Show Notes
Transcript for Ep10
Welcome to Be True, Be Happy, Be Yourself show, I'm Yuki Miyaki. In this episode, I will be sharing with you how I manage with my child with learning disability
In our lives, there are always people and things that happen or come unexpectedly, some will leave us in pain, some will leave us with love, but in the end they will make us become who we are today. I always think that it's a gift from God. Today, the topic I want to share with you is "I have a child with learning disabilities".
Do you remember the last topic I shared with you?
In my previous episode, I shared the story of Marco’s birth. Marco was a child with a learning disability since young. The reason was when he was born, he had seizures and doctors were unable to find out the reason why.
He had to use morphine for three months as treatment. As a mother, I have made the worst plans for my child’s growth, but I have tried my best to minimize it. I have given my patience and focus to accompany him through this journey.
I never thought about being a housewife. In order for Marco to grow up and learn just as other children, I do my best to learn. Whether it is children’s physical and mental growth, brain development, education, etc., I learn. When he was learning to crawl, I crawled with him. Through games, he crawled more than ordinary children. I also learned massage for children and so on. I tried to do this to reflexively stimulate his brain development. When Marco was three years old, I let him learn ballet. Because, in the part of body control, ballet will help stimulate and develop his brain power. He was the only boy in the class. Faced with the puzzled eyes of other mothers, I chose to ignore it, because everything is based on Marco's needs as the priority.
Therefore, from 1 to 6 years old, Marco is basically as healthy and lively as other children, but he has problems with language delay and slow learning. No one knows my son's situation better than me, so I often observe his daily language and study about child development.
For example, blowing candles to exercise his oral strength, repeat the pronunciation of words to strengthen his memory of related words, and so on. When he started going to kindergarten at the age of five, I also faced a great challenge. One is to appease Marco's discomfort, and the other is that the teachers at the time did not understand his learning disabilities. Although, I have tried my best to let the teacher understand his situation. However, Marco is always inevitably being compared to his two excellent sisters by the teacher. In addition, Marco is also lack of communication skills. I am also worried about Marco's self-confidence and mental health. "YUKI, take your son to have some eye tests, to test his tongue, to test..." It felt like my son was treated as a special child. At that moment, I was very sad and unwilling. Actually after Marco study, he can understand but then he can't remember it. He once told me, “Mummy, I tried to read and recite very hard, I really did but then I just can’t remember it." I can understand his pain and I am sad to hear this.
If I was a mother who was inconsiderate and did not understand her son's situation, or perhaps even scolded him, he would only become even less confident. In fact, I have always train Marco not on the problem of learning disabilities, but to cultivate his self-confidence. Until I found a learning center for brainpower and reading development, Marco made progress in just two months. He also changed from crying saying I don’t want to go to class to I am happy to study attitude. At that time I had to send my children to the learning center while working, and so I decided to stepped go into the field of education.
In the beginning we only had one learning centre that time but more than a dozen were developed in just half a year. I hope I have the opportunity to share with you next time.
Now Marco has grown up healthily, and he is also attending classes and studying like everyone. I am very grateful that I devoted 100% of my concentration to take care of him and accompany him wholeheartedly.
For our children, we will discover the patience and learning attitude that we have never had before. For children with learning disabilities, their mother's understanding and companionship are the greatest encouragement and confidence in their growth stages. You will find that in the process of learning with them, we actually grow with them.
If you are a mother who is working and you have children who need special care at home, perhaps the following three views I share can give you some inspiration:
1. Be patient
In fact, patience does not just mean staying with your child while studying. The so-called patience is that no one knows how long this journey will take, but is willing to wait patiently and fully believe that the child will do his best to work hard and time will prove it to you. Trust me, it will definitely be the best answer.
2. Contribute
This journey is definitely not going to be easy. For the sake of children, we are willing to let go of our career ideals, future plans, time, thoughts, and even youth. However, all of this is done willingly, without any grievances or complaints. Just like I never thought about being a full-time mother, but in order for my son to grow up happily, I chose to focus on my family and his growth, all of which are because of love.
3. Learn
When raising children with learning disabilities, we must cut off all previous educational cognitions perception.
Even the opinions given by doctors and experts may not be the most appropriate. Because they can only give diagnosis and advice based on their first time meeting your child. However, it is us who get along with our children day and night, and we will know which way is most suitable for our children. Keep learning to understand your children's situation, and learn how to be their parents, playmates, and teachers. In the end, you will find that we grow up together with them
In fact, as I said in the previous topic, everything that happens in our life is the best arrangement. Because I accept that my son may be different from other children in his growth, I plan the worst for him, but at the same time I make the best arrangements. I am very grateful that I have seen my unprecedented unleashed potential as I grow up with Marco. Although it was difficult, but the most important thing is that now he is growing up healthily and safely, and all of this is worth it.
I hope that by sharing my story, will inspire you be a strong mommy and have happy ,healthy parenting.
Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and the links will be in the show notes.
I look forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will be sharing with you more stories about my life and how you can Be True, Be Happy and Be Yourself!