How Many Have Children with Special Needs/learning Disabilities?

My girls are great kids (my oldest is "gifted" and I suspect my 13 yo may qualify too. My youngest also has a beautiful singing voice and gets the leads in all the productions she auditions for) and I think most people would think my life is pretty close to perfect and don't get me wrong...it is great and I consider myself lucky. My son however was born with severe brain abnormalities. He passed away when he was 17 days old. I don't take anything for granted and I have my fair share of hangups from the things life has dealt to me.

everyone has something they are dealing with.

Mine are perfectly imperfect! LOL

Two of 4 have ADD. My oldest was having serious issues when we moved. Family counseling and lots of communication have made him the kid we had when he was younger!! Doesn't make good decisions all the time, what teenager does? His decisions now are MUCH better!

I always find all these labels annoying. Sure we all have a "disability" that makes us "special needs" we are all also "gifted" so what the heck does that all mean.

In my opinion everyone is given a healthy does of something. You are also given something you have to overcome. Why something are considered gifts and others disability when in the end we are all equal will always be a mystery to me.

My son has Asperger's Syndrome and is gifted. He has a lot of behavioral issues and now refuses to take medications for his social anxiety disorder, trouble getting to sleep, etc. He also has ADHD but meds were not good for him for that. I don't think there are just 2 categories of kids. You can be gifted and far from perfect. I've learned you have to love your children for how they are, not how you would like them to be.

Two of my kids were misdiagnosed early on - that was a bumpy ride. What I learned through that was not to compare my kids to each other, or to other children. There is no such thing as perfectly behaved child all the time.
I found through all we went through (early intervention, speech therapy, OT, physiotherapists, psychologists ..) that all kids have unique needs. I use the term special needs because that's what our program uses here - but I don't know a single family whose kids don't need special/unique/tailored help in some areas.

Most people I know have at least one child that would fit the "special needs" or "learning disability" category. Either it's getting more prevalent or we're just labeling it now. In addition to this, I think people let you see what they want you to and more people have these issues but don't let others know.

My 12 year old daughter has a speech disorder and has overcome a few sensory issues with the help of OT. She's been receiving speech services in and out of school since she was 4 and just "graduated". We are very proud of her. What I always watch for are signs of depression since I have bipolar 2 and my husband has depression. It can be hard to distinguish teen moodiness from something more than that. We take it day by day.

It's always nice to know when others are managing parenting with some of the same challenges. I have one child with ADD and a recently, finally diagnosed spouse as well. I never dreamed my quiet life could be such a rollercoaster, but it's filled with creative, passionate, amazing people so I can't complain too much.

Girl is flat out normal, average to above average kid, doesn't process stuff all the way so she's a little bit immature when she's around peers that are well adjusted mature tweens.

She has had a couple of bouts of depression. Psychiatrist will ask her if she feels like she needs meds and she said yes once and no the other time. Then she'll go to therapy for a couple of months and figure out what's bothering her and she's good for a couple more years or until something upsetting happens. She's done this twice now. Once, in third grade, she was being bullied and I found out she had started cutting herself. She took meds that time and went to counseling all summer. Solution that fixed it all was moving to a new school district. This time, at the end of 6th grade, we found out my husband is gravely ill. His heart is okay but the arteries going to it are no good. He had bypass surgery about 10 years ago so he can't have more. He needs a transplant so they can put artery grafts in back further. So he got the news that he's either going to dwindle away like he is or maybe die during transplant surgery, have cancer since the drugs he'd have to take the rest of his life stop his body from fighting cancer and it runs in his mother's side, or he could reject the heart, or his could do fine and live many years to come. She, and all of us, went through a rough patch with this news. She's not taking drugs but has been going to counseling since that news.

Boy was diagnosed with SPD and ADHD. Ritalin is our friend. He responds very well to it and has about zero side effects. Compression works great for his SPD. When he wears an Under Armour shirt under his clothes that is a good snug, not tight of course, fit he's able to focus and get along well. Rocking is good so he has a rocking recliner in his room but bouncing? OH MY GOD! NOOOOOOOO!!! He winds up like one of those watches that winds up when it's moved. Even if he bounces on the mini tramp in the morning he is still wired and bouncing off the walls that night. So that DIDN'T work.

Sometimes it's trial and error until you find what works for your kiddo.

My step daughter is MOMR and my dtr has ADD/Asperger's and my son has ADHD with anxiety. So I have 3/3. It does get easier as they get older but still have a few issues that come up, just as we all do. I think when *they* know what their own issues are and can not only communicate easier but also understand things better, you can help them easier too. Good luck.

My daughter had the same issues. I never thought of her as special needs. It seems everyone who has s child who learns a bit differently is special needsIMO is s child with maybe CP, full blown autism, severe developmental delays, etc. Anyway , my daughter is 34 today. She is a nurse in the OR, an EMT and volunteer firefighter.

Sorry I don't know what got me started in that. Just be his advocate. That's the most important thing. With the right assistance he too can soar!

I have 2 kids. My daughter, 6 almost 7, has Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and is being examined for either Autism or Social Pragmatic Disorder. My son, 5, is ASD, Global Developmental Delay, Non-Verbal with communication delays. Both kids have Sensory Processing Disorder. WE are definitely not alone here.

I have two children, both young adults. My son graduated with a near perfect GPA from a highly technical college and is employed in a specialized technical field, lives on his own in another state, and has zero medical problems, and is happy and has a million friends.

My daughter has (are you ready?) Lupus, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Sinus Tachycardia, Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, Central Sensitization Syndrome, Severe Eczema, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Dysthymic Depressive Disorder, Cognitive Sluggishness, Aquagenic Pruritis and Aquadynia (allergies to water), a history of Shingles, a history of three forms of Lyme disease, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, food and medication allergies, 3 forms of Migraines (ocular, regular and vertiginous or vestibular) and um...I think those are most of them. She has maybe three friends, but none within 3,000 miles of where we live.

It's a challenge. It took my daughter 7 years to graduate from high school, and her GPA was about a 1.1.

It's hard when you hear of friends' kids getting scholarships, getting married, studying abroad, taking fascinating advanced classes, and you know your day consists of trying to survive till bedtime without a trip to the ER or an insurance battle. Will she be dizzy today, or crying from the itching and the pain and the loneliness?

I have friends who are supportive - none near me, but my dh is supportive. He bought my ds a plane ticket to visit us for Mother's Day, and gave me the chance to just go have dinner with my ds and relax.

But this is the route we're on, and I spend my days researching, trying to find help, and trying to be an encouragement to our daughter. The thing that is hardest for me is that she has no friends, and is too tired to do anything during the day except sleep. The sunlight is difficult for her. I try to take her to late afternoon movies sometimes, and I never imagined myself as a 50+ woman seeing all the Iron Man and Captain America and Avengers movies (she loves that stuff, I don't). But I can name all the Marvel superheroes. Not what I envisioned but I try to just take it one step at a time.

You are most definitely not alone.

Our son has ADHD, OCD, ODD, anxiety and SED/ARFID. It's been a real roller coaster, but knock on wood, things are ok at the moment.

I know plenty of people who have children with problems. They just don't broadcast them either they don't want to be seen as a victim or they don't want people knowing their business - especially with the 24 hour social media thing we have going on and someone drops that tidbit of information out there....

It's nice to have people to discuss things they will understand - that's why there are support groups.

I don't like comparing my children to each other or others. Both are unique individuals. I don't like labels and don't like labeling them.

I have 4 kids - two are neurotypical, one has ADHD-inattentive with learning disabilities, another has ADHD-combined and signs of oppositional defiant disorder but has a high IQ. They all have different strengths and challenges but the two with diagnosed issues take a lot more out of me, but they make me a better person.