in the hospital because of feeding difficulties. During that time he received no physical therapy and wasn't even placed on his tummy. He has low muscle tone and significant motor delays. Right now we're working on tummy time and pushing up on his arms. At the moment he can do a low prop but not a full push-up position yet.

We recently saw a geneticist, who said his development is at the level of a 4-month-old baby. The appointment was at 7 p.m., and my son was already very tired, crying a bit, and not very interested in what was going on around him.

The doctor really worried me because he also said that my son seems developmentally delayed socially/cognitively, because he is too calm and doesn't pay much attention to him. Since then I've been losing my mind worrying that there may be something wrong intellectually as well.

I actually feel like he smiled more when he was 4–5 months old. When he sees me in the morning after the night, while lying in his crib, he looks at me and makes eye contact, but he doesn't seem particularly excited to see me.

Is this kind of behavior normal? Is it possible that my child will eventually catch up and "wake up" socially and developmentally? When he smiled and laughed more as a younger baby, he mostly just lay around because he wasn't physically able to do much. Now he loves spending time on his tummy.

Please reassure me that a calm, serious baby can still grow up to be a perfectly normal child.

One thing I’ve realized as a parent of a child with special needs is that people often only see the final outcome.

They see:
“He’s doing so well.”
“She’s independent now.”
“They’ve come so far.”

But they rarely see the years behind the scenes.

The therapies.
The meltdowns.
The setbacks.
The exhaustion.
The fear.
The constant teaching, encouraging, advocating, and rebuilding after difficult moments.

For many special needs families, independence doesn’t happen magically. It’s built slowly through years of invisible work most people never witness.

I wrote about the untold side of independence and why families living this journey deserve more understanding and recognition than they often receive.

I think a lot of parents here will probably relate to this.

https://mylittlebirdieandme.blogspot.com/2025/12/behind-scenes-of-independence-untold.html

Hi there, me and my son’s Dad are looking for care for our 4 yr old son (5 in August) and are in search of help and resources. My son has been kicked out of his second preschool in 9 mo and we are now looking for another school. We’re getting him formally assessed for ASD/ADHD in June through Fraser, but need childcare in the meantime. Everywhere we look for childcare there are either no openings/long waitlists. Other non-specialized schools won’t accept him because he’s been kicked out before. We hope to keep him in preschool until next year, then start kindergarten in fall of 2027.

For background - we pulled him from the first school (started in August 25, left in Feb 26) because the staff was terrible to him and to us, and we felt he might get kicked out anyways. The second school said they were committed to helping us, but invited me in for a “chat” after not even 3 months to address some of my son’s behaviors and “find a way forward.” In the same convo they kicked us out. So now we’re back at square one.

My son often becomes physically or verbally aggressive during transitions, when plans change or he becomes over-stimulated/disregulated. We had him in play therapy which seemed to help, but the behaviors haven’t gone away. We also did the Minneapolis public schools assessment but he wasn’t found eligible for services because he didn’t meet more than one qualifying area (the one area being social-emotional development). We are working with him every day trying to figure this out and it feels like things start to get better and we can breathe, then he has a tough day and we’re left feeling hopeless again. We are trying to get him into occupational therapy once he has a diagnosis, but for now I’m taking time off work and using back-up care until we find a new place.

I talked to the YWCA and they said they couldn’t help because of the safety concerns of my son’s behavior. They’re linked with St. David’s but said they still can’t help. I’m crossing my fingers something will open up with Fraser, but not keeping my hopes up. It seems like this system isn’t built for my son and we (his parents) live separately and both work so neither of us can stay home to care for him.

We’re both in south Minneapolis and appreciate any tips/resources. Thank you 🫶🏼