In the April and October 2018 school holidays, the Kofi Foundation provided funding for Early Links Inclusion Support Service to run a pilot program called ‘Siblings Unite’: a trial program for children who have a sibling with a disability to help them develop connections and skills to develop resilience and wellbeing. The grant was made via our grant program with FRRR (link to #7 “featured Post”) and their Small Grants for Rural Communities program.

Early Links Inclusion Support Service is a not-for-profit, non-government organisation that provides therapy, resources and equipment to more than 300 children who have disability and/or developmental delay in the regional shire of Dungog, NSW.

Some of the disabilities/delays that are supported include learning difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, apraxia of speech, severe language
delays, oppositional defiance disorder, reactive attachment disorder and severe gross motor and fine motor delays.

Growing up with a brother or sister with a disability presents a unique family environment. Siblings are confronted with issues that their peer group do not experience. Strong community connections and good communication/problem solving skills are protective factors in developing resilience and wellbeing. The pilot program ‘Siblings Unite’ aimed to foster these protective factors.

The pilot program centred on having experienced staff work with small groups of children in the school holidays using an activity or games-based methodology, developing core skills of problem solving, negotiating, building self esteem, and creating supportive networks.

The 19 children (aged 8 – 12 years) who participated enjoyed the program and provided positive feedback. Each program ran over two days in the school holidays, and included the following activities:

• Getting to know each other, exploring the differences and similarities between their siblings with disabilities
• Playing a game to allow participants to safely share their feelings on having a sibling with a disability
• Learning strategies to implement to help them cope with having a brother or sister with a disability, and identifying the support network they have in their lives to help them cope
• Fun time! – including visiting the local trampoline park, yoga and going to the movies

Outcomes

The program proved to be an ‘eye opener’ for the children participating, hearing that others experienced similar days to them with their brothers or sisters and had rough days as well. As one child commented to another, “Does your brother really break your things too when he’s having a meltdown?”

Throughout the activities, they were all able to open up and acknowledge that sometimes they were happy and proud of their siblings, but sometimes it was tough – and that’s ok.

At the end of the program, the participants swapped contact details with each other, and feedback from their families has been that they are keeping in touch with each other via social media and email. This is a great outcome given previously these children had been identified as isolated and some were taking on the role of carers for their siblings.

Next steps

Early Links deemed the pilot as a success and are currently exploring options to establish Siblings Unite as a permanent program. One of the learnings from the pilot was that participants would benefit from more regular contact, as this would provide the opportunity for more robust individualised support for the children. They are therefore considering implementing the program as a weekly or fortnightly session throughout the school term.