Dealing with the Diagnosis

In How to Help Fathers Cope With a Child's Diagnosis, the article discusses how “Couples often seem to be at different stages in grief with mothers appearing further along in the journey.”

I find out that many parents have trouble accepting that their child might have some kind of disability that hinders their learning. Every parent wants to believe that their child is perfect so finding this out is heartbreaking!

I let parents know that I was an advocate for the student and I knew I had to give parents time to process the information. I made sure they had my contact information in case they needed to ask questions.

I also explained that having a disability involved with learning can be invisible like Diabetes. We don’t ignore it and we help the student cope with this situation. It is no one’s fault Too many parents blame themselves and wonder what they did wrong. I remind them that we need to stop looking at blame and look at the present time in order to help their child.

By the time I get some of the students on the high school level, many parents are told their child is just lazy and not putting in the effort. I need them to see that sometimes, their child is giving their full effort and is as frustrated as their parents. No one likes to be called lazy but if I’m going to fail anyway, why bother trying?

I need the parents to see that we are all on the same team and working for the same goal - their child’s success. I want the parents to know that they are not alone and I am walking beside them trying to find the key that unlocks learning for their child. I want the parents to know that I will work with them in trying different ways and that I won’t give up on their child.

How do you help parents deal with this? Please share.

Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash