Empowering Disabled Children with Self-Belief

Infusing self-belief in a disabled child requires combined effort by parents, friends, community and school. All of them are essential in establishing sense of importance and self worth in the child.Children with disabilities often feel that others are able to perform tasks more easily which are intensely difficult for them.  They begin feel bad about themselves and it highly de-motivates them. 

Disable people often face criticism frequently or receive more than required global praise. Criticism damages self-esteem in them and loaded praise and support makes them passive learner. It is also too abstract to be meaningful to concrete thinkers. Parents must train themselves to comment on the positive as much as possible by using very specific praise that will cultivate desired behaviors and boost their child’s self-esteem. By specific praise, the child gets very clear on what behaviors are liked and expected by everyone around. 

Parents and teachers can also boost self-esteem by figuring out what disabled child can do well and by further fostering and supporting those areas greatly. It may or may not help them to feel better about their academic performance, but it definitely helps them to feel better about themselves.

Another parenting strategy is to teach them by laying examples that many people have overcome their difficulties and thereby have become successful. This can be done by reading biographies of personalities who have struggled to achieve their goals despite their illness or disability. Reading about such challenges gives direction to them. Parents must teach their kids to view obstacles as challenges. It helps children with disabilities to adopt a problem-solving attitude. They must learn when to ask for help and who to ask for it. All this forms an important part of life skills that these children must learn.

Moreover, parents can also introduce their child to highly effective members of society who have struggled with disabilities similar to those of the child. They can serve as role models and inspiration to them.

Disabled children feel better about them when they understand that doing things differently, learning differently, and being different is OK, and that differences enrich our lives.