How to prepare kids with autism for winter break

-

The year 2020 is almost coming to an end. We continue to live in the pandemic since March. The holiday season is here Many students have started their winter break. Some will be starting next week 

We all know how our kids thrive on routine and consistency so it is important to prepare them for the break.

Use Social Stories.

Social stories are a great tool to help kids with autism understand the world around them. They can be used to prepare kids for upcoming changes or events in a concrete way by using visuals. 

There are many holiday social stories already available online which you can use to prepare your child for the upcoming holidays.

Use Calendars

Kids with autism tend to experience lots of anxiety. So we can use a calendar to prepare them for an upcoming holiday. This way they will know when the break starts and when the school will begin in the new year. 

Use visual schedules.

Visual schedules are a great tool to use with our kids with autism as they help them to understand what events will be happening throughout the day. This will help reduce anxiety.

Try to keep a consistent routine.

It is important to keep a consistent routine in terms of wake up time and sleep time for kids as it will help them to cope with changes during the holidays.

Keeping them busy during the holidays 

It is very hard for kids with autism to engage themselves. We must try to keep them busy during the holidays without overwhelming them. It is when they are  not engaged behaviours happen. Make a list of activities your child likes to do and offer them choices throughout the day so they can choose the activities. We can use puzzles, books, blocks, legos to keep them busy. They can even watch a couple of TV shows or watch some holiday movies if they like.

Minimize the use of Technology 

This year due to the pandemic we all have experienced a technology overload. Limit the use of gadgets during the holidays 

Try to limit the screen time for everyone in the family including yourself. Set up a daily time limit for use of iPads or other gadgets. Let your children enjoy some other activities.

Enjoy the holidays.

Don't try to micromanage your child's day as it will make you exhausted. Spend time enjoying the holidays as a family you deserve this.

I hope these strategies are helpful for you to prepare your child for the upcoming holidays. If you have any more suggestions do. comment and let me know.















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Picky Eating in children with Autism.

-
This is a very common problem in children with Autism. Most of the children with Autism are fussy or picky eaters and will eat only certain kinds of food.  A big reason for this is sensory issues and the way certain types of foods feel in their mouth. This creates difficulties for parents to feed their kids with a wide variety of foods to grow and thrive. Our son is a picky eater to this day. Right from the beginning he showed a preference for crunchy textured foods. He started disliking foods which were mushy or creamy in texture. This continues till today and he is very reluctant to even try or put those foods in his mouth. Children in general love junk food which has no nutritional value. My son loved eating junk foods. We did try to introduce him to a variety of foods when he was a toddler but we were unsuccessful in our attempts.  The good thing with my son is from the early days he started eating regular home-cooked food and disliked eating fast food. This a ...
Read more

How we started our journey on the spectrum.

-
Image
My son Aarian was born on November 4, 2005. From the beginning he was a very quiet baby, rarely cried. In the beginning, Aarian almost hit all his milestones and there was never a cause to worry. I think the first signs of something is not right started when he turned 1 even though I and my husband did not notice anything unusual at that time. Aarians grandmother is a special needs teacher and it was she who bought it to our attention that he might have autism. Aarian started showing some early signs of autism around 18 months of age like he loved to be alone, there was no eye contact when we called his name, he rarely played with toys walking on his toes. .He babbled a little bit but there were no words its as if he went silent and there was no verbal speech. Around the age of 2, he started regressing. That's the time Aarians grandmother bought it to our attention this looks like autism as he was demonstrating classic signs.  I immediately booked a visit with his pediatri...
Read more

Why i decided to start a blog

-
Image
Autism or Autism spectrum disorders are characterized by difficulties in communication in way of spoken speech, social skills, repetitive behaviours. In today's world, it is one of the fastest-growing epidemics with alarming statistics of 1in 40 children are being diagnosed with autism.  It is very common in boys than in girls. There is presently no known cause for Autism Most of the children on the Autism Spectrum are nonverbal even though they have average or above-average intellectual abilities. I know there are hundreds of autism blogs already out there but as they say, if you have met one individual with autism you have met one individual with autism.    I started to blog is that I want to share the story of my son who got diagnosed with autism eleven years ago and how it changed our family.  I want to share our journey on the spectrum with our share of successes, failures, and ultimately realizing how blessed we are to raise this incredible boy. I know...
Read more

How to help kids with autism to work independently.

-
I am going to start this post with an important question we all parents of kids on the spectrum ask ourselves how can I help my child to work independently.  Independence is a very important life skill and a common goal for all kids on the spectrum be it in terms of self-help skills or working independently for a few minutes without adult intervention at home or in the classroom. We are amid the pandemic and at this time no one knows how the new school year will be. Is it going to be a mix of in-class and distance learning?  So if this is something you want to help your child with now is the best time to start working on this skill with our kids so they can feel successful when they go back to school. This is a work in progress and something you will need to practice daily with consistency for our students to be successful and motivated to do so.  Start small as always when you are working with your child on a new skill for them to feel successful. If that means you can...
Read more