Guide to raising children with special needs & bull; hello healthy

Raising children with special needs is not an easy thing for parents to do. Parents must understand more and better understand everything their children do. The most important thing is that parents must be patient in teaching children to do something.

In this case, parents, both father and mother, must work together well to care for children with special needs. Sometimes mothers may feel frustrated in parenting, this is where the father's role is to support and help the mother, and vice versa.

Parents must also understand their child's illness and disabilities. To find out this, parents must consult a doctor and also study 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 a child 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, environmental acceptance, friends, opportunities to participate, and opportunities to excel.

2. Every child is different

A medical diagnosis cannot tell you your child's overall condition. You still have to study your child's condition, pay 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 by impaired nerve function. Research shows that the brains of children with learning disabilities are different from normal children. Research has also shown that the nerve cells in the brain normally operate in a certain pattern, but in children with learning disabilities they have nerve cells that travel in random patterns throughout the brain. Parents must be patient in teaching their children to do something.

4. Children with special needs can experience behavioral problems

They will react to the things he likes and dislikes. Children will tend to withdraw or show their attitude when they don't like something. This can help parents to identify things that children like and what children don't like. Things that become children's favorites can be a strength for children.

5. The emotions of children with special needs are very unstable 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 but they are not laughing at them, so that eventually the child feels very angry. Change mood very quickly happened. Sometimes he laughs and then bursts into tears. Sometimes maybe you as a parent feel hopeless with this child's condition.

You as a parent are not alone in dealing with children with special needs. Take advantage of all the things that exist. You have a family, a doctor, a therapist and more. Don't hesitate to ask a lot of questions to your child's doctor or therapist. The more you know about your child, the better.

Difficulties experienced by children with special needs in their daily activities

For children with special needs, doing daily activities that are needed by them, such as eating, sleeping, using the toilet, and others, is not as easy as normal children. They have to learn it slowly and gradually. There are difficulties for them to be able to do it perfectly.

1. Eat

Children with special needs can experience problems when eating. Some of the problems are physical problems that cause difficulty sucking, chewing, swallowing, or digesting food or drink; have limited movement, which makes it difficult for them to sit down 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 sleeping. This can be due to their physical development, such as muscle spasms or difficulty breathing due to certain conditions. Children with learning disabilities may find it difficult to understand why and when they need sleep. So this can also disrupt parental sleep hours.

3. Using the toilet

Some children with special needs are not able to use the toilet by themselves until they are older. It took them 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 occurs because of learning disabilities or physical limitations of children with special needs, such as movement disorders, motor and muscle skills disorders, or the child's physical condition that makes it difficult to pass urine.

Tips for helping children with special needs

If you have children with limited learning abilities, you must patiently teach your children 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 they have difficulty interpreting language, listening to and following directions. Therefore, parents should limit the number of words used in giving instructions to children, using simple sentence forms. If there are several steps for the child to do something, explain them one by one. You must speak clearly. Don't speak in long, complex words. This makes it difficult for children to understand what you are talking about. Look your child in the eye while talking with a gentle gaze.

2. Reduce irregularity in the child's life

Children with special needs find it difficult to distinguish between times and places. They also like to mess up the room. We recommend that you give children two or three kinds of toys when they are playing, not all toys are given to children. This helps to encourage them to make choices. For children who feel capable, involve them in daily routines and in planning something. This can help him learn time management and can also help children feel useful and make children more active.

3. Teach children to socialize

Children with learning disabilities usually cannot play with their friends. They cannot read facial expressions, gestures, or tone of speech. Parents must teach children to socialize with those around them. Starting from the closest person, relative or neighbor, for example. Parents can start by teaching children what is right and wrong to say, how to read facial expressions and gestures. Parents may have to train them through common social situations until they can develop appropriate interactions between individuals.

4. Build children's self-confidence

Children with special needs often feel at their worst and end up not confident. Parents should give lots of praise and positive comments to children starting from the smallest things children can do. That way, parents help their children to foster self-confidence and also as a form of parental support to children for something that children like.