I just came across an excellent article at AskDrSears.com.  The article is titled Disciplining the Special Needs Child 11 Time-Tested Tips

It goes into detail about the pitfalls to avoid when disciplining a special needs child.  I think these are fairly common errors made by parents.

A few of them really hit home for me.

Not Disciplining your child is a really easy trap to fall into.  Just because they are special needs does not mean that they don’t need to live by some rules.  It’s easy to say, Oh Johnny just doesn’t understand, or we don’t want to upset him.  Both may be true, but children need to learn from a young age to respect people and property and house rules.

Providing structure is another really biggy.  With many disabilities, structure is key to maintaining a balance for your child.  It may seem like more work to have the routines in place, but you will find your child is calmer and more well adjusted.

Over attachment is a mistake that many parents make (I’ve made this one).  When you only allow yourself to be the “parent of a special needs child” and nothing else you are really missing out and actually hurting yourself.  Nobody expects you to be only a caregiver.  You need to be involved with other activities and areas of life to maintain a healthy balance in your own life.

Give the article a read, it’s really very good.  Of course children are all different and some respond better to some things than others do.  See what works in your family, and find your balance.

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