Parenting Children with Special Needs: Moving from a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset

How Do You Parent Your Child with Special Needs? 
With a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset?
 

I find self-help and respectful-parenting books fascinating, as many mirror the same principles as the Anat Baniel Method©.
It's exciting to have so many different types of work have such similar principles:

• meet people where they are at
• connection is key
• become aware of your own self
• slow down

The cool part is that most have similar core perspectives, but use different language and come at it from a slightly different angle, which gives ME a slightly different angle to understand how to connect with my daughter just a little bit better.

This week I've been listening to the audiobook "Take Control of Your life" by Mel Robbins. 

She does a great job explaining the 2 different mindsets you can have (backed up by research). 

With a Fixed Mindset you accept that you are only "this" good, "this" smart, "this" creative, "this" sporty. Usually, some authority figure from your childhood has determined the limit of your "this". 

I can remember a gymnastics coach (I was probably 6-7 yrs old) tell me that I was too tall to be really good at gymnastics. I quit after that first season. Some random coach told me I had a limit, and I believed him. He knew a lot more about gymnastics than I did (I joined because I liked to do cartwheels), and I was 6 years old, so I believed him. For, like, 30 years! 

Having a Fixed Mindset, drives you to avoid failure.
I was too tall for gymnastics, so why bother even trying? So I quit. 

With a Growth Mindset, you believe your talent and skills can grow with experience. 

EEK! This is also called: Neuroplasticity!

Research has shown that having a growth mindset teaches you (and your kids!) how to be resilient. Which happens to be the #1 predictor in whether or not someone will be successful. 

With a Growth Mindset, change is possible. You are capable of learning new things. 

A growth mindset doesn't see failure as a horrible thing to be avoided at all costs. With a growth mindset, failure becomes an approximation to your goal. Failure is simply a stepping stone to find a different way to accomplish what you want to do. 

As a parent of a child with special needs, THIS is what I what to instill in my daughter. 

• Change is possible.
• You can grow your talent and skills. 
• You are capable of learning new things. 

Thanks to the Anat Baniel Method©, I've learned so many fabulous tools to help accelerate her learning and foster a growth mindset. 

Want to learn more about moving from fixing to connecting with your child?

Sign up for a sneak peek at my online course for parents with kids with Special Needs: