Sunday, August 8, 2010

First: Do No Harm

This weekend Lloyd attended an International Paediatric Conference which was held in Johannesburg here in South Africa. He displayed the following poster at the conference. In it we share our insights that we have gained parenting a child who has special needs, with a specific focus on how doctors can better support parents.

To view it in more detail click on the picture and it should enlarge it.


3 comments:

Bryna Brown said...

Thank you so much for posting this! I have found it so helpful. I often interact with parents of special needs children and these tips on communication are so helpful! It is never my heart to say discouraging things, but it does make me realize that I want to always speak life and encouragement to others!

Love you guys very much and anticipating news on the baby to come! Hug to Matty!

Bryna

Pam said...

Lovely poster, congratulations to both of you on the presentation. Not only is Matthew a beautiful baby who has grown into a beautiful boy and a cool kid who blossoms day by day, but he is as smart as a tack. He doesn't miss a thing that is being said, understands it all and even though he doesn't have all the words that he needs to express his ideas fully and easily at the level of his potential YET, he still processes the information and finds some creative way of helping us all understand that he knows what is going on AND getting his own ideas across! What's more he listens beautifully and follows directions with great interest as he works towards reaching a particular goal!

Just one point with regard to the helful hints in the follow up section: I do not believe that the word retarded is or ever was appropriate or acceptable in a medical or any other context. It is a demeaning and insulting label at all times - we all need to get the message across that you 2express and demonstrate so well - children really don't have to do everything at the same rate as the others around them to be somebody -there is actually no limit to what can be achieved with support in a loving nurturing environment so we all need to learn to leave out all the derogatory terms like retardation and intellectual disability which impose false limitations.

Nicky said...

Well done Jacqui & Lloyd - I think you guys both did an outstanding job in summing up all the important issues and formatting it in such a straightforward & unambiguous way.