Basketball and autistic kids

Basketball is a great sport for everyone to play. It is safer, needs less physical competence and is less complex in comparison to other sports. No matter, be it a residential school, day school or a special education school, the moment it comes to sports, 45% prefer playing basketball in comparison to other form of sports like cricket, tennis, hand ball and volley ball.

It is acknowledged that autistic kids are bit skeptical towards certain things and many of them do not prefer talking to anyone, but basketball is one such sport that appeals to these children as well. 

If your child is autistic and you’ve noticed that he is interested in playing basketball or any other sports, you should always encourage it so that he can play and interact and socialize with more and more people, says a special education teacher. Though it’s not that easy as it seems to be, however you should always take an initiative to teach your child. If you are not familiar to this game, but religiously want to know the playing techniques for sake of your child either hire a special education teacher or browse via online, you will come across a pool of online playing techniques that you can familiarize your kid with.

According to experts of special education school, you should make sure that instead of following those conventional styles, try recreational non-team style playing. If your kid doesn’t follow or is not responding well, don’t give up… be a patient observer and explain the game to the kid in the very same way, as he/she expects you to do.  After all it’s about your tiny tot’s liking, which cannot be compromised at any cost.

How to take care of special children at home?

Impaired mental growth in children is often observed with sympathy, but these children are supersensitive where there pride and self-esteem is concerned. They may not be able to assess and reason out the complexities of life but they surely recognize human emotions against them. Contempt, sympathy, and fear are the common expressions that they get from the society but love and respect is what they yearn for.

If you have a child with pediatric mental retardation, then you should take care of your child’s sensitive emotional state. The special mentally retarded schools train these children in coping up with their daily life but taking care of them after school hours is also important. In fact there are a lot of care homes for mentally challenged, that offer the best environment for the development of such children. These centers have tie ups with NGO’s and charities to spread awareness and extend a helping to the affected families. They even offer counseling to these families on how to handle their child with special needs, and according to their experts, following tips should be incorporated in day to day life while handling your child at home.

You should avoid noise or aggressive music around such children; it troubles their sensitive state of mind and may administer behavioral symptoms. Moreover, they do not accept strangers easily, so ensure that any new member should approach them subtly. They should not over emphasize their presence and allow these children to familiarize first. Take them to visit care homes for mentally retarded, so that they can make some friends, also the change in environment will be refreshing to them.

Furthermore, you should subtly support them through their daily activities rather than being overprotective. Always encourage them to do simple chores by themselves. You can supervise, but do not spoon feed them. This will instill motivation in them, building up their confidence and a desire to do more. Appreciation is also required; praise the smallest initiations and effort taken by your child, it may or may not improve their performance but will surely boost up their moral, which is what they need most. Moreover you can repeat the drills taught at their mentally retarded schools, so that the continuity of training is maintained.
  
Thus taking care of these extra points will help decrease the resistance faced in daily life.

Don’t hesitate in organizing parties

It has been seen that there are many parents who hesitate in organizing parties for their autistic kid. As a guardian, it’s your responsibility to make each and every minute of your angel’s life, a joyous one. In such a scenario, if you ever will begin to hesitate and think that whether your kid will feel comfortable or not then, accept this sad truth that you have already lost the battle.

According to one of the experts of school for autism said that, “if your kid is autistic and you’re planning to have a party on his coming birthday or any other occasion, but you are not able to take a firm decision about whether you should proceed or not then, don’t think much, just go for it.”

You should never ever leave an occasion uncelebrated, as these small things make a great impact in an autistic kid’s life, he will be able to talk, which will ultimately be beneficial. Throw a lavish party and religiously invite each and every school friend from any school and even from a school for the blind and differently abled, including your child’s play mates. Doing so will make him feel pampered and will help indirectly make you fulfill your objective i.e. to make your kid socialize as much as he can.

‘Make your kid socialize’ has been consistently recommended because when you’ll visit a therapist, he will analyze severity of autism by the way your kid will talk and the less a kid talks and interacts, the situation worsens. Thus, make sure that your kid do not suffers from verbal and non-verbal complications and this is possible only when you’ll treat your kid in that way.

Besides getting your kid to try these small things, make sure that you get him enrolled in a good school for autism. Besides schools for these autistic kids, there are many schools for the blind as well.

If you have been searching for a good school for autism then do not forget to check out institutions including Aanchal School, hope rehabilitation centre and other schools like Mata Bhagwati Chadha Niketan, which is naturally enthused towards mainstreaming of physically and mentally challenged.

Accepting Mental Illness in your Child

According to a survey that was conducted in 2011, almost 13% of the natal population is born with mental disabilities; out of the 18% who could have afforded the required treatments and facilities, only 3% were blessed enough to have it. This is horrible statistics for a country like India that claims to be tolerant towards all casts, colors and creeds of individuals. Thus we should be more aware towards accepting and caring for such children, as the love and care can make them functional enough to exist.

Discovering a mental illness in your child is not easy; initially the symptoms are often dismissed as delayed postnatal developments. Some of the disabilities can be detected in the 10^th week of pregnancy, while others become evident as late as 2 years of age. The best thing that a parent can do is to seek medical advice for the minutest of delays exhibited in development. As soon as the medical condition is diagnosed, instead of going into denial or seeking multiple advices from different physicians is not a solution, instead the parents should take some time to discuss it within themselves and later consult the doctor about the severity and extent of the disease. The parent should extract maximum knowledge about their child’s disorder and should continuously be in touch with medical consultants as to how and what extent of improvement is possible. 

Secondly, they should see counselors themselves, to better accept the fact and stay mentally strong throughout the supporting phases. It has been noticed that one of the parent adopts better than the other to the fact that their child is mentally disabled. In that case the couple should be supportive to each other and the child. This is where a psychiatrist or a counselor can really help.

As soon as you realize the fact and make peace with it, consult your doctor and look for an apt special education school. There are some schools for mentally retarded children who provide financial aids as well. Get in touch with NGO’s and social workers who can get help.  The role of enrolment in initial years is crucial in determining how far your child can manage, so you should pace up the process as much as possible and get him enrolled in a special education school. These schools for mentally retarded children help them be self-dependent and can teach them vocational activities.

Thus instead of being hopeless about your child’s condition you should accept it and stand with your child through thick and thin.