Disabilities force families to face extraordinary challenges and have extraordinary needs. To remain as an effective unit of society, the family deserves extraordinary support.

Safety during pregnancy - smoking, eating, drinking, self medicating, exercise and physical activities concerns. Special tests detect fetal defects during a special needs pregnancy.

Special education - It doesn't help parents to keep looking backward to search for the reasons of the "problem" but to focus on how to reduce the learning difficulties for their child and how to enhance the opportunities for successful learning.

Our website offers a support community for families, parents, caregivers and professionals to meet online, including a newsletter and e-Group forum.

Early intervention refers to services that are delivered to children three years of age or younger, who are discovered to have or to be at risk of developing a handicapping condition or other special need that may affect their development. a

About 1 in 150 babies is born with a chromosomal abnormality. These are caused by errors in the number or structure of chromosomes. There are many different chromosomal abnormalities. Many children with a chromosomal abnormality have mental and/or physical birth defects. Understanding what chromosomes are may make it easier to understand the wide range of problems chromosomal abnormalities can cause.

Pregnancy books tend to gloss over special needs pregnancy and prenatal classes frequently choose to ignore the possibility that you might give birth a baby with special needs. Depending on a mother's risk profile, special fetal tests may be ordered to detect fetal birth defects.

Even though the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed years ago, many wheelchair-users going on a family vacation still have trouble finding accessible accomodations.

Adult day care programs provide daytime care and recreational activities for adults with disabilities who have difficulty with being left alone and caring for themselves.

Every day people with a disability benefit from assistive technology. New technological developments have raised the expectation that adults and children with a disability can use assistive technology and augmentative communication devices to function more fully and independently at work, homes, and in the community.

Adaptive equipment are are devices used to assist with completing activities. The amount of assistance needed to perform ADLs varies from person to person depending current strength and range of motion, functional abilities, health status and medical diagnosis and precautions.

Support groups are made up of people with common interests and experiences. People who have been through, or are going through, a similar circumstance can do more than sympathize with you — they can relate to what you are going through and keep you from feeling like you are alone.

Accessible home design and modifications. Accidents happen and you could find yourself using a wheelchair or walker. As we mature and grow older, getting around our home becomes more difficult.Your home can become more accessible with home modifications.

At the IEP meeting for middle school and high school students who are 16 years or older, transition services the development of your child's IEP should include transition planning.

Parents who are considering homeschooling their special needs child want to know where they can find the information, tools, and support to be an effective educator for their child.

Sign language is primarily used in communication with people who have hearing impairments, but it has also been used to teach people with disabilities who have little or no communication skills, as well as preverbal infants.

The Internet offers places for people with disabilities to meet, whether you are looking for support, friendship, a date or marriage, or other relationships, these special places enable the creation of all types of relationships.

Adaptive equipment are are devices used to assist with completing activities. The amount of assistance needed to perform ADLs varies from person to person depending current strength and range of motion, functional abilities, health status and medical diagnosis and precautions.

Family support for disabilities – modest transfers of money and services that the families may use in almost any way they want to keep their babies and children at home – is less expensive than other services.

Mobility aids can make life easier for the disabled. If you use a wheelchair or walker, you already know how difficult movement can be without their assistance.

Employment for people with disabilities - know your disability rights, seek and use the employment services, develop a well-written resume and learn how effective networking can help you find the best job.

Illness and disability are seen as countering contemporary values such as prosperity, independence, self-reliance, and productivity, so it is not surprising that individuals and their relationships struggle to adapt to a life with disability.

Coping with stress for parents with children with disabilities. Parents of children with disabilities had very elevated scores on the Parenting Stress Index, signifying that they perceived far more stress in their role than did parents of children without disabilities.

The evolution of disability rights is a complex story of shifts in consciousness, shifts in political policy, and of changing views on disabilities.

Sports offers the opportunity to achieve success in a very short time period; to use this success to build self-confidence and focus on possibilities instead of dwelling on what can no longer be done.

Range of motion exercises reduce stiffness and help keep your joints flexible. the "range-of-motion" is the normal amount your joints can be moved in certain directions.

Use our disability news links to view current information on disability-related news items from specialized and authoritative information sources.

Every disability insurance policy from every insurance company is very different so it may not be adivisable to simply shop for the most competitive rate.