Positive Steps for Families in Crisis and Those Heading That Way
Definitions
Here are five important definitions for parents who may be facing a crisis down the road.
Crisis: A family crisis is a situation involving high stress for parents and a major disruption of the functioning of the household. Often, it involves danger for children or teen-agers. In a child crisis situation, the child will be out of control (not responding to parental or any other type of authority) or will be in danger of harming himself or others. A crisis is more likely to be successfully resolved if professionals have been involved in the development of a Crisis Plan.
Early Intervention: Early intervention services are physical, mental, emotional and educational assistance for high-risk children and those with special needs that is begun as soon as it can be effective. Studies show that the sooner speech therapy, for example, is begun for children with speech delays and impairment, the faster and more fully they can recover from these problems. Many public school districts will begin occupational, speech, and physical therapy with children as young as three years of age. If your child is under age three years and you suspect a disability, or if risk factors are present, you may wish to ask your local state department of family services about the federal program of
Early Intervention services for children age birth to 3 years old. Called IDEA Part C (from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), eligibility requirements will differ slightly from state to state, but generally speaking, children with the following conditions and risk factors could qualify: developmental delays in any area, premature and low-birth weight babies, children with chromosomal and congenital conditions, sensory impairments, metabolic problems, prenatal infections, and acquired conditions that may affect development such as abuse and neglect in the first years of life. For more information, visit the
National Early Childhood TA Center.
High Risk Children: These are children who are at higher than average risk of developing emotional, behavioral, learning, or physical disabilities or conditions based on genetic, pre-natal or environmental issues. For example, some mental illnesses, such as depression and bi-polar disorder, tend to run in families. A child born of a drug addict who had not sought pre-natal care is at higher risk of developing learning problems at school age. And a baby who was abused or neglected or had multiple caregivers in the first year of life, an environmental problem, is at higher risk of developing emotional and behavioral disorders. How much risk any single child faces cannot be determined exactly due to factors such as resiliency.
Resiliency: Resiliency is the ability of an individual to recover from or "bounce back" from adversity of some type. No one can predict how resilient any one child will be to genetic, pre-natal or environmental risk factors. Therefore some children who are at high risk may develop no later problems or mild problems due to a high degree of resiliency, while some children with low to moderate risk factors but little resiliency may be more profoundly impaired. Early intervention services can work with a child's natural resiliency to overcome deficits.
Special Needs: This is a broad term that refers to disabilities and challenges faced by certain children. Special needs can be physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, or educational. Some common special needs among children waiting to be adopted include hearing, vision and speech problems, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, attachment disorders, depression, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The term "special needs" also encompasses certain "placement factors" that can make finding an adoptive home more challenging. These factors differ from place to place. For example, one city may have many more boys waiting to be adopted than girls or may have many more children of a certain race than other races. But generally speaking, special needs factors include, age, minority race, gender, sibling status, legal risk and risk factors.
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