Parenting A Special Needs Child

Do you have to repeat things again and again?

Do you have a trick to remain eternally patient with your special needs child?

I thought the bubble saga was all over, but when I picked up Deena from Camp the next day, she burst into tears over a misunderstanding with the camp nurse.

So this clip is about helping kids to communicate; especially special needs kids who might pick up partial information and get confused. This happens almost every day with us and a lot of my time is spent explaining all the “he said…she said” details to Deena who usually understands events in a totally opposite way to what actually transpired.

This was my attempt to have a “Happy End” to the bubble drama and help Deena explain things fully so that everyone is clearly in the picture.

Leave a comment. Do you think I handled the situation well? Do you have any suggestions?

And if you want to see me demonstrate on video the Number One Calming Technique I use most with my child—click here.

Have you ever been to hospital with your special needs child? Did you let them take charge so that they could get back a sense of control?

This is Deena’s wound. She has an impressive bubble blister on her hand from a glue gun! so I let her start explaining the situation when the doctor walks in.
He is busy speaking medical jargon which is right over Deena’s head and surprisingly inconsiderate of a child’s feelings. So I let her ask as many questions as she needs while I support her in the background.
See how brave she is in the clip as she is more involved in talking about reptiles than watching the dissecting of her own hand. I guess these distraction techniques really work!

What do you think of the way I handled the situation? Please leave a comment if you have another suggestion.

And if you want to see me demonstrate on video the Number One Calming Technique I use most with my child—click here.

How can  a parent avoid a meltdown in hospital with a special needs child? Do you know how to stop your child with ADHD from bouncing around inappropriately?

Humor, humor and more humor is the way to go with kids. Especially with kids with special needs like Deena who will explode at any moment while waiting for the doctor to come and pop the infamous bubble blister that she has on her hand.

Time can go really slowly and you are pretty much alone in the long wait. What’s a parent to do in this situation? Talk to your child about the predicament. “Hey Sweetie, we are here for a long while. Let’s hear some ideas to keep us both in a good mood”. Involve your child in the process. Look around together if there is anyone else worse off that we can help? Don’t wait for the meltdown: keep introducing new ideas.

Luckily, the hospital had a supply of books available when I specially requested them for Deena, so be pro-active and don’t just count the minutes with a complaining child. Look for fun solutions.

I am constantly looking for ways to get her to be involved and give her a sense of control. Check out this clip and leave a comment about if you think I did a good job.

Do you have any suggestions? I’d love to hear.

And if you want to see me demonstrate on video the Number One Technique I use most with my child—click here.

Have you ever been stuck in a trapped situation like hospital waiting rooms and tried to make it an opportunity?

The whole point of this clip is to show how a little humor can go a long way with a child who has special needs. Even though Deena is distracted and nervous, I let her make jokes to calm herself down while we continue on our long wait.

Every time she talks, I first let her ramble nervously through all her associations and then I help her organize her thoughts into a coherent order  worth listening to.
I am trying to prepare her in advance for the moment when the bubble blister will be pricked by the doctor, so I distract her and keep her thoughts occupied so no premature  meltdown comes her way. Actually helping a few other people who were in emergency all alone as the best experience for her, so that Deena got the idea that a burnt hand is a far lesser deal than a broken collar bone or heart attack.
Come and watch her in the hospital room and see her good mood.

Please leave a comment. What’s your hospital experience with your child? Was it positive or a nightmare?

And if you want to see me demonstrate on video the Number One Technique I use most with my child—click here.

Have you ever taken your special needs child to hospital? How did it go?

These next few clips are about how Deena burnt her hand with a glue gun at camp.
The wound instantly became a large bubble-blister which was really impressive, but it didn’t deflate for 5 days. Finally our doctor said we would have to go to Emergency in hospital and have it lanced as it was getting complicated.

I try to show how I deal with Deena during this experience and try to make it as positive and light-hearted as possible so as to leave minimum trauma for something that could be potentially frightening. My special needs daughter is a drama queen always looking for new material to get upset about, so I tried to make this a learning experience that she could gain from.

In this clip, I try to help her communication skills so that she can speak for herself.
Of course it comes out all garbled so I am always there in the background guiding her language and idea-presentation. Normally a doctor won’t have the patience to listen to a child and will rush forward just involving the parent, but I want Deena to speak her mind…so I am there to help her organize her thoughts.

I also let her share her fear without telling her not to be ridiculous, so that once that emotion is shared, it helps to reduce the tension.

See how we begin our” bubble” journey and let me know if you would have handled the situation differently.

Please leave a comment with your suggestions.

If you like the video below you can see a video of my Number One Technique right here.

Read on if you are a parent of a child with special needs and are searching for ways to BE THERE FOR YOUR CHILD.

Last night, Deena was in a strange mood but couldn’t explain why. Eventually she had a really dramatic meltdown because she revealed she was nervous about performing in a dog show in front of many parents at her camp.

This is one of those “Real” moments in parenting, when I can either help her to calm down OR add to her upset and make things worse by getting exasperated myself!.  I realize that this is a perfect opportunity for both of us to practice coping skills and help her to deal with difficult situations like a possible panic attack before it actually happens.

So this post is all about our before-the-event talk on how to turn a nerve-wracking situation into a happy one. So I used suggestions like deep breathing, visualizations and lots of humor to get her to actually enjoy the event. Here’s how it went…..

By the way! I’m waiting for a comment with your reaction straight after seeing the clip.OK?

If you like the video below you can see a video of my Number One Calming Technique right here.