Hi there, can anyone give me advice?
We are hoping to adopt a little girl with a family history of learning disabilities. At age 10 months, it is too early to understand the extent of her own disability. She is showing moderate delay in gross and fine motor development, as well as having problems with feeding, and very disturbed sleep. On the emotional/social side, she is developing more age-appropriately, interacting with her foster carer's other children, babbling, and differentiating between her carers and strangers.
I just wondered if I can get a better understanding of what day to day life can be like, caring for a child with mild to moderate learning disabilities? We feel very positive that we have a lot to offer a child who needs extra support, but we also have two other children, and we need to try to understand better the potential impact on the whole family if we adopt this little girl.
I'm not expecting any magic answers, just any thoughts or advice from those of you out there who already are where we are thinking of going!

Welcome to Holland
I know of several people who have made the decsion to adopt or foster chilren with a learning disablitiy and none have regretted it.
With the right imput your child will make progress but it will be slower. As your child gets older it is important that you build their sef esteem and let them try to do thingsrit is very easy to wrap children in cotton wool and do things for them

I think that having other children with help enourmously and will help benefit the child with the disabilities. I know for my daughter having siblings it means that she has copied their behaviour which has helped to bring her on

I also think her siblings are more caring and more patient because they have had their eyes opened to the world of disabilities and I think it makes an impact in a good way and makes them better people ( I think its made us better parents too )

also get support, find out if you have a local support group so that you can share things and ideas together. There may be a local "contact a family" near you

do let us know how you get on

Our DS son, now 23, joined our family when he was 13 months old. We have three birth daughters who were then 16, 12 and 10 years old. They were very involved with his upbringing, which gave them much pleasure, when he learned to walk and talk, for instance.

We home schooled our son, partly because we were not happy with the special education provision in our area, and also because he had no behavioural problems, we didn't want him copying those of other special needs children. It worked out well for him and us.

He is a very contented young man, albeit with moderate to severe learning disabilties. He will never be able to live independently or hold down a job, but we find his presence in our home a joy and a blessing.