Need help now?

Looking for safe and effective ways to find my 14yr old Girl friends

Discussion forum for parents in Australia

Looking for safe and effective ways to find my 14yr old Girl friends

Reply
Casual scribe
14yroldsMomlost

Looking for safe and effective ways to find my 14yr old Girl friends

Hi everyone, I'm new here.  I found this site looking for groups and places I can get help and suggestions on issues with my kids.  Right now I'm concerned deeply about my 14 year old daughter.  She is a special needs teen who is as normal as a 14 year old in every other area but who has something called speech apraxia (it affects her ability to speak clearly; she knows what she wants to say but it gets jumbled up before it comes out) and is therefore in classes at school with the special needs kids who are severely disable and so she has not made any friends at school where most kids find their friends.  Every year it hurts her more and more as the one neighbor who was filing that spot for her has moved on to boyfriends and work and high school.  She is two years older than my daughter and doesn't have time for her anymore.

  I am looking for any suggestions, help and support with this issue.  It breaks my heart especially when my other kids have friends over every day and sleep overs every weekend.  Where are the best places to help foster friendships?  Are there any resources for this type of thing?  Any help is greatly appreciated. 

 

Highlighted
Star contributor
Janine-RO

Re: Looking for safe and effective ways to find my 14yr old Girl friends

Message contains a hyperlink

Hi @14yroldsMomlost , 

 

Welcome to our Parents forums, and thanks so much for posting here - I can hear how deeply your care for your daughter. It must be heartbreaking to see your daughter struggling to find friends to connect to. It looks like you're posting from the USA, is that right? We are an Australian service, so I don't have a lot of specific knowledge of what services that may be available where you are.  I did have a few ideas that might help though: 

 

* Meetup.com groups: a lot of areas have pretty active MeetUp groups, which you can search by area/ interest

* Volunteering can be a great way to meet people, especially if it ties in with her interests/ passions

 * Organisations like Girl Guides/ Scouts

* Online gaming can be a great way for some teens to get social interaction, especially if they have problems with verbal communication. 

* Joining a sports club

 

We also have some resources here for parents who are wanting to help their teenagers to make friends. 

 

Does your daughter have any interests or hobbies that she enjoys?