Organising an Inclusive Birthday Party BIRTHDAY PARTIES CAN CREATE FEAR IN MANY PARENTS. ALL THE EXCITEMENT, NOISE AND SUGAR AT THE START, FOLLOWED BY TEARS AND TANTRUMS AT THE END.
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ot to mention all the expensive, catering and planning that’s involved. But one aspect of the planning that parents shouldn’t worry over is the invite list. Should you invite the child in the class with special needs? The simple answer is, yes. Having children with special needs at the party may require a bit of extra preparation, but it shouldn’t mean they miss out on an invite. Not invited For parents of children with special needs, knowing there’s a party on the horizon can cause dread
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for them too. But for very different reasons. Social media has been buzzing with examples of disabled and special needs children not being invited to birthday parties. And in some cases, they are the only child in the class without an invite. In response, blog posts have popped up across the internet from special needs parents urging people to include their children. One mother wrote an open letter on Facebook to the parents of her son’s classmate. They didn’t invite him to their party, because, she believes, he has Down syndrome.
Social exclusion: the new bullying? According to the Institute of Social Exclusion, bullying has changed from playground teasing to being excluded from activities. Both types of bullying can have the same emotional impact on the individual. But not all exclusion is about party invitations or games in the playground. Many parents say their special needs children are being excluded from relatives’ homes because of behaviours associated with their child’s disability. Some children are excluded because
