Shadow Buddies®... "Special Buddies for Special Children" are condition specific dolls designed to be a friend, ³just like me.² Inspired by a young man who has endured over 34 major surgeries in his 14 years of life, the Shadow Buddies are given to seriously ill and medically challenged children to provide educational and emotional support. The book is a direct result from this young man¹s experiences at school with leaking ostomy bags, showering with visible heart surgery scars, and constant trips to the nurses office.  Published by the Shadow Buddies Foundation, The Know Your Buddy Book and pilot study was funded by a two year grant from a national foundation.

The "Know Your Buddy" Project

Children with special needs are being mainstreamed into schools and with them come new issues. Teachers are having to deal with more distractions and demands on their time and students are discovering a new kind of classmate.  The Know Your Buddy Book was designed to give educators a hands-on, realistic resource in which anyone can speak to a class about others who may have an illnesses, disability, or medical conditions. The book is the resource and the Shadow Buddies are the visual. The topics addressed offer personal stories written by children who have experienced each condition, lesson plans, projects, experiments, and activities that further the understanding of each subject, and a Shadow Buddy for a visual.  Educators have little time to research and develop programs such as this on their own. Thus, the content is concise, easy to understand, and in one resource. The book is constructed so any nurse, teacher, counselor, aid, or staff member can skillfully educate one child or a group, for five minutes or one hour, and get the message across. The result is dispelling rumors so kids can get on with the job of learning and true inclusion.

Students who have special needs believe if you know and understand about their conditions then classmates wouldn't spend so much time wondering about them and begin treating them like everyone else.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Shadow Buddies Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to provide positive emotional support through education in regards to illness, disability, and medical treatments. The foundation accomplishes this through unique programs designed to enhance the lives of children and adults that in turn, increase compassion and understanding of medical differences and diversity The Know Your Buddy Book is the educational arm of the Foundation and we are recognized by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.

Kathy Patton
Shadow Buddies Foundation
sbfdn@mindspring.com
Phone: 1-888-BUDDIE1   Fax: 816-436-1511

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