Siblings of Kids with Special Needs

What's the upside of growing up with a sibling with special health or developmental needs?

Siblings of children with special needs have special needs themselves.  Their sister or brother with special needs will get a bigger share of attention.  While having a special needs sib presents challenges, it also comes with opportunities. Kids who grow up with a sibling with special health or developmental needs may have more of a chance to develop many good qualities, including:

• patience
• kindness and supportiveness
• acceptance of differences
• compassion and helpfulness
• empathy for others and insight into coping with challenges
• dependability and loyalty that may come from standing up for their brother or sister.

What kinds of difficult feelings might a sibling have?

http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/specneed.htm#tips