Kym's Story
I am a single mother of 2 daughters who have disabilities. Being that the girls special needs are not physically obvious, my parenting skills have been taken to be the cause of their difficulties. This has often caused me to go into a state of resignation. When speaking to support people etc about my children the focus is always on the negatives. Pathways is approached in a positive view e.g.: gifts and capacities, which is a great way to address a plan to do with my children. Through the sessions the parent identifies their own map of gifts, capacities etc which is a good focus as parents often forget about themselves. Seeing that what I am doing is quite a substantial amount of tasks, this has given me confidence to keep on trying to make my girls lives a little easier.
It is good to put thoughts on posters which we complete during the course. Seeing the thoughts written on paper is easier than just having thoughts going around in your mind. The poster process seems to put things in perspective a little. Pathways, is in a group so there are other parents to share situations and ideas with and to support you on some of your thoughts. The Pathways course has given me the persuasion to continue on and to plan more in depth paths for my children. It has highlighted to me the need to include as much information as possible and to be clear and direct in what I believe my children need. I would recommend this course to anyone with children with disabilities. I wish I had been aware of Parent to Parent quite a few years earlier.