A nurse is preparing to perform a dressing change on a 6-year-old child with mild cognitive impairment (CI) who sustained a minor burn. Which strategy should the nurse use to prepare the child for this procedure?

A) Verbally explain what will be done.
B) Have the child watch a video on dressing changes.
C) Demonstrate a dressing change on a doll.
D) Explain the importance of keeping the burn area clean.

Children with CI have a marked deficit in their ability to discriminate between two or more stimuli because of difficulty in recognizing the relevance of specific cues. However, these children can learn to discriminate if the cues are presented in an exaggerated, concrete form and if all extraneous stimuli are eliminated. Therefore, demonstration is preferable to verbal explanation, and learning should be directed toward mastering a skill rather than understanding the scientific principles underlying a procedure. Watching a video would require the use of both visual and auditory stimulation and might produce overload in the child with mild cognitive impairment. Explaining the importance of keeping the burn area clean would be too abstract for the child.