Parents need to exercise all the patience they need in dealing with their wards with cerebral palsy. As a brain defect that affects a part of the child or the whole body, such children need to be monitored, instructed and giving a lot of patience to carry out specific instructions.
The behavior of a cerebral palsy child can be a bit challenging as parents may tend to lose their temper once in a while, yet, understanding the nature of their behavior would help parents to relate with them properly. Wondering what these steps are, check out the following tips.
• One of the best ways to deal with your child is to show the child all the love and affection. Your child needs love and attention. A child who feels loved will behave better. Therefore, the first step is to love the child.
• Make your instructions short and clear. Don’t give too many instructions. Since cerebral palsy makes the child have difficulty in communication, let your instructions to the child be short and simple. Do not pile up numerous instructions at a time and expect the child to comprehend and execute them. Knowing this will give you a proper way to deal with the child’s behavior.
• Reinforce the behavior you love. The best way the child can learn is an immediate corresponding action from parents to encourage good behavior and to discourage bad behavior. This will make the child to know which behavior is good and acceptable and the behaviors that are bad and unacceptable. Reinforcers can come in form of a hug, an applause, biscuit, favorite toy etc.
• Do not spank or beat your child. Beating or spanking the child does not install any morals in the child, it may end up inflicting physical and mental injury on the child instead. Physical punishment does not teach good or correct bad behavior.
• Ignore behavior you do not like. To ignore is another tip to deal with the behavior and for the ones you cannot ignore, try time out and this means removing the child from an immediate activity being engaged into a place where the child will feel remorseful.