Re: Sibling Need and Involvement Profile

Posted June 19, 2003 · June 19, 2003

>> This one is really good. I was just looking at this with my 6

and 7 year olds (sibling to 13). Looks like good and fun

information. I want to go and buy these books, right away. My kids

are getting old enough, they're starting to have feelings and

concerns.

Glad 's siblings are interested in wanting to be involved.

How is around his siblings? Does he follow them and would he

like to try to do things with them or does he perfer to be left

alone? Does his siblings try to involve him in any activities on

what they are participating in ? The age you've mentioned are

perfect to learn how to grow with .

I have some information that was given to me when my son Rick (16)

use to attend a sibling support group at school when they use to

attend the same Middle school. 's teacher started this program

due to 3 of her students with special needs including all who

had a sibling attending the same school. The support group is still

growing strong of course with new students and their siblings.

The handout is called:

SNIP:

Sibling Need and Involvement Profile

SNIP helps parents and professionals understand the strengths and

needs of siblings of children with disabilities or developmental

delays. It is a guide to discover what siblings know and feel,

highlighting areas that might be helpful to review and learn from.

Use SNIP as a way to explore how siblings can be realistically and

meaningfully involved in the lives of their brothers and sisters

with delays. SNIP can also play an important role in the development

of a comprehensive family support plan.

How it works: There are five sections, each addressing a different

area of a sibling's relationship to his/her brother or sister:

Awareness, Feelings, Having Fun, Helping, and Advocacy. Each section

contains a description of key issues families often encounter,

followed by a short questionnaire. Your answers help identify

strengths (agreement=lower scores) and concerns (disagreement=higher

scores). Each section also offers suggestions for building these

strengths or for dealing with these concerns. There are no right or

wrong answers. Your responses should be based on what you know, feel

or believe.

SNIP is probably most useful for siblings age 4 or older. We suggest

that a separate SNIP should be completed for each of your typically

developing children age 4 or older. Parents may want to complete

SNIPSs separately and then compare notes.

Finally, it may be helpful to set up some time to review your SNIP

with key professionals to discuss the information and consider

strategies tailored to your family.

Today's Date____________________________________

Name of sibling___________________Age___________

Parent(s)Name(s)________________________________

Name of child with special needs________Age______

Fish, Frances Dwyer McCaffrey, Katrina Bush, & Susie Piskur

Posted June 19, 2003 · June 19, 2003

Yes. My children are very interested in . He interacts with them,

mostly because they interact with him. He would prefer pretty much to be

left alone, most of the time. Though he loves them and plays games with

them.

I try to encourage them to tell me how they feel about him, even if it's

not nice. I've been buying some books about siblings and trying to explain

to them that they can''t catch it, and why it didn't happen to them, it's ok

to be embarrassed sometimes, and they are normal for having all these

feelings.

Thank you so much for typing this all out. Wow! I will study them