The COVID-19 vaccine is now recommended for children ages 6 months old and up.  To help you prepare for your child’s vaccination, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provides information about the vaccine and a step-by-step checklist of questions or other health-related topics you may want to discuss with your child’s pediatrician or primary care doctor when scheduling your vaccine appointment.

Hearing about epilepsy and seizures for the first time can be frightening and confusing. The Epilepsy Foundation’s “New to Seizures and Epilepsy Toolkit” provides a starting point for individuals, parents and caregivers to learn about:

• What epilepsy is
• Available resources
• How to make the most of doctors’ visits
• How to take control of seizures

Individual fact sheets on topics including seizure first aid and developing your own seizure response plan are also available. All materials are available in English and Spanish.

Magic Wheelchair is a nonprofit organization that builds costumes for children and youth in wheelchairs at no cost to families.

To be eligible for a Magic Wheelchair costume, a child must be between 5 and 17 years old and primarily use a wheelchair for mobility.

Safe2Help Illinois offers students a safe, confidential way to share information that might help prevent suicides, bullying, school violence or other threats to school safety. The program is focused on getting students to “Seek Help Before Harm.”

Recognizing that not all students may feel safe talking to their parents, teachers, coaches or mentors, students can use a free app, text/phone, website (Safe2HelpIllinois.com) and other social media platforms to confidentially report school safety issues and seek help before harming themselves or others.

The Safe2Help website provides guidance, tips and multi-media materials for children, teens, parents and educators on topics including:

• The role and actions of a trusted adult
• Ways to get help
• Encouraging others
• Helping someone online
• Suicide prevention

igrow supports pregnant people and parents with young children ages birth to 5 who live in communities that face greater risks and barriers to achieving positive maternal and child health outcomes.

igrow home visiting provides family support and coaching to young parents who may be inexperienced and often do not have family support. Trained professionals are matched with families based on each family’s needs. To find a home visiting program in a specific community, use igrow’s interactive map to see the listing of specific communities that offer coordinated intake for home visiting services

If you need help finding a home visiting program, email dhs.homevisiting@illinois.gov.

Digital safety encompasses a wide variety of issues related to the use of computers, tablets, cell phones, games, apps and social media.  The Illinois Attorney General’s “Online Safe, Online Smart” website provides resources for children, teenagers, parents and educators seeking information about digital safety.

Kids, teens, parents and teachers coping with cyberbullying and internet safety issues may also contact an Internet Safety Specialist at:

Grupo SALTO (Sociedad de Autismo Latina Trabajando con Optimismo) aims to provide support in Spanish for Latino families who have children who are differently abled, with a focus on autism.

Grupo SALTO provides culturally and linguistically appropriate training, education and services.

Children with disabilities — such as physical, developmental, intellectual, emotional, and sensory disabilities — are at an increased risk of being bullied. Any number of factors —  physical vulnerability, social skill challenges, or intolerant environments — may increase the risk.

StopBullying.Gov provides information on risk factors, strategies to create a safe environment and other resources at www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/special-needs.

For parents and teachers who wish to learn more about autism to better support children and families in the autism community, the Illinois Early Learning Project (IEL) provides “What is Autism?”

This question-and-answer style document includes information about the prevalence and defining characteristics of autism, community- and school-based supports and links to additional resources.

The Arc’s Center for Future Planning provides a series of videos to help you save money and protect public benefits. Video topics include ABLE accounts and special needs trusts. Each video covers:

• The benefits of each resource
• How they work
• What they can pay for
• How to get started

The videos are available in English and Spanish.