Challenged Child

A girl lies down in the floor of a major department store and begins kicking and screaming as though she is being physically hurt. People instinctively look, only to see an eight-year-old behaving as though she was eighteen-months old. The whispers of the quick to judge people tell the mother that the people do not understand. How are the people to know that her daughter has brain damage due to a high fever when she was only nine-months old? The brain damage had left the child with several problems such as seizures, uncontrolled behavior, poor motor skills, and of course social problems. It is physically and socially hard for both the mother and daughter. When some adults see her daughter miss-behave they look at the mother with disapproval. They have no way of knowing if it is an uncontrolled episode her daughter may be suffering, or a well-trained tantrum. Some people shy away due to fear or embarrassment, and some people just stand and stare. Even worse are the times when other children shy away leaving the child to feel unaccepted.

Her daughter does not understand why other children do not want to play with her, or why she is not able to perform certain activities like most other children. The other children do not understand why her daughter pinches when she is excited, or even why she gets so excited. Some children are even rude and call her names. There are a lot of children, like her daughter, who have to take medications to help them for health and social reasons. However, like her daughter, they get tired of taking daily medication that may smell like strawberries but taste like chalk. The mother knows that it would be easy for her daughter, and others like her, to withdraw into a private little world if not carefully managed and counseled. The mother knows that she should take caution in how she talks to her daughter. She knows that even children without major problems are easily led to have the wrong impression about them-selves when negative feelings are directed toward them. She tries to focus on the good traits of her daughter and works hard to let the child know that she is loved and accepted. However, she also knows that there should be rules set even for the physically and mentally challenged children. The mother knows that children should be taught that there are acceptable and not acceptable behaviors, and that certain consequences result when the rules are broken, such as the tantrum in the department store. She has learned that consistency with up holding rules and the consequences for breaking the rules, lead to a much smoother and rewarding home environment. Thus making life for her daughter and her-self much easier.

It is difficult at times to know just what to do when problems arise. There are a number of people and places that you can turn to for help or guidance, or simply just for someone to talk to. You can find some of them on the Internet with little difficulty, and the best thing about it is that most of it is free. Just run a search for challenged children and you will find some very good leads for just about any question you may have. Good luck and feel free to leave your comments and/or share a story of your own.

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