Tonight I'm speaking at our Special Education Advisory Committee meeting. I will be introducing a yahoo group that will hopefully serve individuals, professionals, and educators in our local area. We especially hope that it will be helpful to parents of newly diagnosed children with special needs who are finding the search for services and supports to be overwhelming. I remember in the early days after Samuel was diagnosed the information I obtained from other parents was like gold! Anyways, wish me luck!
I'd love to hear how any of you reading this use yahoo groups. I'm currently a member on 20 groups! I only receive messages on about 4 or 5 of them, however. Some are about autism, some are about homeschooling, some are local information, and a few pertain to hobbies I have. I think they are a great way to connect with others who have the same interests!
4 comments:
Last spring, my daughter found a support group in State College, PA for Mothers of Children with Autism and she has not only learned a lot through it about her two children (both autistic) and ways to help them, but it has been a big help to her simply by having people she can meet with and talk to who understand so much better just what it is like to live with two small children with this disorder. It gives her a chance to get out one night a month, -away from the stress levels here. Truly a great find for her. I would equate it to how I felt 30 some years ago when I went to my first Al-Anon meeting. Only those who walk the same road as we do really understand the feelings involved in support groups like these and they are actually something I consider to be a necessity in life. Hope things work out that your new group gets up and running. I'm sure those who come to it will get lots of information along with much needed moral support.
I use the term “support groups” like Al-Anon very rigidly. They are therapeutic in nature. They are there to illustrate the ways to cope with the “HARD” questions that need to be answered. In order to support, they cannot shy away from these questions.
Yahoo groups are social networks with common interests in mind. Most, if not all, shy away from the “HARD” questions for fear of polarizing the group and loosing members.
Just my point of view.
GOOD LUCK! Sounds like a GREAT THING!!
Jeni It's been a big help to me over the years to have others to talk to. I attend a few support groups in my area and I belong to several groups pertaining to special needs on yahoo. I get something different from each "group" I belong to.
Chuck - I know what you mean about yahoo groups tending to shy away from the hard questions. I don't know if the group in my county will deal with hard questions or not. The main purpose is to help parents make contacts with other parents. I hope that some substantial conversation will come up. I think that difficult questions need to be addressed and discussed. That's not always easy to do on a yahoo group where the population of members can be pretty broad.
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