autismfamilystory. com

 Getting a diagnosis of any kind is hard for everyone.Getting an autism diagnosis is hard as it not only affects the child but the whole family. I am going to outline a few things you can do after receiving an autism diagnosis for your child. Accepting the diagnosis -This is the most important thing you can do as a parent is to accept the diagnosis. We need to understand getting a diagnosis is not a bad thing as it allows your child to get access to the right supports and services to allow them to be the best they can be. Some parents are in denial and find it harder to accept the diagnosis. It is normal to feel sad, upset and ponder over why your child had to get the diagnosis. I was sad too but it is important the quicker we can accept the diagnosis we can start helping our child by finding the right supports and services to help them. Starting therapy with evidence-based interventions -There are several interventions available to treat autism. Some are evidence-based and many ar...

  I know first-hand buying resources from stores for your child with autism can be very expensive. It can also be expensive to buy resources already made by some Etsy sellers. It is a little bit of investment upfront but trust me it will pay for itself in the long run. Having the materials on hand helps you to save money as going to places like Staples, Office Depot can get very expensive especially when they charge you on a per-page basis. There are a few essential materials you need to have on hand to make your resources. The printer-A good quality printer is a must-have resource you need in your tool kit to make any kind of resource. There are good quality printers available commercially at a reasonable price. I personally own EPSON  ET2550. It comes with super tank ink which can last up to two years. It has saved me tons of money over the years. I spent a lot of money before I bought this printer to print resources. The other thing you will need it’s good quality printer ...

  Children with autism are visual learners. They have difficulty in understanding spoken language. The reason they are visual learners as visual information lasts longer than spoken language. Visuals are something we all use in our daily lives to navigate the world around us. We live in a visual rich world. Visual processing is a strength for children with autism. It helps them to understand language, complete familiar routines and complete daily living tasks. I’m going to list three ways you can use visuals to help your child with autism. Use of visual schedules. There are different visual supports you can use with your child with autism. Visual schedules are the type of visual support that can be used. Children with autism love routines and structure. The visual schedule helps the child understand the order of activities they will be doing during the day so nothing comes as a surprise. It helps to reduce their anxiety and keeps them calm. They also help them during transitions. T...

  One of the most important mantras in a special education classroom is parent-teacher collaboration. It is critical for students’ success. Collaboration has many benefits as both parties are working towards a common goal of improving students' lives and preparing them for the future. That means both the parents and teachers act as one team to help the child. I am going to give a few strategies for children to do better in school. We are on the same team. The most important thing teachers must know parents are experts on their children as they tend to spend maximum time with them. They know their strengths, weaknesses, motivators and triggers. It is critical if teachers are facing any problems in the classroom in terms of behaviour or skill regression parents are the first people teachers need to get in touch with. They are in a better position to let the teachers know if any changes are going on in the child’s life or maybe they are experiencing any sleep or health-related issues....

  An individualized education plan (IEP )is a legal document developed for each public school for a child who needs special education. It is created with the help of the child's parents and school professionals who are knowledgeable of the child's needs. It is individualized to every child. It describes how the student learns, how they can demonstrate their learning and what kind of supports and services will be provided to them. It lasts for the entire school year and has to be reviewed every year to keep track of student's progress. Parents are an expert on their child and they know them the best. They are the most important IEP team members as they know their child's strengths, needs, motivators, and triggers. Parents are the best advocates for their children as they want their children to succeed. The IEP meeting is required by law at least once a year to plan an individualized educational program for the needs of special needs children. This meeting is attended by ...

  One of the deficits of autism is difficulty in communication.40% of kids with autism are nonverbal even though most have average to above-average intelligence. The cause for this is unknown. Our son started using AAC devices to communicate in the year 2013. He started communicating with Prologue 2 go. All adults and children who are unable to communicate verbally need an alternate way to communicate. So what is AAC? AAC stands for Alternative and Augmentative communication. Today I will share with you some tips and strategies for using AAC. Never take away your child's device as it is their voice. They need to have access to it at all times. Take the device everywhere with your child. Teach them to be responsible for it as it is a good life skill. Model, Model and then model same more to your child so they can see you using their device to speak to them. It is their language we need to speak to them in their language. Use it in daily routines, during meal times, teach them commen...

  I am not an SLP but these are the strategies I learnt raising my son who is on the spectrum. One of the hallmarks of autism is impairment in social and communication skills!! Communication is very important for all of us but with children with autism, it is delayed or slow. Many children in the spectrum are nonverbal. They use different modalities to communicate but never develop verbal speech or remain nonverbal. Our son Aarian started babbling around 18 months of age but never developed verbal speech and became silent. This is when he got an Autism diagnosis. After the diagnosis he started vocalizing however, there were no words or word approximations that were noted. He would imitate some sounds. He would take our hand and lead us to what he wanted, point to things he wanted, he did not engage in any play activities and if he did he only did solitary play. It was difficult to engage him and needed constant adult supervision which was very tiring for us. In the beginning, we at...

 I decided to start a podcast autismfamilystory podcast even though there are lots of podcasts already out there. There were a few reasons for it. Every family's journey in the world of autism is different and unique as they say if you have met one person with autism you have met one person with autism. I know firsthand parenting a child with autism or any other special needs is overwhelming and isolating as people do not understand our struggles. I have been on this journey for over a decade and have learnt so much over the years. I wanted to share our story with other parents who are starting this journey as I was there once upon a time in their shoes. I want to help other parents to know they are not alone. A community of special needs parents out there are willing to share and help parents in this journey. I want to let parents know some people get it and understand it as they have dealt with the same things in the past. The most things for parents are to accept their child...

  One of the hardest things for our kids on the spectrum is transitions. This can be transitioning from a preferred activity to a non-preferred one. This can also include transitioning from one setting to another.  Children with autism thrive on a routine so any change in routine can be hard for our kids. There are several supports we can put in place to make transitions easier for our kids. kids on the spectrum are visual learners. Visual processing is their strength. They may struggle in comprehension or following multi-step directions. Use of visual schedules. Visual schedules are very important to support our kids on the spectrum. Visual schedules can show our kids the events which will occur in their day so they know what to expect without any surprises.  This can help in transitions as it decreases the anxiety associated with the changes. Visual Schedules can be customized for each child as per their needs. It can be a picture schedule or a written schedule if your ...

  It is very common once our kids get an autism diagnosis we are always told about the limitations and the kinds of things our children will not be able to do. It is like the doctors already know what our child’s future will look like when an initial diagnosis is made. We must always take this with a grain of salt. Our children are capable of making progress. There will always be limitations but still, progress can be made. It is essential as parents we need to have a growth mindset as we need to believe despite the limitations progress can be made. I have experienced this personally, as twelve years ago when my son was diagnosed with autism we were given a long list of things he won't be able to do. It was very devastating for us as parents to hear this. At the same time, I decided as a mother I was going to do everything possible to help our son. The kids do make progress, our son did too but on their own timeline. For this to happen as parents we need to be positive and believe ...

  It is a well-known fact most children on the spectrum struggle to communicate. Most of them are non-verbal. We must provide our kids with a way to communicate. It can be low-tech systems like PECS or high-tech AAC devices. I am not a speech therapist myself but have been on my son's AAC journey for the past 8 years. I have learned different strategies from his SLP which I want to share with you all. The child needs to have access to their device. We need to ensure our kids always have access to their devices. They need to be charged every day and always be available to our children. They need to be taken everywhere so our kids always have a way to communicate. We need to model using the device . We cannot just give the child a device and expect them to use it. We must model using the device for our kids. Our kids need to see us using their devices to talk to them so they can learn using it too. We don't need to model every word. We must point to the word on their device to sp...