Good article about early detection and cutting edge research.
Looking For Early Signs Of Autism In Brain Waves
Looking For Early Signs Of Autism In Brain Waves
Monday, June 13, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Special Need Financial Plan vs the Typical Financial Plan
The Special Needs (SN) financial plan is vastly different than your typical financial plan. Below summarizes my thoughts on this subject.
1. The concept of multi generational financial support is brought into the SN financial plan. Some parents of a child with special needs have to not only plan for their 30 year retirement life, but they also have to plan for another 30 or more years of financial support for their child. More on this topic in a future post.
2. Budgeting becomes more important. Parents of a child who has special needs need to be more disciplined and thorough with budgeting. Not only do parents have the additional cost of medical and educational supports, but they also need to be concerned with the resources left to their child once their time on this earth is finished.
3. Life insurance tends to play a bigger role with SN parents. This is tied back to the concept of multi generational support that I described above. Sometimes life insurance is the only method of funding the needs of a child beyond the life of the parents, especially if there is not a significant asset base once the parents pass away.
4. The special needs financial plan usually always includes the services of a qualified attorney that specializes in the area of Elder Law and Special Needs Law. This can add to the cost and time involved in having a plan done.
5. Significantly more time is spent developing a SN financial plan. The SN financial plan has elements that are not found in a typical financial plan such as the Life Plan, guardianship decisions, understanding the role of government benefits, long term cash flow analysis, and advanced estate planning.
6. Finally, the SN financial plan tends to focus more on the child than on the parents. A typical financial plan spends about 80% of the time spent talking about what the parents want to accomplish during their lives and 20% of the time discussing the children and what they see them accomplishing. In a SN financial plan those ratios are sometimes reversed. Eighty percent of the time is spent on what the parents want for their child's life and 20% of the time is spent on what the parents want for their lives. From the Life Plan to the complicated legal documents, a good portion of what's discussed revolves around making sure the child has the highest quality of life possible.
1. The concept of multi generational financial support is brought into the SN financial plan. Some parents of a child with special needs have to not only plan for their 30 year retirement life, but they also have to plan for another 30 or more years of financial support for their child. More on this topic in a future post.
2. Budgeting becomes more important. Parents of a child who has special needs need to be more disciplined and thorough with budgeting. Not only do parents have the additional cost of medical and educational supports, but they also need to be concerned with the resources left to their child once their time on this earth is finished.
3. Life insurance tends to play a bigger role with SN parents. This is tied back to the concept of multi generational support that I described above. Sometimes life insurance is the only method of funding the needs of a child beyond the life of the parents, especially if there is not a significant asset base once the parents pass away.
4. The special needs financial plan usually always includes the services of a qualified attorney that specializes in the area of Elder Law and Special Needs Law. This can add to the cost and time involved in having a plan done.
5. Significantly more time is spent developing a SN financial plan. The SN financial plan has elements that are not found in a typical financial plan such as the Life Plan, guardianship decisions, understanding the role of government benefits, long term cash flow analysis, and advanced estate planning.
6. Finally, the SN financial plan tends to focus more on the child than on the parents. A typical financial plan spends about 80% of the time spent talking about what the parents want to accomplish during their lives and 20% of the time discussing the children and what they see them accomplishing. In a SN financial plan those ratios are sometimes reversed. Eighty percent of the time is spent on what the parents want for their child's life and 20% of the time is spent on what the parents want for their lives. From the Life Plan to the complicated legal documents, a good portion of what's discussed revolves around making sure the child has the highest quality of life possible.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Article: Changing Attitudes Towards Repetitive Behaviors and Autism
Here is a fantastic article from autismkey.com about The Son-Rise Program from the Autism Treatment Center of America, which was originated in 1974 by parents Barry Neil Kaufman and Samahria Lyte Kaufman. It talks about using a different approach to encourage social development.
Click here to view article or cut and paste the link below to your browser.
http://www.autismkey.com/changing-attitudes-towards-repetitive-behaviors-and-autism
Click here to view article or cut and paste the link below to your browser.
http://www.autismkey.com/changing-attitudes-towards-repetitive-behaviors-and-autism
Friday, June 3, 2011
Great Autism Online Resource: autismsource.org
Search nationwide autism-related services and supports by location or service type. The Autism SourceTM Resource Database, created in 2004, is the most comprehensive database of its kind. The Autism Society strives to offer only credible and reliable resources to our constituents, therefore we have employed our nationwide network of chapters and collaborated with other autism organizations and professionals throughout the U.S. It is because of these collaborative relationships that the Resource Database continues to grow and is kept current with comprehensive resource listings.
http://www.autismsource.org/
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| Screenshot of autismsource.org |
Thursday, June 2, 2011
What is my idea of a Blog?
Hello bloggers! The SpecialCare Planning blog is dedicating to educating those families with children who have special needs. I will cover many aspects of planning for a special needs child including, but certainly not limited to, topics such as: The Life Plan and letters of intent, advocacy and guardianship, government benefits, the calculation of your child's financial needs, Estate Planning through wills and trusts, and general educational materials written for the special needs community.
What is my idea of a successful blog? My goal is simple...To be the go-to resource for education on how to plan for the future of their special needs child. Some of the content will be technical, some of it will be inspirational. Some of the content will be written by me using the resources and experiences I have working with special needs families, some of the content will be derived from specialist such as attorneys or accountants. People who know me will tell you that I always enjoy a good debate. Debate is healthy, as long as it's done respectfully. I encourage you to make comments on posts, but please keep it respectful. I can assure you that the information presented will be real world usable information.
My goal is to keep the number of posts to 3-6 per month. I highly encourage each of you to email me questions or topics you are interested in reading about as that will have a significant impact on the content posted.
What is my idea of a successful blog? My goal is simple...To be the go-to resource for education on how to plan for the future of their special needs child. Some of the content will be technical, some of it will be inspirational. Some of the content will be written by me using the resources and experiences I have working with special needs families, some of the content will be derived from specialist such as attorneys or accountants. People who know me will tell you that I always enjoy a good debate. Debate is healthy, as long as it's done respectfully. I encourage you to make comments on posts, but please keep it respectful. I can assure you that the information presented will be real world usable information.
My goal is to keep the number of posts to 3-6 per month. I highly encourage each of you to email me questions or topics you are interested in reading about as that will have a significant impact on the content posted.
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