If your child was recently injured, take a look back at the previous stage for helpful tips and tools to get started. You can come back to this stage when you feel ready to continue.
If your child has had their injury for a few years, you may both be starting to understand more about spinal cord injury and how it affects the body. Keep talking with your child about their injury and how their body responds.
In the last stage, you and your child may have started a personal medical summary. Keep adding new information as you learn more. You can also update the schedule of health appointments to stay organised.
If you have not started these yet, you can find them below. Remember, you can ask a member of your child’s healthcare team to help you with this.
As your child gets older, they may want to take on more responsibility for their healthcare. Talk with your child about ways they can start to be more independent. For example, they could practise making a doctor’s appointment or ordering a prescription refill. You can use the goal planning sheet to help you and your child break these tasks into small, simple steps. This will help them build confidence and work towards their transition goals.
Your child may want to start seeing the doctor or other health professionals on their own for part of their visit. This is a great step. It shows they are growing in confidence and learning to take the lead in their healthcare. It is normal for this to feel a bit worrying as a parent or caregiver. You are not alone in feeling this way. Take some time to learn about your child’s rights and confidentiality, and talk about this together. This can help both you and your child feel more comfortable and prepared.
