What Your Child Should Learn
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- The Lanterman Act
- Working Together in Partnership
- Person Centered Planning
- Resolving Disagreements
- Your Legal Rights
- Receiving Quality and Effective Services and Supports
- Early Start – Birth to 3 Years
- Provisional Eligibility – Birth to 5 Years
- Transitioning from Early Childhood Services
Maintaining Good Health
It is important for everyone to know what to do to maintain good health and lessen the likelihood of developing chronic health problems, such as diabetes, later in life. Children should be taught the importance of taking good care of their physical, emotional and oral health. Your child may have more medical challenges than other children, but it is important for your child to help look after his or her health to the best of the child’s ability.
“Taking care” of health means learning to take personal responsibility for things such as eating right, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and asking for help when help is needed. It means knowing when to consult health care professionals for preventive health screenings and tests, as well as for treatment of illnesses. For older children, it also means knowing how to ask questions of health care providers in order to better understand important health issues and what they need to do to keep themselves healthy.
Parents can help by modeling good behaviors and helping their son or daughter develop positive relationships with health care providers. The educational program can focus on knowledge about health, health care and health care providers.
Attending to Appearance
A major issue in social acceptance is how a person presents himself or herself to the world. Factors such as dress and personal hygiene affect others’ perceptions of a child and influence the level of acceptance the child is likely to encounter, especially from his or her peers. Lack of attention to these seemingly obvious matters can result in unnecessary social barriers for a child.
For this reason, it is important for your child to learn to “put his or her best foot forward” by dressing appropriately and attending regularly and carefully to his or her personal hygiene needs.
Being Safe and Responsible
Children with developmental disabilities may be more likely than other children to be taken advantage of by peers or other adults, be bullied by other children, or to inadvertently engage in behaviors that put them at risk. Parents should talk to their child about safety issues and personal responsibility, but at the same time, discussing topics, such as sexuality, with their son or daughter can cause discomfort for many parents. An appropriate issue for a child’s IEP, then, would be opportunities for him or her to learn how to be safer and more responsible at home, in the community and in relationships, including learning how to handle bullying situations.
The Regional Center can also help in this regard. The Center provides training for children, adolescents and young adults to learn in a neutral setting from a neutral party how to be safe and responsible. Check the “Training” section on the Lanterman Web site at www.lanterman.org or visit the Koch-Young Resource Center for more information about what programs are available.
Making and Keeping Friends by Including Children in Family and Community Activities
For most people, friendships are an important part of a happy and fulfilling life. All children need to learn the kinds of social behaviors that will allow them to interact and develop positive relationships with peers throughout their lives. School can provide many opportunities for your child to learn and practice social skills and develop friendships, and parents can help their child make and keep friends by giving him or her many and varied opportunities to learn and practice the necessary interpersonal and social skills.
This may involve enrolling your child in organized activities with other children or it may be as simple as arranging “play dates,” which are set times when your child can join other children and engage in unstructured play. For some children whose disability makes it especially difficult for them to interact socially, the Regional Center can help identify resources, such as structured programming, that specifically target the development of these skills.
Parents are also encouraged to involve their children in integrated social and recreational activities where they can engage with typical children in typical community settings. Activities such as organized sports, scouting, musical activities and crafts encourage social interaction while helping build skills that can be used throughout your child’s life. Some children may need support in activities such as this, at least at first. This is another area where the Regional Center can help by offering support for your child during the activity or with helping the supervising adults and other participants learn how to provide support.
These types of activities provide opportunities for your child to learn and practice social skills by observing the behaviors of typical peers, to develop a sense of competence, and ultimately, to make friends. It also provides other children the opportunity to feel comfortable with children with differing needs through frequent exposure.