'Ensuring the Future of Your Child with Special Needs'

We have discussed various aspects of future planning for our children and other family member with special needs and I know from my presentations that this is a HUGE issue for families around the Province. As well it should be.

As luck would have it, I came across a great video the a few weeks ago, entitled "Ensuring the Future of Your Child with Special Needs". Upfront warning: the video is lengthy BUT I highly recommend watching the whole thing - it will be well worth your time.

Although American, I would say it is at least 80% straight on accurate for families here in Nova Scotia. And, best of all, the presenters (there are three of them) all have children with special needs, in addition to the professional expertise (a lawyer and a financial planner) they bring to the table. This means that they often speak as parents and when they do - trust me, you WILL relate.

"Unfortunately, doing nothing is an action of its own because eventually the future 

becomes the present ... If we have not planned for that eventuality, it will come 

either way and we will have less time to do something meaningful about it."

~ Keith Coldwell, Failure to Plan

Given that the video is quite lengthy, I though it might be useful to break it down into a Table of Contents, if you will. So here goes:

1. Introduction
2. Set Up
3. Greatest Hindrance to Parents Getting Started
4. First Steps (14:15)
5. Five Steps to Plan:

• Letter of Intent 
• Special Needs Trust
• Advance Directives 
• Guardianship 

     6.  The Importance of Communication

If you are a regular reader of the blawg, you will likely be familiar with some of these terms but perhaps not all.

Mea Culpa

My apologies for going so long without posting ... 51 days to be exact, but who's
counting, right?

As usual, excuses abound - I am happy to say that I have been busy work-wise, which is a very good thing when it comes time to pay the bills. That being said, I am, of course, always happy to consult with anyone who has a disability-related issue involving themselves or a family member.

So. I have come here today to apologize for the 51 days lengthy time between posts and to commit to doing better. I would really like to get this blawg on a consistent schedule and start blogging on a weekly basis.

My absence has not been for lack of material, believe me; I have quite a selection saved that I would like to blog about. Some get stale and out of date, of course, but I have enough blawg fodder to keep me going for a while.

There's one post in particular that I am really looking forward to working on - a couple of weeks back, I stumbled upon an EXCELLENT video on future planning for a family member with special needs. It's American, so not 100% on point, of course, but the vast majority of it should be very useful for Nova Scotian families. It's going to take some work on my part, though - I watched the entire very lengthy video once (actually it's more like I was riveted to it) but I will need to go through it again in order to break it down and discuss the issues in a meaningful way.

All right, then. You have my promise to get back to this blogging thing on a much more regular basis. Please feel free to hold me accountable - if you don't, who will?