Sacked by your own Linemen

Last weekend I had the opportunity to meet with three incredible and accomplished moms as we prepared for a panel at the Profectum conference next month.  One topic of conversation caught my attention: when well meaning professionals entrusted to treat their children unknowingly cause stress for parents.  This can take various forms, but one example is when parents and professionals disagree about types/amounts of services or the child’s progress.  One of the places this can happen is at IEP’s.  Here is the analogy that one of the moms gave that stopped me in my tracks:

“It’s like I am the quarterback and the linemen are certain members of the IEP team, and I am being sacked by my own team!”

So parents, have you ever felt sacked by members of your child’s treatment team?  What does this look like? This is a necessary and difficult conversation.  To be sure, I don’t believe that professionals ever intend to offend, or even know the extent of their impact on parents.  This is exactly why we need professionals to know.  It is a well-documented fact that high levels of parent stress are encountered on the special needs journey.  It’s time for professionals to listen, and listen very carefully to parents in order to better understand how to support them.

Join us at the Profectum Conference March 21-23 in Pasadena, California, for a groundbreaking conference and to hear from these incredible moms.  www.profectum.org