Workshops on Sibling Issues and Training on the Sibshop Model

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Jacqui Hawkins wrote: > The Sibling Support Project is pleased to announce that we are now scheduling > workshops for 2008. Please share this announcement with families you know and > training directors, conference planners, and coordinators of family services > from appropriate agencies.> Many agencies wisely value the families they serve and are committed to > providing family-centered care and services. However, even the most > family-friendly agencies often overlook brothers and sisters. Brothers and > sisters are too important to ignore, if for only these reasons:> > Siblings will be in the lives of family members with special needs longer than > anyone. Brothers and sisters will be there after parents are gone and special

> education services are a distant memory. If they are provided with support and > information, they can help their sibs live dignified lives from childhood to > their senior years. > Throughout their lives, brothers and sisters share many of the concerns that > parents of children with special needs experience, including isolation, a need > for information, guilt, concerns about the future, and caregiving demands. > Brothers and sisters also face issues that are uniquely theirs including > resentment, peer issues, embarrassment, and pressure to achieve. > No classmate in an inclusive classroom will have a greater impact on the social > development of a child with a disability than brothers and sisters will. They > will be their siblings' life-long "typically-developing role models." > > The Sibling Support Project is the United States' only national project > dedicated to the

concerns of brothers and sisters of people with special health, > developmental and mental health concerns. We specialize in providing lively, > family-friendly, and highly-rated workshops on sibling (and father and > grandparent!) issues to audiences of parents, service providers, university > staff and students, and siblings of all ages.> > We've conducted workshops on sibling issues in all 50 states, Canada, Ireland, > Italy, Japan, Guatemala,New Zealand, and England and have helped establish over > 200 replications of our award-winning Sibshop program in eight countries. Our > books for families include Sibshops, Views from Our Shoes, Living with a Brother > or Sister with Special Needs, and Uncommon Fathers and our new book for teen > sibs, The Sibling Slam Book. And our work and publications have been featured > in newspapers (Washington Post, New York Times), magazines (Exceptional

Parent, > Sesame Street Parent, Reader's Digest), professional publications (JASH, Journal > of Pediatric Psychology, The American Academy of Pediatrics News), and > television (ABC News' 20/20, Nightline and World News Tonight and Brazelton on > Parenting) across the United States. > > We'd welcome an opportunity to present at your agency or your next conference or > training event. We'll show you how parents and providers can decrease siblings' > concerns and increase their opportunities, how to create "sibling friendly" > services, and even how to start your own Sibshop.> > Addressing siblings' concerns benefits everyone: brothers, sisters, parents, > agencies, taxpayers and especially the family member who has special needs. In > many important ways, brothers and sisters ARE the future--and are too important > to ignore.> > If you would like to learn more

about our workshops, seminars, and keynotes > please call or contact us by email and we'd be happy to send you more > information. Our schedule is beginning to fill up, but we still have openings.> > Don Meyer> Director, Sibling Support Project> A Kindering Center program> 6512 23rd Ave NW, #213> Seattle, WA 98117> > donmeyer@...> Sibling Support Project website: www.siblingsupport.org> Support Project online training calendar: http://plus.calendars.net/sibshop> Our brothers, Our sisters, Ourselves> -- Jacqui Hawkins4309 SW 19th AvenueCape Coral, FL

33914jacquih1126@..." Do not wait for leaders;do it alone, person to person." ~ Mother ~"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,committed people can change the world.Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."~ Margaret Mead ~ _______________________________________________Fndlistserv mailing listFndlistserv@...http://fndfl.org/mailman/listinfo/fndlistserv_fndfl.org

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