In the first post in this series, you read about Julie Papievis, a woman who survived and recovered from a severe brain stem injury. In that post, Julie shared five positive ways the accident changed her. In this one, she gives advice to parents of children with brain injuries. I think it applies to a broader audience. See what you think.
Education
Educate yourself about what’s happening to your child. Seek professional advice from experts who can address the medical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the injury. Once that’s done, you can confront the situation and make better decisions.
Acceptance
Let your child be who he is. Don’t make the child’s injury everything. He’s much more than his injury or special need. He’s a person.
Normalcy
Treat your child with normalcy. Let him be a kid because he is a kid.
Focus
Concentrate on what needs to be done instead of on what people think of your child.
Dream
Allow your child to dream. Encourage him to be all he can be. Special needs kids know their limitations. You don’t need to keep reminding them of what they can’t do.
Talk
Let your child talk to you about his feelings. Encourage him to talk to you and to talk to other people, perhaps a counselor or other professional – someone with more expertise than you.
Power
A brain injury or any disability robs a child of his sense of control or power. Give some power back to your child by allowing him to make some choices. Allow him to chose between applesauce and jello for dessert, between watching the DVD of Transformers II or GI Joe.
Go Back and Be Happy
Once again, if you want to read more about Julie before the last post in this series is online, check out Julie’s book Go Back and Be Happy. It tells the story of her accident, her six week coma which included a stop in heaven and a visit with her grandmothers who live there now, and her amazing recovery which confounded and delighted her neurosurgeon. You can also visit her website, www.gobackandbehappy.com.
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