How to Raise Funds for Children with Disabilities

NEW RESOURCE BY MELANIE DAVIS The Funding Guide for Children with Disabilities focuses on the author’s proven process for applying for support from the various funding sources that assist children. It also includes a directory of over 200 funding sources divided into three categories: National, State and Wish Funders. For more than a decade, Tamara Simmons has been assisting families in raising the funds they lack to cover assistive technology and other expenses for their […]

A Family Guide to Children’s Mental Health Services

 THE STATEWIDE PARENT ADVOCACY NETWORK INTRODUCTION We are families of children with special health care needs, including mental health needs. We are not here to tell you what to do with your child, because you are the expert on your child. We are here to support you in making the important decisions needed to ensure that your child with mental health challenges receives the services and supports needed for the best life possible. Children’s mental […]

I’m Just His Sister

SIBLING TIES BY PAIGE TALHELM What makes things perfect is when he and I can just sit around and watch TV or listen to music together. We don’t have to talk, or we don’t have to be working on his socialization skills. As the end of the school year approaches, I find myself cramming for finals, preparing for graduation, and planning my summer. This is about the same for everybody, where some are asking that […]

Laughing at My Nightmare

Author Shane Burcaw goes against the odds and stereotypes of his disability and shows readers how to be positive and enthusiastic about life. BY ALISA WILLIAMS Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw is a timeline of the author’s life where he walks readers through his experiences while living with Skeletal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Burcaw is able to successfully retell his life story through humor (and a lot of curse words), which makes reading this […]

Life with My Brother Sammy

BY PAIGE TALHELM My brother has every right to be in church, the store, or a restaurant • So I do feel bad, not for myself, but for Sammy • He is just being himself • Is he hurt by people’s reactions? • What is he thinking? • These questions fill my mind and drive me crazy every day • My brother, Sammy, is six years younger than me. He is 17 years old with […]