Silkysteps early years forum - planning ideas for play - Wendy Lawson

This is part of an article that's just been published in SNAP's Spring 08 Newsletter

Dean Beadle is a motivational speaker

Quote:

Accentuate The Positive

When working with special needs children its often easy to focus on the negatives. I can fully understand how hard it must be to accentuate the positive when you are dealing with such challenging issues- especially if the child's behaviour is also challenging!

As a person with Asperger's I can fully empathise with this. I have spent a lot of time focusing on all the negative attributes of my condition, especially in my early teens. I became very aware of how different I was to my peers. I didn't fit in. I could never experience life in the same way as them.

My self-esteem had reached an all time low. I look back on this time now with regret. I spent such a long time moping about what I didn't have that I overlooked all of the wonderful and valuable things that I did have. I am extremely concerned that other children will be dealing with such self-esteem issues.

If you'd been repeatedly reminded of your short-comings throughout your life, I'm sure you would have low self-esteem too. This low self-esteem often results in the child having little value for the skills and positive attributes that they may well have, which can often be incredibly useful to them in later life.

SOURCE: SNAPChildcare.co.uk