Sunday 27 January 2013



Anger Management and specific leaning needs by  Dyslexia Dublin CETC Part one 2013 ©

It is quite difficult for those who are fully abled to react to change, so how can we expect our children with known learning difficulties be the ...same as us?… we can’t is the short answer.
They struggle, as we are aware, to deal with or learn most everyday tasks.
So what causes the anxiety that quickly becomes frustration and, if not tempered, a meltdown?
Our children are constantly watching us, even though we rarely realise this is happening…it’s almost a subconscious act…so possible issues that may cause initial anxiety are:
Economically related (changes in routine due to tightening of funds) different supermarket…reducing happy time out…Mc Donalds, Cinema, etc.
You could be pre-occupied with issues – money, bills, separation, loss, for example.
Changing the car…and even the different colour of new purchase.
Changes to routine… eg. bed time or getting up early due to changes in logistics.
Change of environment…eg. bedroom…furniture being moved…places at dinner table…changing colour schemes…lighting colour…room fresheners…perfume…tooth brush. Yes, even a tooth brush can change moods.
Hairdresser…swimming pool…holiday destination.
Changes at school…new teachers…new classroom and new lesson content or subjects.
Children pick up far more than we realise and react to far more too…they can have a variation of triggers that can tip the scales, like aggressive sounding words, images stored from a previous incident (rather like deja vu), sounds, weather (icy, slippery), that can signal raised levels of anxiety or a rapid change to their feelings of being safe and feeling secure. These can be completely individual and not all of the above will have the same outcome/effect on each child. They will harbour some of these from past events and personal experience and they can also be associated with traumatic events in the past. Also, seeing fear in adults can make them link back through stored feelings and images (not unlike a nightmare in our sub conscious).
Children tend to present us with advanced warning of their unease in regard to these trigger events, warning signals that adults should realise are a precursor to understanding the child might be struggling or finding something very hard to come to terms with. These cues may include facial expressions or nervous tics (mild self-harm) pinching flesh, changes in speech patterns (incoherent or alterations in volume), hot when you are cold…sweating, feeling ill (stomach aches), becoming quiet or withdrawn (introvert…staying in one room), complaining or getting irritable, exhibiting lack of interest in going places, fear avoidance tactics, ie. negative responses when they were normally acceptable (shopping…swimming…Cinema). I recently witnessed a child being very uncomfortable with the noise of the ice crunching machine in a coffee shop…did the parent/carer spot the unease of the child....?
All of our posts are based on personal…family and research sourced in many places…and is for reading and guidance purposes. Part two to follow soon!


We have a comprehensive online specific learning needs resource store at www.dyslexiadublin.ie
You can also friend with us at dylexia dublin and follow on twitter at dyslexiadublin

No comments:

Post a Comment