Parenting neurodiversity is an entertaining journey, “there’s never a dull moment”. Firstly it’s connecting with your child mindset, with their thought process and reading their thoughts. It’s about engaging in conversation with your child and identifying with their perspective.
The advantages to parenting neurodiversity are in the moment of a child being single-minded approach, the child full concentration level is used with the task in hand, completed with excellence, the child is gifted to be successful with the task.
The disadvantage is the child can be fixated to repetitive behaviour, Noah, my son, can be obsessive with gaming, playing Minecraft or Super Mario Bros can be out of balance with having an unhealthy attachment. Therefore, as a mother, I have to monitor how frequently he uses his handheld gaming device and for how long spent on the gaming device.
Noah’s mindset gets entrapped with the world he is playing on, getting carried away, where Noah is not conscious of what’s more of the important task to do on the list, like school work etc.
I’m all for supporting children’s interests but I think all that we do has to be in moderation.
The advantages of information technology of Noah is well equipped and is comfortable with utilizing computers, mobiles and I-pad. When it comes to programming or decoding I’m sure he will be confident in using information technology, for him to be hands-on and use his problem-solving skills.
I encourage parents to make sure we keep them, accountability with keeping on track with having a balance with having a single-focused mental approach with tasks. I would describe it like this, their world goes into a bubble and in these moments, teaching self-control is so important.
It’s imperative, for parents to teach variety and letting child know there is so many more options of activities they can occupy themselves with, not just being consumed with one task or one activity, to the point of this being an unhealthy attachment.
Here are parent tips to use, to set expectation of having a healthy balance of monitoring a child fixation of what they are into with their interests.
1. Set a timer, so clearly he identify on how much time he/she has left with has left to finish playing his gaming device or when to finish up the task.
2. Let child see visuals on what on the visual schedule for today, so he is aware on the next tasks and steps of what to do.
3. I change my child's routine; I throw a spanner in the works, to build emotional resilience. I might add a new task or activity with the visual schedule, to build child confidence that not always does the predictable events occur.
Parenting neurodiversity is a creative expression of bringing diversity to your child world, making them think broader, away from being at times from being mentally singled minded, as there are so many activities available for children to focus on. It’s about giving them suggestions and giving them the power to choose options.