2018 TASH Conference

Attendees will learn about the unique grief process experienced by parents when raising a child with a disability, and come away with tools to assist the families they work with in seeing that experiencing grief does not mean you don't love your child - it enables you to accept your child more fully. Though we love our children and accept their disability as natural, there are times when their exclusion from society and community causes pain for us (sometimes more than our children). Learning how to grieve enables us to live healthier, happier lives, and to be better advocates for our children. The presentation includes quotes from others who work in this field about the importance of recognizing that the grief which comes from experiencing our children's exclusion from society and the lack of adequate supports is ongoing and not dysfunctional.