A useful survival guide for the first 5 years loving a child with special needs
Think of a relationship as a strong, young and healthy bone. It is part of a
functioning and growing organism. It suffers stress and strain, but that is
what it is designed to do. It copes.You can also think about the time a child with special needs is introduced into your life.
Your relationship will then become a bone in danger of fracture. A sudden and significant impact strikes and the bone cannot withstand the force, so a painful fracture occurs. Left untreated or ignored, the fracture will get worse: it will grow bigger, it will cause more pain, and it will start to impact on the functioning of the entire body. Eventually it will reach a stage where it cannot be healed and this will lead to drastic outcomes. If it is treated, however, it will heal. It will need time and may require some special assistance depending on the severity of the fracture – but it will regain its health. And in many cases, once the fracture has healed, the bone becomes stronger than it ever was before.
Fracture is a book written by Variety Queensland Board Member Brent Woolgar and acts as a 'survival guide' for the first 5 years of loving with a child with special needs.
"Variety is a key organisation in supporting children with special needs and also their families. If you, your family or perhaps a friend has found my experiences via Fracture to be a useful resource, I would strongly encourage you (or anyone who downloads the book) to make a donation so Variety can continue to support special kids in QLD"
Brent Woolgar