Thoughts on Discipline

Recently, I have been pondering our discipline strategies with Oliver. Suffice it to say that, in my opinion, we mostly crash and burn. It seems that every time we are making real progress we are back in the hospital or the seizures get worse. If consistency is the key to great parenting- we fail often. We simply can't control all the external factors. This little paragraph I found on the internet captures where we are these days.

“Disciplining a child who is "differently-abled" is likely to bring out the best and the worst in a parent. Parents try to help a child make up for what's missing by increasing their love and attention, yet children with special needs trigger special frustrations in parents. Be prepared to run out of patience...Our son, Stephen, has Down Syndrome. Our most difficult adjustment in discipline was learning to cope with development in slow motion. Most children go through predictable stages of development. You know about when to expect what behavior and how long it will last. You know that two-year-old temper tantrums will diminish once the child learns to speak. Knowing you don't have to weather this undesirable behavior indefinitely helps you cope. With the developmentally-disabled child, stages seem to go on forever, as do the frustrations in child and parents. For example, it may take this child a year to accomplish three month's worth of "normal" speech development. Parenting a special needs child is a tough job. The ups and downs and joys and sorrows are magnified: You rejoice at each accomplishment, you worry about each new challenge.”

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