Caring for an Autistic Child

A fun and simple oral motor activity that kids love is a bubble factory.  All you need to make it is a straw and a clean empty yogurt cup.

 To make it cut two holes in the top of a yogurt cup:

Cut a small hole on the top of the lid and a larger hole on the bottom. Fill the yogurt cup half full of bubble mix. Insert a straw in the small hole and let the child blow bubbles. If you are worried about the child sucking up the bubble mixture, cut a hole in the straw about one inch down. This will keep them from sucking up the bubbles.

Grocery shopping with a child on the spectrum can be challenging. Some autistic children want to touch everything in sight. One mother shared that all her child wanted to do was touch the wrapped meats until he poked a hole through the plastic.  Then he picked the meats up and smelled them. Needless to say she hated going to the grocery store.

 Here are a few tips to make grocery shopping easier:

 1. Give your child a special toy or fidget to hold their attention while you are shopping. Some ideas include bubble wrap, a stress ball or bendy toy. Try to only give this toy to the child when you’re in the grocery store.

 2. Another interesting idea is to cover part of the shopping cart with press and seal plastic wrap. Before going into the store cover a section of the cart and let your child poke holes in it.

 3. Plan to go shopping at less busy times of the day. This will minimize distractions and allow you to get your shopping done faster.

4. Contact your grocery store ahead of time. Many stores will gather your groceries for you or get your basket started as a service for your business.

5. Set up a simple reward system. If you don’t know how to create a reward system talk to your child’s teacher or therapist. Behavioral therapists are especially trained to create these types of systems.

6. Ask a neighbor to check with you before they go to the grocery store. Often neighbors and friends want to help they just don’t know how. Keep some money on hand to pay them to pick up an item or two that you might need. This will save you a trip and give them an opportunity to be helpful.

If you have a tip please share!

Mark your calendars for the next AMC-Autism Society Sensory Friendly Film, Despicable Me, on July 17.  The movie will start at 10 a.m. in participating theatres accross the United States. New locations will be: Champaign, Ill.; Chicago; Denver; Evansville, Ind.; Indianapolis; Madison, Wis.; Omaha, Neb.; Peoria, Ill.; Phoenix; Providence, R.I.; Rockford, Ill.; Sacramento, Calif.; and South Bend, Ind.  To find a location near you visit the Autism Society of America.

On June 8^th, best friends around the nation will come together to celebrate a very special day: Best Friends Day. Unfortunately, for many autistic children, celebrating this occasion can be challenging. It can be difficult to foster and encourage friendships between autistic and non-autistic children. However, there are some things that you can do to plant the seeds of a beautiful friendship that can last a lifetime. Here are some ways that you can celebrate Best Friends Day with your child by giving him or her a chance at making a friend.

First off, friendship starts when you’re a parent. You are your child’s role model, so to help your child develop the skills needed to form friendships you have to practice them yourself. Talk to your child about his or her interests, listen, share, and play. Acquaint your child with the behaviors found in a healthy friendship.

Next, introduce your child to other children and work with support staff to have your child socialize in a classroom or even in a group of other autistic children. Expose your child to different social atmospheres while being conscious of your child’s sensitivity to certain stimulation. Be patient and be understanding. It takes time.

Finally, talk to other parents and create opportunities for your child to connect. Take fieldtrips with the classroom. Work in the community to develop a playgroup for developmentally challenged children. Work with others to develop a network that your child can tap into to form friendships.

They happen with all children, but sometimes, dealing with an autistic child having a meltdown can be an entirely different and more challenging experience. As an educator, you have the responsibility to keep order in your classroom while at the same time enforcing positive behavior in an autistic child. To help you manage meltdowns, here are a few tips:

1.) Make classroom rules clear, as this will help maintain structure. This is one of the first steps to preventing a meltdown.

2.) Should a meltdown happen, provide a quiet place for that student to go. This can be a trip to the bathroom with a classroom aide or a visit to a guidance counselor. Either way, just make sure the child has a quiet place that’s free of over stimulation.

3.) Be patient. Meltdowns will happen and you have to expect and prepare for them.

4.) Develop a plan of action with parents, classroom aides, and other administrators should a meltdown happen. Have a clear protocol to what must be done to calm the child and reinforce positive behavior inside and outside of the classroom.

5.) Minimize classroom chaos, noise, clutter, and other sensory overloads that could trigger meltdowns. Be conscious of the child’s sensitivity to certain stimuli.

6.) Meltdowns can sometimes occur as a result of change in schedule.  Be sure to anticipate the changes with backup plans that can help the child transition easily back into routine.

7.) Work with parents to get a sense of what triggers meltdowns at home and make changes to the classroom to adapt.

8.) Meltdowns can be triggered by anything that causes too much stimulation. Once a meltdown occurs, remove the child immediately from the situation and put him or her into a quiet place. Then, give the child something with a stimulating texture, like an interesting fidget (LINK TO SENSORY TOYS/FIDGET SECTION OF SITE), so that he or she may use it to trigger a calming effect.

9.) Track the cause of the meltdown.  Screaming, kicking, crying, silent seizures, migraine headaches, and loss of control of all behavior can occur. During an episode, a child with autism will not pay attention to his or her behavior, nor will he or she notice if that behavior compromises safety. While these episodes may have much momentum in the beginning, they will wind down. Remember to be patient and give the student time to let the episode pass while at the same time, noting what brought on the attack and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

10.) Take time to refresh yourself on special education tactics and training. New strategies for dealing with meltdowns are always being developed and staying on top means that you can be prepared should something happen in your classroom.

As new visitors of Corrie’s blog, Pickle Talks, we sure can’t wait to visit again!  Throughout various doctors’ appointments and connecting with other medial professionals, Corrie’s son Jonathan was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when he was three and a half years old.  You may be wondering, as we were too, where the name of Corrie’s blog, Just Because My Pickle Talks Doesn’t Make Me An Idiot, came from.  Once her son, Jonathan, speech was developing, she found him repeatedly saying, “Just because my pickle talks doesn’t make me an idiot”, Corrie and her husband, Scott, spent hours trying to decipher what this phrase meant.  Scott concluded it would be the name of the book Corrie would be writing about raising Jonathan, but since Corrie wasn’t too sure about working on a publication, so she took this phrase and created a blog with this title.  Throughout the blog, Corrie talks about the life struggles and what role Asperger’s Syndrome plays with Jonathan’s life and the rest of her family.  Corrie and Scott also have two other wonderful children, Josh and Faith, and you can also follow their adventures too throughout the blog.  The families behind Pickle Talks are always looking for new friends to stop on by, so feel free to stop by for a visit!

1.) Children with autism can learn better when you use visuals to support the things you are saying. If at all possible incorporate pictures, charts, or other visual aids into your instruction.  This will help all students (not just the one with autism) to concentrate and keep them from withdrawing from the lesson.  Visual aids can also give structure to a classroom. Pictures and words should be used all around the classroom to help identify areas such as where lunches are stored, pencils are sharpened, and even where the restrooms are. Give an autistic child the opportunity to communicate by using these visual aids as cues.

2.) If teaching in a regular education classroom, you may need to make changes so that an autistic student can learn effectively.  Pay attention to where your autistic student is sitting, and try to make it an area with few distractions.  If possible use room dividers or the placement of furniture to keep things structured and to keep certain areas free of distractions. Separate areas for independent work, group work, play and other activities can give the autistic student visual cues about what is expected of them.  They can also make the autistic child feel safe by using structure and routine.

3.) Use visual cues and routine to help the student focus on instruction. It may be helpful to do your classroom instruction in front of a plain white board with out any background distractions.  Reward and praise actual accomplishment and staying on task. Having trouble keeping focus? Try using other sounds than the child’s name repeated to regain attention, like clearing your throat.  If he is in a situation where he gets too excited, take the child to a quiet place where he can calm down and recompose. While it is important to accommodate the child with autism, do not make it obvious that the child has special needs. Children with autism should feel like they are a part of the class.

4.) Challenges will happen when you’re working with an autistic child, but preparedness will always make things easier. Know that you may encounter frustration and confusion caused by sensory overload or the inability to communicate effectively. Stressful, loud, overly stimulating, or unstructured situations may cause panic and tantrums in an autistic student. Work with the parents, student, and administrators to have a plan in place to help the student work through frustration or difficult experiences. Keep a close relationship with any support staff that can help you positively respond to an autistic child.

5.) Finally, be patient. Students with autism are faced with a variety of communication, social, and sensory challenges. Take the time to educate yourself on the nature of autism as you work to better the life of an autistic child in your classroom.

More resources and tools for setting up a classroom for an autistic child can be found here on our website, along with other visual support tools.

We want to share with you another great blog we stumbled across, called Same Child, Different Day.  We found them not too long ago while on our search for other blogs that cover the experiences behind raising and caring for an autistic child. Aside from sharing personal stories and experiences from Jon, who is behind the blog and is raising an autistic child, he also covers topics from changes to developmental services system across states, to pushing for autism reforms in the state of Vermont.  Jon has even managed to write a book, which has the same name as the blog, titled, Same Child, Different Day.  His goal is to shed some light into expectations and experiences following the first year of a diagnosis.  We want to lend our support to Jon and the rest of his family throughout the days to come and want to wish him best on his publication!  Make sure to stop by Same Child, Different Day and consider picking up a copy of his book!

We recently had the pleasure to connect with Jeannie, who is the inspiration beyond The Adventures of Mr. Busypants. Her blog allows her to talk about the everyday adventures of her 6-year-old son, who has autism, and her 2-year-old daughter. When Jeannie isn’t busy with her kiddos, she is busy establishing the Mr. Busypants brand, and hopes to some day write a Bible study for Mom with kids with special needs, as well as other books for children with Autism. Her passion and excitement for the activities and daily happenings with each of her kids shines through with each and every one of her posts. You can follow the adventures of her boy, Alex, who has Autism, and his younger sis, Jorie, as they live each and every day to the fullest, and have quite the fun doing it!  We encourage you to visit Jeannie at The Adventures of Mr. Busypants and enjoy the collection of happenings in her children’s lives as well as the struggles associated with Autism. We wish her and her family all the best and tell her we said hello when you stop by

You know where to get information and you know how early intervention programs work. So what can you do at home to continue the management of your child’s autism?

In all early intervention programs, there is one common theme: consistent, meaningful interaction. The worst thing a parent can do concerning an autistic child is to let him or her sit alone lining up objects all day, or playing with the same toys for hours without interacting with others.

The goal of early intervention programs is to encourage early management of your child’s symptoms and autistic behaviors so that he or she may have a better quality of life. As a parent, it is your responsibility to enact practices within your own home that can work in tandem with an educational early intervention program and help make symptoms easier to deal with. One thing you can do is give your child special toys that are designed to assist in his or her development.

NationalAutismResources.comis a place to find a variety of sensory toys that are fun to play with yet help your child work on sensory dysfunction in a way that can stimulate and bring about social interaction. For example, photo realistic gameslike memory match, opposites, and positions help to build your child’s vocabulary, while facial expression cardsmove beyond basic feelings to help autistic children look for cues for a variety of emotions – which will make interaction much easier for your child.

These special toys, coupled with consistent, meaningful interaction with your child, can help to make autism more manageable for both you and your child.