How Can You Boost Your Family Member’s Confidence?

No matter what developmental disabilities your family member is facing, she can improve her skills and grow her confidence levels in her own abilities. A combination of these steps can help you to be there for your family member as you help her to gain more confidence and independence.

Focus on What She Can Do

The biggest step you can take to boost the confidence of a family member with developmental disabilities is to focus on what she can do, rather than on what she can’t do. When you shift that focus to what your family member is able to do, that helps her to see that there’s so much that falls into that category. The things that she can’t do tend to fade into the background a little bit more readily and your family member is less likely to feel helpless and hopeless in the face of new tasks.

Independence within Safe Boundaries Is Important

Safety is always the most important aspect of someone’s care. But you also want to foster independence for your family member as much as possible. That means that when your family member is setting about a task that you know she’s capable of handling, let her do what she’s able to do. Make sure that the task is being handled safely, and be prepared to step in if she asks you for help.

Set Some Goals and Build on Current Strengths

Making progress means that your family member has some actual goals and knows how to work toward those goals. Sit down with her and focus on her current abilities. Then talk about areas in which she wants to improve and start putting goals together that support those areas. Make the goals challenging, but doable, so that she’s able to see the progress she’s making over time.

Work with Residential Habilitation Experts

Residential habilitation specializes in helping your family member with developmental disabilities to learn and master the skills that she finds more challenging. RHS helps your family member to keep the focus on what she’s able to do while also broadening her independence, too. RHS providers can help you and your family member to set appropriate goals and to work toward achieving them, too.

As your family member’s confidence grows, so too will her abilities. She and you will be amazed at just how much she can accomplish as she spreads her wings even more.

If you are considering residential habilitation in Speedway, IN, please call the caring staff at RSI Cares. Serving Greater Indianapolis Area. Call for Immediate Info & Assistance: 317-471-0750.

Etelka Froymovich