An encouraging word or a cheerful smile can go a long way concerning children, especially children who have disabilities. They already struggle to grasp concepts or issues depending on their disability.
A positive response helps ensure that their self-worth and self-confidence grow with them. To make sure they strengthen their resolve to the point where they can handle difficult or delicate situations.
Whenever you intend to make a positive difference in the lives of children with disabilities, it is essential to remember that you are helping them so they may learn to help themselves.
Your job as a parent/teacher/guardian is not to cure them but to show them the social and emotional means and how to use them. You can only show them the path, and they must choose to walk on.
Besides this, it is our job to make sure that children with special needs don’t feel out of place; by examining various schools and public areas with kids who have these disabilities, conclusions drawn out show that they are stigmatized.
The behaviour is disturbingly common despite federal legislation that protects the inherent rights of individuals with disabilities.
So how do we dissipate this negative energy? Here are four ways we can create a more positive impact on their lives.
1. Spreading Awareness
The simplest way of improving students’ lives with special needs is by training teachers and other staff members in special education.
Doing this is relatively easy; schools can either hire educators with a particular education degree or provide guidance and training to the existing ones.
Additionally, nowadays, many platforms provide Answers about an Online Master’s Degree in Special Education in detail.
Therefore, even if the teachers pursuing the course have any reservations or queries, they can quickly resolve them.
However, changing perspective can prove challenging, especially if it’s something that you’ve been accustomed to as a child. As a teacher, you may have to give more attention to a special kid.
Therefore, you have to think differently and show your students the bigger picture, which allows them to understand that sometimes these things will be necessary.
In the case of parents, it’s easy to become disheartened by your child’s progress. This is the time to remind yourself that everyone faces hurdles in life and that a disability doesn’t mean a dead end with no way to turn.
Sometimes you might have to break the wall down. How a disabled child may achieve that depends on your willingness, commitment, and moral support.
Don’t lean on others to find a solution when something goes wrong. It does you well to remain well informed of new developments for disabled individuals, whether it is a program or therapy.
2. Influence
It is important to remember that your influence will always rise above others. If you approach your tasks and challenges with confidence, your kid will follow in your footsteps.
Your actions are the ones they see and mirror. They won’t know the struggle as a brick wall, but they have to slow down a little to move forward like a speed bump.
Focus on your kids, learn about their likes and dislikes, their moods, and work through them. Then, implement according to what works and what doesn’t.
Speak up for your children. Again and again, if you have to receive the help they need. Embracing the role of a slightly overbearing parent may seem too much, but it is necessary.
Improve your communication skills. It can be unpleasant at times, but you’re standing up for them and supporting them in your kid’s eyes. This will steer them further to your side.
3. Focusing on Strengths
No child is defined by their disability. Nor should any such implications be made in any environment.
Yes, a disability can hold them back in certain areas, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any strengths. Each person is unique, so focus on what makes your kid happy.
Find out their hobbies, talents, and gifts. Allow them to grow and help nurture them into something beautiful. Be sure that time doesn’t slip away in these kinds of moments.
Your focus or your child’s schedule should never revolve around the disability. It requires attention, yes, but it doesn’t have to be your entire life, nor should it be.
4. Limitation of the Systems
As we said before, despite a law for individuals with disabilities, discrimination is still a relatively alarming problem for these kids.
Sometimes, the system doesn’t work. A similar situation occurs with schools. Often, parents invest too much time and energy looking to the school as a primary solution to every problem.
We always hold a particular image in our minds when sending our children to school. A limited amount of funding and a plethora of rules and regulations would mean that the services you’d imagined for your child were not exactly ideal.
So, this leaves behind a great deal of frustration and stress.
But the only way out of this sinking hole is to realize that the school is only part of the answer and somewhat the problem.
Your behaviour and response to situations like these will determine how your child will choose to view their life, for this will have a lingering impact on them throughout their lives.
Final Words
Success is different for everyone. What you may think of as an achievement, others may consider it a baby step. So, make sure that your child knows how to live, make people laugh, and laugh themselves.
If you don’t believe it yourself, your kids won’t either. Having something missing from their lives is not easy, especially since they are reminded of it each day.
Therefore, they may be more likely to slide into depression or have anxiety. While they must navigate through life, it doesn’t hurt to keep a guiding hand on top of theirs, just in case they get lost.
The key to this is, first and foremost, patience. Only then can you proceed with positivity and optimism.
