Parents can be reticent in accepting intervention

It has never been easy being the parent or guardian of a son or daughter that has a learning difficulty or who may have a handicapping condition, despite the apparent medical and psychological progress made and the perceptive insights achieved in recent years.

Unfortunately, all this increased knowledge has really not changed the difficulties for parents. The emotional investment needed, is still enormous.

Child's View
The child, not only experiences difficulties at school and later on, when seeking out further education, but they also expend a great deal of energy and emotion just trying to fit in. They are always working hard at fully functioning at an acceptable level and meeting the expectations of friends and family members.

Parental Guidance
The stress levels within the family can be tremendous and sometimes explosive. The parents need help in dealing with, both the child's educational difficulties and the results of their children's frustration and emotional outburst.

Whilst at the same time they are trying to be great parents by maintaining a stable supportive and loving family environment for everyone. Unfortunately, in these circumstances, the parents' own relationship can often suffer badly, taking a poor third place in all the chaos.

Acceptance
Once a child has been diagnosed and the diagnosis confirmed, the parent are normally very willing to accept the help of a qualified person in guiding them through the next steps. It is more difficult to accept the possibility that the whole family may need some level of relationship councilling.

The initial reticense and resistance to outside intervention can be caused by an underlying sense of guilt and independence but in the face of such a big change in the family dynamics, it is perfectly reasonable to ask for assistance and some additional objective input.

Clearly, the children need greater understanding, support and educational intervention, is it so strange to accept that the parents may also need something or someone extra.