THE EVOLUTION OF A SPECIAL NEEDS MOM
This life changes you, too.
Raising a child with disabilities, medical complexity, or special needs changes you, too.
Take The Evolution of a Special Needs Mom Assessment to discover where you may be in your own evolution—and what your current stage can tell you about what you're experiencing and what you need.
Takes about 2-3 minutes.
Hey!
I'm Kara Ryska
I'm a life coach, podcast host, mom of four, and someone who knows firsthand that life doesn't always go according to plan.
I help moms raising kids with disabilities and complex medical needs figure out how to love their lives, even when those lives look nothing like they imagined.
And yes, I have a few stories of my own.
beyond survival mode
You love your child. You'd do anything for them. But is it too much to ask to love your life, too?When you're raising a child with disabilities or complex medical needs, it's easy to spend so much time taking care of everyone else that you lose track of yourself.
And somewhere along the way, survival mode becomes your normal.
Maybe you've tried reading the books, listening to the podcasts, changing your mindset, or just trying harder. And yet, you still find yourself stuck in the same patterns.
That's where coaching comes in.
Coaching gives you a place to slow down, get curious about what's really going on, and discover new ways of responding to the challenges in your life.
Not because we're going to magically make the hard stuff disappear. (Wouldn't that be nice?)
But because you have more capacity to navigate this life than you might realize.
And you deserve to experience more than just surviving it.
MEET THE CREW
We look like a pretty typical family, don't we?
My husband and I have four kids, and like most families, our life is full of school, sports, family adventures, sibling arguments, and trying to figure out what's for dinner.
But there's a whole lot you can't see in this picture.
Our family's story includes a childhood brain tumor, brain surgeries, radiation, autism, brain injury, physical disabilities, vision loss, intellectual and developmental challenges, complex medical needs, and a list of diagnoses that could probably use its own filing cabinet.
Add in behavioral challenges, mental health struggles, IEP meetings, therapies, medications, and the never-ending job of coordinating care, and you've got a little better picture of our everyday life.
And somehow, in the middle of all that, we're still just a family. Laughing, arguing, making memories, and doing our best to figure things out as we go.
It's a lot. And it's a life I still want to love.
Did you hear?
The Special Needs Mom Podcast is part support group, part crash course in everything you didn’t know you needed to know about parenting a child with special needs.
Episodes share real life stories and experiences from moms like you who love deeply and fight hard for their families.
