Parenting is a challenging job, and in the case of a child with a disability, the impact on the family doubles. The differently-abled child may have problems with basic daily tasks, and the parents may need to put in extra effort and take out more time for their son or daughter. Help disability care services are also available, which can ease the challenges of parents as they consist of trained persons who specialize in providing care to the disabled.

Help Disability Care, Children, and Their Parents

There are many extra responsibilities of parents whose child has some sort of disability. Here, we talk about some of them.

Impaired Hearing Disability

Impaired hearing carries several types and degrees. Thus, there are several ways of talking to a child with impaired hearing. As a parent, you will have to face problems in the initial stages of the child’s life. And, learning about their disability at first will be heartbreaking, but you will gradually adjust.

Learning to communicate with your child will be difficult, but with practice, it will become easier for the parents. One way of smoothing the communication is by writing down whatever they want to talk about or using sign language. But for that, parents will have to learn sign language as well and that is problematic.

Another problem is the education of such children. Children with hearing impairment will need to study in a different section especially developed for the hearing impaired. Also, there are special schools designed for only such types of children.

Visual Impairment

A child can be completely visually impaired or partially impaired. Children with complete loss of eyesight comprise 10% while others have a residual vision and can distinguish between light and darkness, and sometimes the color and contour of objects as well.

However, parents and disability care services need to ensure that the child is safe, whether indoor or outdoor. They will have to accompany the child almost everywhere as they will not be able to learn about moving around safely if they fall in that 10% category with complete visual impairment.

If the child has a partial visual impairment, he will be able to perform specific tasks but not everything. Further, schooling for almost all disabled children is a challenge, and this is one of the biggest gulps to swallow for the parents.

There are certain things to make a note of while accompanying a visually impaired child. Firstly, avoid statements such as ‘here’, ‘this way. Instead, use words such as ‘right’, ‘left’, or ‘straight’.

One more thing, feel free to use words such as ‘see’, ‘look’ when communication because they also use such words when talking to people with visual disabilities.

Impaired Mobility

Children with impaired mobility will need assistance in doing daily tasks the most. This is because of the limited capability of physically moving or lifting objects. Also, taking a bath and going to the washroom can be a hassle, and parents or the help disability care will have to be ready to help the child.

If you plan to have a long conversation with a person in a wheelchair, then you should sit down or kneel down and maintain eye contact. Remember to keep personal space and avoid leaning on the wheelchair, walker, or stick.

Taking the child upstairs, outside the house for a ride, or to the hospital is also tough for the parents or disability care services.

Children with impaired speech

Understanding others’ speech can be a problem for children with speech impairments, but not everyone has that issue. So don’t make quick assumptions. Parents and family members of such children will need to let the child complete what he or she is saying, even if it takes time. The child might stutter, and you should not make them conscious that you are hard to understand them.

If possible, talk to children in a quiet environment. And yes, do not correct the child while they are speaking. First, let them finish and then reply. If you did not understand what a child just said, then don’t pretend that you did. Ask him or her to repeat.

Hyperkinetic disorder

The involuntary movements of the body are the result of hyperkinetic disorder. These are usually the characteristic of a child with cerebral palsy.

Parents can have difficulty in composing their children who have hyperkinetic disorder because insensitive people might gaze at them. If you come across a person with this disability, then you should never directly gaze at them openly.

Don’t pay attention to the involuntary movements during a conversation and continue speaking or listening while totally ignoring the movements.

Learning Disabilities

A learning disability is a neurological disorder. It takes place from a difference in the way a person’s brain is ‘wired. Many kinds of learning disabilities occur in children. Some of these include dyscalculia, in which it is hard to understand numbers and math facts, dysgraphia in which handwriting is affected, and dyslexia which affects reading and language-related skills, etc.

It is important to decide for yourself how much you are willing to accept the person and how much you are willing to communicate as equals.

Mental disorders

Children’s mental health can also be a problem, and this type of disability is ‘invisible’. Mental health diseases are just like every other disease and can be controlled by medication. Diseases such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder are unseen but can affect the child’s social, family, and personal life. In this situation your approach is to get Disability employment support services

Parents of children with mental illnesses have to be supportive and make them feel comfortable and cozy, just like any other disability.

Conclusion

It is reported that the stress levels of parents of children with disabilities are much higher. This is because of the insecurities regarding parenting competence, grieving on the future that parents had anticipated for their child, and guilt around the wellbeing of siblings.

According to research, these pressures put family members at a high risk of growing mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, alongside placing significant stress on familial and social relationships.