It was our 10th Anniversary for the Partners In Care conference! Our theme, Through the Years..., fits well with how we are bringing together families, health care & service providers, educators, and individuals within organizations and state agencies to listen and learn from each other, to explore themes, learn about best practices, hear stories, and share common experiences. Parent to Parent, in partnership with Children with Special Health Needs at the Department of Health in the Agency of Human Services and the Vermont Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics invited you to join us December 4th as we explored childcare for children with special needs, relevant issues of growth and transition, a model of peer support for children and how physician practices are supporting the growing needs of children with disabilities and their families.

Ceci Shapland helped us to kick off our conference with Healing Touch on Thursday, December 3rd.

Peggy Mann Rinehart, whose article follows, was our keynote speaker: Living with Children Who Have Disabilities, Anecdotes & Key Principles.

Our Morning Workshops were Circle of Friends; Loving Self, Finding Love - Teaching Sexuality in the 90's to Youth with Special Health Needs; and Creating a Win-WIn Parent-Provider Partnership.

Afternoon Workshops: Managing Childhood Depression; Steps Toward Independence; and The Child Care Experience: Moving Forward Together.

Laughter for the Health of It with Judy Branch concluded our day with a smile.

As an "appetizer" for the the conference, we thought you'd enjoy one of Peggy's articles. Peggy's keynote included an update on Project Resilience, described in the following article.

Resilient children are not invincible. They can be hurt. They can be wounded. They are not immune to the stresses of daily life. Resilience may not even be constant.

One of the earliest researchers in the area, Michael Rutter, Ph.D., suggests that resilience is a dynamic, ever changing quality. Resilience is affected by the environment, the stage of a child's development, and the specific situation a child faces.

Resilience arises out of a belief in one's own self-efficacy, the ability to deal with change, and a repertoire of social problem-solving skills. Resilience is the tendency for a child, adult, or family to rebound from stressful circumstances or events and resume usual activity and success. Resilience is the power of recovery.

Over the last two decades, the notion of resilience has helped researchers to think in terms of strengths-"What makes a child thrive?"- rather than in terms of disadvantage. That's why "Project Resilience," the longitudinal study of factors predicting competence in children with chronic illness and disability, is a ground breaking study. Our research focuses on those characteristics of families that contribute to positive outcomes. What characteristics of families increase the risk for adverse outcomes? How does the chronic illness in the child affect the emergence or disappearance of those protective factors over time?

We also want to know how the community, the school, the neighborhood, and the child's friends affect the course of the child's development.

By the year 2000, this study will have captured 10 years of data detailing the normal growth, development, and struggles of children with chronic conditions and their families across childhood into adolescence.

"Project Resilience" is based on the assumption that, regardless of the disability or chronic condition, children and youth are more alike than different. Through interviews and questionnaires, researchers will capture what goes right with children and youth and their families. What goes right has little to do with diagnosis.

This non-categorical approach assumes that: the impact of chronic illness on the psychological and social functioning of children and their families is more alike across conditions than different; and the protective factors, including temperament and connectedness, contributing to the success of a child are alike regardless of whether the child has diabetes, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, or cystic fibrosis.

The emphasis on resilience and protective factors without regard to diagnostic categories represents a major shift in the research on children with chronic illness and should have an equally revolutionary impact on public health, human service care and educational policies, and health care reform. ©