Support System
As the saying goes, knowledge is power. And for busy working parents of special-needs children, it can be lifesaving as well. To make it simpler for employees to access vital information on parenting a child with disabilities, companies like Booz Allen Hamilton now offer online educational resources, brown bag seminars, and parental support groups.
Just knowing that she wasn’t alone was a big comfort to Kathy Kull, forty-three, an Administrative Services Manager at Booz Allen. When her then four-year-old son, Thane, was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), Kathy’s workplace mentor confided that she also had a special-needs child. “It was incredibly helpful to know that someone else understood what I was going through and could give me advice,” Kathy says. “Since then, I’ve met other Booz Allen parents, some through the company support groups and others through word of mouth, whose children have attention deficit disorders. We’ve learned so much from each other.”
Whether their children struggle with attention deficit problems, autism, or any other disability, moms and dads at Booz Allen can turn to the company for need-to-know information. “Parents of children with special needs used to be afraid to let their employers know they were struggling—they thought it would reflect poorly on them as employees,” points out Marguerite Kirst Colston, Director of Communications for the Autism Society of America, who helped Booz Allen put together its lunchtime seminars on autism. “Now they’re asking for support from their companies, and organizations are responding with expanded benefits and resources.”
Booz Allen’s brown bag seminars cover topics recommended by its disability task force. If staffers are unable to attend a session, they can teleconference in or watch a PowerPoint presentation at their convenience. “We’re constantly looking at the needs of our employees to evaluate what they want,” says Natalie Jackson, a work/life programs specialist at Booz Allen. “We get a lot of requests for information sessions on specific issues, and we use them to develop new programs.” Kathy recently viewed the AD/HD PowerPoint seminar and gained invaluable information to help her son, now nine. “Even though I have a great team at Thane’s school and wonderful health-care resources, there are always things I can learn,” she explains. “Homework is our big trouble area. Evenings used to be a nightmare because Thane was tired and his medication had worn off. The AD/HD presentation gave me great ideas about setting up strategies for success at home and about finding an afterschool program that has an atmosphere conducive to studying.”
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