Easily Influenced
Because
of their strong desire to be accepted by others, children who have learning and
cognitive disabilities can be gullible and easily taken advantage of. Your child needs to know that she can depend
on you as a friend, even when others may forsake her. So be available as a
friend to your child. You must also remain keenly aware of where and with whom
your child spends her time. This type of child can easily be influenced to
shoplift when shopping with unsavory friends, or participate in countless other
mischievous activities youth can be influenced to engage in. Inform your child about disreputable
activities such as shoplifting, vandalism, bullying and drug use. Even though
your child is a Muslim, she still desires acceptance by her peers and can be
led to commit unsavory acts.
Acting out Feelings
Your
child may sometimes act out aggressively exhibiting behaviors such as throwing
tantrums or shouting rudely when expressing her displeasure. This type of
hostile behavior can be attributed to your child’s limited verbal abilities.
She may be unable to express her feelings appropriately with words so she acts
out her frustrations. Teaching your child
the words she needs to describe how she feels is critical if you want to
minimize emotional outbursts. It allows her to communicate with words instead
of undesirable behavior. Teach emotion
words and phrases such as, “I feel angry, hurt, sad, happy, disappointed,
jealous, mad, excited etc.” The more
your child can verbally express her feelings, the less she will have a need to
act out her feelings in order to be understood.
Focus on Strengths
Focus
on your child’s abilities rather than weaknesses. Children who are constantly
bombarded with corrections, complaints, and criticism develop hostilities that
can result in combative, defensive, and resistant behaviors.
Take mental note or written notes of what your child
enjoys doing and is capable of doing.
When you see her involved in these activities, compliment her
endeavors. Compliments boost her self
esteem which gives her the desire to cooperate. When praising, don’t ruin it by
following up with a negative. “I see
you’re texting your friends. You seem to
like text messaging. You spelled school
wrong it’s s-c-h . . . .” Leave a compliment a compliment. Also, be sure to
involve your child in activities in which she can succeed. Find activities that she enjoys that aren’t
competitive. Someone else‘s winning is
at the cost of your child losing . . . often repeatedly. Your child might be heard saying, “I never
win.” The fact is, she’s probably
correct. This can cause her to begin to
doubt herself and her abilities. This is
why it’s a good idea to get her engaged in non-competitive activities. Examples of such interests can be shooting
hoops free style, hiking, fishing, bird watching, rock collecting, shell
collecting, swimming, scrapbook making,
roller skating, ice skating, assembling puzzles, beading jewelry,
creating crafts, sewing, gardening, T-shirt printing, T-shirt tie dying,
designing tissue paper flowers, crocheting, macramé, knitting, and much
more. You can look up crafts and hobbies
on-line or visit the library for books on leisure activities.
More excerpts continued, insha'Allah
