Developmentally Challenged Children – Tips for Parents

Upon discovering that a child of ours is having a developmental disorder, be it autism, ADHD, dyslexia or whatever, parents face a number of difficulties. Often the first question asked is “who’s fault is this?”. Rest assured, developmental disorders are not the result of poor parenting!

The process of discovery may be painful but it is very important for both parents to accept the reality and deal with it. In many cases the disorder will be treatable even when discovered late. More importantly, the negative effects on a child with a developmental disorder can be devastating unless they are counteracted by parents and friends who are determined to let their child know that an inabity to perform on par with peers does not result in rejection or less love.

Start keeping a detailed journal for your child. Note down things like diet, moods, new therapies, hours of sleep, illnesses, medications, and physical data such as height, weight, head circumference, bmi and whatever else seems of importance. Make sure that you make relevant entries daily. This can be an invaluable help as time goes on. Ask your therapist to give you an appropriate developmental checklist and note down your child’s progress.

Finding the best therapy for your child is of great importance and perhaps even more important is to evaluate exactly what the individual child’s problems are.

A good therapy centre for developmental disorders will have at least the following facilities: Personnel; an occupational therapist, a child psychologist and a special educationist. Then Facilities; comprehensive licensed tests, a developmental playground, sensory integration toys and tools and good nutritional support. They will also maintain a therapy schedule with plenty of one-on-one sessions and so have a high therapist to client ratio. Finally, good therapy centers will include the parents in the therapy process. In our experience, when parents and therapists effectively cooperate, children do much, much better.

Parents then need to find out all they can about the particular problems that their child faces. The internet has plenty of information, but not all of it is good! Be sure to discuss what you learn with the professionals who are helping you! Join a support group with other parents who are sailing in similar waters. A good support group can be invaluable for sharing burdens and for finding solutions. You will be surprised to discover how common developmental problems are!

Finally, start including your extended family and your friends in your experiences. Don’t try to keep your child’s difficulties a secret.  This can be hard to do but it is very necessary.  Not all will be understanding but most people will appreciate your confidence and will try to be practically helpful.

Educating a developmentally challenged child can be difficult but many schools recognise the problems and are starting to practice inclusive education. Search out such forward thinking schools and spend time talking to your child’s teachers about what additional therapy is ongoing and areas where your child needs extra help.

Always know that you and your child will grow together. Some developmental problems can be completely cured, others can be so well compensated for that no deficit will be detectable and in all cases improvement will be seen!

So, never give up…

LD3 – Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is again a very common learning disorder.

One can think of dyspraxia as being in a disordered state of mind. Disorganisation can become the hallmark of a child’s life. Common tasks cause confusion. There is no plan put into action to complete a job. Indeed, dyspraxia is more than a learning disorder, it is a life disorder!

For students, the common signs are messy workplaces, things going ‘missing’ very often and when a series of actions are called for an inability to repeat a sequence of actions in the same way. Simple everyday activities like brushing one’s teeth can prove problematic. If you think about it, what many of us do almost without a second thought actually involves a number of separate steps. We find and pick up a toothbrush, then find and open a tube of toothpaste, then put just the right amount of paste onto the bristles of the brush, cap the paste and put it back in its proper place. We then brush our teeth and usually that too in some sort of ordered sequence to ensure that each tooth has been cleaned, front and back. Then wash the paste out of our mouth, find a towel and dry up. The brush has to be washed and brush and towel returned to where they should be.

The student with dyspraxia will often have forgotten books, pen, diary etc. Typically the disorganisation will be visible on the work surface. Things will be scattered around. Something once used will not be put back from where it was taken. Activities like searching or finding will often end in failure.

I think you can see the devastating effects that dyspraxia can have on a chid’s life, self-esteem and personality development.  Typically, such children will be thought of as  ‘unable to do the simplest thing properly’. Without intending to, they will be considered naughty, stubborn, lazy, messy, unreliable, careless, forgetful and a lot of other unfavourable things.

Dyspraxia can be very frustrating for parents to deal with for it is not limited to school or study but will affect every area of a child’s life.

Dyspraxia again is a developmental disorder and one that can occur alone or along with dyslexia, dysgraphia and/or ADHD. Dyspraxia can and should be treated!

Most chidren will show improvement with therapy. For a few kids, some degree of difficulty will be with them throughout their lives. Many will be able to compensate for their disorder to such an extent that it may become unnoticeable.

Suffer the CHILDREN

The BBC reports an estimated 43 million children in the war affected hotspots around the world that are now being denied a chance at education (data from Save the Children).

Horrifying, but not nearly as bad as this statistic: The proportion of women and children among civilians injured or killed in war is approximately 80% (according to Unicef).

In countries like India, where industrialisation is growing apace, the greater danger comes from poverty. Society is becoming more stratified.

The absolute number of kids getting a primary education seemingly increases as a result of the ‘growth’ of the middle class.
But, the poor are getting poorer – and sending their kids out to work. Staying alive has a higher priority. Privatisation of education only means that the government, which should be helping the poor, quietly turns a blind eye.

Getting back to the question of who really suffers in war, one wonders, do the perpetrators of war ever think through the consequences?

What benefit is there in supposedly engaging one enemy but ending up killing only women and kids?

Is this a new sort of tactic ?

– stop fighting me…

or I will decimate your women and children?

Remember: Modern warfare kills 10 TIMES more civilians than combatants!