Tools for Feeling Successful as a Special Needs Parent
Dec 16, 2021
Want to see your child progress, gain independence, and experience healthy developmental movements?
As a special needs parent, it's easy to wonder if I am doing everything I can to help my special needs kids experience healthy development.
4 years ago I never thought I would be seeing my 4 1/2 year old doing this!
4 years ago I never thought I would learn a skill set that would bless all the lives of all my children, typical and atypical.
I Want to Be a Good Mom and Good Caregiver for My Special Needs Children.
I want to be a good mom and a good caregiver, and YOU KNOW AS A PARENT how feeling successful in that area of life changes on a day-to-day basis.
The question is, "How do I be a good mom and a good caregiver?"
I don't have all the answers, and despite my inadequacies, I found something that has helped me feel more accomplished in those roles.
No, I am not perfect at it, but I have learned how I can influence my children's developmental experiences for the better like many other Movement Lesson™ parents.
You Don't Know How to Take Action Soon, or What That Even Means for Your Child
And if you are like many parents, you don't know how to take action sooner.
You may have had thoughts like me, "I am not a doctor," "I am not a therapist or a specialist of any sort in development."
I didn't always know what early intervention looked like for my children.
I thought that early intervention was only for kids with "special needs" or "known problems."
I thought, "How do I know the potential for future problems if a doctor or a therapist doesn't tell me? And from personal experience, I can't get services until a potential problem I see is a significant limiting factor in my child's development."
One doctor told me, "We are generally not proactive, but reactive in child care."
"What?!" And this was said about one of my special needs children.
For me, I don't want to be reactive in my child's care, I want to be proactive, at least as much as I can be.
Ultimately, I do give myself some grace.
Some things will just happen that I could have been proactive about, but I JUST DIDN'T KNOW.
The most important thing for me is that I know I am doing the best that I can, and I support that reality of life.
Reducing Regrets and Not Beating Yourself Up for Not Taking Action Sooner
Today, it's a great feeling for me to know that one year from now, five years from now, I won't be beating myself up because I didn't take action on my kid's developmental path sooner.
For you, nothing can be done about the past, and what you didn't know about early intervention movement techniques, but you can start now if you feel like you don't have a path or plan of success for your child.
For me, I still experience successes and failures at being the type of parent I want to be.
But I have learned little processes that have helped me feel like a good and successful parent and caregiver, the future will be a brighter place for my children and for me.
BUT NOW, KNOWING WHAT MOVEMENT LESSON™ HAS TAUGHT ME, I have literally done early intervention with all my kids, typical and atypical.
What is Early Intervention?
Again, I didn't always know what early intervention looked like for my children.
Three of my children have had "early intervention" from day one of birth because of the Movement Lesson™ assessments and techniques I have learned.
One of these three children is special needs, the other two are "typical" but would have been less successful in their development without Movement Lesson™.
That would take a whole other blog post to explain, but for my typical children, without ML™ they would have had awkward futures.
Early Intervention for My Fifth and "Typical Baby"
My fifth and "typical baby" would have been so difficult, not breastfeeding, super fussy, and hating tummy time; rolling over, sitting, and crawling would have been more delayed than they were.
At three days old when I told the Pediatrician he was struggling with breastfeeding, they told me to try a bottle.
With Movement Lesson™ I was able to teach him the rotational movements for breastfeeding and in his case, he started doing it very successfully.
(With my special needs children, they never did breastfeed past 1 month old, but their body doesn't know that. With ML I gave their bodies the input of breastfeeding as if they had done it, with specific rotational movements.
My 2 1/2 year old still bottle feeds for swallowing issues caused by her genetic disease Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The bottle rests on her chin and chest and always has. So it's not ideal, but again, I give myself grace and nourishment is more important than movement in this case.
Eating like this does affect her speech and movements, and I just work with it, doing the best that I can. )
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Without ML, I wouldn't be aware of the difficulties he is experiencing in vision, which is showing up in his movements.
I haven't been able to get a referral to an ophthalmologist and I have been asking my doctor since my baby was months old and we is well over a year now.
I might be able to finally get a referral with his next check-up, but I haven't waited until now to work with his vision and his movements.
I have been doing it his entire life!
He is a happy baby "typical," and I know his future will be so much better because of all this "early intervention" I have done with him with ML assessments, techniques, and exercises.
Again, my baby is not special needs, but ML has allowed me to manually help him through his development, instead of wondering "when" or "if" he is going to "figure things out" on his own.
Why Movement Lesson™ Is a Tool In My Toolbox for Feeling Parent Success
For me, Movement Lesson™ has been an essential tool in my toolbox in helping my children experience successful development.
(I am not saying you have to do ML to feel like a good and successful parent or caregiver. You can be great at being those two things and more without ML. Be true to yourself and what helps you feel like a successful parent and caregiver.)
Doctors have said, "let's wait and see what your child is doing in 3+ months, and then we will do something if the problem persists."
Doctors have said, "I don't know what's possible for your child, " or they don't know what the future looks like for my child.
I have nothing against the doctors, they are doing the best that they can with the knowledge and experience that they have.
I am so grateful and will forever be grateful for doctors.
They have played a key role in keeping my children alive and healthy.
I Don't Know What the Future Holds for My Kids, But I Am More Hopefull for Their Future Because of ML.
Movement Lesson has just given me some tools and evaluation methods that I can do with my children to help them experience healthy development while I am waiting for their future to happen.
I still don't know what the future will look like for any of my children typical or atypical, but I know their future will be better because of Movement Lesson in their lives.
To learn more about the tools Movement Lesson can offer you, check out the links below.
1. Segment One Training, https://www.movementlesson.academy/seg-1-unlimited-sale
2. How to Activate the Spine Course (It says for low-tone, but the course is applicable to any person regardless of their muscle tone), https://www.movementlesson.academy/offers/CLsTCt5i/checkout
3. How to Improve Breathing Course, https://www.movementlesson.academy/offers/zLT7fpyo/checkout