Special Needs

Find support for parents of children with special needs. Learn how to advocate for your child, raise funds for needed equipment and find helpful organizations.

Filter by: Advocacy, Assistive Technology, Autism, Schools for the Blind, Support, Visual Impairment

front of school building

Schools for the Blind

South Dakota School for the Blind & Visually Impaired

South Dakota School for the Blind & Visually Impaired serves students who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired.

Concordia Learning Center at St. Joseph's School for the Blind

Schools for the Blind

St. Joseph’s School for the Blind

St. Joseph's School for the Blind serves individuals with visual impairments across New Jersey.

SABVI logo

Schools for the Blind

Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired (SABVI)

VisionCorps operates under the auspices of Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, serving people in Pennsylvania.

Caroline's Cart

Special Needs

Caroline’s Cart: Shopping with a Special Needs Child

Drew Ann Long has developed an accessible shopping cart designed specifically for larger children and adults with low muscle tone and multiple disabilities.

Saint Lucy Day Logo

Schools for the Blind

Saint Lucy Day School for Children with Visual Impairments & Archbishop Ryan Academy for the Deaf

Saint Lucy Day School for Children with Visual Impairments also has a school for the deaf on its campus.

Lizzie using 3D Glasses

Assistive Technology

Here Comes the Future… and it’s in Three Dimensions!

Mary McDonach writes about how her daughter, Elizabeth, who has albinism and very low vision, was able to watch (and see!) a 3D film in the movie theater! They were...

VOC logo

Special Needs

The Vision of Children Foundation

The Vision of Children is a California organization dedicated to curing hereditary childhood blindness and other vision disorders and to improve the lives of visually impaired children and their families.

A man using EyeMusic reaches for an apple

Assistive Technology, Visual Impairment

EyeMusic: Seeing with Sound

EyeMusic is a sensory substitution device that turns visual data into music so that blind users can hear what's around them. Users of EyeMusic wear glasses with a small video...

Abby smiling

Eye Conditions and Syndromes, Visual Impairment

Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH): A Mother’s Perspective

LeAndra Lee writes about her daughter, Abigail, who is diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypopalsia and Septo Optic Dysplasia. LeAndra explains what ONH is and how it affects Abigail.

Boy crying near his father's face

Support

A Message for Parents of Special Needs Kids: Don’t Worry, Everything Will be OK

A new study shows that parents of children with disabilities learn to adjust over time and show little difference in well being, both physically and emotionally, from parents of typically...

Perkins School for the Blind

Schools for the Blind

Perkins School for the Blind

Perkins provides education and services for children and adults around the world who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired, with and without additional disabilities.

Ivan in the garden

Sensory Activities, Visual Impairment

Gardening with a Blind Child

Gardening is a very hands-on endeavor and children with visual impairments need the opportunity to get their hands into as many different real-world activities as possible, so how about starting...

Q & A

Eye Conditions and Syndromes, Visual Impairment

Ask the TVI about Anophthalmia and Microphthalmia, Part 2

TVI Lisa LaDue answers readers' questions about O&M and TVI services and whether or not a visually impaired student should automatically be sat at the front of the classroom.

NYISE front of school

Schools for the Blind

The New York Institute for Special Education

The New York Institute for Special Education serves 300 children with visual, learning and developmental disabilities.

Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind logo

Schools for the Blind

Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind

For more than a century and a half, AIDB has been investing in the lives of thousands of infants, toddlers, children, adults and seniors who are challenged by hearing and...