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Question: My daughter, Hannah, is 7. She has Soto's Syndrome and epilepsy. Kids at school are distant from her when she goes to her mainstream class for a few hours. She looks different from theSoto's so I guess that is why. How do other parents handle this? I feel so sorry for her when I see the other kids play together and she is alone. She does not seem to realize it but I know the time will come when she does. Any advice would be great. I can be reached at loribd216@aol.com Thanks in advance!

posted by loribd216

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Hi Lori, I would enlist your daughter's teachers to help as much as possible. The teachers can encourage other children to invite her to play with them and can do other things to help foster friendships. My 9 yr old daughter has sensory integration problems and sometimes has difficultly with social interactions. Since kindergarten the wonderful teachers at her school have been proactive in helping her make friends. For example, they would say to one of the kids at recess "Why don't you see if Samantha wants to play?" and do other things to make sure she's included. They managed to do this in a natural way that made the children excited about including her. Also, if there's someone in Hannah class that you think she would enjoy playing with invite them over for a playdate. I hope this helps. I can really relate to your situation. Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to discuss this further. Kaylee Kaylee21@gmail.com

posted by Kaylee

Hi Mom, My daughter also experiences social isolation among her elementary school peers because her speech sounds differently. I feel so sad and helpless watching how kids reject her when she attempts to initiate play. One thing we did to find positive social experiences for her was to join Girl Scouts. My daughter loves belonging to this all girl group and has made friends among her troop members. Girl Scouts USA truly is dedicated to inclusion for ALL so the organization has great materials available to troop leaders and volunteers about how to include girls with special needs.

posted by kim1

Hi Mom, do you know about the Girl Scouts event for girls with special needs being held on Sunday, March 8th, in Cedar Park? Here's the link to the Events page where the details are listed: http://www.specialneedsneighborhood.com/welcome/events.

posted by parent1