Any parent would do what they can to help their child succeed. With an atypical child it can be sometimes be difficult to determine what would best help them. Remaining a strong supporter and focusing on your child’s strengths and happiness will help navigate the way to greater success for everyone.
An atypical child can be defined as a child that has been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome, ODD, etc. Having an atypical child can come with many challenges; but they are much easier to cope with once you discover how to support your child’s specific needs. In order to do this, you will have to observe what your child unique interests are and what he/she succeeds at and when. You can motivate your child to delve deeper into their interests and even join in on what they are interested in. In doing so, your support can boost your child’s self-esteem and encourage them to venture into other social affairs and take on tasks they may have not otherwise considered
There are many ways to determine what will most help you and your child, but in every scenario, you must use a positive attitude and find the bright light in your child. . This means to be aware of where your child shines and why. As with any child there are moments of glory as well as times of challenge. If you focus on the strengths and moments of success you can build on these times during more challenging tasks. This may include a lot of trial and error until you find what best works with your child. In order to use this strategy, you should watch how your child interacts while playing or mastering a new task, then turn this into a helpful tool in mastering other skills.
Watching your child play can turn into a tool you can use to help your him/her successfully accomplish other goals. Eventually, you can use their playing techniques and integrate them into their daily life. Once you become aware of and focus on your child’s strengths and abilities you can utilize them to create more success for your son/daughter.
Once your child completes a task with ease and little to no parental involvement, it is important to determine why the task was not challenging. It could be for several reasons, but you should build on whatever positive reasoning you can and then create similar tasks that can help engage your child. An example of this would be if your child independently put together a difficult puzzle with ease. You would then determine why it was easy for them and could possibly discover a new learning pattern. You could then expand on this learning pattern and integrate it into their homework or daily lessons.
With a supportive team behind them, your child can accomplish many challenges they might not be able to face otherwise. Focusing on your child’s happiness and their abilities to overcome difficult obstacles can encourage their self-esteem and stimulate their mental growth. Observing which hobbies they enjoy, and even participating, can help your child gain confidence in themselves which would encourage positive social interactions.
Every child is different, and requires different learning techniques, but you can help guide and support your child efficiently if you focus on when and where they shine and why.
