Transcript Sibshops - retorik och kommunikation

Sibshops
Workshops for Siblings of Children with
Special Needs
Lucy Bennett
Definitions of terms
• Siblings – brothers and sisters
• Special needs – includes intellectual
disabilities, physical disabilities, sensory
disabilities (blindness, deafness),
autism…..
• Sibshops – workshops designed
specifically for children, aged 7-14, who
are growing up with a brother or sister with
special needs
Overview of Presentation
• Literature review on the experience of
siblings- positives and negatives
• Description of Sibshops
• Kilkenny Sibshops : Sample activities –
opportunity for participation!
• Feedback from siblings and parents
• Conclusion
Review of Literature
• Sibling relationships can last a lifetime.
• They have a significant effect on personality
development (Strohm, 2002).
• They provide opportunities to develop identity, to
practice conflict resolution and to openly express
a range of emotions, including love, anger,
rivalry and loyalty.
• When one sibling has a disability, the
relationship between siblings can be significantly
changed (Strohm, 2002 and Trachtenberg and
Batshaw,1997) .
Positive Aspects of being a Sibling
of a Child with Special Needs
• Increased sensitivity, increased closeness and support
within families (Taunt and Hasting 2002).
• Increased compassion, appreciation of their own health,
more acceptance of difference, awareness of the
consequences of prejudice and a deeper knowledge of
disabilities (Eisenberg and Baker, 1998).
• A sense of responsibility beyond their chronological age
(Dale, 1996; Seligman and Darling, 1997).
• Many siblings choose a career in the caring professions
(Marks et al, 2005).
Challenging Aspects of being a
Sibling
• Lack of time and attention from parents
(Ives and Munro 2002).
• Need for information (Osman, 2001)
• Greater responsibility (Seligman and
Darling, 1997)
• Isolation
• Fear for the future- Lack of care planning
(Egan and Walsh, 2001)
What are Sibshops?
• Sibshops are ‘events’ which provide
‘opportunities for brothers and sisters of children
with special needs to obtain peer support and
education within a recreational context’ (Meyer
and Vadasy, 2007:1).
• The Sibshop model uses a group work
approach. It acknowledges that most brothers
and sisters are doing well, despite the
challenges they face in having a child with a
disability in their family (Meyer and
Vadasy,2007) .
• Sibshops are not therapy groups
• Children do not need to be presenting
with ‘issues’ in order to attend.
• The emphasis is on meeting other siblings
and on having fun.
Aims of Sibshops
• To meet other siblings in a relaxed, recreational
setting
• To discuss common joys and concerns
• To learn how others handle difficult situations
• To learn more about their brother’s or sister’s
conditions (Meyer and Vadasy,2007).
• To make parents and other professionals more
aware of the concerns frequently experienced by
siblings.
Kilkenny Sibshops
• Between Mar ’06 and April ’06, twelve siblings
aged between 7-14 years attended a series of
five workshops in Kilkenny.
• During May and June ’06, another twelve
siblings, aged between 9 – 12 years, attended a
further series of workshops.
• Three facilitators ran the workshops, two of
whom are siblings of adults with special needs.
Sample Sibshop
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Visual schedules
‘Trickle in’ activities
Introductions
Knots
Information-Giving Activities – Difficult to
source child-friendly material. Visits by
therapists, booklets distributed, excerpts
from videos watched…
Sample Sibshop cont.
• Party Games: After each sit-down activity,
there was usually a more high energy
activity.
• We purposely tried to play games which
did not depend on sporting ability.
• We also tried to include games that the
siblings could play at home with their
brothers or sisters with special needs.
Cont.
• Strengths and Weaknesses Exercise (see
worksheet)
or
• Sightless Sculptor
• Break – time to socialise informally
• Dealing with Difficult Situations – Aunty
Blabby letters, Story telling and writing,
Sound Off (see worksheet), Walking in my
sister’s footsteps…
Aunty Blabby
• ‘Dear Aunt Blabby,
• I am beginning to feel like Cinderella. My
parents make me take care of my little sister
who has Downs Syndrome. I never get to go out
with my friends. What can I do?
• Response: “Dear Cinderella,
•
You should talk to your parents and tell
them how you are feeling. They might not have
noticed you are feeling this way.’
Story telling
• ‘My sister is eight and has autism. Most of
the time I like her but sometimes I don’t,
like she never plays with me and is always
grumpy. Whenever we go on holidays we
have to do what she wants. She always
gets her own way. It’s not fair! But I like
giving her hugs.’
Children’s Opinions on Sibshops
• What they liked most….’all of it’, ‘the
games’, ‘chain tig’, ‘meeting others’,
‘sweets’, ‘break time’, ‘indoor soccer’, ‘gym
mats’, ‘the parachute’.
• When asked what they liked least
‘nothing’, ‘talking’, ‘I wish there were more
weeks’.
How Sibshops helped
• ‘It was a help to talk about it and it was great to
meet others with a brother/sister with special
needs’
• ‘I can tell people about her’
• ‘Knowing what to do’
• ‘Helped to learn about other types of disabilities’
• ‘I learned more about my brother’
• ‘I know I am not alone’
• ‘Got me away from my brother and sister’
Contact with parents
• Parents received an information leaflet
and completed an application form for
each child.
• Siblings were encouraged to talk to their
parents when they went home and to ask
them questions .
• All family members were invited to the last
session.
Feedback from Parents
• All the children spoke to their parents
about what happened at Sibshops.
• Their children enjoyed the Sibshops and
they always (after the first night) wanted to
attend.
• Their children enjoyed the games most
• They did not appear upset after any of the
sessions
Parents’ feedback cont.
• ’Both appear to be volunteering more to
play with their sister’, ‘I notice she is more
gentle with her brother’…’ ‘He realises that
there are other children with a brother and
sister with a disability experiencing the
same feelings and frustrations’,…. ‘She
learned that she is not the only little girl
with a brother or sister that is
special’…’,’He has made friends with other
sibs’…
Conclusion
• The Sibshop approach provides a tried
and tested model for working with siblings
• I would encourage people in the caring
professions to consider the needs of
siblings when working with families.
• Participating in Sibshops in Kilkenny was
definitely a very worthwhile and enjoyable
experience for the children, for their
families and for the facilitators.
Bibliography
• Dale, N. (1996) Working With Families of Children with
Special Needs. Partnership and Practice, Routledge:
London
• Eisenberg, L. and Baker, B.L. (1998) “Siblings of
Children with Mental Retardation Living at Home or in
Residential Placement”, Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 39 (30), 355-363.
• Egan, J. and Walsh, P. (2001) “Sources of stress among
adult siblings of Irish people with intellectual disability”
The Irish Journal of Psychology 22(1), pp 28-38
• Ives, M. and Munro, N. (2002) Caring For A Child With
Autism, Jessica Kingsley Publishers: United Kingdom
Bibliography cont.
• Marks, S. U., Matson, A. and Barraza, L. (2005) “The
Impact of Siblings with Disabilities on their Brothers and
Sisters Pursuing a Career in Special Education,
Research and Practice for Persons with Severe
Disabilities, 30 (4), 205-218.
• Meyer, D. and Vadasy, P. (2007). Sibshops: Workshops
for siblings of children with special needs, Paul H.
Brookes Publishing: U.S.A
• Meyer, D. (ed) (1997) Views from our Shoes, Paul H.
Brookes Publishing: U.S.A
• Osman, B. (2001) How Learning Disabilities Affect a
Child’s Siblings, GreatSchools Inc: U.S.A. [retrieved 24th
November 2008 from www.greatschools.net/cgibin/showarticle2334
Bibliography cont.
• Seligman, M. and Darling, R.B. (1997) Ordinary
Families, Special Children. A Systems Approach to
Childhood Disability Second Edition, The Guilford Press:
New York
• Strohm, K. (2002) Siblings: Brothers and Sisters of
Children with Special Needs, Wakefield Press:
AdelaideTaunt, H.M. and Hastings, R.P., (2002)
“Positive Impact of children with Developmental
Disabilities on their Families: A Preliminary Study”,
Education and Training in Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities, 37 (4), 410-420.
• Trachtenberg, S.W. and Batshaw, M.L. (1997) “Caring
And Coping. The Family of a Child with Disabilities” in
Batshaw, M.L. (eds) Children With Disabilities Fourth
Edition, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co: U.S.A.