Our new special needs content - can you let us know your thoughts please?

[JustineMumsnet]

Hi all,
We've done some new content wrt to special needs here. Before we put the navigation up/ publicise it more widely we'd be really grateful if you'd take a look and let us know if we've missed anything crucial/ made any mistakes.
(nb we have another bit of content about parenting older children with special needs on the way very shortly, we haven't left them out. If there's anything else you think we should be covering do let us know.)

Thanks in advance,
MNHQ

2shoes about the grieving bit,,, thatwas mentioned with emphasis at Uni this week;
as the lady doing the lecture was a Psych specialising in all LD, and many students working in generalised asn, hopefully it might start to take effectacross the wholesn world, that acceptance of the grief process? Hope so.

Overall it is good although I could not find how to move from one set of information to another.
The one thing I missed whilst reading the section on reaction to a diagnosis was any discussion on the immediate family. Partners can often react differently - and can be in a different part of their denial/searching/acceptance process. This can lead to difficulties supporting one another or polarising roles. Coping mechanisms may vary. Some throw themselves into work (long hours) -or finding a solution (fix it) which can be difficult for the partner left in the caring role. Siblings (aware of their parents worries) may not want to further burden parents with their own worries.
Perhaps I missed it!

1. Please can you have a section about discounts for disabled people and their carers i.e. a list of places where there are discounts for the disabled person and/or carers at attractions, etc.

You see many other websites with have special needs fora asking questions about discounts. I really wish someone would actually design a website which solely lets people know about discounts for the disabled and carers.

2)Please can you also have a tips section e.g. for visiting attractions - can you get a hand stamp/exit pass, etc.; accessibility to the attraction; ...

Thanks.

bump

I agree please get rid of the antenatal testing stuff. I think people tend to think that if the tests come out ok then they are "safe" and don't understand the many many things that cannot be tested for. I know I was like that - in fact I remember thinking, must have been after 20 week scan "Thank god everything is ok - I don't think I could cope with a disabled child." In fact I think I even said it to DH . Well guess what, its not a choice. But I honestly had no idea and, not that it would have made any difference, I wish someone had warned me that things can go wrong even in this day and age and even if you have had an apparently perfect pregnancy.

The stuff on grieving etc is really good, more personal stories would be nice also from people with children with different types of disability.

I think putting ante natal testing links in SN gives the impression that most people in the SN world are very pro testing and that they agree with what Riven calls the 'get rid' and 'only put up with if you have to' attitude. I think this may be what others like to think to normalise their own decisions, but in reality views are very mixed. As BK says most of us were the same but we have learned different and would like to pass on something useful not just give out false re assurance.

imo it would be better to do it the other way round,
put a link to sn on the antanatal"choices" board instead.

Thanks for all your feedback and constructive criticism.

We'll revisit these pages from the beginning of next week in light of all your suggestions (tomorrow rather taken up with a certain webchat ).

Some of the changes/additions will take longer than others, but it's a work in progress, so please keep any suggestions coming.

Thanks again

Hi I thought the who's who section was a great idea. Could you please add in to the decription of the Clinical Psychologist that they also deal with psychological issues. Because:

1). Psychological needs in special needs children frequently get overlooked

2). Many behavioural issues in special needs children are caused by underlying problems such as anxiety, which can be easily missed in some SN children.

3). trying to address the behavioural issues without considering psycholgical factors can make the situation much worse

4). Parents, teachers and other professionals may not be aware that there is a resource avaliable when a SN child experiences trauma or bereavement etc clinical psychologists provide this

5). parents and scholls may not be aware that a clinical psyhologist can intervene on behalf of the child to make the school environment less anxiety-provoking for an SN child and help them manage their day

And please do move the antental testing links so its not the first thing you see on the site. I tried considering what i would have thought if i had randomly clicked on a site like this and saw that and i would actually have thought it was by a group with a bit of an agenda for antenatal testing/termination. Obviously I know mumsnet is not like that at all but i thought you would like to know thats the impression the prominent placing of the topic gives.

Thanks for the new info site and the chance to comment, appreciated

Most of the information is really useful and very clear.Perhaps you haven't added links between the sections yet, but it was hard to move from one set of topics to another. One thing I thought might be added was something on siblings of children with SN -- meeting their needs, good and not so good effects of living with a sibling with SN, discussing the dx with them and so on. Perhaps this could go in the dx section or in the one on parenting (or perhaps both).

the antenatal link will just cause more arguements than its worth.Lot of conditionds are not even ones that can be tested

Hello,

Going to start working through them all and amending/adding to existing content. Some of the additions should be pretty quick, others will take a little longer.

A few people have commented on finding the navigation difficult, so we'll also try to improve that - if you've got any suggestions, please let us know. Each page already has links to the other pages in that section (eg education) at the head and foot of the page. So would a box with a list of links to the other sections help, for example?

Thanks again for all your help.

It would be easier if there was a link back to the main SN info page (the one linked to in Justine's OP) added to each page.

At the moment it just opens a new window for each section and it's difficult trying to get back to where you started from.

I agree that the pregnancy part is irrelevent and yes please to a picture of Justin!