Developmental Differences
We see you, parents of kids with special needs. Yours is not an easy road, but NPN has many resources to help you along, whether you’ve just received a diagnosis or you’re looking for further supports for your older child.
Our Developmental Differences Parent Support Group has been making parents and caregivers feel less alone for nearly 10 years. The group meets the third Wednesday of every month—see the NPN calendar to RSVP for the next meeting.
Also celebrating its 10th birthday, the annual Developmental Differences Resource Fair brings together therapy providers, schools and fun activities for kids with special needs. And our library of videos on developmental differences offers tips and strategies on everything from potty training to IEPs.
The best part: All of our developmental differences resources are free to members and non-members alike.
👉 New! Use our Developmental Differences Resource Directory to find doctors, schools, therapy providers and more.
Providers: Click here to participate in our Developmental Differences Resource Program.
Discussions
Here is an opportunity to "Ask an Expert," Emily Winsor, of Tuesday's Child, specifics about the IEP process, managing your child's challenging behavior and social-emotional challenges, and more. Starting the morning of April 24th, you can submit questions in this thread and Amy will res...
Any good experiences for a driver's education company for ADHD kids or any other Driver's Ed you liked? My DS is 16 and very upset that we haven't signed him up yet. Someone posted earlier Top Driver but was looking for possibly more recs in the city. Thanks to all ...
My 16 year old has applied for 2 jobs this summer in our local community (ones that many teens apply for). Came out of both interviews saying they went really well ("amazing" in her words) and both times she has not gotten the jobs. Obviously it could be any number of reasons why, but I do think s...
Curious about what everyone's experiences has been in kindergarten in public and private schools? My kid in public school is starting to read after almost a year in kinder (the other one is 4 and showing interest), but I'm hearing from friends and neighbors whose kids are in private school that priv...
Our 5 year son’s teacher noted that our son has been writing his name in a slant. While she is not concerned now, she is considering asking one of the specialists see in a month or so. Our son has had issues with his fine motor skills, and we chalked it up to Covid kid. We consistently have addresse...
More Articles related to this topic
NPN is known for helping families find childcare, research schools, navigate developmental differences, and get parent-to-parent advice. Helping families navigate developmental differences is one part of our mission that is especially meaningful to me and the rest of the staff team. NPN’...
Traveling with children can be fun, exciting and challenging and traveling with a child with a special needs child adds a whole new dynamic. I’m a mom of three: I have one 3 year old son and 5 year old boy/girl twins and my oldest son, Owen, has autism. To get ready for a trip, whether that be an ou...
It was an early Sunday morning in March 2012. I did not get much sleep the night before, because I was 4 months pregnant with our second child, and our first child, Luke, had just received a diagnosis of autism and epilepsy. To say that I was stressed would be an understatement. Related: Your ...
As a pediatric physical therapist, something I hear quite often in new assessments with families is that they "knew something wasn't quite right and had questions on it, but were told to wait and see if it was still a problem" at their next pediatrician visit. Many times, things do work themselves o...
As a parent of a special needs child, I look forward to the periods of platitude. Every developmental stage is an uphill climb that seems to take forever. So when my child hits a plateau and can thrive in an age-appropriate developmental stage, I relish in the peace that comes with it. I have learne...
