More often than not when a child is diagnosed with special needs, parents will naturally become “helicopter or lawnmower parents” i.e. hovering over their children all the time or helping their children to overcome any problem all the time without the children getting the benefits of dealing with any problem on their own. They become bodyguards of their children when they are out in the open, catching them before they fall and praising them without any actual effort. 

Understanding their disability and offering help when appropriate is different from overdoing it. Things are harder when the parents only have one child and this can lead to self-pity and the ‘I am not doing enough” mode. The simple rule is you cannot always pave a straight line of success. Children need to draw their own lines and define their own paths with only a little guidance from you.

Allow your child to take safe risks. This does not suggest allowing your child to be harmed. Grant...