Creating a back-to-school care plan for children with diabetes can build a child's self-confidence, give parents peace of mind, and help school staff and administrators provide a safe and effective learning environment.

The latest Chicken Soup for the Soul book, Stories of Love and Understanding for Those Who Care for Children with Disabilities, includes inspiring tales and wonderful stories about loving and raising kids just like ours.

A child may use a wheelchair for mobility full-time, as the result of an injury or condition that is temporary or intermittent, or to avoid injury, relapse or exhaustion. After a temporary injury, my son needed a walker and wheelchair, an accessible home and community, and a better informed mother

Families of children with special needs have found wonderful support and encouragement from religious groups and their own communities of faith; children who grow up included in a faith community find lifelong friends and good company

Children with celiac disease benefit from having a health care plan in place at school with information for teachers, administrators and school nurses as well as lunch suggestions, food and art supply restrictions

Children who struggle with fine motor skills, like cutting with scissors, may deal with challenges of motor planning, muscle control, perception of objects, size and strength of their fingers and hands, limited access to tools and practice, and their own frustration.

Bilingual families whose child with Down syndrome or other developmental disability has also learned a second or third language have demonstrated the importance of giving every child the opportunity to grow up bilingual or multilingual

Children with special needs can be especially anxious and confused about how their lives will change before the first week of school in a new grade, including how they will get to school and back, and where they will spend their days.

Children deserve to be offered pain relief for childhood blood draws, injections, bone marrow aspiration, laser treatment and other medical procedures that may create more fear and anxiety than the injury or illness being treated. Some are: EMLA disks, Ametop gel, Numby Stuff, and vapocoolant sprays

Pain management for children with chronic medical conditions and others who need blood draws, bone marrow aspiration, central or PICC lines, IV sticks, or port access may experience less pain, fear and trauma using numbing agents and techniques to avoid or relieve anxiety and distress