What Special Needs Parents Need Most?

Inspiration is constantly underestimated.  My wife and I have found inspiration to be the fuel, which has kept us going, through the difficult and confusing journey of raising children with special needs.

Almost everyday, I see or hear about parents with special needs being overwhelmed with information, critiques, or gloomy outlooks regarding their children.

All too rare are those moments when someone chooses to  inspire them, even though inspiration is what they need most.

I wonder how many professionals who work with special needs families sit down and consider how to inspire them.  Some might say it isn’t their job to motivate, but if not there’s then whose?

Those who will do the greatest service to families with special needs should consider inspiration a requirement.

We must remember even the most motivated require the effort to light an intrinsic fire inside…just take a look at how Apple CEO Tim Cook describes being recruited by Steve Jobs.

“Five minutes into the conversation, I wanted to join Apple,” Cook said. “He painted a story, a strategy, that he was taking Apple deep into consumer at a time when I knew that other people were doing the exact opposite. And I’ve never thought following the herd was a good strategy.”

“I went back and resigned immediately,” he said.

Douglas MacMillan on Apple, Washington  Post