Here’s my impulsive daughter. Every time she sees a gift, she just had to open it. Sometimes her younger brother has to be the understanding one and allow her to open some of his birthday presents just to minimise the temper tantrums she used to throw. Or her Uncle would bring an extra gift for her, even it was not her birthday, because it broke his heart seeing her tantrums.  

But today is different. Here she is, overcoming her impulsiveness and ready to deliver her presents to her Teachers and therapists. Based on our wonderful conversation this morning, I’m confident all the presents will still be wrapped before she delivers them.

Note: The way we chose for Amor to overcome her impulsiveness was NOT through discipline and reprimand. We decided instead to chose to understand her behaviour FIRST; to understand that she needed predictability of what would otherwise be a chaotic world for a child with special needs. We “gave” her predictability first and allowed her to do what she was expecting in her brain. We waited for her to be ready, to give up the her need for things to go her way.  

Today, she is compliant not because she HAS TO follow my demands, she will do it because her need for predictability has loosened up and because she WANTS TO do it.