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Do You Like Me?
Encourage Social Inclusion for Preteens with Special Needs
By Teri Brown
3. Be willing and able to advocate for the social inclusion of your child.
Advocacy may need to take place within the context of your child's school or park and recreation programs. Learn how to effectively ask for the supports your child needs in order to feel socially included. In school this may entail requesting that your child be placed in the same general education classroom as a peer who has started to initiate a friendship. Within a recreation program it might involve your talking to the instructor about the support needs of your child and adaptations that would enhance his or her participation.
4. Starting at an early age, expose your child to as many recreation and leisure pursuits as possible.
People tend to develop friendships with peers whom they view as having similar interests. Make sure your child has sufficient experiences to engage in the types of recreation and leisure activities preferred by peers so that he or she can develop interests and preferences in specific activities.
5. Make sure your child has the opportunity to have similar experiences as his or her peers.
Peers often assume that children with disabilities do not have similar interests. One of the reasons why this is often the case is that such children have not had the opportunity to experience the same life activities as their peers. This includes attending popular community events, watching the same television programs,listening to the same music, etc. If parents are interested in stimulating social relationships, it is critical that their children have access to these events.