It is common for a child to occasionally have tantrums, express their own will and push boundaries. Sometimes, however, a child’s restlessness, problems with regulating emotions or behaviour, learning skills or organising sensory information put more stress on everyday life than usual.
There can be many reasons for the situation, but there are many ways you can make your everyday life easier, whatever the underlying causes are. The key to nourishing the growth and development of any child is everyday support at home and in education. Good cooperation between home and the daycare centre or school is also an important tool for a well-functioning everyday life.
The child’s challenges can be caused by a variety of factors, such as the family situation, language development problems or neuropsychological issues. Sometimes a diagnosis and a separate treatment plan need to be drawn up by specialised health care due to the child’s long-term challenges and their wide-ranging impact on everyday life.
A special needs child's care or rehabilitation enhances basic everyday support but is not a substitute for it. Most support for developmental challenges happens in ordinary everyday situations, through conscious and consistent use of agreed strategies.
Smooth everyday life is the ingredient
Whether your child is at a difficult developmental stage, has a neuropsychological disorder or is diagnosed with special needs, the most important support for them is a safe, regular everyday routine at home.
As a parent, you can influence
- the child’s sleep and eating rhythm, outdoor activities and physical activity
- the child’s play and screen time
- whether your child is getting enough undivided positive attention from you
- whether your child’s everyday life is predictable and whether their upbringing is consistent
- whether you talk to your child about family changes and concerns in an age-appropriate way
- maintaining your own wellbeing and trying different ways of interacting with your child if necessary.
Cooperation with the child’s daycare centre or school
It is also important that you exchange information with your child’s early childhood education provider and class teacher:
- Do the same challenges occur outside your home?
- Does your child face challenges at school or in daycare not you haven't noticed at home?
- If the challenges are similar, what support do you offer the child and what helps them? Share and adopt each other's effective solutions.
- If there are differences in the challenges or they only occur in one of the environments, what might account for the differences?
Teachers often have the know-how and resources to deal with a child’s situation. For example, the child’s teacher can turn to a special education teacher or the school’s pupil welfare services for support and ideas if necessary.
Support measures will help when needed
You can seek help if your child’s behaviour is notably restless, aggressive and defiant. Help is also available if your child is particularly timid or has exceptional difficulty concentrating.
Support measures such as speech therapy, occupational therapy and special needs education can help your child develop their skills and function better in everyday life. You can ask for help from the maternity and child health clinic, the unit for social counselling for families with children, or the pupil welfare services of your child’s school.
Support services are also usually adequate when the child has neuropsychological issues or other individual factors contributing to their everyday problems.
Extensive studies in specific situations
There are also children who need a special care plan to reinforce the school’s support services and normal support provided at home. For each child, this need is identified in a different way and becomes relevant at different ages depending on the situation.
Sometimes, the special needs are already revealed by examinations during pregnancy. If that is the case, you will be provided with care-related information before the birth of your child. Read more on the page ‘First information on a child’s special needs’.
Some children’s special needs only become apparent as they grow up. For example, further examinations may be needed if the child’s learning or developmental challenges are more extensive than usual or if the child’s neuropsychological issues have a significant impact on everyday life.
The need for examinations is always assessed by health care professionals, who will issue a referral to the appropriate service provider. The grounds for examinations usually come from many sources: when the child’s family, teachers, maternity and child health clinic nurse, pupil welfare services and/or social instructor work together to determine that the child would benefit from further examinations and a care plan drawn up by a psychologist or doctor.
Read more on Support for every stage of life: Infancy and childhood
