Developing Differently: A Guide for Parents of Young Children with Global Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability, or Autism

Description

Parenting isn't easy, and parenting a child with a Global Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability, or Autism can be challenging. However, a lot of parenting strategies are straightforward once you get your head around them. With the right knowledge, environment, interactions, responses and understanding, you can help reduce your child's anxiety, build their confidence, and help them develop learning and communication skills. Based on his work as a Clinical Psychologist working with children developing differently, Dr Joshua Muggleton provides a comprehensive, step-by-step parenting plan that will support you to embed good practice at home from day one. The book outlines how to provide the right environment for your child to learn and grow, how to model and encourage new skills, how to organise routines, and how to make these strategies work in family life. By getting things right for your child early on, you can help prevent emotional and behavioural challenges before they arise, and will be better able to understand and support your child when they do. These strategies are designed to work across all neurodevelopmental conditions, and take into account co-occurring conditions such as ADHD, meaning none of the advice in the book requires your child to have a specific diagnosis. It also includes downloadable examples of charts, how-to guides for creating visual resources tailored to your child's individual needs, and downloadable chapters on sleep and siblings. Developing Differently Cover Of related interest Title Page Copyright Contents Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction Where it begins Why I wrote this How to use this book Recommended reading Disclaimer Step 1: Acceptance and Self-Care Acceptance You are enough Values Looking after yourself Looking after your relationships Looking after your friendships Getting support Step 2: The Right Knowledge Understanding Autism Understanding Intellectual Disability Understanding Global Developmental Delay Understanding ADHD Understanding sensory sensitivities Understanding physical health The ESSENCE of neurodevelopment disorders Understanding attachment Understanding child development Understanding how children learn Understanding how children communicate Understanding anxiety Step 3: The Right Environment Defining your own normal Why routines are important Turning your normal into a routine Implementing your routine Setting child focused, reasonable expectations Visual timers Modelling behaviour Creating personal space Sensory sensitivities Screens Step 4: The Right Interaction Attention Play Play to learn Listening to your child Reciprocity Using language Feelings talks Step 5: The Right Response Containment Rewards Praise Calmness Rewarding the good, ignoring the ‘bad’ Logical consequences Consistency Step 6: The Right Understanding Key questions to ask yourself The five key functions STAR charts and frequency charts Develop skills, don’t punish ignorance How to teach skills Expanding comfort zones Managing anxiety Facing fears How to face fears Managing meltdowns Finding your RAG Final Words Index