Contents:
- Medical Video: Three Powerful Mantras To Guide You When Working With Children With Special Needs!
- What parents should know about children with special needs
- 1. Children with special needs are the same as other children
- 2. Every child is different
- 3. Children with special needs may experience limitations and difficulties in learning
- 4. Children with special needs can experience behavioral problems
- 5. Emotions of children with special needs are very labile and fragile
- Difficulties experienced by children with special needs in daily activities
- 1. Eat
- 2. Sleep
- 3. Using the toilet
- Tips to help children with special needs
- 1. Teach children to understand what you are talking about
- 2. Reduce irregularities in children's lives
- 3. Teach children to socialize
- 4. Grow children's confidence
Medical Video: Three Powerful Mantras To Guide You When Working With Children With Special Needs!
Raising children with special needs is not a matter that is easy for parents to do. Parents must be more understanding and understand more about everything their children do. The most important thing is that parents must patiently teach children to do something.
In this case, parents of both father and mother must work well together to care for children with special needs. Sometimes mothers may feel frustrated in caring for children, here is the role of fathers to support and help mothers, and vice versa.
Parents also need to understand their child's illness and the inability that children have. To find out this, parents must consult with a doctor and also learn about each child's behavior because there are different conditions and abilities for each child with special needs.
What parents should know about children with special needs
Raising children with special needs may be a challenge for parents. The following are some things parents should know about children with special needs.
1. Children with special needs are the same as other children
Even though they have certain conditions or limitations, they still need love, acceptance of the environment, friends, opportunities to participate, and opportunities to excel.
2. Every child is different
A medical diagnosis cannot tell your child's overall condition. You still have to learn about your child's condition, paying attention to every detail of your child's behavior.
3. Children with special needs may experience limitations and difficulties in learning
This learning disability is caused due to impaired nerve function. Research shows that the brains of children with learning disabilities are different from normal children. Research also shows that nerve cells in the brain usually run in a certain pattern, but in children with learning disabilities they have nerve cells that run in random patterns throughout the brain. Parents must be patient to teach their children to do something.
4. Children with special needs can experience behavioral problems
They will react to something he likes and he doesn't like. Children will tend to withdraw or show their attitude when they don't like something. This can help parents to recognize what things children like and children do not like. Things that become a child's favorite can be a strength for children.
5. Emotions of children with special needs are very labile and fragile
This child tends to have more sensitive feelings. They often feel themselves being laughed at when other people laugh in front of them when they are not laughing at them, so the child finally feels very angry. Change mood very fast happens. Sometimes he laughed and then cried. Sometimes you may feel frustrated as a parent with this child's condition.
You as a parent do not themselves face children with special needs. Take advantage of everything that exists. You have a family, doctor, therapist and others. Don't hesitate to ask lots of questions to your child's doctor or therapist. The more you know your child's condition, the better.
Difficulties experienced by children with special needs in daily activities
For children with special needs, doing daily activities needed by him, such as eating, sleeping, using the toilet, and others, is not as easy as a normal child. They must learn it slowly and gradually. There are separate difficulties for them to be able to do it perfectly.
1. Eat
Children with special needs can experience problems while eating. Some of the problems are physical problems that cause difficulty sucking, chewing, swallowing, or digesting food or drinks; have limited movement which makes it difficult for them to sit while eating; and learning disabilities that make it difficult for children to eat well. It takes a long time for children to be able to eat on their own.
2. Sleep
Children with special needs usually have problems during sleep. This can be caused by their physical development, such as muscle spasms or difficulty breathing due to certain conditions. Children with learning disabilities will find it difficult to understand why and when they need to sleep. So this can also interfere with parental sleep.
3. Using the toilet
Some children with special needs have not been able to use their own toilets until they are big. They need a long time to learn to use the toilet. Unlike normal children who are able to use the toilet around the age of 2-3 years. This happens because of learning disabilities or the physical limitations of children with special needs, such as movement disorders, impaired motor and muscle skills, or the physical condition of the child which causes it difficult to pass urine.
Tips to help children with special needs
If you have children with limited learning abilities, you must patiently teach your child to do something, especially for things that are new to them. Some tips to help your child know and learn something are:
1. Teach children to understand what you are talking about
Most children with learning disabilities have difficulty learning languages. This means that they have difficulty interpreting language, listening, and following instructions. Therefore, parents should limit the number of words used in giving instructions to children, using simple sentences. If there are several stages for the child to do something, explain one step at a time. You must speak clearly. Don't talk using long and complex words. This makes it difficult for children to understand what you are talking about. Look into your child's eyes when speaking with a gentle gaze.
2. Reduce irregularities in children's lives
Children with special needs find it difficult to distinguish between time and place. They also like to make the room mess. It's best to give children two or three types of toys when children play, not all toys are given to children. This helps to encourage them to make choices. For children, they feel capable, involve children in their daily routine and plan something. This can help him learn time management and also can help children feel useful and make children more active.
3. Teach children to socialize
Children with learning disabilities usually cannot play together with their friends. They cannot read facial expressions, gestures, or tone of voice. Parents must teach children to socialize with people around. Starting from the closest person, brother or neighbor for example. Parents can start by teaching children what is right and not right to say, how to read facial expressions and gestures. Parents may have to train them through common social situations until they can develop interactions between individuals accordingly.
4. Grow children's confidence
Children with special needs often feel themselves the worst and eventually they don't believe in themselves. Parents must give a lot of praise and positive comments to children starting from the smallest things a child can do. That way, parents help their children to foster self-confidence and also as a form of parental support for children about something they love.
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