With about six million children requiring special education services, you may very well be the parent of a special needs child. Your journey may be difficult.
How can you be sure you are getting the best care for your child?
Are there programs to help your child that you don’t know about?
What can you do to make yourself feel better during the extra stressful moments?

Here are 8 tips that were offered by special needs parents.

1. Communicate

Talk with other special-education parents and create a support group. Share some of the daily challenges. Listen to the issues of the other parents. What can you relate to? Share your thoughts. Offer your advice. This may mean a weekly chat at a local coffee joint, or it could also mean chatting with other parents online. Make your goal to find a time and place where you can express your feelings in a safe environment.

2. Write About It

Keep a journal. Record your child’s successes. Also take the time to write about your own feelings about what’s going on.  Often when you put your thoughts to paper, you can gain perspective. Write out an action plan for your child. Include a set of realistic goals that you’d like to see your child accomplish.

3. Alleviate Stress in Creative Ways

Kickbox, dance, do yoga, walk, meditate, sing in the shower, take a cooking class. Research shows that parents of special needs children have more stress than those parents without special-needs children.

4. Be Open

Try new ideas and suggestions. The parents of other special-needs children have a profound interest in their kids. They also each have a unique skill set that they bring to the parent-rearing table. Many of them are up-to-date on the latest research about some of the challenges that your child faces. Remember that information is power. Stay current on issues that affect special needs children.

5. Support

Show your gratitude toward extraordinary special-education teachers and other professionals. These are the individuals who make it their job to help special-needs children achieve their goals. Keep these lines of communication open. Show your satisfaction when something works well. Talk about moments in the classroom or examining room that are or are not working for you and your child.

6. Don’t Go It Alone

Learning about the issues and topics that affect your child can be as overwhelming as trying to master the concept of geothermal energy. Find help and support from the National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education (NAPCSE). Here you will find information about special education and the law for parents, as well as resources, and a place to ask the experts all your pressing questions.

7. Put Yourself and Your Child Out There

Get involved in school and community programs with your child. Smile at the parents who seem to want to get to know you and your child. Be social and talk to other parents about the common elements of parenting.

8. Don’t Give Up Hope

Parenting a child with special needs can feel isolating and overwhelming. That’s why it’s important to celebrate the small triumphs. Make time to focus on the good stuff.

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Phamaly is the proud recipient of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce 2011 Small Nonprofit Organization of the Year Award

Phamaly named Top Theatre Company for 2012 by Denver’s 5280 Magazine!

Phamaly named the 2012 Professional/Community Theatre of the Year by the Alliance for Colorado Theatre!

Dates

Sat June 15, 5:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Location

Mizel Arts & Culture Center

350 S. Dahlia

Denver, CO

synopsis

Join Us for this One Night Only Special Event! Phamaly’s Circle of Stars Benefit!

Phamaly presents its 2013 Circle of Stars Benefit featuring a one-night-only special variety show performance including a preview of this summer’s musical, Fiddler on the Roof, and this December’s holiday favorite, It’s a Wonderful Life, as well as other theatrical delights!

The theme of this year’s celebratory fundraiser is “If I Were a Rich (Wo)Man,” taking its name after the famous song from Fiddler on the Roof. Guests are encouraged to dress to impress for an evening of glitz and glamor.

9News Entertainment Reporter, Kirk Montgomery will return to Emcee.

Each Ticket Includes:

Fine, heavy hors’ d’oeuvres by Occasions Catering

A special one-night-only performance by Phamaly (NOTE: seats in the Mizel’s Wolf Theatre will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. Reserve your Benefit tickets early for the best possible seating!)

Dessert

Dancing

Cash Bar

An exclusive Gala Attendee Discount Pass to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Space Theatre this July & August (usable for multiple dates)

All proceeds from the event benefit Phamaly Theatre Company and its programs for actors with disabilities.

For more information: Please contact Chris Silberman or Johanne Noble at 303-575-0005

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Colorado ADAPT took over the agenda of the Community Living Advisory Group (CLAG) at today’s meeting and inserted demands for the state department of Medicaid. ADAPT scratched out one agenda item for the committee and demanded that Suzanne Brennan and Lorez Meinhold agree to develop an Olmstead Plan, solve the problem of Medicaid eligibility for people transitioning from nursing homes and work with ADAPT to develop state housing vouchers for the Money Follows the Person grant. Read more.

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The technology, designed and manufactured by Noraxon, gives doctors an ability to place sensors on the top of the skin and record electrical signals from the brain that fire to make muscles move. The technology stimulates any muscle in the leg, arm or trunk at the correct time according to established patterns for normal walking.

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PAD-CO (Parents of Adults with Disabilities in Colorado) conducted a sleep study of parents of adults with disabilities. The study looks at causes of and possible remedies for sleep disturbances parents might have. See what can often keep parents of adults with disabilities from getting their full night’s rest; follow the link and view the findings. View Study.

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As Congress reconvenes for a post-election session where potential changes or cuts to programs like Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Social Security may be put on the table, we need your help to put a face on the importance of these programs by sharing lifeline stories about individuals with I/DD.  We welcome stories from self-advocates, parents and other family members, chapters of The Arc, other service providers, and friends. Click here to share your story.

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Aguilar enters the 2013 session as one of the legislature’s most powerful voices on health issues, respected on both sides of the aisle and a leading Latina in the state. She plans to join Democratic colleagues in fighting to expand Medicaid to a greater share of the poor as planned in the Affordable Care Act, but undercut by the U.S. Supreme Court, which allowed states to opt out of expansion. Now governors and state lawmakers must decide how to handle Medicaid. Ultimately, Aguilar wants to ignite an even broader health revolution by bringing universal care to people throughout Colorado. Read more.

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Although the medical field has been slow to research its benefits, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that alternative medicine keeps people with disabilities healthier and out of the hospital. In 2005, two years after Chanda Hinton-Leichtle discovered acupuncture following her own emergency hospital stay, she founded the Chanda Plan, which raises money to pay for alternative therapies for people with spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and spina bifida whose insurance companies don’t pay for them. (Most don’t.) Read more

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Deciding the optimal care solution for a loved is never easy. PASCO did a great amount of research into the differences between the two, and found why home health care is proving to be the most cost efficient and effective care.

Infographic Summary:

Generally, about 70 percent of people aged 60 and above will need long term health care services at some point in their lives. It is very important to know what kind of health care service provider offers the required services.

The difference between home health care and nursing home care starts with the availability of facilities. There are 15,622 nursing homes in the US (according to StateHealthFacts.org), compared to the 33,000 US home health care agencies. This shows that home health care is easier to be obtained due to the larger number of agencies and health care personnel.

Another difference is the deals which the services provided. Nursing homes offer room and board, nursing care, personal care, social and recreational activities, medication management and adult day services. Home health care service providers, on the other hand, offer skilled nursing care, medical social services, physical, occupational and speech therapy, and home health aide.

When it comes to Alzheimer’s care services, more nursing homes offer this service, but the home health care providers that do offer this service do not charge extra for it.

Medicare coverage in home health care is also more encompassing than provided by nursing homes. In a way, it can be said that home health care is specifically tailored to suit individual needs.

In nursing homes, Medicare does not cover personal care such as bathing, feeding, dressing and bathroom use. For home care, Medicare does not cover custodial care, homemaker services and meal deliveries.

The most important difference and the reason why most people want to be taken care at home health care are the cost. Nursing home stay will cost $75,555 a year while a home care service will only cost $28,800 a year (for an average home care service of 6 hours/day at 5 days/week).

From the year 2007 to 2012, it has also been surveyed that nursing homes have increased their rates at 4.28 percent for private nursing homes and 4.5 percent for semiprivate nursing homes. Home care facilities only increased their rates at 1.09 percent for the same period of time.

To learn more about home health care, please give us a call or clicking here to submit your information, and we’ll reach out to you within one business day.

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For the first time in history, the State of Colorado offers massage, acupuncture and chiropractic care to people living with a long-term disability due to a spinal cord injury, via a new Medicaid waiver. A three-year pilot program began making these alternative therapies available as of July 1 of this year. Known as the Home and Community Based Services for Persons with a Spinal Cord Injury (HCBS-SCI) and these therapies will be apart of your Medicaid services. The population as been narrowed to Spinal Cord Injuries for measurement purposes, but will expand in the future if cost benefits are able to be demonstrated.

- The HCBS-SCI program provides assistance to individuals with spinal cord injuries in the Denver Metro area that require long term supports and services in order to remain in a community setting.

- The HCBS SCI program provides an opportunity to study the effectiveness of Alternative Therapies and the impact the provision of this service may have on the utilization of other HCBS-SCI program and/or acute care services.

- An independent evaluation shall be conducted in the third year of program operation to determine the effectiveness of the Alternative Therapies.

- The program is limited to 67 clients

- This is a pilot program and will only last for 3 years (2012 – 2015)

*HCBS-SCI Waiver Services*****

- Adult Day Services

- Alternative Therapies

- Consumer Directed Attendant Support Services

- Personal Emergency Response System

- Home Modifications

- Homemaker Services

- In-Home Support Services

- Non-Medical Transportation

- Personal Care Services

- Respite Care Services

*Patient Eligibility*

*Level of Care*

Individuals shall require long term support services at a level comparable to services typically provided in a nursing facility.

****

*Target Group*

1. Individuals shall be 18 years or older****

2. Individuals shall have a diagnosis of Spinal Cord Injury****

3. Individuals shall have been determine to have a significant functional impairment****

4. Individuals shall reside in the Denver Metro Area in one of the following counties:****

- Adams

- Arapahoe

- Denver

- Douglas

- Jefferson

*Individual Cost Containment*

1. The client’s needs cannot be met within the Individual Cost Containment Amount. ****

2. The client’s needs are more extensive than HCBS-SCI program services are able to support and/or that the client’s health and safety cannot be assured in a community setting.

**To participant, call your LTC case manager. **

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