Parent relationships

Since my last post, I've been thinking about how the family dynamic can also effect the relationship between siblings. Many children come from divorced families that may or may not include step parents. This could also be a factor in the relationship between two siblings. When one sibling has a disability, such as down syndrome, there is added stress on the family. A sibling without a disability may feel even more responsiblity to their sibling with a disability if their parents are divorced or if they come from a single parent home. This could possibly put a strain on the relationship between siblings. This is a good example of why resources outside of the family can be helpful. Some of the support groups for silbings that I have mentioned in previous blogs could help siblings of a child with a disability further understand the disability and talk about their feelings. Children that come from single parent homes may not have as much support because their parent might be busy working to support the family, especially if one child has a disability that requires more medical expenses.

Parents Set the Tone for Siblings

While I was reading an article about siblings of children with a disability and how they are effected, I started thinking about the impact that the parents have on the situation. This article talks about how parents set the tone for the relationship between their children. I think if the parents ahve a positive attitude about the whole experience, it will encourage the siblings to have a good attitude as well. Ultimately, it's up to the parents to communicate with their children and set the tone for their relationships with each other. It's imporant for the siblings to understand their siblings disability. I think parents should be very open and honest with their children about their sibling with a disability. Most people agree that it's important to encourage children with disabilities to become as independent as possible. I think the siblings can also encourage them and help them along with this process. This way the siblings can share the family's responsiblity of helping each other without feeling burdened. According to this article, parents should allow the siblings to express their negative feelings. I agree with this becasue I think children need an outlet to let their emotions out. If they feel comfortable coming to their parents with their feelings, they are less likely to let their negative feelings build up. I think this is better for the family as a whole in the long run. Here is a link to the article...

http://www.theupsideofdowns.org/support/siblings

Siblings of Adults with Disabilities

I have some questions about siblings when they become adults. It seems that the sibling of the adult with a disability would feel responsible for taking care of them as needed. I think this responsibilty would fall to them more as their parents get older and eventually pass away. Usually the sibling would be the next closest relative that is capable of taking care of their brother or sister as it is needed. I found some information on this topic from the" Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities". According to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, studies show that most adults siblings have a positive and loving relationship with their brother or sister that has a disability. They feel that the experience of having their brother or sister in their life has been a good learning experience for them. Most of the siblings reported being generally happy with their lives. A very small percentage said they felt sad or depressed. I can see how having a sibling with a Disability could make you more caring towards people who struggle with disabilities. I also think it could make a sibling more passionate about standing up for people with disabilities.

Here is the link...

http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/kennedy_files/AdultSiblingsTipsandResourcesOct2010.pdf

Research Themes

I found an article from October 2005 that discusses the research themes regarding the siblings of children with disabilities. This article summarizes the major themes in research related to this topic. According the article, before 1990 many researches thought having a sibling wtih a disability was damaging to the self-concept of siblings. Since 1990, most research has shown that there isn't a difference between siblings of children with Down Syndrome and those who do not have siblings with disabilities. A study by Burton and Parks (1994) showed that college-age students who were siblings of children with disabilities showed greater control than others. I think this comes from feeling a responsibilty towards their sibling growing up. These responsiblities may cause a child to become more mature in certain aspects of their life. Siblings generally have a positive and nurturing relationship with their siblings with disabilities according to most studies. Overall this article shows that there isn't a big difference between siblings of children with disabilities and siblings of children who do not have disabilities.

http://www.aaiddjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1352/0047-6765%282005%2943%5B339%3ASOCWDR%5D2.0.CO%3B2

Sibling Support Project

Last time I blogged, I mentioned that I wanted to find more resources for siblings of children with special needs, especially teenage siblings. I found an organization called the "Sibling Support Project". This project is dedicated to providing support for the siblings of children with special needs. The goal of this project is to train local community members on how to provide proper support for the siblings of children with special needs. They hold workshops and run websites to help support young siblings as well as adult siblings. I found a link to a book called "Thicker than Water". This book is written by adult siblings of people with disabilities. I would like to read this book in order to get the perspecitve of adult silbings. I hadn't thought about adult sibilings very much, but I wonder if they are often responsible for caring for their siblings with special needs as their parents get older and are unable to do so?

When I was searching siblingsupport.org, I noticed a link for a facebook support group called "sibteen". I think this is a good way to reach siblings, especially teenagers, because they spend a lot of time on the internet and facebook. In the next few days I hope to research and learn more about Sibling Support Project so I can find out exactly what it's about.

Providing support for siblings

As I was reading my textbook, Parents and Families of Children with Disabilities, I paid close attention to the chapter on providing supports for siblings of children with disabilities. The information in this chapter reinforced my understanding that there is a lot of mixed information on how the siblings in the family are effected. A famous study by Graliker, Fisher, and Koch showed that teenage siblings of children with disabilities showed that they led typically happy lives and were understanding and accepting of their siblings. Some other studies claim that it depends on the disability that is effecting the family. I also read that the severity of the disability is a factor in how it effects the family dynamic. This makes sense becasue the more severe of a disability that a child has, the more stress the parents are under to care for their child. When the parents are stressed, this can cause stress on the entire family. Whether or not the siblings of children with disabilities are negatively effected, they need support from their parents and possibly outside resources. I plan to further research the resources available for siblings of children with disabilities.

Poverty and Families with Special Needs

After discussing the stress that poverty adds to families with children with special needs, I wanted to research more on the topic. I have questions regarding how families in poverty recieve the care necessary for children that have special needs, such as children with Down Syndrome. I found an article that discusses how it's difficult for families in poverty to have their needs met, especially families that include children with special needs. Having a child with Down Syndrome while your family is struggling financially can add stress to the entire family.  I found it surprising that children with special needs are actually more likely to live below the poverty line. I wonder if the special needs that these children have and the additional medical expenses are part of the cause?

http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2009/dec/bp10kids.cfm

Today I found a very touching blog. A mother wrote about her daughter that wrote an essay about her brother with Down Syndrome. Ine the essay she discusses how her brother has changed her life for the better by making her a better person and teaching her to love unconditionally. Her brother inspired her to want to work with children who have special needs. I recommend the essay to everyone. It was very heartfelt and inspiring. Here it is:

http://elliestumbo.blogspot.com/2010/02/effect-down-syndrome-has-on-siblings.html

I haven't found very much information on the negative effects of having a sibling with Down Syndrome. Most of the information I've found shows that families learn from their children with Down Syndrome and their lives are changed for the better. After my recent class discussion on poverty, I would like to find out how families with a child with Down Syndrome are effected by poverty and what resources they have.

Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati

When researching families of children with Down Syndrome, I came across the "Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati".
http://www.dsagc.com/index.asp

This website had a lot of information for families of children with Down Syndrome. They have programs that are designed to support the families of children or adults with Down Syndrome. They also have family events and outings in the area. The events are inexpensive or free and give the families a chance to network with other familes. Events like this could give the siblings a chance to meet other children that they have things in common with. The children with Down Syndrome have the opportunity to make friends as well as the siblings and parents.

I'm still trying to research more information on the effects of having a sibling with Down Syndrome. I would like to find someone that is a sibling of someone with Down Sydrome that I could interview.

I wanted to find out more about siblings of children with Down Syndrome, but on a more personal level. Instead of looking for studies and research articles, I tried finding an interview with someone that has a sibling with Down Syndrome. I found a lot of articles that focused on the parents of the child, but articles that focused on the siblings were hard to find.  I finally found an interesting website where a mother blogs about having a child with Down Syndrome. She decided to interview the two siblings of her child with Down Syndrome.

http://www.imperfectparent.com/shortbus/having-sibling-with-down-syndrome/817_1/

The interview portion was really interesting to me because Nathaniel and Serena, the siblings, had only nothing but positive things to say about Eric, their brother with Down Syndrome. They admitted that their brother can be challenging to take care of, but they can't really imagine life without him. They discussed concern for their brother's future, regarding his health and how life in general may be hard for him as an adult. Overall, their brother seemed to have a positive impact on their lives and they seemed to be support siblings for their brother.

I have questions regarding the negative effects on having a sibling with Down Syndrome. For example, do the siblings of children with Down Syndrome have behavior problems that could be related to feeling like they don't get as much attention as their sibling?

I came across the following study while researching siblings of children with Down Syndrome:

http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1073&context=psych_honproj

This study further discussed the feelings, emotions, and attitudes of siblings of children with Down Syndrome. This article caused me to think more about the positive and negative aspects of being a sibling of a chld with any disability. For example, the siblings may feel that they have a great responsiblity to help take care of their sibling with a disability. I think this can be seen as a positive aspect or a negative aspect. Learning responsbility is an important part of childhood, but if I was a parent, I wouldn't want my child to feel burdened by their sibling because it cold strain their relationship with their sibling. The article states that it's unclear whether or not the responsiblities of having a brother or sister with Down Syndrome is a postive or negative thing. I think it's important for the siblings to be able to discuss how their feeling with their parents. This study also made me think about how the parents can affect the sibling of a child with Down Syndrome's outlook on the situation. If the parents aren't responsbile and helpful, the sibling may feel an extra responsibility to their brother or sister with a disability. In conclusion, the relationship between siblings is dependent on the family dynamic as a whole. I think how supportive the parents are directly effect how siblings ( with and without disabilities) interact with each other.

Siblings of Children with Down Syndrome

Hello! I decided to blog about siblings of children with Down Syndrome because it's a topic that I'm unfamiliar with. I always hear a lot of information about how the parents of children with Down Syndrome or other disabilities are effected, but I don't hear as much discussion about the siblings of these children are effected. I know a family that has a child with Down Syndrome. The older siblings shared in the responsibility of helping this child succeed and played a big role in the health and education of their brother with Down Syndrome. I wonder how children feel when they are given this responsiblity? What are the positive aspects of this for the siblings of children with disabilities?

I found the following article to be helpful....

 http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Mar/22/support-siblings-children-down-syndrome/

This article answered some of the questions I had related to how the siblings of children with Down Syndrome feel. For example, having a sibling with Down Syndrome often teaches children to have empathy and be passionate, kind people. This article also contains a link to the National Down Syndrome Society (www.ndss.org) , which has workshops, websites, and blogs to support the siblings of children with Down Syndrome.