My knowledge of special needs began over 30 years ago (By Grandma Jeddah)

To encourage parents to learn more about developmental disabilities like cognitive disability (formerly mental retardation), and autism Grandma Jeddah will be posting throughout this month excerpts from her e-book Your Challenging Muslim Child with Special Needs, insha'Allah.

Introduction

My knowledge of special needs began over 30 years ago with a student I had in a class soon after I began teaching. He was unruly, belligerent and was a complete behavior problem. I didn’t know what to do with him. It was then that someone introduced to me the incentive/reward system for managing discipline problems with children.  I used it halfheartedly, my personal upbringing told me that the child was simply bad, and that was that. I resented having to do anything extra to manage this child’s behavior—why should I—he was the one who had the problem, not me.  And, after all –I was the teacher and should be obeyed. My ideas on who was responsible for the problem didn’t change the situation I was experiencing with the child. It may have only made me more indignant.

       

     I had several other students with varying behavioral problems over the following years since my first experience with that student. However, the children with special needs who had the greatest impact on me were those I managed at home--my own children.  It would be nearly fifteen years after my initial exposure to that student with the behavioral problems that I’d come to realize that the incentive/reward system I’d been exposed to decades prior was a valuable tool to use for my special needs students--as well as my own children at home. I appreciated this system even more as I came to learn of the challenges and difficulties children with developmental disabilities struggle with on a daily basis. 

           

I’d been planning to write this book for a long time. I made many mistakes over the years when managing both my students and my own children with special needs. Through trial and error and extensive research, Allah has blessed me with a wealth of practical experience and knowledge that has been enormously helpful and resourceful for managing my students and raising my children with special needs. I hope some of my experiences and wisdom expressed in this book will be a great means of support and help for other parents searching for help and solutions in managing their children with special needs.

         

   Keep in mind this book is in no way definitive by any means. It provides parents with practical introductory information on common disabilities that frequently contribute to behavioral problems with children. It also provides parents with practical advice on how to manage these special children to receive more desirable behavior from them. After completing this book, parents are encouraged to use this book as a jumping board to leap into the pool of knowledge available on special needs, discipline, and positive parenting. I have provided a list of helpful resources at the end of this book.

        

    Many of the suggestions given in this book on nurturing, managing, and disciplining children with special needs are fundamentals—develop a loving and caring relationship with your child and you will have a child who is more willing to comply with your regulations.  Help your child feel needed and wanted. Provide your child with the emotional support she needs, and you will find the relationship between you and your child improve phenomenally by leaps and bounds. You will find your household a much more peaceful and loving home. Fundamentals indeed—a reminder is good for the believer.

More excerpts continued, insha'Allah

Please click here to order  Your Challenging Muslim Child with Special Needs