The Emotional Struggles Associated With Raising An Exceptional Child

A child who utilizes his/her affect as a coping mechanism is relying upon the ability to express or ventilate through emotion. He/she will require opportunities to share anxieties, fears, anger, sorrow, and grief, and have those emotions validated by the adults in his/her life.”

The mother reports having a normal pregnancy with no complications, and that her pregnancy was easy. This was the second child for the mother, who has another child who was five years old at the time. The mother also disclosed that at the time of the pregnancy she was in the process of separating from the child’s father and that this caused a moderate level of stress. At the time of the pregnancy the mother was also working full time as waitress in a local restaurant, the mother reports that her job required she be on her feet for a long period of times, but that she was able to work until around a week before her child was born. The mother reports that the child was born around two weeks early but that labor was easy and the child was

Children are very complex, unique and varied individuals whose genetics, connections and backgrounds all perform significant roles in their emotional development (Wilson, 2003). The genetic blueprint a child inherits from its parents may plot a course for development but the environment and the influences within can affect how the child is shaped, how they connect with and are perceived by others and how their emotions are or are not expressed. Wilson (2003) points out emotions as an experience that is linked to cognitive interpretation, context, subjective feeling, physical reaction and behavioural expression. Campos, Campos, and Barrett (1989) suggest emotions are processes of establishing, maintaining, or disrupting the relations between the person and the internal or external environment, when such relations are significant to the individual.

Unplanned transition is the hardest for the children to cope with. As discussed by Stokes et al. (1999), a sensitive, responsive support needed more than ever when it was recognized that children and young people had experienced an unplanned transition such as bereavement. Whenever a child or adult is faced with traumatic life events, particularly the loss of a loved one, the ability to survive the emotional and physical pain associated with the event will be influenced by the individual’s level of personal resilience. Focusing entirely on their needs enables children to express their feelings, acknowledge their loss and develop skills to cope with their changed lives.

Emotional Development: Child has mixed emotions, but is very attached to their parents and get stressed and unset when they met strangers.

Either way, starting school is a huge transition in a Childs life. There are many new changes in their daily routine that they have to adapt to, such as mixing with a larger group of children, many of whom they won’t have met before. They will be expected to be more independent and do things for themselves, which can worry some children. Emotionally, not all children cope very well with the transition. I remember child K being very upset and anxious about being left in the mornings and would cling frantically to their parent to prevent them for leaving. Every morning they would have to be taken by the teacher to go and help with something so the parent could leave. The child would usually settle down and be fine for the rest of the day until home time, when they would cry again when they saw their parent. This continued on and off for the whole of the reception year. Tiredness is another factor that causes children to seem emotionally distraught. Having to cope with full days at school, and the amount of concentration that they have to give is a lot for some children, and they tend to act up, having temper outbursts and emotional upsets. They can start arguing with their friends and refuse to do activities just because they are tired and it all seems too much. By the end of their first year, most children are usually quite happy and confident and ready to move to their new class.

Interviewing the parent of a child diagnosed with learning disability can be intimidating. It is difficult to gauge how much a parent wants to reveal about their child. Also, it is not unusual to discover that one parent is at a different place of acceptance than the other parent. Each family member’s journey is different; for example, it is not rare for a father to work out the emotional difficulty of a special needs diagnosis differently than a mother.

I interviewed a woman who has a child with special needs. The child is now in kindergarten. The mother reported having a normal pregnancy with no complications. This was the second child for the mother, who has another child who was five years old at the time. The mother disclosed that during the pregnancy, she was in the process of separating from the child’s father and that this caused a moderate level of stress. At the time of the pregnancy, the mother was also working full time as a waitress in a local restaurant. The mother reported that her job required her to be on her feet for long periods of time. She was able to work until around a week before her child was born. The mother reports that the child was born around two weeks

Feelings of sadness and resistance are common as children prepare to leave a familiar setting/situation. Some may loose control, cry easily or revert to habits such as, thumb sucking. Practitioners can assist the child express their emotions by reading stories about children in similar situations. Practitioners need to acquire patience and compassion for the child and family. The separation often proves traumatic for parents in need of support and reassurance. Hamilton et al (2003, pg 16) advise practitioners to be “…patient and understanding”.

As a future educator, I am mindful of the fact that it’s my job to find out why my student is struggling. Sitting down with the child may help me determine the problem. Parents are also one of our greatest resources at our disposal, and I plan to take advantage of that. Parents see different things at home than in the classroom. Conversing

There are several issues related to parental reactions to having a child with a disability. Having a child with a disability can have an effect on family dynamics as well as a change in work habits, some parents have to work fewer hours, change jobs, or become a stay at home parent in order to properly care for their child’s needs. Parents cope with their guilt, feelings, and public reactions

The teaching philosophy of exceptional children: My teaching career has been spent learning how to provide appropriate support, guidance, patience, & understanding, as well as to enhance academic growth & success, for all students. My purpose as a teacher is to enrich and inspire the lives of young students with moderate/intensive needs by providing access to information instead of functioning as the primary source of information for students to flourish. My teaching methods will be to create an environment ripe with opportunities for discovery and exploration which will allow the student to learn at his/her own pace, generate questions and construct knowledge, while providing hands-on practice of skills in authentic situations as well

Patsy Clairmont once stated “Normal is just a setting on the dryer”. I am absolutely in love with this quote that my mom shared with me. Whenever I compared myself to anyone, she would always be there to remind me that there is no such thing as “normal”. Everyone is different whether it is the language they speak, the God they follow, the way they move about life, and even the way they learn. Even though everyone’s unique, the one thing that shouldn’t change is the respect they are given. This issue involving children with exceptionalities is brought up many times throughout the field of education. My experiences and morals have shaped the way I see exceptional children, and are going to stick with me as a future educator.

In the book, “Raising An Emotional Intelligent Child” author John Gottman guide’s parent’s toward raising an intelligent child by teaching them about the awareness of their emotions. Parents are known to be emotional coaches, parents who get involved with their child’s feelings. They accept negative emotions as a fact of life and use emotional moments as opportunities for teaching their kids important life lessons and building closer relationships with them. Emotional intelligence controls impulses, delays gratification, motivate themselves, reading others social cues, coping with life’s ups and downs. Parenting requires intellect, but most importantly empathy. In parent- child interactions, most parents fall into two categories: parents who give their children guidance about the world of emotion and those who do not. There are 3 types of parents who fail to teach emotional intelligence: the dismissing parent, disapproving, and Laissez-Faire. Dismissing parents tend to disregard and ignore children’s negative emotions. Disapproving parents are critical of their children’s displays of negative feelings and may punish them for emotional expression. Lastly, Laissez-Faire parents, accept their children’s emotions and empathize with them, but fail to offer guidance or set limits on their children’s behavior.

Mother: We tried for several months to get pregnant before we were successful. We both were reluctant to try for a child again because of a traumatic miscarriage I experienced several years prior. We both really wanted to be parents and made a tough decision.