During a keynote speech at the 3rd international conference on 22q11 in Barcelone, Prof. Stephan Eliez spoke about family impact of microdeletion 22q11 and focused on siblings and the need to take into account the needs of other children.
This presentation is based on a book from 2015 “J’élève un enfant pas comme les autres – retard mental, autisme, polyhandicap…” (I raise a child different from others – mental retardation, autism, polyhandical…) and its chapter 7: “I take into account the needs of my other children. Siblings and family dynamics”.
Children generally expect a parent to devote the same amount of time to each of their children. However, the different child disrupts the principle of equity. In this situation, the message that parents need to acknowledge the unfairness of the situation and pass on the message to siblings that:
“We love you the same but we don’t treat you the same because a child is different”
The speaker then devises on impacts that unbalanced attention from parents can have on siblings and how to deal with these issues. He also explains how a third party, such as a psychiatrist, can help parents in this issue.
To read the full presentation, click here.