Wouldn’t it be great if every special needs mama was surrounded by her own team of special needs S.E.A.L.s? Imagine how a well-trained, cohesive team of people determined to achieve the impossible and dedicated to the well-being of a special needs family, could make life easier for special needs Mama S.E.A.L.s. But how can a mom up to her eyeballs in caregiving duties create a successful special needs mama S.E.A.L. team. An article in Southwest Airline’s inflight magazine (April, 2015) shared four team-building tips that come straight from Navy S.E.A.L.s. When I read the article, my reaction was I have to share these with Different Dream readers. They could use them to build a S.E.A.L. team spirit amongst the people that work with their kids.

4 Tips for Creating a Special Needs Mama S.E.A.L. Team

#1: Special needs mama S.E.A.L. team members are confident about contributing to the team. They care more about contributing to the team than to themselves. Mama S.E.A.L.s need to preach and teach message to the people who care for their children. It’s not about any individual adult working with a child. It’s about everyone doing whatever the child needs. Special needs S.E.A.L. mamas constantly focus team members’ on their purpose: the child.

#2: Special needs mama S.E.A.L. team members trust one another to do what’s best for the child. Therefore Mama S.E.A.L.s, as the director of their kids’ care, have to create trust, too. They need to encourage and praise supportive work among team members. They need create a “got your back” culture with the ultimate goal of having the child’s back at all times.

#3: Special needs mama S.E.A.L. team members need to be trained. Mama S.E.A.L.s observe the people working with their kids to assess their strengths and their weaknesses. Then they build upon those strengths and offer education and training to address the weaknesses. So if an in-home caregiver seems hesitant about feeding tube feedings, feed your child together a few times. If someone else is a whiz at handling your child’s behavior, ask him to share his techniques with the rest of the team.

#4: Special needs mama S.E.A.L. team members need to know what other members of the team do. Mama S.E.A.L.s should make sure every member of the team knows something about what the other members do. Enough to temporarily carry on if someone is sick or injured or moves away. Which is why Mama S.E.A.L.s make cross training part of the training mentioned in tip #3.

What Tips Would You Add to the List?

If you’re a special needs mama S.E.A.L. you may have a few more tips for readers about creating a cohesive, well-trained team to work with your child. If so, please feel free to share them in the comment box.

Do you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the quarterly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up for the first in the pop up box and the second at the bottom of this page.